National University fair promotes entrepreneurship
MUSCAT: College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, organised Entrepreneurship Fair 2019 during March 11-12 under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohsen al Ghassani, Chief Executive Officer — General Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises.
The event saw representation from entrepreneurship support agencies and higher education institutions in the Sultanate. Launched in 2013, this was the sixth fair at the College of Engineering, where student startups, staff mentors, students and the entrepreneurial community joined together to celebrate the entrepreneurial journey.
The objective of organising the fair was to discuss ‘Entrepreneurship’ and SME development in Oman, provide a platform for students to present and defend their business ideas, enable students to showcasing their business (products/services), involve the community and the policymakers in strengthening SME ecosystem available to Graduate Entrepreneurs.
Each year the Entrepreneurship Fair has a theme in line with emerging needs.
This year the COE brought together the Graduate Start-ups under the theme Start-up”.
The programme was participated by eminent entrepreneurial support providers such as Riyada, The Research Council, Agriculture and Animal Research Centre, Al Raffd, Shell Intallaqah, Asyad, National Bank of Oman and SAS — Oman Telecom Regulatory Authority. “Celebrating
Professor Simon Jones, Vice Chancellor, National University of Science & Technology, in his welcome address, highlighted the need for creating entrepreneurial graduates who become job providers and become an asset to the nation’s economy. He lauded the active role the universities play in creating entrepreneurial graduates.
Chief guest Dr Ahmed bin Mohsen al Ghassani encouraged the students to be self-reliant and start their ventures and make use of the available entrepreneurial support.
Dr Zahra al Rawahy, Director, Building Innovative Capabilities, TRC, gave the keynote address on the theme “4th Industrial Revolution & Startup Opportunities”. Dr Zahara encouraged the students to explore the scope created by 4IR and harness the potentials to start new ventures.