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We’re getting closer to the widely-anticipated Mashroo3i Youth Business Competition by Tamkeen Bahrain! Not too sure about it? Mashroo3i is a nationwide entrepreneurship competition aimed at fostering the promising and creative ideas of the Bahraini youth. The competition aims to equip the youth with the required skills and expertise to develop market-ready business ideas.

We’re pretty sure you’ve read the top reasons why you should join Mashroo3i and you might still have a few doubts in mind. But don’t fret because we sat down with the Youth Schemes Manager at Tamkeen, Mohammed Ahmadi to give you exclusive insights about this year’s Mashroo3i competition!

First things first! Mashroo3i was introduced to break the fear among Bahraini youth of becoming entrepreneurs and encourage them to consider running their business as a potential future career. The idea behind the initiative is to nurture the Bahraini youth with the required skills to sketch their creative business ideas and provide them with the professional skills needed to develop market-ready business ideas.

Here’s a cool fact you didn’t know; since Mashroo3i’s launch in 2012, a total of 12 business concepts developed by Bahraini youth have won the competition!

Cash awards, sponsored incubation facility for the duration of 1 year for all top 3 places winners, educational learning trip for the first-place winner related to their business field are amongst the prizes in this year’s competition!

You don’t need to be a winner to win because Mohammed told us that the top performing teams in 9 categories will also be receiving special awards which include:

  1. Business Plan of the Year
  2. The Business Model Award
  3. The Marketing, Sales & Promotion
  4. Most Responsible Business of the Year
  5. The Charismatic Entrepreneur of the Year
  6. The Innovation Awards
  7. E-Business of the Year
  8. Active Use of Social Media Award
  9. The People’s Choice Award

What do previous participants and winners think though? Here’s a bit of inspiration.

  1. Aisha Jewelsa high-end jewellery design company which made its way to the GCC region as a result of Aisha’s; the Founder of Aisha Jewels, hard efforts.

“I would advise those who wish to start their own project to have patience, determination and the willpower and to take advantage of the support provided by companies that encourage entrepreneurial spirit within the Kingdom to turn their dreams into a reality,” said Aisha during her interview with Startup MGZN.

2.Campinyaa Startup up that focuses on the development of young girl’s personal skills. The team won 1st place at the third edition of the Mashroo3i Youth Business Awards.

  1. Sahel – Sahel specializes in creating a smooth and clear environment for wheelchair users in Bahrain.

Founder of Sahel, Latifa told us, “I learned a lot from mashroo3i, I learned how to do the business plan, how to deal with the market, how to promote your idea and how to pitch your idea to investors.” Latifa also told us that Sahel secured its first client during the competition!

  1. TamayyazA sports performance laboratory that will contain the latest technology to measure the performance level of athletes. Tamayyaz was crowned 1st place in last year’s Mashroo3i competition.

Co-Founder of Tamayyaz, Abdulrasool Bushehry shared his tips stating, “Be serious in every part of the competition, join as many seminars as possible as it provides information that is very useful for the competition, enjoy the journey and put an effort in research, identifying the idea and creating the business plan.”

  1. The Body JarCreates chemical-free handmade natural and organic based body cosmetics. The Body Jar won the 2nd place in the 4th edition of Mashroo3i.

Co-Founder of The Body Jar, Sara Shehab told us, “We learned a lot from our experience. Creating our first business plan is one thing, which we learned from many workshops. Another thing is feeling the competition and thriving to win in a challenging environment helped us better understand the challenges of the real market. In addition to creating a big network of people and having all the publicity. And most importantly, winning the prize.”

  1. Fannan – a mobile app that allows music lovers to choose the song they want to practice, mute the instrument they want to master and play along with the music track while being recorded! The team won the 3rd place in last year’s Mashroo3i competition.

Mashroo3i is not a decision but a starting point for greater things to come!

Mohammed told us,After completing their journey in Mashroo3i, Tamkeen keeps on monitoring the candidates and provides the necessary support on one to one basis. Activities such nomination for local & international competitions, participation in related conferences & seminars as well as free exhibition participation are also offered to Mashroo3i Alumni.”

Here are some of the exciting plans to look forward to this year’s Mashroo3i competition:

  1. 12 mentors from different sectors and backgrounds will be carefully matched with the participating teams.
  2. An additional coaching phase between Orientation Training and interviews with Mentors will be introduced.
  3. Participants will now be Interviewed rather than doing a 3 minutes pitch for the mentors’ selection of the 60 teams.
  4. An advisory team will provide additional support to the mentors during the business planning phase of the competition.
  5. An active knowledge center which will provide up-to-date resources and tools for the teams as well as the public throughout the competition.

Face it! You’ve got no more excuses to start your own business! Don’t miss this golden opportunity! The deadline is sooner than you think (7th of June), click here to be part of this exciting competition.

If you missed out on the top reasons why you should join Mashroo3i, go ahead and click here.