(MENAFN Press) As "Mashroo3i" Youth business Plans competition approaches its end, an open exhibition was inaugurated today on the ground floor of the Bahrain City Center to showcase innovative business ideas submitted by young Bahraini talent as part of this leading initiative. The Kingdom-wide competition is provided by Tamkeen and it was designed to promote entrepreneurial culture among the local youth. In this regard, Tamkeen cordially invites the general public to visit the exhibition to view the business prototypes of the finalists in this competition and vote for best team. The exhibition will be open to the general public from the 12th until 14 July.
The exhibition was officially inaugurated by Tamkeen's Chief Executive Mahmood Hashem Al Kooheji, and attended by a number of senior Tamkeen officials. Al Kooheji then toured the exhibition, viewed the exhibited projects, and praised the students for their innovations and efforts during the period of the competition.
Mr. Al Kooheji also added during his keynote speech: "Tamkeen strives to enable and train Bahraini talents, help in creating a sustainable economy, and consequently, improve the living standards for all Bahrainis. Here lies the importance of Mashroo3i initiative, which not only encourages entrepreneurship among young Bahrainis, but also helps unleash creative business ideas that will stimulate the private sector. Investors visiting the exhibition will learn about these ideas and help turn them into real projects." Given the success of this first edition of the competition, Al Kooheji added, Tamkeen looks forward to organising further editions in the future.
Al Kooheji urged the general public to support young Bahraini talents by visiting the exhibition to see business prototypes and vote for the ones they like most using the competition's Facebook page www.facebook.com/mashroo3i. The voting of the public will play a major role in the selection of the best project that will win Mashroo3i trophy.
In addition to the top three highest scoring teams, prizes will be given to the teams scoring the highest points in 7 individual categories: Most Profitable Business Plan, Best Display Design, Best Marketing, Best Brand, Most Innovative Business Model, and Most Socially Responsible Business Project. The winners will be announced on the last day of the exhibition, i.e. on 14th July 2012, at a closing ceremony where the Mashroo3i trophies will be awarded to the best performing teams at the final stage.
In its first edition, the competition, launched in February 2012, attracted around 232 male and female student teams. Out of these, 60 teams were shortlisted based on the quality of their business ideas.
The teams were assigned Mentors from among prominent local business and civil society leaders who provided practical training on preparing their business plans for a period of 6 weeks, followed by live presentations by each team in front of a panel of expert judges. The judges selected 25 teams to compete in the final stage and participate in the live exhibition at City Center to promote their ideas to potential customers and investors in a lifelike experience.
