MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region launches its business plan competition for 2008-2009

The competition is designed to encourage entrepreneurs across the Arab region to start their own companies.

A press conference was held on this occasion at Beirut's Monroe Hotel on Thursday.

The forum's president, Mrs. Hala Fadel, said that the Competition, the first of its kind in the Arab world, is open to all Arab nationals with an innovative business idea provided candidates form teams of at least 3 individuals.

A minimum of 2 team members should be citizens of Arab origin.

The proposed business must to be implemented in an Arab country.

According to Fadel, MIT Enterprise Forum, has earmarked a $50,000 prize for the winner, $10,000 for the 1st runner-up, and $5,000 for the 2nd runner-up respectively.

In addition, selected teams will benefit from the opportunity of taking part in a training workshop on entrepreneurship conducted by MIT teachers and MIT-Enterprise Forum members, and getting to know network members.

The winners will also have access to support and advice to jump-start their proposed business, as well as access to a wide network of potential investors.

The winning team will get the chance to attend the Global Startup Workshop organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum Inc. in Massassuchets.

The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region (Lebanon) is one of the 24 chapters of MIT Enterprise Forum Inc. and the first of its kind in the Arab world.

Headquartered in Beirut, which hosts a large and very active community of MIT alumni, the forum aims to develop and nurture a culture of entrepreneurship in the Pan Arab region It also aims at consolidating a common ground of understanding amongst policy makers, academics and entrepreneurs on the role of entrepreneurship for economic growth and social stability in the region.

The Competition brings to the Arab world MIT's expertise in entrepreneurship.

Its equivalence in USA is the MIT 50K Entrepreneurship Competition.

The Competition is sponsored by "Bab Rizk Jameel", one of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs (ALJ-CSP) who is considered the main partner of this initiative.

Mr. Mohammad Jameel, Founder and President of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs (ALJ-CSP) is an MIT alumnus himself (class of 78) and one of the most important supporters of MIT programs.

Mr. Mohammad Jameel outlined that ALJ-CSP focuses on providing job opportunities for youth in the Arab World, and sponsoring the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition aligns with the spirit of supporting initiatives aiming to establish small to medium projects that contribute to jobs creation and to supporting the economy in the Arab World.

ALJ-CSP is sponsoring the Competition for 5 consecutive years to ensure the sustainability and proper progress of the project.

Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs (ALJ-CSP), was established in 2003 as the key focus for its community investment (Corporate Social Responsibility) supporting initiatives and projects that align with ALJ's commitment to social and economic sustainability.

ALJ-CSP participates in educational, health and social initiatives locally and globally, and was able to provide 65,000 job opportunities in KSA until now in the areas of direct employment, supporting small businesses, transportation, micro-credits.

The form consists of 18 questions that summarize their business idea and the ways of implementing it.

The website opened for registration on Monday, November 10, 2008. the deadline for submitting applications is Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 23:59 GMT.

The selection of winning teams will take place over 3 rounds.

The thirty winners of the first round will be announced on Tuesday, February 23, 2009 and the names will be posted on our website.

Teams qualifying for this round need to develop a first draft of their business plan, outlining its objectives, activities, strategy, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and projected financial plans.

To facilitate this process, they will all attend a one-day workshop in Beirut on Monday, March 23, 2009 lead by Ken Morse, MD, MIT Entrepreneurship Center.

Each team will also be designated a mentor who will help the team develop their business plans before final submission.

The deadline for submitting the full business plans is Monday, April 13, 2009 at 23:59 GMT.

The nine second-round winners will be announced on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 and the names will be posted on the website.

Those nine teams will present their projects to a jury composed of well-known entrepreneurs and business persons from the Arab region in Dubai on Thursday, June 11, 2009.

Three winning teams will be announced in the Awards Ceremony in Dubai on Friday, June 12, 2009.

Jurors for all rounds of the competition have been recruited from different parts of the Arab world with an emphasis on business professionals who are mainly active in finance and venture capital.

Iyad Malas, CEO of MAF Trust in Dubai, who will serve on first- and second-round juries, says:

"Providing capital and support to promising entrepreneurs is critical to keeping innovation and showing that young talent can access the support it needs to face the future."

Last year, the competition received 1,650 applications last year, representing more than 5,000 people from 16 Arab countries.

The MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region is aiming for an even larger number this year.

Last year's winners, Edu Lab, specialized in developing educational CDs that give students real time laboratory experiments through visual simulations, are now an established company in the educational software industry.

They employ 12 people (they started with 2) from Lebanon and expect to generate $150,000 from sales in the upcoming scholastic year.

It is worth mentioning that the first runner-up was also a Lebanese company whereas the second runner-up was an Algerian one.