National Cleaning Company launches first Innovation Lab
KUWAIT: National Cleaning Company (NCC), a leading waste management company in the GCC, is now accepting applications for its Innovation Lab: NCC Edition, the first of its kind in Kuwait. Run by Berkeley Research Group and Kuwait Ventures, the 5-week program will offer foundational course teaching entrepreneurs to map out, build and learn to monetize their ideas, followed by an intensive four-week period of customer discovery, mentorship and coaching. Each team will be granted a reasonable budget to cover expenses for the customer discovery phase, and at the end of the 5-week program will present their business plan to NCC for potential funding and incubation. The program is open to new teams, existing startups, and teams from within NCC and its subsidiaries, that are based in Kuwait.
NCC expects to discover and develop new products and services relevant to its lines of business and those of its subsidiaries, including the fields of waste management (municipal waste collection and disposal, environmental waste management, and bioremediation, among others), agriculture and landscaping, pest control, laundry services, valet parking, and security services. NCC is also interested in tech startups and other entrepreneurs with innovations related to internal business and logistical functionality within its companies.
Applications will be accepted online at: kventures.io/apply from September 24, 2017 through October 26, 2017. The successful applications will be notified by November 5, 2017 and the 5-week program will begin on November 12, 2017.
“NCC is very excited to partner with BRG and Kuwait Ventures on this exciting opportunity. We look forward to tapping into the entrepreneurial talent and new ideas in Kuwait and partnering to build a new chapter in the NCC success story locally and internationally,” said Mohsin Bushahri, NCC Chief Executive Officer.
According to BRG General Manager Jared Willis, “We are delighted to be working with NCC and Kuwait Ventures on Innovation Lab: NCC Edition, the first of its kind in Kuwait. The chance to work NCC represents a unique opportunity for Kuwaiti entrepreneurs to develop their idea alongside an established and experienced partner, and we expect this will be a fruitful partnership for all parties.”
“It’s great to see this international phenomenon coming to Kuwait, and I’m very excited to be working with such a strong corporate partner as NCC on this Innovation Lab,” said Kuwait Ventures Managing Partner Sara N Al-Ateeqi.
National Cleaning Company was started 38 years ago by several dedicated and enterprising individuals, and has grown into a major shareholding company with a multinational workforce exceeding 10,000 and equipped with over 2,500 specialist machineries to support its business.
Berkeley Research Group is a leading global strategic advisory and expert consulting firm that provides independent advice, data analytics, authoritative studies, and regulatory consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, financial institutions, government agencies, major law firms and regulatory bodies around the world. BRG’s Kuwait subsidiary is the first wholly-owned foreign consulting firm to be registered in Kuwait under the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Law of 2014.
Kuwait Ventures is a venture advisory firm based in Kuwait that focuses on providing corporations and governments a bridge to innovation via the startup ecosystem.