The 20 finalists will now participate in an online acceleration programme
Dubai: Tatawwar: Building Tomorrow’s Minds, from HSBC and Potential.com, has announced the top 20 projects submitted by students. The finalists representing the Middle East and North Africa region include 2 students from Algeria, 2 from Bahrain, 4 from Egypt, 2 from Kuwait, 1 from Oman, 3 from Qatar, and 6 from the UAE. They have been chosen based on judging that took place during prototype workshops and the business model that they submitted online after they take the associated online courses.
This year’s edition of Tatawwar: Building Tomorrow’s Minds has seen4650 students from over 1000 schools register for blended learning programme. The Tatawwar team hosted 12 workshops for the shortlisted 250 students in each of programme’s countries in January and February followed by online mentoring and courses to help them develop their prototype and business models.
The top 20 finalists will now join an acceleration programme that includes twice-weekly webinars to help project owners fine tune their pitching skills, and learn key business skills including financial projections, raising funding, future career fitness, technology trends and marketing. Each webinar will bring together international experts on each of these topics to help the students. In addition, each of the top 20 students will be provided with four one-on-one coaching sessions and get a one-year free membership to their local fablabs, where they can continue to develop their prototypes.
The final awards ceremony will be live-streamed on the 9 May 2020 at 2pm UAE time, where the winners will be announced after having delivered their final pitches to judges the day before. The public is welcome to join and participate in the finals through Tatawwar’s Facebook page.
The top three winners’ prototypes will receive cash prizes of USD 5,000, USD 3,000 and USD 1,500 respectively.
Sabrin Rahman, Regional Head of Corporate Sustainability at HSBC, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said, “We are thrilled with the response we’ve had to this year’s Tatawwar programme and have been hugely impressed with the ideas and business models that the students have developed. We are looking forward to working with the 20 finalists through the rest of the programme – the online workshops and coaching sessions have been carefully designed to provoke reflection and challenge current ways of working to stimulate innovative thinking for a sustainable future.”
Tatawwar: Building Tomorrow’s Minds is an interactive online and face-to-face programme that brings together students aged 15 to 18, schools, parents and the business community to innovate for a sustainable future by addressing one of three United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals:
1. Climate Action
2. Human Health and Well-being
3. Clean Water and Sanitation
Two of the Tatawwar previous winners, Samah Abdullah from Egypt and Zoya Naeem from the UAE, have come up with innovative solutions to address the water scarcity challenge and crowdfunded their projects. Samah has developed and just released her first WMS App which is now available for download on the Google Play store.
HSBC in the MENAT region
HSBC is the largest and most widely represented international banking organisation in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT), with a presence in 9 countries across the region. HSBC has operations in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Algeria. In Saudi Arabia, HSBC is a 29.2% shareholder of Saudi British Bank (SABB), and a 51% shareholder of HSBC Saudi Arabia for investment banking in the Kingdom.
This presence, the widest reach of any international bank in the region, comprises some 350 offices and around 10,500 employees. In the year ending 31st December 2018, HSBC in the MENAT region made a reported profit before tax of US$ 1,557m.
Potential.com
Potential.com is a global EdTech social enterprise that works with individuals, governments and corporates to support key social projects such as job creation, SMB and entrepreneurship development, workforce optimizations and Skills-to-job matching.
Governments and leading brands around the world, rely on Potential.com’s innovative empowerment platform to launch customized initiatives for their citizens and customers by helping them; startup, expand their businesses or enhance their corporate career.
Media contact: Sara Daher, + 971 5611 51611, sara@potential.com
© Press Release 2020Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.
The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.
