Six winners announced at Saudi’s first MITEF competition
Six winners announced at Saudi’s first MITEF competition
B8ak, an
application for home maintenance has won first place in the
‘Startups Track’ at Saudi Arabia’s first MIT Enterprise Forum
competition.
They took home a prize of 100,000 Saudi riyals
(around USD 26,000).
In total there were three winners out of 18
finalists.
The winning teams posing for a group photo. (Image
via Community
Jameel)
Artistia, a social
marketplace for designers took second place with 50,000 riyals
(around $13,000) and rock – paper – scissors, a gaming educational
initiative for children, won third place with 25,000 riyals (around
$6,000).
Every Drop Counts, a project that helps
companies and individuals measure and reduce their water
consumption, won first place in the Ideas track and 20,000 riyals
(around $5,000); Re Braille, an initiative aiming to help blind
people type, took second place with 15,000 riyals (around $4,000)
and Kool Snack for producing healthy products from natural
ingredients, took third place and 10,000 riyals (around $2,500).
The final awards ceremony was held in Dar
Hussein Jameel, Jeddah, on January 16.
“In addition to the size of the Saudi market,
its strategic positioning and investment-friendly traits, the
kingdom will be witnessing a new era that will activate the role of
the private sector and enhance governmental performance,” said the
Governor and Chairman of the Board of Directors SAGIA, Abdullatif
Al-Othman, in a press release.
All the finalists had the chance to
attend StartSmart,
a program produced by MIT Enterprise Forum, to offer workshops and
programs that help participants acquire the needed skills to take
their projects to the next level.
The event was sponsored by Saudi Arabian General Investment
Authority (SAGIA) and organized in partnership
with Bab Rizq
Jameel.
The program invited 20 local and international
speakers, such as Kathleen Kennedy, president of MIT Technology
Review and MIT Enterprise Forum; Tuba Terekli, CEO at
Qotuf Al
Riyadah; Raad Al-Saady, senior managing director
at Abdul Latif
Jameel, and Mudassir Sheikha from Careem.
Among the topics discussed were how to empower entrepreneurship in
the kingdom and a look back at worldwide tech trends in
2015.
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