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This week USD50,000 Prize Money will be awarded to MIT Arab Business Plan Competition Finalist

Inaugural competition aims to foster talent and business initiative throughout the Arab World

This week 1 of the 9 MIT Arab Business Plan Competition finalists will be awarded USD50,000 prize money at an awards ceremony at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai. Second-prize runners-up will receive prize money worth USD10,000 and USD5000 respectively.

The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition is the first of its kind in the Arab world, designed to encourage all entrepreneurs in the region to start their own company and, ultimately, create a platform for viable businesses throughout the Middle East. As well as the large sum of prize money, the winner will also be invited to participate in the MIT Global Startup Workshop Forum, organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum Inc, in Massachusetts, America.

Budding entrepreneurs from all over the Middle East will showcase their business plans for a variety of projects, ranging from a website which helps bloggers raise capital to improve their website performance developed by a team based in Jordan, to the cultivation of fertilizer from rice straw from a team based in Egypt. All projects are presented by a team of at least three people, at least two of them being Arab nationals.

The business concept must be implemented in a country within the Arab world. Members of the winning team will be given the opportunity to attend the MIT Global Startup Workshop. First and second runner-ups will receive prize money worth USD10,000 and USD5000 respectively. The winner of the competition will be announced in Dubai at an awards ceremony held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel on Thursday 11 June.

JORDAN - This year has seen one of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition finalists from Jordan. The Jordanian team has developed a website which helps bloggers raise capital to improve their website performance.

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -Two of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition finalists from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - a team which has developed a webmail application to rank all emails in order of their perceived importance while another group has devised an interactive and online curriculum to teach English to young Arabic speakers.

LEBANON & EGYPT - A team made up of candidates from Lebanon and Egypt have developed a cutting-edge online souk. This product gathers packages and posts the best work from journalists, filmmakers and musicians, fusing content from a variety of professional and street-level contributors.

TUNISIA - This Tunisian team has developed a combination of hardware and software solutions to protect an individual or organization's data.

UAE - Three of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition finalists from the UAE, including a team working on the development of therapeutic peptides for the treatment of cancer; a group offering short-term loans for medical procedures and a luxury spa boutique dedicated exclusively to professional teeth whitening.

YEMEN - This Yemen-based team has developed a cutting-edge website to broker real estate deals throughout the Middle Eastern region.

Mr Omar Al-Madhi said: "The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition offers people from all over the Arab world the chance to foster their business talent. During these challenging economic times it is imperative that we continue to nurture and promote these entrepreneurial ideas to stimulate the economic community within the region." Al-Mahdi is a business adviser, consultant, and entrepreneur who currently serves as Vice President, Energy & Economic Cities Development at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. He is also one of the three jurors of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition.

The competition gives people from the region the opportunity to network with all relevant business constituencies, and interact with the global entrepreneurship culture. This year 1650 applications were received and 5000 people from 16 Arab countries were involved with the competition. The equivalent of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition in Boston has created a number of leading firms and thousands of jobs and it is expected that this will have the same impact in this region.

Sponsored by Abdul Latif Jameel , the competition aims to serve the Arab community through education and the promotion of entrepreneurial culture. Abdul Latif Jameel is committed to the support of this initiative for five consecutive years to ensure continuity and progress for the Arab world.

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About the MIT Enterprise Forum Inc
The MIT Enterprise Forum Inc is located on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The Forum was founded by the MIT Alumni Association in 1978 as a non- profit and volunteer-driven organization that builds connections to technology entrepreneurs and to communities in which they reside, as well as produces a series of educational programs about entrepreneurship through its network of 24 worldwide chapters.

About Abdul Latif Jameel Group
The Competition is sponsored by Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs, and Mohammad Abdul Latif, an MIT alumni himself (class of 78), is backing this effort because he thinks that" Education and the promotion of entrepreneurship culture are keys to the future success of the Arab region, beyond the next 5-10 years".

Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs (ALJ-CSP), (www.aljcsp.org) was established in 2003 as the key focus for its community investment (Corporate Social Responsibility) supporting initiatives and projects that align with ALJ's commitment to social and economic sustainability by creating new job opportunities for young entrepreneurs.. The main goal of ALJ-CSP is to provide small business and job opportunities to young Saudis and Arabs through Bab Rizq Jameel Self-Employment and Employment initiatives. ALJ-CSP uses the strengths and network of ALJ Company to undertake several programs. Besides those mentioned job related programs, ALJ-CSP participates in health & social initiatives locally and globally.

For more information, please contact:
Courtney Stuart
Consultant, The Portsmouth Group
+9714 369 3571
courtney.stuart@theportsmouthgroup.com

© Press Release 2009