Zain star entrepreneurs meet Kuwait investors
Company concludes Zain Great Idea tech startup accelerator program
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 25: Zain, the leading digital service provider in Kuwait, successfully concluded the fifth edition of its Zain Great Idea (ZGI) tech startup accelerator program. The conclusion came during the company’s Zain Demo Day event, through which Zain’s 11 entrepreneurs met Kuwait’s investment community at Four Seasons Hotel with the presence of their families, the local entrepreneurial community, and Zain officials.
The event witnessed the attendance of Zain Kuwait’s Chief Executive Officer Eaman Al Roudhan, Mind the Bridge Founder and CEO Marco Marinucci, Zain Kuwait’s Chief Technical Officer Nawaf Al Gharabally, Zain Kuwait’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer Hamad Al Marzouq, Zain Kuwait’s Chief Commercial Officer Meshal Mohammed, Zain Kuwait’s Chief Corporate Communications and Relations Officer Waleed Al Khashti, Brilliant Lab Founder Neda Al Dihany, as well as representatives of investment companies and the local entrepreneurial community.
Zain Demo Day came after almost four months of continuous hard work exerted by 11 bright entrepreneurs developing and accelerating their tech startups: Faisal Al Basri – founder of Mezan, Yousef Al Husaini – founder of Baims, Abdulwahab Al Refaei – founder of Cybersys, Reem Al Farhan – founder of CTC, Rawan Al Sabah – founder of The Capital, Mishari Amin – founder of Touch point, Noor Asad and Dalal Al Qattan – founders of That Designs, Fahad Al Baghli – founder of The Wish List, Majed Al Hamlan – founder of Blue Outdoors, Mohamed Al Raqem – founder of Wellbii, and Altaf Al Thekair – founder of Circle.
Success
During her opening speech, Zain Kuwait’s Chief Executive Officer Eaman Al Roudhan said: “First, I would like to welcome all our guests and thank our ZGI alumni. Lately, the number of entrepreneurs looking for quick business success has increased. They reached the conclusion that increasing the value of startups depends on many factors: business development continuity, catching valuable opportunities from large corporations, continuing as an individual business rather than an incorporated one, and finally: the key dependency on innovation and new technologies”.
Al Roudhan explained: “The entrepreneurship wave has invaded international markets during the past decade in particular, and the technology revolution has contributed to raising this wave. Thus, a new generation of entrepreneurs was born thanks to tech startups, and they are leading the growth of the world’s digital economy today”.
Al Roudhan continued: “We have witnessed lately how the region’s markets adopted this direction, and worked to spread the freelance mentality within entrepreneurs in all areas, while increasing awareness about the influential role of startups in economic and social development. The connection in supporting entrepreneurs is greatly dependent on the value of innovations and ideas, and what these innovations and ideas can introduce to the business ecosystem. Business growth is linked with necessity, and necessity is the mother of invention”.
Al Roudhan added: “In spite of these efforts and initiatives across international, regional, and local levels, many entrepreneurs still face challenges like high capital costs of new technologies, cybersecurity and protecting data, lack of needed skills, need for a variety of specific skills, as well as the ability to build integrated partnerships or ecosystems to support their businesses”.
Al Roudhan further explained: “10 years ago, and as part of our
Eaman Al Roudhan with Zain’s 11 entrepreneurs and the company’s team
(SMEs) to this day. Zain Great Idea has been one of the most successful initiatives Zain presented to the Kuwaiti market as part of its comprehensive innovation and entrepreneurship strategy, with the aim of offering Kuwait’s entrepreneurial community the chance to take their startups to entire new levels. ZGI is established by Zain in association with Brilliant Lab, a startup Accelerator Service from Kuwait, and Mind the Bridge, a global organization bridging the world through entrepreneurship education for startups, enterprises and investors to succeed in global markets. Mind the Bridge is based in Silicon Valley with offices in US, London, Italy, and Spain.
Essentials
During the first phase of ZGI, participates took part in the Bootcamp phase in Kuwait, which featured a carefully designed comprehensive academic program that lasted for three weeks. Participants learned the essentials of accelerating their tech startup at the company’s main headquarters in Shuwaikh, led by worldclass instructors from a selection of the best regional and international academic institutions, including Stanford University, IE Business School, Venture Capital firms, entrepreneurs, and more.
In the second phase, nearly 100 ambitious entrepreneurs pitched their projects and ideas to the judging panel, who in return selected 11 finalists that took part in the third phase; the international accelerator program in collaboration with Brilliant Lab and Mind the Bridge.
During the third phase, the finalists travelled to San Francisco, where they presented their tech startups to Mind the Bridge’s top management, headed by Founder and CEO Marco Marinucci, who shared his strategic experience in business and entrepreneurship with them. Throughout an entire day, the finalists also met many local entrepreneurs in San Francisco, who shared their success stories and mentoring advice.
During the second week of their stay in San Francisco, Zain’s entrepreneurs gained invaluable experiences to develop and accelerate their tech startups by visiting the headquarters of the world’s biggest technology leaders.
H.R.H. Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Senior Adviser, Private Sector Partnerships, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva; Young Global Leader, Henadi Al Saleh, Chair of the Board of Directors, Agility, Kuwait; Tarek Sultan Al Essa, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Agility, Kuwait; Alem Tedeneke, Media Lead, Canada, Latin America and Sustainable Development Goals, World Economic Forum, speaking at the press conference: Agility and UNHCR announce a partnership in Malaysia session at the World Economic Forum
Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland on Jan 22.