Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — Amid all the developments measures the Kingdom is keen to adopt to diversify economic resources, in this regard Public and Private sectors have expressed obligation to achieve the Kingdom’s objectives in terms of enhancing local capabilities and encouraging the youth to become future entrepreneurs. To shed some light on this effort, Saudi Gazette met with Dr. Sarah Ghaleb, senior GM of education & entrepreneurship initiatives at Community Jameel and lead of MIT Enterprise Forum-Saudi, to talk more about the MIT plans to work in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
“I am proud to say that this event accomplished two very exciting milestones...first, to announce the winners of this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Saudi Startup Competition; one of the leading entrepreneurship programs in the Kingdom. This competition is across three tracks: ideas track, startup track, and social enterprise track. Second, to discuss and highlight some of the important milestones we are taking toward building private sector capacity through training, mentoring, and building policy to support our next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs at our Start Smart Conference,” she said.
The event has selected keynote speakers from MIT as well both regional and local case studies to showcase the market trends, discuss the successes and challenges, and of course to highlight every enterprise’s journey. “I am delighted that our strategic partners, Zain and Dulani, have worked closely with us to help us promote, train, and provide resources to our next generation of doers and thinkers...they absolutely made this a great success this year!”
The competition focuses on 4 foundational areas for all three tracks (Team, Innovation, Scalability, Financial Sustainability) and for the Social Enterprise Track we add the measurement of their social impact in the communities they serve. “We brief the judges and mentors to use these criteria when evaluating each venture.”
Speaking of MIT plans to go with the Kingdom’s development objectives, she stressed: “I am pleased to say that we are absolutely in alignment with the exciting changes happening all over the Kingdom in order to adhere to the goals placed before us through the vision. We achieve this by continuing to focus on like-minded goals including advancing knowledge through science & technology, and offering innovative solutions to the market and community challenges. We pride ourselves through this program by offering intensive training and skill building, a comprehensive mentorship program that goes beyond just the competition, and sustainable social program development. In addition, we expand our network by leveraging the products and services of our partners to provide to add even more value to our participants.”
“I am proud to say that we offer a significant contribution to the development of a sustainable Saudi entrepreneurship ecosystem. This is our opportunity to develop sustainable programs to address the needs of the Kingdom and we are faring well. I am excited about our next cycle in the Eastern Province next year inshaAllah, and am in great hopes that we will be able to offer even more value to our participants!” she concluded.
