Saudi startup among winners at top contest

RABIGH: Saudi entrepreneurs were among the winners at the recent MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Arab Startup Competition at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

The final awards ceremony of the 9th edition of the prestigious contest saw speeches and presentations by some of the most well known and successful names in the world of entrepreneurship and innovation.
This year’s competition received 5,967 individual and team applications from 21 Arab countries, up from 4,275 last year. It represented a record participation of over 16,500 entrepreneurs, up from 12,000 last year.
The nine winning teams across three categories — Ideas, Startups and Social Entrepreneurship — hailed from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
The $50,000 top prize for the best startup was awarded to Kuwait’s Ghinwa, which is building a mobile application that can be used to perform Karaoke songs licensed from the copyright owners, allowing users to share and promote their talent across social media platforms.
Second place in the same category went to Zamen of Egypt. Third place went to B8ak (pronounced as Baytak) from Saudi Arabia for a smartphone app-based maintenance delivery company launched by Khalid H. Al-Hmili, Eyad A. Al-Shabaan and Khaled Hassoun.
The presence of Prince Saud K. Al-Faisal, executive director for investment policy at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), lent immense weight to the event.
Among the top Saudis at the event were Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, founder and chief executive officer of Alf Khair; Fahd Al-Rasheed, group chief executive officer and managing director of King Abdullah Economic City; Wassim Khashoggi, vice secretary general operations, Economic Cities Authority; Fady Mohammed Jameel, president, Community Jameel International; Kaswara Al-Khatib, chief executive officer, Uturn, an online entertainment network; Abdullah Al-Zamil, founder, Zamil Industries; and Muna AbuSulayman, co-host of MBC’s popular Kalam Nawaem program.
The winners took home prize money totaling $150,000. Each category winner also received training, mentorship, coaching, media exposure and networking opportunities throughout the competition.
The competition was preceded by the Time to Invest in Arab Youth and Their Innovations Conference, organized by MIT Technology Review Arab Edition. During the conference, MIT Technology Review Arab Edition’s five innovators under 35 in the Arab world were announced.
The winners in the Startups category were Ghinwa from Kuwait that took home $50,000; Zamen from Egypt came second and won $15,000; and B8ak from Saudi Arabia third winning $10,000. In the Ideas category, the first-place winner of $15,000 was Tutorama from Egypt; second Deep OR from Morocco winning $10,000; and third Ostor Lab from Morocco winning $5,000.
In the Social Entrepreneurship category, Hydropneumatic Flushing System from Tunisia came first winning $15,000; second Pathfinder from Lebanon winning $10,000; and third Low Cost PPC from Jordan winning $5,000.
The five winning innovators under 35 were Osman Bakr, Jean Nehme, Eva Tamraz, Ahmed Alfadhel and Yaman Abou Jieb.
Hala Fadel, chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab Region, said: “In Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, hundreds of innovative young men and women are waiting for investments. We have been tracking them for nine years now at the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition with continuous support of our founding partner Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiative (Community Jameel).”
She said constructive change, with benefits for the entire region, can only occur if considerable resources are allocated for cutting-edge Arab businesses. “Over the past 10 years, more than $10,000 billion have been spent on buildings, construction and infrastructure in the Arab region. Can we not invest 0.1 percent of that in our youth and its economy, the digital economy?”
Fady Jameel said: “It is an honor for Community Jameel, the social enterprise arm of Abdul Latif Jameel, to be the founding partner of the successful MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition since 2006. The program aims to support and foster entrepreneurship in the region. Entrepreneurs play an important role in shaping the economy. Through this program, we remain committed to helping the next generation of young entrepreneurs achieve their aspirations.”
“The great interest in the competition, as well as the quality of the competition entries are indicative of the positive reception of MITEF Pan-Arab in the region, and particularly in Saudi Arabia as a unique investment destination for entrepreneurs,” he said.
The international speakers who wowed the audience with their first-hand experiences included Zainab Salbi, host and creator of The Nida’a Show and founder of Women for Women International, and Mark Haidar, chief executive officer of Vinli.
Salbi spoke passionately about how entrepreneurs should never give up. She described the pain that many have to go through in the initial stages. “Nobody is at your side in those critical moments. This happened to me when I launched my startups. When I was successful, people who had disowned me started saying that ‘she is my friend.’ This happens. It is a very painful process.”
Muna AbuSulayman said she was delighted to see the projects set up by the entrepreneurs. “I was one of the judges for the Social Entrepreneurship award category. The 10 projects that were judged by us were extremely great ideas about sustainability, water conservation, helping people earn better incomes, technology platforms, actual inventions to help disabled people, and how to connect people.”
“It was impressive,” she told Arab News. “I am very happy that there is a platform where these types of innovators and entrepreneurs are able to compete with each other. I love the fact that innovators from 20 different Arab countries came together, united in the desire to innovate and achieve economic progress.”
She was impressed by the innovators under 35. “There were two Saudis who invented quite complicated things with the help of KAUST. It was nice to see the fruit of Saudi investment in technology and science. I mean (the investment in setting up) KAUST. Seeing brilliant young Saudis utilizing that investment and creating good innovation was a fulfilling experience,” she said.