Call for Applications: The Ye! Youth Ecopreneurs Programme (YECO) 2024 for young Green Entrepreneurs ($10,000 prize & All-Expenses-Paid Trip to International Conference).

Application Deadline: March 22nd 2024, midnight CET

Applications are now open for the Ye! Youth Ecopreneur Programme. The Ye! Youth Ecopreneurs Programme (YECO) 2024, a transformative journey hosted by the International Trade Centre and the G20 Global Land Initiative in Geneva. YECO 2024 is designed for visionary young entrepreneurs who are committed to pioneering sustainable solutions for our planet.

Requirements

The YECO 2024 program is designed for young ecopreneurs looking to elevate their initiatives to new heights. Ideal candidates are innovators with a clear understanding of the environmental challenges they address, offering scalable solutions ready for acceleration. This program serves as a launchpad for those ready to make a substantial impact in environmental innovation.

YECO seek candidates that meet the following profile:

Applicant

• Must be under the age of 35 (by 22 March 2024)
• Must be a member of the Ye! Community (Register here)
• Must be Founder, Co-Founder or CEO

The Business

• Must be majority run by a young person
• Must be legally registered
• The bootcamp is open globally, the accelerator is reserved for eligible countries – see the list (in the table hereafter)
• Must promote land restoration, sustainability, circularity, and/or the green economy

Programme Details: Specific program components include:

1. Global Bootcamp*

• Training and masterclasses on investment readiness among other crucial topics, facilitated by business development, legal, and IP experts
• A unified platform for global exchange and networking within the young entrepreneur cohort, complemented by mentoring from the Ye! Community

2. Accelerator

• A bespoke 360 degrees Business Assessment, followed by tailored trainings and coaching for your business
• Seed Funding and access to investment networks for Land Restoration category
• Preferential access to Pro-Bono Legal Services from Sidley Austin**
• Preferential access to the Google StartUp for Sustainable Development Programme

3. Awards

• All-Expenses-Paid Trip to International Conference
• In-person capacity building
• Personalized pitch training and coaching
• Visibility with stakeholders and investors
• Special prizes from partners
• Win Youth Ecopreneur Award and get $10,000 USD prize money

*Ecopreneurs from Developed Countries can only participate in the Bootcamp

**Subject to due diligence requirements

Application Procedure:

• The YECO 2024 welcomes young entrepreneurs to submit their green business initiatives.
• Applicants have until March 22nd to present their proposals that reflect innovation, sustainability, and potential for impact.

For More Information: Apply Now!

List of eligible countries

Imagine a sales interaction that feels less like a high-pressure negotiation and more like a lively brainstorming session with a trusted friend. This is the magic of the "Yes, And" approach, a game-changer in the dynamic world of sales. Forget about the pressure to close deals at any cost. Instead, enter a realm where building genuine relationships, fostering trust, and creating value for both the customer and the business are paramount.

The "Yes, And" philosophy isn't just a catchy phrase; it's rooted in the collaborative spirit of improvisation. Like actors building on each other's ideas to craft a captivating story, sales professionals who embrace "Yes, And" become active listeners.

They attentively listen to their customers, acknowledging their needs and concerns. Then, they add value by offering solutions and insights that directly resonate with the customer's unique goals and aspirations.

This shift from a transactional to a relational approach is the power of positive affirmation. Instead of solely pushing products or services, "Yes, And" practitioners engage in meaningful dialogues. They validate the customer's perspective, demonstrating a sincere interest in their success. This fosters trust far beyond a simple "yes" to a product or service. It lays the foundation for long-term partnerships built on mutual respect and a deep understanding of each other's needs.

Picture this: A salesperson is meeting with a client from a growing tech startup. The client expresses concerns about the scalability of their current marketing automation software as their company expands. Instead of launching into a pre-prepared sales pitch for a specific product, the salesperson adopts the "Yes, And" approach.

They acknowledge the client's concerns, and then "And" add value by offering insights into their company's experience with similar situations. They share success stories of how they helped other clients with similar scaling challenges, showcasing their expertise and genuine desire to support the client's growth. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of trust and partnership, making the client feel confident in exploring potential solutions together.

Collaboration, not dictation, is the cornerstone of the "Yes, And" philosophy. Forget the outdated image of a salesperson dictating terms. This approach encourages a co-creative process where both parties actively participate in value creation. By involving customers in the decision-making process and seeking their input on potential solutions, sales professionals foster a sense of ownership and investment in the final outcome. This approach extends beyond simply selling a product; it's about empowering customers to achieve their goals through a collaborative partnership.

At the heart of "Yes, And" lies the powerful duo of empathy and emotional intelligence. By stepping into the customer's shoes and understanding their individual challenges and aspirations, sales professionals can tailor their approach to resonate on a deeper level. This empathetic connection goes beyond the transaction, paving the way for genuine relationships built on trust and authenticity. Imagine a salesperson who, instead of pushing a specific product, helps a customer navigate a complex decision by offering personalized insights and support.

They actively listen to the customer's concerns, understand their unique context, and then suggest solutions that genuinely address their needs. This approach not only enhances the customer experience but also fosters long-term loyalty.

The business landscape is a constantly evolving ecosystem, and adaptability is the key to thriving. The "Yes, And" approach is an ode to innovation, encouraging sales professionals to think outside the box and explore new ways to add value.

By embracing change and continuously seeking opportunities to improve, they position themselves not just as salespeople, but as trusted advisors and thought leaders within their industries. They become experts in their field, constantly researching and developing new solutions to meet the evolving needs of their customers.

