KU organizes exhibition for Kuwait Startup contesting enterprises

Under patronage of Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Mohammad Al-Fares, Kuwaiti University (KU) organized an exhibition for enterprises competition in the Startup Kuwait National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Challenge.

The exhibition was held at headquarters of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sunday with the participation of eight national universities and educational institutions. The competition is part of the KU strategy to empower national youth and encourage them to excel in all domains, KU Director Professor Hussain Al-Ansari said in his inaugural speech.

He added that the contest is also a materialization of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s vision to support youth and increase their contribution to the state efforts to achieve sustainable development and diversify national economy. He argued that the role of universities and educational institutions should not be confined to teaching curricula. Educational institutions have to play a role in qualifying youth and providing them with different skills, tools of creativity and professional methods for carrying out businesses, he pointed out.

He went on to say that educational institutions have to encourage youth to turn their ideas into a reality on the ground to better serve their country. This year’s edition saw the participation of eight universities and colleges: Kuwait University, the Public Authority for Applied Education, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Box Hill College Kuwait, American University Kuwait, Australian College Kuwait, Arab Open University, and Kuwait College of Science and Technology. He viewed that the wide participation of universities, colleges in this year’s edition has enriched the event with a myriad of ideas and projects. This event also shows the pioneering role of Kuwait in empowering and incentivizing young entrepreneurs, he said.

Ansari also expressed admiration of the ideas and projects showcased in the competition. Startup Kuwait’s National Competition final, for Spring 2017, will take place next May. Startup Kuwait was formally launched in November 2015, after period of evaluation and discussions within Kuwait and beyond. It was introduced to foster student leadership and entrepreneurship in partnership with colleges, universities, startup accelerators and civic groups in Kuwait and beyond.

It is the first program of its kind in Kuwaitbringing world experts, entrepreneurs, investors-accelerators together-to support Kuwait-born startups and entrepreneurs, and aims towards strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The Startup Kuwait objective is to create feeder programs across Kuwait that provide a robust and growing pipeline of startups year-after-year to investors and multiple accelerators, and to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to a broad-swathe of Kuwaiti societyacross economic sectors, age groups and social background. An initiative that has a positive and long lasting impact on the Society.