During the ”Ebdaat Omania” 5 exhibitions, held at Oman Convention and Exhibition Center, it was announced that the Sultanate will host the closing ceremony of the MIT Arab Startup Competition on April 19, 2018.
This year, the Forum organizers will partner with Community Jamil, the social institution behind most of the initiatives in the country promoting entrepreneurship and sustainable economic development. Besides Community Jamil there will be several other partners, among which are Omantel, the Public Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises ”Riyada” and the Oman Technology Fund. The last extensively supports the emerging technologies and innovative ideas in the IT sector in the country and beyond.
Since its inception in 2005, the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab has been actively promoting entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide in cooperation with the Ivy League’s MIT University. The Forum’s offices in Dubai and Beirut have been spreading the MIT style of entrepreneurship across the Arab region in the past ten years. Besides this, it also provides young people with opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, and showcasing businesses. Furthermore, it also organizes training sessions, and coaching and mentorship events. Eighty Arab entrepreneurs have represented the region at different entrepreneurship events worldwide. It is also worth mentioning that 71% of the semifinalist teams have at least one female member on board in a management role.
The MITEF Arab Startup Competition is a yearly event that divides entrepreneurs into three different tracks: Ideas Track, Startups Track, and Social Entrepreneurship track. The participants go through three rounds of judging. The jury will then select three winners from each track. The winning teams will get more than US$ 160K. They will also benefit from a wide range of other support activities, including tailor-made training, media exposure, networking, and more.
In 2017, the organizing committee received 8,272 applications. So far, the competition has awarded more than US$ 710,000 in seed funding, thanks to which 1,860 jobs were created.