In conclusion, redefining sales success through the lens of "Yes, And" is more than a strategy; it's a mindset shift. It's about fostering positive interactions, working collaboratively, leveraging empathy, and embracing innovation. By embracing these principles, sales professionals can elevate their performance, build lasting relationships, and set themselves apart in a competitive marketplace. So, take a deep breath, step onto the dance floor of possibility, and say "Yes, And" to a new era of sales success, where collaboration, trust, and shared value are the driving forces behind every interaction.

The Arab Entrepreneurship Summit, the 1^st summit for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Arab world, were concluded in Amman under the auspices of Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II and the presence of Jordanian Prime Minister Dr. Bishr Al-Khasawneh, representing the Crown Prince. The summit was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO). This summit was organized during from October 30 to November 1, under the title: Opportunities Beyond Borders.

This summit comes after ESCWA launched last April an e-Commerce Acceleration Programme (eCAP) to enable small and medium enterprises to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital economy, and to contribute to creating a vibrant environment for entrepreneurship in the Arab region. The program aimed to build the capacities of 100 small and medium enterprises from the Arab region to move to online selling, either by developing their own e-commerce websites, or by selling in the markets that already exist on internet.

The importance of the summit stems from the fact that it constitutes support for entrepreneurship for small and medium enterprises in the Arab region, at a time when entrepreneurship has become a global trend, especially in view of the enormous youth energy that the Arab world enjoys and the structural problems that the labor market suffers from. According to UNICEF figures, children and youth make up about half of the population of the Middle East and North Africa (the Arab region), which is home to one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world.

Statistics of the International Labor Organization show that there are more than 14 million unemployed in the Arab countries, where the youth unemployment rate in the Arab region is almost double the global rate, and it has grown at a rate of 2.5 times, which is faster than the global average between 2010 and 2021. The region needs to create more than 33.3 million new jobs by 2030, to reduce the overall unemployment rate to 5 percent and to be able to absorb the large number of young people entering the labor market and stabilize youth unemployment rates (unicef).

Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered one of the most hiring projects for workers, and they help reduce unemployment rates, which have risen recently due to the prevailing political conditions in the Arab countries.

According to a study conducted by the Arab Youth Center, under the title “Priorities of Arab Youth”, on the eve of the International Youth Day, and reviewed the priorities of the young people surveyed in 21 Arab countries, strengthening sources of income and providing job opportunities was among the priorities of young people, as the youth’s suggestions included the need to provide financial incentives for those wishing to establish private projects and start-up companies, at a rate of 45 percent of the number of participants (arabyouthcenter).

With more than 135 million internet users in the Arab world, a new generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs is emerging. This region is expected to record strong growth over the coming decades in terms of both population and GDP (refer to our previous article: Emerging Arab World and Business Opportunities in spite of the Political Turmoil SAE).

According to a report of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (unescwa), the population size is growing rapidly in the Arab region. The total population of the region has more than tripled from 123.5 million in 1970 to 284.1 million in 2000 and 398.5 million in 2015. The Arab region is home to about 5.4 percent of the world's total population in 2015, compared to only 3.3 percent in 1970 and 4.6 percent in 2000. According to this report, these demographic trend is upward for the period 2015-2050, and population of the region is expected to exceed 520.7 million by 2030. At the same time, the real GDP is expected to grow during the coming period (on the basis of purchasing power parity) at amazing rates (we had talked about in a previous article, SAE).

Small and medium-sized companies constitute more than 90% of all companies in the Arab world, and they provide new job opportunities for young people, and they are considered an effective engine for change and development. However, despite the improvement witnessed by these companies in recent years, they still face great challenges that hinder their development.

The summit aimed to bring together the various official and private bodies in the Arab countries to help Arab small and medium enterprises to access regional and international markets, deal with various financing sources, benefit from regional and international networks, and increase their ability to expand in foreign markets.

This summit brought together about 650 participants, including entrepreneurs, owners of small and medium companies, representatives of financing organizations, as well as representatives of governments from across the Arab region, in addition to regional and international decision makers from the public and private sectors.

The summit was inaugurated by the Jordanian Prime Minister, Bisher Al-Khasawneh, who emphasized the interest that the Jordanian government attaches to supporting small and medium enterprises.

In his opening speech, Youssef Al-Shamali, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labor, Chairman of the Jordanian Corporation for the Development of Economic Enterprises, stressed the importance of small and medium-sized companies, and said that this summit is an attempt to use the most effective means to support small projects in the Arab region, pointing out the role of these projects in supplying the national economies in the Arab region.

Al-Shamali pointed out that these small companies constitute more than 70% of the available jobs in the region and that they face many challenges related to financing. For example, the percentage of banking facilities provided to small and medium enterprises is limited to 9% of the total banking facilities.

He also stressed the importance of the summit to facilitate dialogue on the most effective ways to enable small and medium enterprises to access regional and global markets, and benefit from the opportunities provided by international networks and build institutional capacities among Arab entrepreneurs.

The Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCWA, Rola Dashti, affirmed that the summit comes as a bridge between decision and policy makers and entrepreneurs looking to advance our societies to find ways to achieve the desired development goals.

She also confirmed that the contribution of small enterprises to the GDP in the Arab region is less than 10% and that most of these enterprises operate in the informal sector, stressing the role that small and medium enterprises can play in achieving higher economic growth and reducing unemployment among youth.

The main idea of the summit is cross-border opportunities. The organizers believe that ​​cross-border opportunities and connection of these projects and their products to global supply chains, will support these projects and their continuity and growth over longer periods of time.

