Six Academic Institutions Across Qatar to Participate in INJAZ Qatar's Sixth Annual Young Enterprise of the Year Competition

Doha, Qatar, 18th May 2013: As part of its ongoing commitment to motivating, inspiring and developing Qatar's youth, INJAZ Qatar, a non-profit organization and member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, will be hosting Mubadara 2013, INJAZ Qatar's Sixth Annual Young Enterprise of the Year competition, on May 22nd and 23rd at Katara, the Cultural Village.

Student companies will present their projects to a panel of judges which includes Hassan Ibrahim Al Asmakh, Vice President / Business Development at Regency Group Holding; Saud S Alarifi, Vice President & HR Manager Qatar/Abu Dhabi, ExxonMobil Qatar Inc.; Sharoq Al Malki, Chief Human Capital officer, Museum of Islamic Art; Munther Al-Dawood, Projects & Investment Manager, Social Development Centre and  Abdulaziz Rashid Abdulla Al-Kubaisi, Acting Assistant Manager, National Manpower Development at Qatar Ministry of Labor.  Mubadara 2013 is sponsored by ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. (Platinum Sponsor), Katara Cultural Village (Strategic Partner), Siemens (Silver Sponsor), ibTECHar (Partner) and Afif Program (Partner).

Mubadara, which means "initiative" in Arabic, is the name for INJAZ Qatar's annual Young Enterprise of the Year competition. The competition, first organized in Doha in 2008, will see six student-led enterprises established through INJAZ's globally recognized Company Program™, an initiative designed to help students set up and run a real organization, compete for five coveted awards in entrepreneurship, including the 'Best Student Company' award.  

Afif Program, a non-profit Qatari initiative established jointly by Al Asmakh Charity and SDC (Social Development Qatar) are partnering with INJAZ Qatar to award the winners of the Best Student Company of the Year Award (University Level) with Islamic financing to help the team create their own company. Afif have also pledged to enrol the winning team in Afif's four-year-long business coaching program to continuously support the winning team achieve sustainable entrepreneurial success.

The competition consists of four stages - students have drafted an initial report detailing their business and company approach, following which they will give a business presentation then hold a trade fair exhibition at Katara. Finally, they will be interviewed by the panel of judges. Students were also given presentation skills training by Hill+Knowlton Strategies, an international full-service public relations and communications agency with offices in Doha, for a second consecutive year.

Aysha Al Mudahka, Executive Director of INJAZ Qatar, commented, "Mubadara is a platform for the youth to showcase their entrepreneurial projects and share their creative business approaches with key stakeholders and influencers in Qatar. INJAZ Qatar is dedicated to empowering the youth by supporting them in developing their entrepreneurial skills and bringing their original initiatives to fruition with a full-fledged professional path like the Company Program™. Mubadara is a way to acknowledge and celebrate those efforts, encouraging youth in Qatar to see entrepreneurship and enterprise establishment as a strong, rewarding career. We are privileged to have all Corporate Volunteers, Schools and Universities, Sponsors and Supporters for Mubadara 2013."

Dr. Khalid Bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, General Manager, Katara commented, "Educational outreach is a crucial dimension of Katara's mission and we are proud to be the strategic partner of INJAZ Qatar as they roll out the Sixth Annual Young Enterprise of the Year competition. Katara has become a fine example working towards Qatar's 2030 National Vision,  which seeks to develop the human potential of this nation and a knowledge-based economy. We are certain that this initiative is a step in  the right direction and will equip tomorrow's leaders with the tools they need to be successful. "

Bart Cahir, President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Inc also commented, "ExxonMobil actively supports a multitude of programs that encourage entrepreneurialism as an important means of progressing social and economic development. To this end, we are very proud to be supporting INJAZ Qatar since its inception in 2007, and today we are pleased to sponsor The Mubadara competition. In addition, our support of INJAZ goes beyond funding - we also encourage our employees to be part of its activities in Qatar.  Through mentorship, we hope to inspire a culture of entrepreneurialism and business innovation among youth".

Corporate Volunteers who have mentored and guided the student teams in the lead up to Mubadara 2013 have come from organizations in Qatar including Roudha Center, Ooredoo, Qatar Development Bank, the Institute of Development and Training, Cloud Media, Qatar Olympic Committee, COMTEC, Afif Program (Al Asmakh Charity), PWC, Yashfeen Medical and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.

Participating schools include, Al Resala Independent Secondary School for Girls, Al Kawthar Independent Secondary School for Girls, Amna Bint Wahb School for Girls, Tarek Bin Ziyad Independent Secondary School for Boys, Omar Bin Abdulaziz Independent Secondary School for Boys and Qatar University

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About INJAZ Qatar
INJAZ Qatar is a member of JA Worldwide (Junior Achievement), which provides hands-on, experiential learning in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness to 9.7 million students annually.  INJAZ Qatar is part of a network of 15 MENA countries working on a common mission to prepare and inspire young Arabs to succeed in a global economy.

INJAZ started its operations in Qatar in 2007 and has since reached 9,000 students across 27 schools and 4 universities thanks to 65 corporate partners and over 370 corporate volunteers.

About Company Program™
Company Program™ provides students with the unique opportunity of establishing and running a real company as they develop a business idea, raise capital, produce and sell a product or service.  By the end of the program students liquidate the company with balance sheets and profit/loss statements and prepare to present their business to a panel of judges at the national competition. The Company Program™ holds entrepreneurship related competitions annually in over 100 Junior Achievement countries around the world and 15 MENA countries.

For more information about JA, INJAZ Al-Arab and INJAZ Qatar please visit:
www.ja.org
www.injazalarab.org
www.injaz-qatar.org

For media inquires or questions, please contact:
Lara Mneimneh
Junior Account Executive
Hill + Knowlton Strategies Qatar
lara.mneimneh@hkstrategies.com
+974 441 4781

© Press Release 2013