Aiming to nurture entrepreneurial spirits among Qatari Youths

Doha, Qatar, January 7, 2019:  Qatar Development Bank (QDB) launched the 7th edition of Al-Fikra 2019 National Business Competition.
Al-Fikra is a national business competition that aims to support entrepreneurship development in Qatar through identifying the top business ideas submitted by Qatari leaders who have the potential to transform such ideas into successful business projects. The applicants’ plans are presented in a series of workshops provided by Al-Fikra that help them bring their ideas to light in a more tactical and professional way. Since its inception, Al-Fikra has been one of the most important platforms provided by QDB to achieve its mission of a diversified economy and to support Qatar National Vision 2030.

On the launch of this year’s edition, Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO, Qatar Development Bank, said:
“The competition intends to develop the Businesses ideas of successful Qatari entrepreneurs and to contribute to the development of the private sector in Qatar through innovative ideas presented in a form of business plan pitching model. We also aim to foster the creativity culture within Qatar and to introduce new products and services, which in turn would lead to the emergence of new businesses and hence diversification in the local market. We at QDB continuously strive to increase creativity by offering solutions to market challenges and boosting collaboration between the sectors, knowing that this competition is the best platform to achieve our aspirations and support Qatar National Vision 2030.”

This year, Al Fikra will be divided into three categories: the Emerging Ideas (Al-Fikra Startup), which is a competition for general business ideas; (AL Fikra Mashroie) targeting university students, and (Al-Fikra Challenges), which allows entrepreneurs to find solutions for some of the challenges that can be turned into business ideas and projects that serve the state of Qatar. Through this competition, QDB envisions to draw close to 150 applications.

Following the registration, all applicants will go through an initial filtering process from February 17 – 21, 2019. The training sessions will last from February 24 till March 7, 2019, after which participants will be given the time to revisit and update their business plans based on what they learned from the training sessions. The aim of this step is to screen the submitted business plans to make sure they comply with the required criteria before handing them over to the jury. The final Ceremony will be held on April 30, 2019, where the top 8 finalists will present their final pitches in front of a judging panel for the top three positions.

The top three winners of the competition will be able to benefit from QDB services such as incubation, financing, and ISTESHARA, in order to convert their ideas into businesses and other awards.