Over the course of three days, the summit dealt with several topics, including environmentally friendly (green) entrepreneurship, facilitating the access of entrepreneurs to global markets, access to financing, and emerging technology trends. The means that can be used to strengthen partnerships and help Arab small and medium enterprises to access regional and international markets were discussed, in addition to mobilizing various financial resources, not to mention, discussions between governments and the private sector to develop frameworks for improved policies related to small and medium enterprises.

This summit constituted a regional platform for meeting local and international leaders from the private and public sectors, and a good opportunity to influence decision-makers in order to draw up the necessary policies and strategies to support small and medium enterprises.

During the summit, 20 main sessions and ten side activities were held, including an exhibition of many leading and emerging companies from the Arab world.

The first day witnessed series of specialized panel discussions on market access opportunities and global value chains. Examples of successful and inspiring projects were presented, such as Kuwait Flowered represented by Abdulaziz B. Al Loughani, Founder, and the Global Cargo, Travelers Services and subsequently Global Group, represented by Bahraini entrepreneur Huda Janahi. Which managed to become transboundary and expanded regionally and internationally, and it has received many praises and awards from regional and international organizations.

While Fabio Russo, Chief SME Development and Job Creation Unit, UNIDO, focused on the readiness of infrastructure for small and medium enterprises and the availability of electronic services.

On the other hand, Dana Al-Zoubi, Secretary General of the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, focused on the need to provide specialized programs for guidance and counseling for emerging projects to help them face the challenges and overcome the difficulties they encounter during the foundational stages.

The discussion touched on the importance of financing and stimulating entrepreneurial projects through the allocation of soft loans with easy terms, in a session attended by Nadia Al Saeed, CEO of Bank al Etihad, and Chair of Endeavor Jordan, and Abdullah Al-Awadi, Head of Change Management at Kuwait International Bank, and Amer Bukevik of the Islamic Development Bank. The sessions were also attended by Rafik Feki from Industrial Development Officer, Division of Digital Transformation and AI Strategies, UNIDO, and Rana Nawas, founder of the podcast 'When Women Win', Palestine. The sessions stressed the need to unify regulations in Arab countries, to facilitate trade and export operations, especially electronic payment operations and legislation regulating electronic commerce.

Abdullah Al-Awadi, from Kuwait International Bank, said that the bank found a gap in the Kuwaiti market in the early stages of small and medium enterprises, as the gap was bridged by establishing a center that supports entrepreneurs in the first stages of their projects to increase their chances of success, stressing that the importance of this conference in allowing the gathering all the pioneers and economic investors face to face to be able to communicate properly.

The second day included various workshops, starting with a session on opportunities for small and medium enterprises to adapt to the green environment, with the participation of international institutions from Switzerland (Johannes Heeb, Founder of Seecon International GmbH), Belgium (Lieve Fransen, Co-founder of Platform for Transformative Technologies), Germany (Aline Bussmann, Green Businesses Consultant, Germany) (Katja Muelheim, CEO of Prestel & Partner, Germany), Spain (Mohamed Wageih, PRIMA Secretariat Project Office), active in the environmental field. In another session, there were discussion about special programs to support small and medium enterprises, in which Fares Akkad, Regional Director for META in the Middle East, spoke. Mirna Sleiman, Chief Executive Officer of Fintech Galaxy, Lebanon, and Ramez El Serafy, CEO at Flat6Labs, Egypt, and Adi Ghuneim, Director of Governate Development Fund, from Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation.

In addition to the sessions and discussion panels, three specialized workshops were held on capacity building and exchange of experiences, in cooperation with specialized experts from the World Trade Center (ITC), the University of Cambridge and the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation.

Al-Wessam International for Electronic Marketing was among the participants in the summit. It is a rising company working to promote Palestinian products in international markets through its brand “Ard Al-Khair” (https://ardalkhair.ch), with an office in Switzerland, it is looking forward to becoming a marketplace for Palestinian products and a gateway for doing business between Palestine, Switzerland and Europe, though helping Palestinian products to access global markets.

The summit included an exhibition for about 100 small and medium-sized companies to enable them to display their products and facilitate the exchange of experiences, networking, and strengthening partnerships. It was found that many of the participating projects are related to the environment, which indicates that Arab youth are aware of environmental issues and climate change, and that donors tend to support this type of project.

Donna Natural from Egypt was among the exhibiting companies. It seeks to enable women to feel good and express themselves by helping them take care of their skin and look decent, by creating a natural dry shampoo to clean hair and prevent damage due to frequent use of water (www.donnanatural.com). Another company, Sefpro, Egyptian, that specializes in textiles and clothing products made of Egyptian cotton. The company has branches in both the UAE and the United Kingdom. Its products are certified by Fairtrade and Gots. Another, Tia for Development and Management Consultancy Company, from Yemen, is specialized in developing humanitarian work and works on preparing humanitarian, social, economic and environmental studies and research, in addition to evaluating humanitarian projects (www.tiadsc.com).

It was noted that there are many companies, especially in the field of electronic commerce, educational technology and green technology. The Entrepreneurship Summit concluded with commitment to give financial support to SMEs by the partners and supporters of the summit and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), a commitment of more than $130 million.

In conclusion, we believe that holding such conferences at the Arab level is important, and that the efforts being made to improve the business environment and support entrepreneurship in the Arab countries are exactly what the Arab world needs in light of these difficult times in the region.

In recent years, many Arab governments have already introduced regulatory reforms aimed at improving business environments, but there is more that can be done to reach the desired goals and create an environment that attracts entrepreneurship, especially in the digital field, such as removing barriers that prevent cross-border trade, improving the logistical environment between Arab countries, providing access to high-speed Internet services (broadband) for all residents, especially in rural areas, spreading digital payment systems, reforming electronic commerce regulations and consumer protection (look at the World Bank report on Middle East and North Africa[1]). There is also a need to accelerate the creation of a unified Arab market and supporting the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises to improve their chances of survival in light of the fierce competition they face on the international markets (read our article[2]).

