The ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ 2014 that develops the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst young people, has recognised the winners of Universities’ Final Competition at the Opening Gala Dinner of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. “The Jockeys” team from Carnegie Mellon University claimed the first prize with a net profit of QR 47,786,266 million at this year’s final round of the business simulation competition between nine universities in Qatar. Second place was awarded to “The Analysts” team from Carnegie Mellon University who gained a net profit of QR 47,752,257 million; while “Ibn Adam” team from Georgetown University were awarded third place for achieving a net profit of QR 47,590,308 million. The ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ is an annual competition that encourages and inspires the entrepreneurial spirit among young people in Qatar, enhances their business knowledge and equips them with valuable skills including team work and strategic thinking. The ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ programme has different tiers for high school and university students, and is made up of two parts comprising: the Ethical Business Challenge, which tests participants’ ability to balance the economic, environmental and social performance of their company; and the Business Simulation element which familiarises students with general business concepts from inception through to trading, finance, sales, marketing and production. Eighteen successful finalist teams from nine universities competed at the ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ 2014 Grand University Final Competition that was held at Hamad Bin Khalifa University on 15th November 2014. The event was hosted by Raed Al- Emadi, Vice Chairman of Bedaya board, alongside Rob Sherwin, Deputy Country Chairman for Qatar Shell. Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank and Chairman of Bedaya said: “Entrepreneurship is a corner stone to the knowledge economy, and at Bedaya we believe that encouraging young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career option will help foster a thriving private sector and ensure its sustainability for future generations. I am very pleased to see this year over 100 mentors from Qatar’s business community – trained by Qatar Shell and Bedaya, volunteer their valuable time to coach the students through a series of intensive mentoring sessions and workshops.” “I am delighted to extend our partnership at Bedaya center with Qatar Shell on ‘The Enterprise Challenge Qatar” for an additional three years, as I believe that when we invest in young people through such sustainable initiatives we invest in Qatar’s future as a knowledge-based society,” added Al-Khalifa. Wael Sawan, Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell said: “We are delighted to have extended our partnership with Bedaya earlier this year to expand ‘The Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ to reach more than 700 students from 14 schools and nine universities across Qatar. This number shows a considerable increase compared to last year, more than doubling the number of schools involved and increasing total participation by more than a third.” “We, at Qatar Shell, recognize that cultivating and nurturing entrepreneurship begins with another kind of investment – in young minds. Therefore, providing students with business skills and the practical tools to ultimately succeed in a real business environment is of the utmost importance to fulfill the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030,” added Sawan. The nine universities that took part in this year’s competition include Qatar University; Texas A&M University at Qatar; the University College London Qatar; Stenden University Qatar; Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar; North Western University in Qatar; the College of the North Atlantic Qatar; Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar; and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. The School’s Grand Final Competition will be held on 15th December 2014 at Barzan Centre, where student finalists will compete in a final business simulation for the ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ 2014 trophy. The Enterprise Challenge competition was created by Mosaic, a UK-based not for profit organisation established by HRH the Prince of Wales in 2007 with a range of mentoring programmes aimed at fostering opportunities for young people. Qatar Shell is the founding partner of Mosaic in Qatar, and together with Bedaya, has worked to bring ‘the Enterprise Challenge’ to Qatar. Qatar Shell is a Gold Sponsor of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world’s largest celebration of the innovators and job creators, held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, Minister of Economy and Commerce. The GEW, which aims to inspire people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovator, will be held in Qatar from 17 to 23 November.

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