Sponsored by JTG, PSUT announcement of the International Jury Members QRNEC

The jury committee consists of 5 members with business, academic, and investment backgrounds. Some of which, hailing from the business school and entrepreneurship centers of MIT, Cambridge, and various prominent institutes around the world.

In its second year, the QRNEC conducted orientation presentations in 22 Jordanian universities, attended by more than 1000 students. It also held a full-day interactive workshop entitled 'Business Planning 101' which was also attended by over 200 students. At the beginning of the competition, 92 student teams took part and submitted business proposals to the competition's jury committee reflecting projects they strive to achieve. Presentations were then made before a judging committee consisting of experts in the fields of business, entrepreneurship, and the creation of business plans.

And in the second stage of the competition, the top ten teams received over 130 hours of advanced training courses to aid them in writing winning business plans and running their businesses successfully afterwards.

The courses focused on areas such as marketing, accounting, HR, business communication skills, business ethics, and legal/IP training. Nine of the teams were able to submit business plans, and moved on to the 3rd stage of the competition where they pitch their business plans in front of the international jury.

The judging criteria for the competition includes several areas of evaluation, including market needs, competitive advantage, the management team, market opportunity, and financial understanding/investment potential. These criteria's are aimed on focusing on presentation skills, and long term project feasibility and successfulness.

The QRNEC is the first business plan competition in Jordan, and is sponsored by the Jordan Telecom Group through the JTG Foundation for its second consecutive year.

'We would like to give special thanks to JTG for their sponsorship of the competition for the second year running,' said Prof. Hesham Ghassib the president of PSUT

'The PSUT strives for innovation and is constantly looking to be a leader in the field of entrepreneurship development, leading to the establishment of the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE).'

'The vision for the future,' he went on to say, 'is for PSUT to become the MIT of the Middle East.'

The QRCE, which hosts the competition annually, is designed to be a leading center locally and regionally. Aimed at encouraging innovation amongst university students in Jordan, the QRNEC was first initiated by HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El-Hasan at the Jordan ICT Forum of 2004. The competition was first named after HRH Princess Sumaya and was formerly known as the Princess Sumaya National Entrepreneurship Competition (PSNEC).