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[1] World Bank, Middle East and North Africa Economic Update (read).

[2] For more information, please refer to our previous article: Emerging Arab world and business opportunities in spite of the political turmoil (read).

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) announced that it will hold an Entrepreneurship Summit under the title “The Arab Entrepreneurship Summit: Opportunities Across Borders” from October 30 to November 1, 2022, in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The Summit aims to help Arab SMEs access regional and international markets, mobilize diverse financial resources, benefit from regional and international networks, and increase their ability to scale up. The Summit is a regional platform for national and international leaders from the public and private sectors to advocate inclusive policies and strategies required to support Arab SMEs.

The Summit brings together some 600 selected participants, including entrepreneurs, investors, business influencers, political leaders, economists, journalists, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and donors for 20 main sessions and 10 side events.

Source: the official website of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on link.

Jordan-based Hello World Kids, an online coding tutoring platform, has raised an undisclosed pre-Series A funding round to accelerate its expansion into the Saudi market. The round was led by Daam Almonsha'at Holding, Oman Technology Fund (OTF) and saw participation from Vision Ventures.

Founded in 2015 by Hanan Khader, Hello World Kids offers courses in programming, coding courses and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for children.

In 2020, the company launched HelloCode, an online interactive platform that offers a coding curriculum for schools.

Beyond Saudi Arabia, the startup will use the newly raised funds to expand into Egypt and Pakistan.

Press release

The Jordanian EdTech company Hello World Kids closes their latest funding round of undisclosed amount. The Pre-Series A round was led by Daam Almonsha'at Holding, Oman Technology Fund, and with participation from Vision Ventures.

Founded in 2015, Hello World Kids aims to develop unique and fun coding education for kids, at home or in class. In 2020, the company launched HelloCode, an online interactive platform that offers coding curricula for schools to arm new generations with crucial skills like problem-solving, analytical thinking, and data analysis, obtained by teaching them text-based coding science in simplified and interesting methods. HelloCode platform is recognized as the biggest Arab community to teach programming for kids.

The Edtech sector is slowly becoming one of the most growing industries within the MENA VC ecosystem. The sector also grabbed the attention of both consumers and investors with the onset of the pandemic. Following a consecutive 4-year growth in funding for the sector, funding in MENA-based EdTech startups has grown by 525% since 2018, raising stellar rounds in 2021 YTD across geographies. One of the top EdTech players this year has been Jordan-based Abwaab, raising $20M by the likes of BECO Capital following its acquisition of Pakistan-based counterpart Edmatrix.

Hanan Khader, founder, and CEO of Hello World Kids started the company out of a strong belief in children's capabilities to accomplish amazing work if they were given the right tools. She decided to help in providing such tools and teach kids programming through HelloCode. She added, "Our mission is to simplify the coding education for kids, that's why we have created a new programming language, which we called SmoothY; a unique programming language specifically designed for children to serve as a transitional bridge to the command-based programming languages. Once children learn SmoothY, they will be capable of reading and writing code using Python, Java, JavaScript, or any other professional programming languages in the world."

Today, Hello World Kids has over 350,000 projects submitted by kids younger than 12 years old, and over 4 million lines of code recorded by children using SmoothY on the platform. Commenting on their investment, Ahmed Diab, The CEO of Yazeed Al-Rajhi & Brothers Holding and Authorized Manager at Da’am Al-Monsha’at Limited Holding said, “We truly believe in the importance of EduTech ventures, and the unique importance of providing the coming generations with the right tools to build their future skill-set. We could see clearly the big ambition to grow the business, in addition to the true passion for making the learning process of programming a joyful journey for our kids. These factors were the main determinants to invest in Hello World Kids, and lead the investment round.”

Maha AlBalushi, Managing Director at Oman Technology Fund added, “In OTF Wadi we are eager to invest in the Ed-tech sector which aligns with Oman 2040 vision and have a myriad of untapped opportunities that are worth exploration and investment. Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, the EdTech solution grabbed the attention of both the consumers and the investors significantly. Therefore, we are proud to co-lead this round in HWK as we see the right dynamics of the team and a huge potential for expansion and growth.”

Hello World Kids has launched a big awareness campaign targeting the Saudi market with the tagline (Barmej-min-Badri) or (Start-Coding-Early) to emphasize the skills gained by children when they learn coding early, such as creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and the positive reflection on the kids' personalities. Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures commented: “I learned programming relatively early, which have highly improved my problem-solving abilities, creativity and confidence. Investing into Hello World Kids empowers Hanan and her team to build the best tools possible for our kids to learn coding in a simple and fun way so they can improve their lives and their chances at participating actively in building the future.”

Hanan concluded by adding that Hello World Company would also be finalizing a new investment round soon to continue their expansion into the Saudi, Egyptian, and Pakistani markets. The purpose of the current round is to kick off the expansion activities in the Saudi market.

source: Wamda

Translated by: Hayat Hernández

The principles of innovation in the world of entrepreneurship

Imagine receiving an envelope with the following letter: “you have 5 dollars in your account, you are going to use it as an investment (initial capital), how much money can you gain from it in 2 hours?”

Before you start thinking about your options let’s have a look on what American Stanford University students did regarding this experiment in order to draw a lesson from it and determine the significant factors which drive the entrepreneurial innovation.

About the Stanford experiment

This mission was assigned by the American lecturer and coach, Tina Seelig to her students in one of Stanford University classes as part of “Stanford Technology Ventures” program, each team of the 14^th participating received an envelope with 5 dollars as an initial venture, and they had been told that they could take a lot of time planning their investment if needed, but as soon as the envelope was open they would have only 2 hours to earn the largest amount of money possible.

