Batelco's 'Startup Weekend Bahrain' to provide business opportunities

Startup Weekend Bahrain 2012 will take place on November 8, 9 and 10 at the Batelco Staff Centre in Hamala and form part of Global Entrepreneurship Week with a large number of StartUp Weekends taking place globally to mark the occasion.

The focus of the event is to discover entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs and assist them on the road to establishing successful ICT and e-business enterprises. Participants with IT, ICT, marketing, public relations, business development, web design and application design skills are invited to register to have the chance to lead or participate in a team to establish a new eBusiness. It is not necessary for participants to have their own business idea or plan as everyone will be placed into teams on the first day of the event.

Startup Weekend is a non-profit operation based in Seattle, Washington, that organizes 54-hour events in cities around the world, all of which help educate, support, and empower people to become entrepreneurs. Startup Weekends bring together developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch startups!

Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend's attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business, marketing or non-technical backgrounds.

Beginning with brief pitches to outline their idea on Thursday, attendees aim to inspire other participants to join their team. Over Friday and Saturday the teams will focus on customer development, validating their ideas and building a minimal viable product.

The success of Startup Weekend is dependent upon receiving financial and in-kind support from a wide range of organisations and Batelco is delighted to announce that a number of enterprises have pledged their sponsorship and support including:

­- Platinum Sponsors: Mumtalakat and Ericsson.

­- Silver Sponsors: The Cloud.

­- Organising Partners: Tenmou and Ideas Powered By Batelco.

­- Strategic Partners: Tamkeen and Bahrain Development Bank (BDB).

­- Technology Partner: Microsoft.

­- Official Carrier: Gulf Air.

- Contributing Sponsors: Red Bull, Expression Computers, Mathias Tourism, (ADT) Aries Designs &Trading, Union Press, Palace Enterprises, Arab Open University, efood.bh, InterContinental Regency Bahrain.

- Media Sponsors: GDN, Gulf Weekly, CoEds, Business In Gulf, Bahrain Confidential, Gulf Insider, Areej, Sabaya, Al Ayam, Layalina, Bahraini Preneur Online Blog.

Batelco Group General Manager Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi said that Batelco extends its great appreciation to the companies that have committed their support to help deliver such a worthwhile event that benefits aspiring entrepreneurs in Bahrain.

Throughout the weekend Mentors who are entrepreneurs themselves or come from leading local and global organisation will be on hand to give advice, support and answer questions to help the teams to develop their ideas into a viable business plan. On Saturday evening the teams will present their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts who will select the winning ideas.

Aspiring entrepreneurs of all nationalities are invited to visit the Startup Weekend Bahrain web page (bahrain.startupweekend.org) to learn more about how Startup works and register to attend and participate.

The top three teams will walk away with cash prizes and follow-up support to help them launch their new ventures. Additionally, some sponsors will provide free services for up to a year for the winning teams.

"Batelco is delighted to once again bring Startup Weekend to Bahrain to provide a great opportunity for young people to receive valuable feedback from those with experience in a range of industries and also have the opportunity to benefit from practical and financial support from potential investors," said Mr. Al Janahi.

"It has been found in numerous events that have taken place all over the world that about half of Startup Weekend participants attend the events to learn a new skill, learn how to develop a product, or learn how to start a venture—there are many opportunities to share experiences and learn from each other and from the mentors and judges who will be on hand," he said.