Dr. Abdalla Alnajjar, President of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) said that the Bahraini capital, Manama, hosts on October 25th, 2011, under the auspices of the H.E. the Bahraini minister of Industry and Commerce Dr. Hassan Fakhro, the closing ceremony of the 7th Arab Technology Business Plan Competition (TBPC), to announce the winners Arab entrepreneurs. The TBPC is organized by the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) in partnership with Intel Corporation and in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development “UNIDO”. The top three winners receive cash prizes to help transform their innovative ideas to promising technological companies , first place winner will get 10000 US dollars, 6 000 US$ to second place, and 4 000 US$ for the winner of the third, as well as their participation in the Intel Global challenge at UC Berkeley in United States, within the period November 7th – 9th, 2011, with the participation of the winners from fourth to eighth position in the Investing in Technology Forum organized annually by ASTF, that brings together entrepreneurs, businessmen, and join-venture and capital angel companies and funds.
Dr. Abdalla Alnajjar added that the number of projects that have reached the final of the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition TBPC, were 50 projects representing, for 50 Arab entrepreneurs, from 15 countries are: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, and Arab entrepreneurs from Italy, France and United States of America. Note that the number of projects that participated in the start, reached to 224 projects, of which satisfies the conditions in full, 81 projects. He praised Dr. Abdalla Alnajjar the partnership, which combines ASTF with Intel Corporation to support entrepreneurs in the Arab region, and dissemination of technology and innovation in the Arab region. He stressed that UNIDO plays a supporting role to the success of the competition and support for young entrepreneurs, especially as they play a role in building society and knowledge economy in their communities.
Creative young minds in our region
In this context, Eng. Ferruh Gurtas, Intel Corporate Affairs Manager, Middle East Turkey and Africa region said that “We are glad to see 6,222 entries from 21 countries to the 7th Arab Technology Business Plan Competition. The process leading to the final stage of the competition proved to us that there are a lot of creative young minds in our region. Projects submitted by these entrepreneurs have proved their successful business models which showed they have undergone a very strong research and development stage, as well as a clear financially feasibility and offered attractive returns on investments. They also qualified for developing and deploying technologies with regional or worldwide market potential, and highlighted financial proposals that were clearly spelt out for investors.
Virtual exhibition on the TBPC’s website to show the competing projects
For its part, Dr. Ghada M. Amer, Deputy CEO of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) stressed that the partnership which brings together ASTF with Intel and UNIDO has developed a lot to serve the Arab entrepreneurs and innovators, and during this cycle of the TBPC, we organized for the first time, next to the two training workshops, E-training to rehabilitate Arab entrepreneurs on the skills of drafting a professional business plan in accordance with professional standards adopted arbitration in international competitions. Pointing out that among the new steps in the TBPC, designed virtual exhibition on the website of the competition is http://www.tbpc-astf.net through which the competing projects presented. Dr. Ghada Amer manifested her satisfaction with the high number of qualified Arab women entrepreneurs, to compete for the first eight positions.