What would you do if you accept this challenge?

Professor Tina Seelig describes the most common answers you hear when this kind of questions is asked, answers can be divided into 2 types, the first one can be referred to as gambling “buy a lottery ticket”. And the second one is more traditional, like buying the basic materials for lemon selling business, or washing cars for instance. Selig stated “this plan is suitable for those who seek to gain few extra dollars out of the 5 in a 2 hour period”

Entrepreunial innovation

In contrast with most common answers to this kind of challenge, a few number of participating teams illustrated many nontraditional possibilities of what you can do with 5 dollars in 2 hours, or even without them!. Here’s what these three winning groups accomplished at the end of the experiment, knowing that they gained more than 600$ and never even used the 5$ at all!

The first team: selling restaurants reservations

This group determined the most common obstacles that most students face, such as the endless queues at popular restaurants on Saturday. They decided to solve this problem by making reservations at many restaurants and then selling them to student who don’t want to wait in line for a long time, this group sold each reservation for 20 dollars.

The importance of what this team accomplished doesn’t just shows the creativity in time management to earn a lot of money but also the flexibility in arranging plans and taking all the resources in consideration. As they noticed that female students are more skillful at selling the reservations than males, considering most student normally would trust more a female stranger to buy restaurant reservations from.

So based on this thought, they adjusted the plan so male students would buy the reservations and the females would sell them to student waiting in line.

The second team: inflating bike tires

The second group noticed that the most popular means of transportation at campus are bikes instead of cars, and because bikers always need to check their tiers pressure and fill them up with air, this group built a platform in front of the college campus and offered to check the bikers tires for free, so in case they needed to be filled up then the service would cost one dollar if the biker wanted this service.

Although students can inflate their tires for free at the nearest place outside campus, they accepted the service this group was offering, since it is effortless, worthy, and doesn’t require spending a lot of money on, one dollar for pumping a tire isn’t a high cost, especially that they would check their pressure first, if they didn’t need to be inflated then the checking service was for free.

After an hour had passed the team stopped asking for a dollar for the service, instead they asked the students to donate some money if they were pleased by the service. Interestingly, they made a lot of profit with the donations than when they were asking for the cost of the service.

Similarly to the first group, the benefit comes from the outcomes of the operational process, and harnessing it to learn how to make changes in order to gain more profit.

The third team: releasing a commercial

This team made the biggest profit amongst all participants, making 650$. The surprise was that this group didn’t use the 5$ and neither the 2 hours of the experiment. They looked at their resources from a completely different aspect. They realized that the most valuable resource they had was the first 3 minutes they needed to do their presentation in front the other students. And they found that the best way to harness these three minutes is to sell an advertisement for 650$ to companies that would like to hire college student as interns, they illustrated a preview of the company with its characteristics and requirements for those who would want to join it.

What are the innovation enablers?

The important question now is how did Seelig’s students came up with those ingenious ideas? And if we want to generalize this question, we may ask it in a different way, “what are the significant factors that drive innovation?” Actually there isn’t an only answer for this question, but Seelig presented six internal and external factors that shape creativity and the innovative process.

The internal factors

• Knowledge

Or as Seelig calls it “your special toolbox”. The more you know about something, the more you are capable of creating new aspects of it.

If we want to measure this factor on the winner groups experiment, we will realize that all of them tapped their knowledge of the students and the problems they face constantly, in addition to the value of the university itself, as the team that announced the commercial knew the importance of their presentation in front of the other students in a university as considerable as Stanford.

Furthermore, they acknowledged the companies need to hire their interns, which states that they had a deep acquaintance of the students and the mutual relationship between them and the company.

• Imagination

Everybody owns a lot of ideas on different topics and domains. The ingenuity lies in merging these ideas into creating something completely new and unique. We can see that these groups didn’t sell a new type of service, but what they accomplished is combining the idea of selling it with the conditions that were available then.

• Attitude

There are plenty of entrepreneur ideas we can think of, and a lot of them can remain sealed in one’s mind unless there was a motive for them to be executed.

The three external factors that shape the innovation process

• Resources

Maybe the best thing someone can learn from the Stanford experiment is reconsidering the available resources which are mostly distracting from others that we don’t think of as important but may result very useful to us.

If we go back to the experiment we will see that the winning teams ignored the 5 dollars that were counted as initial capital to make profit. Seeing that the team with the highest profit ignored the 2 hours as well and cared only about the first 3 minutes of the presentation in front of their colleagues.

The merit of reconsidering new resources in this experiment applied on our labor life can help us acknowledge the resources that may prevent us from discovering even more suitable resources, the ones that are “outside the box”.

• Habitat

The place were ground breaking ideas are being created isn’t represented by the square cubes surrounding you, but it’s broadly embodied by the team members, as well as the market, along with the resources and possibilities our habitat offers.

• Culture

Seelig describes a company’s culture or the team workers as “the company’s background music”, which influences the employee’s emotions by its ability to motivate them to do their job perfectly, thus, reflecting them on their production.

Conclusively, it is stated that seelig’s factors are not extracted, in fact they are all related in a way that they interact with each other resulting either a motivational engine for creativity, or a deterrence of the innovation process.

Wa’ed, the entrepreneurship arm of Aramco, tripled the amount of money it loaned to Kingdom-based start-ups during 2020, and injected significantly more money into new businesses through venture capital (VC) investments, as it began a multi-year effort to raise support for Saudi entrepreneurs.

