Zain Bahrain hosts three briefings for 10th edition of MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition on 30 November and 1 December
- -Finals to be held on 27 April, 2017 in Bahrain, with prize money totaling US$160,000 on offer
- -Fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and mentoring across the region
- -Applications deadline is 4 January, 2017
Manama - 28 November, 2016
Having opened the tenth edition of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition for applications via the competition's website www.mitarabcompetition.com, on 16 October, 2016, Zain Bahrain is supporting the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region (MITEF PAR) by hosting three briefing sessions in Bahrain as part of the competition's roadshow. The highly interactive events are aimed at promoting the competition and encouraging entrepreneurs to submit applications. They will be held for students at 11am on 30 November at the University of Bahrain's IT Open Labs, and on the same day for entrepreneurs at 7pm at Zain Tower in the Seef District. A second session for students will be held on 1 December from 10am at the at the Bahrain Polytechnic's Hall 12.
The MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition is organized in partnership with Community Jameel, a social enterprise organization that operates a wide range of initiatives to promote a positive society and economic sustainability, and Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator across the Middle East and Africa.
Between November and December 2016, the organizers plan to undertake roadshows in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen with various Zain operations supporting these efforts. During the roadshows, aspiring applicants enjoy presentations about the competition and shared success stories from former competition participants, followed by a Q&A session.
The roadshow in Bahrain will see presentations made two former MIT Competition contestants that are successful entities in their own right, with the event attended by an expected full house audience of students and aspiring entrepreneurs.
The competition final will be held in Bahrain on 27 April, 2017 with prize money exceeding US$160,000 to be awarded to winners of the three different tracks: Ideas, Startups, and Social Entrepreneurship. Each of the three tracks will award the first three ranked winners with cash prizes in addition to many other benefits including top tier training, mentorship, coaching, media exposure, and great networking opportunities.
Delighted by the holding of a roadshow in the Kingdom, Zain Bahrain GM, Mohammed Zainalabedin said, "Our support of the roadshows and the competition is fundamental because Zain understands the importance of youth development, entrepreneurship, and innovation in shaping the economy. We nurture talent in our organization and have identified this as one of our leading success factors, hence we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners looking to inspire talented people in other areas. We echo the call for applicants to attend roadshows and apply to participate in this year's Competition."
Hala Fadel, Chair of the board of MITEF Pan Arab said, "The MIT Enterprise Forum Startup Competition roadshows are an exciting component of the competition as they allow our team to meet face-to-face with hundreds of talented youth across the region, as well as to re-connect with the entrepreneurs behind our success stories who join the roadshows to share their overall competition experience. The roadshows aim to inform and inspire this talent and to encourage them to apply to the competition and benefit from the cash prizes, top-notch training, mentorship, networking, and media exposure the competition offers.
Last year's competition received an outstanding 5,967 individual and team applications from 21 Arab countries and representing a record participation of over 16,500 entrepreneurs.
For more information on this year's MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition eligibility and judging criteria, as well as the planned roadshows, please visit www.mitarabcompetition.com . Interested parties can attend the roadshow at the Bahrain Polytechnic located in Isa Town, Central Governorate by registering on this link: https://goo.gl/RXqewM
