INJAZ Qatar, Microsoft conclude 'Women Technopreneurs' project

INJAZ Qatar and Microsoft concluded the 'Women Entrepreneurs' programme, which was launched last February to support women entrepreneurship in Qatar and promote economic diversification in the country, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.

Qatar Science and Technology Park hosted the closing ceremony in the presence of Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser bint Khaled al-Thani, chairperson, INJAZ Qatar & INJAZ Al Arab, and over 120 participants, including members of INJAZ’s board of directors; Lana Khalaf, Microsoft's country manager (Qatar) and a number of Microsoft’s officials, as well as senior officials, from QSTP. The Demo Day at QSTP witnessed the five teams who qualified for the final stage presenting their innovative ideas in technology and Artificial Intelligence before the judges panel, which included experts and specialists from Microsoft, QSTP, and INJAZ to select three winning teams that will benefit from the support of QSTP’s Incubation Center which focuses its efforts on business incubation in technology.The Incubation Centre will provide the winning teams with extensive training and mentoring activities to enable promising innovators to transform their technology-based ideas into viable businesses, advance their ideas to new horizons in the world of entrepreneurship, and gain more skills and experience that enable them to compete locally and globally.Sheikha Hanadi said, “Over the past months, we have witnessed amazing efforts from the competing teams to reach the final stage that we are witnessing today. Efforts of women entrepreneurs during those months reaffirm the capabilities of women in Qatar and their ability to advance their capabilities in technology whenever they are empowered with the ideal environment and support.”She commended the work of Microsoft and INJAZ Qatar teams in guiding and training the competing teams during this journey to the demo day. She also talked about the learned lessons brought by this initiative that should be a guidance in similar activities in the future.Sheikha Hanadi thanked Microsoft for the initiative with its fruits seen today in the brilliant ideas of Qatari women, heralding a more prosperous future for Qatar and its people.Khalaf said, "Congratulations to all of the winners on their outstanding innovations. At Microsoft, we are committed to empowering as many exceptional innovators as possible through initiatives such as the Women Technopreneurs programme with our partner INJAZ Qatar. The programme has presented women in Qatar an amazing opportunity to innovate and bring ground-breaking solutions to life through the power of cloud and AI."The participants in the programme have received support, guidance and assistance from experts and specialists from INJAZ and Microsoft over a period of three months, during online meetings and at QSTP premises to give them the opportunity to improve their skills, benefit from a unique educational experience, and learn more about the values and ethics of work. The participating teams presented exceptional ideas that take advantage of artificial intelligence.The winning teams – Clini-Key, I see, and Jobot – got the opportunity to be incubated and were awarded to join QSTP’s accelerator program.Reema al-Kuwari, participant at the program mentioned, “We are glad to get the chance to join the "Women Technopreneurs" program by Microsoft and INJAZ Qatar, with the support of QSTP who will turn our idea ‘Jobot’" to reality, which will revolutionise the future of recruitment starting from Qatar. “We extend our sincere thanks to INJAZ Qatar for their pioneer programs that meet the future aspirations for Qatar. I also thank Microsoft for sponsoring this programme and providing mind-blowing workshops, as well as Qatar Science and Technology Park for their support to youth's creativity and innovation.”