The Dhahran-based venture, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aramco, increased loan disbursements to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia to SR31 million in 2020, from SR10 million in 2019. In venture capital investments, Wa’ed deployed  SR43 million, up 34 percent from SR32 million in the previous year.

The number of loans financed rose to 12 in 2020 from four in 2019, and venture capital deals executed increased from seven to nine over the same period.

Since its inception in 2011, Wa’ed has deployed more than SR375 million to enable the growth of hundreds of innovative, disruptive digital businesses in Saudi Arabia through a unique end-to-end combination of loans, VC investment and incubation services.

Under its mandate to help diversify the Saudi economy and support entrepreneurs, Wa’ed targets game-changing SMEs across all sectors whose technologies are unique, innovative, ready for market, and address a gap in the country.

Diversifying the Saudi economy beyond oil and gas by investing in other sectors is one goal of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative, a bold, ambitious blueprint to ensure sustainable economic growth into the future.

By supporting first-mover companies whose products measurably raise the quality of life in Saudi Arabia, Wa’ed has helped grow the Kingdom’s nascent start-up ecosystem into one of the fastest-growing hotbeds of entrepreneurship in the world.

In 2020, Wa’ed responded to the challenges of COVID-19 by going virtual and redesigning workflows to streamline procedures and manage new realities, creating efficiencies that generated higher loan and VC investment volumes. Wa’ed believes the workflow enhancements it introduced will continue to boost operating performance long after the pandemic ends.

“I am very grateful for the confidence and support we receive from Aramco and the Kingdom, which enables Wa’ed to fulfil its unique pioneering role as an advocate for innovative new businesses that localize technologies and services which are needed in Saudi Arabia and can help improve quality of life,” said Wassim Basrawi, Wa’ed’s Managing Director.

“In a very challenging year, I am proud of the Wa’ed family, which includes my team and our resilient entrepreneurs, for rising to the challenges and keeping us on track to deliver an even greater impact in 2021.”

Through its mentoring and start-up incubation activities, Wa’ed is a thought leader in Saudi Arabia, offering a wide range of cutting-edge professional certification, patent development and incubation support services, as well as a range of entrepreneur networking events that attracted more than 3,000 people during 2020.

Wa’ed’s Innovation Ecosystem team is a Gulf leader in creating new incubation techniques.

In 2020, personnel from the efactory, a prototyping development lab at Wa’ed, were named inventors on three patents from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The team incubated 10 new tech start-ups during the year, and three were awarded national contracts after receiving funding, interest and scouting from Aramco.

Following the onset of COVID-19, Wa’ed adopted virtual training of entrepreneurs by developing an online platform that attracted 60 new mentors, who reviewed over 130 applications from entrepreneurs with “minimum viable products” ready for market.

Social distancing also did not hinder Wa’ed from expanding the Innovation Ecosystem Society (IES), a Wa’ed-sponsored network of more than 1,600 entrepreneurs who meet in virtual events called Google Grind, which is co-sponsored with the U.S. technology giant.

As it prepares to close out its first decade, Wa’ed plans to increase its impact as the largest and most active institutional venture capital investor for Saudi-based start-ups and the only SME-sized lender in the Kingdom offering non-collateralized loans.

Wa’ed currently supports 66 Saudi SMEs through loan financing and, with its venture capital investment arm Wa’ed Ventures, a portfolio of more than 30 companies, including tech platforms Golden Scent, an e-commerce merchant for beauty products; Wahed, a global Shariah-compliant fintech robo-advisory platform licensed by the Saudi Capital Market Authority; and FalconViz, a provider of unmanned aerial drone systems.

In December, Wa’ed announced five new venture capital deals, including Ynmo, which develops Arabic-language instructional software for children with learning disabilities, and Postage, a last-mile logistics provider and rapid courier service for businesses.

Through bridge rounds, Wa’ed raised venture capital investments in Averos, a developer of real-time location-based monitoring systems, Hazen.ai, a developer of intelligent road safety systems, and GetMuv, a platform to access more than 100 health clubs and centers in the Kingdom.

Looking ahead to 2021, Wa’ed is planning a series of new initiatives to support development of Saudi’s venture capital ecosystem, which is increasingly attracting foreign innovators who are interested in localizing their technologies in the Saudi market.

The newest innovation in 2021 is expected to be Wa’ed’s new Venture Builder, a one-of-a-kind breeding ground for promising start-ups in Saudi Arabia, which provides entrepreneurs and start-ups with essential back-office services such as marketing, new business development and networking, allowing innovators to get their companies off the ground.

The Venture Builder will allow Wa’ed to specifically nurture start-up businesses that target existing market needs and gaps in Saudi Arabia, which are critical to the Kingdom’s economic future and diversification.

Overall, Mr. Basrawi said Wa’ed plans to double the number of loan and venture capital deals in next three years by entering new collaborations, better leveraging Saudi Aramco’s own business ecosystems, and actively reaching out to investors.

In its first decade, Wa’ed benefited from co-investment and innovation collaborations with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM).

In December, Wa’ed signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate with OQAL, the largest network of angel investors in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, with the goal of creating a new pipeline of potential deals.

Also during the month, Wa’ed signed an MoU with Namaa Almunawarah, the business development agency for the city of Medina, to support local SMEs there.

Medina is one of the fastest-growing Saudi hubs for start-up investment, based in part on well-developed research universities that have spearheaded the development of new technologies.

