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• Winning teams from Lebanon,Jordan, Saudi Arabia,Egypt,Moroccoand UAE
• Over 500 key socio-economic Kuwaiti and regional figures attend final ceremony and conferencein Kuwait
• Keynote speakers include Kuwaiti public figures H.E. Sheikha Al-Zain Al Sabah, Mohammed Alshaya, Mohammed Jaffar and Tarek Sultan
Kuwait - Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa announces that teams from Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia,Egypt,Morocco, and the United Arab Emiratesmade it to the winners' stage at the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab competition. The contestants were singled out for putting forward the best start-up innovative and creative business ideas in the Arab world from amongst 75 contesting teams from 15 Arab countries.
The competition's final ceremony, at which the winners were announced, is a culmination of six months of planning, with the gala ceremony being held at the Symphony Style Hotel in Kuwait on 20 April.
The high profile ceremony witnessed H.E. Sheikha Al-Zain Al Sabah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs attend the event and present at the ceremony as did leading Kuwaiti business figures Mohammed Alshaya, Executive Chairman of M.H. Alshaya Co; Mohammed Jaffar, CEO of Talabat.com; and Tarek Sultan, CEO and Vice Chairman of Agility. All received rousing applause from the 500 strong audience who were immensely-impressed and inspired by their candid comments and visionary statements.
Keynote speeches at the event were also made by Zain Group CEO, Scott Gegenheimer; MITEF Pan Arab, Managing Director, Joelle Yazbeck and MIT Arab Alumini Association, President, Hazem Zureiqat.
Earlier this year, Zain Group confirmed it would partner with founding partner, Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, for the eighth edition of the competition, which received 4,275 individual and team applications (representing a record participation of over 12,000 entrepreneurs) from 21 Arab countries. The three tracks that entrants applied for were: Ideas, Startups, and Social Entrepreneurship.
The winners of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab competition shared total prize money amounting to US$135,000, and the list of the victors was as follows:
Startups Track
Winner: Colorbug-a Lebanese team based in the UAE that created an ideal solution fusing the traditional with the digital whereby children are encouraged to color books and then enhance their experience with augmented reality technology in order to enjoy learning in an interactive and entertaining way.
2nd place: Project IO-a Jordan based team that developed a technology to resolve the problem of shopping for shoes online whereby the user scans their foot with a smartphone to confirm their size for that particular brand of shoes.
3rd place: Screen DY-a Moroccan based team that developed a platform to offer any mobile developer the ability to build complex, custom, and native apps that work on all platforms within days.
Ideas Track
Winner: Kotobna-Egypt based team that gives young talented Arab authors an alternative method to publish and monetize their work (novels, comics, article collections, blog collections, and research papers.
2nd place: Concure-a Saudi Arabian team that has developed a proof of concept prototype that is a multi-layered blanket for use in curing concrete, in which the product absorbs water easily, lies flat after initial setting, and is reusable.
3rd place: Nano Ebers-an Egypt based team that has developed a high honey concentration and nanofiber structure that enhances antimicrobial effects and promotes moist wound healing.
Social Entrepreneurship Track: (3 equal winners)
Visualizing Impact-A Lebanese entity that is a citizen data journalism laboratory that deploys data science, design and technology for social justice.
La Perle de la Mer-A Morocco based entity whose project aspires to ensure the health and safety of products through the establishment of purification plants that will allow marketing of products in different markets directly
Tahrir Academy-An Egypt based entity offering a blended learning platform that provides engaging learning experiences to Egyptian youth through combining world class and carefully localized teaching methods with the latest technologies.
Commenting on Zain's involvement and the success of the MIT Enterprise Forum competition, Scott Gegenheimer, Zain GroupCEO said, "I congratulate the organizers of both theMIT Enterprise Forum and MIT Arab Alumini Association for holding such a qualityevent in Kuwait. I also congratulate all the semi-finalists and winners for showing how progressive and dynamic their startup ideas are. Much of the region's future development will be driven by young innovative people in technology, so Zain is especially proud to be fostering the growth of this competition. I'm confident that many of these teams will succeed in translating their ideas into successful projects."
Apart from the winners' prizemoney, each of the Ideas, Startups, and Social Entrepreneurship track semi-finalists benefitted from top tier training, mentorship, coaching, media exposure, and great networking opportunities throughout the competition.
Widely known as MIT, theMassachusetts Institute of Technology is recognized for being one of the leading universities in the world, earning a reputation as a key player in the advancement of the digital age.MIT focuses on better equipping students with the right tools to transform technological ideas into successful businesses across many academic fields.
Founded in 2005, the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of the Pan Arab Region is one of the 28 worldwide chapters of the MITEF Global, an avid promoter of innovation worldwide, engaging aspiring entrepreneurs in mentorship and networking.
For more information on the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition semi-finalist and winners, please visit www.mitarabcompetition.com.ENDs
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About MITEF Pan Arab
Founded in 2005, the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region (www.mitefarab.org) is one of the 28 worldwide chapters of the MIT Enterprise Forum Global, an avid promoter of entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide. The MIT Enterprise Forum- Pan Arab has a proven record in promoting MIT-style entrepreneurship by organizing each year the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition (www.mitarabcompetition.com), in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (www.aljci.org), targeting 21 countries of the Arab region and bringing in more than 5,000 applications a year.
About Zain Group
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 44.3 million active customers as of 31 December, 2014. With a commercial presence in 8 countries, Zain operates in: Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan. In Lebanon, the Group manages 'touch' on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in 'INWI', through a joint venture. Zain is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (stock ticker: ZAIN).For more, please email info@zain.com or visit: www.zain.com; www.facebook.com/zain; www.twitter.com/zain; www.youtube.com/zain; www.instagram.com/zaingroup; www.linkedin.com/company/zain
About ALJCI
In 2003 Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) was formally established as the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Abdul Latif Jameel Group, one of the largest independent distributors of Toyota vehicles in the world. Today ALJCI operates a considerable set of initiatives. From individual, community and Arab life as a whole in Saudi Arabia and beyond, ALJCI has the welfare of its people at heart. By promoting Arab arts and culture in the Middle East and around the world, working against the unemployment, enabling research for poverty alleviation, and providing education and training opportunities, ALJCI has successfully promoted positive economic sustainability. ALJCI supports and partners with global institutions, which employ hundreds of people, all aiming to provide people with op¬portunities and training in Job Creation;Global Poverty Alleviation; Arts and Culture; Education and Training; Health and Social. For further information, please check www.aljci.org
© Press Release 2015