Wa’ed is also in advanced discussions to execute an MoU with the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, to promote entrepreneurial opportunities in the industrial sector.

source: zawya

Maya Kurbaytaeva was born in the Republic of Dagestan, in the Russian Federation, and moved with her family to live in Estonia when she was 5 years old, and since then Maya lives in both countries, after she graduated from "Pyatigorsk Linguistic State University" in Russia in 2008, Maya worked as a teacher For the English language between 2008-2014, but Maya saw in herself a tendency to work in the field of sales, so she decided to join the position of a sales officer in the "Kubachi Silver" store for silver in Dagestan in 2015, and in 2018 she decided to start her own business in the field of selling silverware, sculptures and business Handmade and souvenir products for foreign market, launched its project "Caucasus Craft Company".

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: After you worked in the field of teaching for six years, you moved to the field of sales, which are completely different fields. Can you describe your experience in the radical change of your career path?

My desire and interest in sales led me to change my career. It was very difficult and unusual.

I had to study a lot, attend various courses and get into the process. I wanted people all over the world to see all the beauty and originality of our products, and that the masters didn’t forget this skill and passed it on generation to generation.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: You work through your project on exporting locally made handmade products, from silverware, woodwork and other handicrafts, to foreign markets. In your opinion, how can this type of project contribute to preserving peoples’ heritage?

Thanks to my project, an increasing number of craftsmen are involved in the process of making handmade silver products. There is a development of creativity of masters who pass on their skills to the younger generation.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: Through your work you communicate with people from different cultures, languages and regions around the world, how would you describe this experience?

Because of the difference in cultures, we often have to communicate more, discuss details with clients. For example, Americans need specificity, punctuality, politeness. At the same time residents of Turkey tend to have communication, and only then get down to business.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: Given your experience in the handcraft trade, what kind of products are most in demand?

Based on orders, people are most interested in silverware, gift cutlery with unique ornaments, tea and coffee sets.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: we know that you are willing to discover enter new markets in the Arab World, what attracts you to these markets? what is special in this region, in your opinion?

The market of the Arab region attracts me with its potential and opportunities for business development, convenient tax, administrative policies and interesting positions for e-commerce.

But most importantly, I would like to bring a new product (trend) to this region.

To my mind, a special feature of the Arab world is the interesting and diverse culture that differs in each state of the Arab region. In addition, as a Muslim, I'm close to the religious and cultural features of life in the Arab World.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneur Platform: How do you plan on growing your business?

My future plans are to expand the product geography and search for new business partners in different countries.

The programme encompasses a unique collaboration between the EU, the Jordanian government and the private sector.

In collaboration with Jordan’s Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation and Ministry of Digital Economy & Entrepreneurship, the European Union has pulled the trigger on the ‘Innovate Jordan’ programme, which comes as the latest in a consistent EU support for the country’s innovation industry.

The EU is set to invest EUR20 million into promoting new initiatives that can “unlock entrepreneurship and innovation potential and enhance job creation and growth in Jordan.”

With the ultimate aim of enabling local companies and startups to become competitive on an international stage and drive forward Jordan’s digital economy, the programme’s first effects will be felt through the support of three new grant initiatives in collaboration with private sector entities.

The first, in collaboration with Endeavour, will target 45 local businesses for growth and scaling, with a view to equipping them with the tools to attract foreign investment and emerge on international markets.

The second, will see SAM Engineering take the lead on the establishment of Jordan’s first digitisation and innovation centre with the aim of promoting digital solutions in the world of manufacturing.

The third and final initiative is in collaboration with Orange and will establish a host of facilities across Jordan, including 23 digital centres, six coding academies, six FabLabs, six growth accelerators and three incubators.

For the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the programme is a perfect fit for the drive towards fully-digitised government services and digitally-enabled income opportunities. 

“We are committed to empowering the citizens and residents of Jordan in their digital journey across sectors and industries,” Minister Muthana Gharaibeh said.

“Our alignment with ‘Innovate Jordan’ will ensure motivating and inspiring people to produce change by maximizing the impact of financial and non-financial incentive programmes in place.”

source: thestartupscene

(العربية)

Born on May 11, 1995 in French-speaking Switzerland, Naomé Schenk spent her childhood in a small village bordering Lake Geneva. Although she suffers from a genetic disease, his wheelchair does not prevent her from discovering with curiosity the world around her. She is passionate about new technologies, fashion and art.

Her creative spirit and determination are the essential assets that characterize her. With a spirit of initiative, Naomé has, in addition to her studies, already used her skills to carry out various ambitious projects including: “I Am Naomé”, a marketing agency specializing in luxury, the creation of NGOLD Gstaad, a lifestyle brand, BY NAOME, a high-end fashion brand for charitable purposes.

“Luxury has always been a passion for me, which was evident since childhood. I have always been fascinated by the prestigious houses that give us magical experiences. These make me dream again now, and I, myself, would like to continue this dream. "

Swiss Arab Entrepreneurs: an you write us a summary on you? Your personal history, professional story? Can you describe to us your journey: main activities, how do you manage your project, what do you read? events you attend?...etc.

Naomé Schenk: Of course, thank you! I'm Naomé, I'm a 24-year-old woman entrepreneur focused within the luxury sector. Parallel to my professional activities, I am finishing my Master’s Degree in Luxury Marketing in Geneva, and I am very much involved in environmental causes through my own association and with By Naomé.

I am really passionate about what I do, I have so many ideas, desires and ambitions. My dream is to have a real positive impact, while living my dream life. I’m also obsessed with becoming a better person every day. I spend a great deal of my time reading personal and business development books, often drawing inspiration from great entrepreneurs who have succeeded on the path I am setting out on.

I'm constantly inspired by the success stories of ambitious people who’ve made a lasting positive social impact. I am a big believer in networking, and the development of my personal network has had a huge influence on helping me get to where I am today.

I invest a lot of my earnings back into conferences, courses, mastermind groups, and online training. These products and events give me access to valuable communities of entrepreneurs. Finally, my main networking tool is Instagram, where I am very active with my @iamnaome profile!


SAE: What is your project(s); can you give us a description? You also have a foundation: can you tell us about it? You succeeded to create different new products can you tell us more?

Naomé Schenk: passionate about luxury brands, fashion, and marketing. When I look my life’s endeavors objectively, all my professional and academic activities are also my passions. That's why I've been able to accomplish so much, because I'm so passionate about what I do. I’ve never counted my working hours or my ROI, I just do everything out of a burning desire to do so.

Concerning NGOLD Gstaad (my lastest brand), it's great because I have a very fond attachment to crystals, right from my childhood. I truly believe in the benefits of these stones. As a child (and to this day!) I’ve always had Amethysts on my bedside table. For those of you that don’t know, Amethyst is reputed to help both sleep and harmony. I'm over the moon to have created a brand that suits me down to the ground. Having my own bottle of water to take everywhere with me (preventing plastic waste) and having the energy benefits of the stone form part of my daily life.

Concerning By Naomé, it's simply my childhood dream to create a brand that’s proudly 100% Swiss-made, ethical, ecological, and that gives 100% of its profits to charities. We collaborate with contemporary artists, conceptualizing and designing each collection. This is a project I am extremely proud of. We launched our first collection in mid-2019, and subsequently held a Charity Gala in November.

Yes, we are recognized as a public body, which means that we have a cause that is recognized by the state as tax-exempt (meaning donations are also tax-exempt). This is a worthy recognition, but it’s not been easy to get there. Earning this status required a lot of paperwork, and a long list of appointments. As they say, it’s the administrative work that takes the most time!

SAE: What is your business model?

Naomé Schenk: Whether it’s my my businesses or my personal projects, I invest myself to the maximum, both personally and financially, doing everything I can to make them work. Then, once the business model starts to gain traction, I review it; evaluating what went well, and more importantly, assessing what I can learn from what didn’t. Then I try to look for ways to simplify and automate the business or project as much as possible! I'm increasingly interested in crypto currency and real estate, the logical next step for me now is to start to invest intelligently.

SAE: When you started your project?

Naomé Schenk: I left home at the age of 16 to start at an art & communication school. It was at this point that I started to undertake my first projects. I had a blog where I wrote about the luxury lifestyle, and that led to several experiences in the business press, I also spent a lot of time on community management. I then decided to specialize further within luxury. I experimented a lot too. I'm very curious – so many businesses pique my interest! With the advent of the internet, we are so lucky, we have so many opportunities that are just one Google search away. The online world has completely dismantled social and economic barriers affording anyone the opportunity to rise out of their current socioeconomic situation.

SAE: How you find the idea to start your project?

Naomé Schenk: I paired my passions with current growth trends.

SAE: What countries are you operating in / geographical coverage?

Naomé Schenk: I both work in, and have the majority of my clients located within Switzerland. I also have business locations in Paris, London, and Monaco. As far as NGOLD Gstaad is concerned, we are looking to go global!

SAE: How did you finance your project in the first stage? how you deal with the competition?

Naomé Schenk: I’ve self-financed all of projects! I’ve sometimes had the support of partners and sponsors, which was the case for By Naomé, for example. From 2020 onwards, I'm going to increasingly seek external funding sources because I sometimes put myself in difficult situations at the beginning of a project.

Competition is only a mere matter of marketing and positioning, which is good, because it allows us to demonstrate how we are better.

SAE: In which stage are you now in your projects?

Naomé Schenk: I'm currently in a phase where I'd like to simplify and automate my projects. We've achieved some early success, and now is the time to surround ourselves with some expert help. We're in a strategically interesting period, and past the initial difficulty of the startup phase.

SAE: What is your future objectives?

Naomé Schenk: To grow and to have a greater positive impact. I would like to grow my business to as big as it can possibly be, and I’m not afraid to display such ambitions.

SAE: What are the major obstacles you faced/you are facing? Can you tell us about the most fascinating moment in your professional life / in this project? I got that you got an offer from a very rich businessman, can you tell us about this offer?

Naomé Schenk: My greatest difficulty was, first and foremost, my illness. Being in a wheelchair and having significant breathing difficulties, I had to learn how to adapt to my illness in order to succeed while retaining the integrity of my health. But no matter the difficulties I face, we all have potential excuses for not moving forward, right? We just have to do it! I'm sure that my passion and determination to succeed will actually help to improve my health when all is said and done! It’s all about your state of mind. Sometimes the pressure can be intense, but it still often boils down to a question of mindset. The greatest difficulty is to persevere in the absolute worst moments.

The most fascinating thing about my journey has been the emotional ups and downs. You can go from a state of despair to immense joy in just a few minutes. While I do have a lot of pressure and responsibility on my shoulders, I love the challenge of continuing to carry this challenging and exciting dream forward.

Yes, having an increasing number of billionaire friends must be a good sign for my business, right? As I start to meet more and more incredible people, everything falls into place and grows. I'm finally starting to see my efforts pay off. I know that the future will be even more beautiful, because I know that all it takes is just unlocking one contact, or one opportunity, and suddenly your life can literally become forever changed! I personally put a lot of value in networking, which I’m certain to continue!

SAE: What is your next step?
Naomé Schenk: Goal number one is to grow, to have a greater positive impact, and to start investing. Developing NGOLD Gstaad internationally, especially in Dubai, is among one of the next steps. By Naomé will launch its second collection in September and I will personally dedicate a lot more time to learning about investment. I have lots of ideas and projects, and I still feel like I’m just at the beginning of my journey!