Startup MGZN recently spoke with Mohammed Ahmadi, Manager of Youth Schemes at Tamkeen. Within this innovative, cutting-edge context, Tamkeen has been focusing on serving the needs of Bahraini youth in the areas of work readiness, skills development, entrepreneurship, and career guidance. As Ahmadi says, “I’m promoting Mashroo3i as an opportunity for serious, high-performing Bahraini youth who want to share their ideas, get advice, and enjoy the journey from idea to clear business plan.”
Because it sees youth as the future of the labor market, Tamkeen works to customize programmes that bridge the transition between the educational system and the labor market. Innovation like this can often take the shape of internships—employability programmes in which both training and employment processes are subsidized. The main objective is to make Bahrainis the employees of choice in the private sector.
Working closely with stakeholders and partners such as the Ministry of Education, universities, and the students and parents themselves, Tamkeen seeks feedback, studies the suggestions they receive, and identifies predominant gaps. Their role then becomes that of mediator, studying and translating the needs of the young participants and their parents in relation to the larger business world.
The top needs identified by Tamkeen fall under the category of career guidance: helping students to find the right job, prepare for interviews, and maximize their experiential portfolios prior to graduation. Ahmadi says, “We try to help them come up with a quality decision when they choose their specialty at university—and we give them space to try something else, perhaps during the summer.” To support broadening experiences like these, Tamkeen supports
some internship schemes with their partners both locally and internationally.
“We try also to build the entrepreneurial spirit within Bahraini youth. It’s all about needs, opportunities, and experiences and we promote all of these within the youth demographic. Our focus also is on career guidance, employability, and the needs and skills required for entry into the business world.”
Tamkeen’s Business Plan Competition or “Mashroo3i” started in 2011 as an opportunity for youth between the ages of 15 to 26. The programme was conceived to promote the innovation aspects of entrepreneurship. Through Mashroo3i, Tamkeen brings mentoring partners into the picture while collaborating mainly with students from schools and universities. It is an experience that is presented as such—not as a suggestion or award. The process breaks down how students can convert an idea into a real business plan. This is accomplished through a consistent relationship with a mentor—and, more importantly, with the group as a whole. By way of a predetermined set of milestones, Tamkeen selects the 60 best teams and then names the best 30 teams for the prototyping phase. At the end of the five-month competition, a final exhibition takes place to award the best-performing teams.
At the time of this writing, Tamkeen is planning the third round of Mashroo3i, this time with improvements in implementation and execution. The Business plan Competition may well be the only one of its kind in Bahrain that focuses exclusively on the experiential side of the process. The aim is to develop the skills of participants while providing the opportunity to work together as
teams. Through Mahsroo3i, students can be mentored by a successful Bahraini or non-Bahraini entrepreneur. Ahmadi says, “I think we should come together and try to envision a clear, easy, user-friendly process for participants to kick off their businesses and startup in a safe, risk-free environment.” He believes that “…our problems are different from those in the United States, for example. You need to have a relationship between higher-education service providers like universities and vocational institutes and the private sector. Without a strategy, we just have individual efforts that won’t reflect clearly on the economy.”
Tamkeen aims to attract the very best entrepreneurs in terms of character, personality, and innovation. A number of past participants have taken the process especially seriously, and have obtained commercial registration, or CR. Aisha Abdulmalek, a university student, participated in Mashroo3i and qualified for the final exhibition. Today, she’s mentored by a jewelry agent in Bahrain and is showcasing her own products while acting as a leader and trainer for youth. Talal Al-Ansari owns a company called Shabaka TV; he’s now an active service provider who started up with an idea through Mashroo3i.
Historically, Tamkeen didn’t stress the introduction of participants into real businesses as an objective. It wasn’t yet part of the project. Today, however, a bridge has been created with Tamkeen’s operations team to provide mentoring and increase the probability of transforming ideas into actual businesses.
Through formal training with Mashroo3i’s partner, Bahrain Development Bank (BDB), participants study theoretical identification and calculation of risk. They then develop their idea with an established businessman or businesswoman and work to convince banks and investors to support it. Mashroo3i helps participants get an idea about the journey of selling one’s service or product to the market, and to understand what it takes to face real risk and competition.
Tamkeen is actively filling a known gap. Ahmadi says, “I think we need to put in place a national strategy that could place weight on such activities. If we compare ourselves to the rest of the region, Bahrain as a community or business environment is becoming more entrepreneurial now it is evident from for example the Bahrain shopping festival, and through the Bazaars that are periodically set up in different areas of Bahrain. I think we need a strategy to translate needs into tactics and create an action plan. In order to promote entrepreneurship in Bahrain, we need the mentoring, the coaching, the non-financial services that can foster entrepreneurship development.”
Further information about Mashroo3i may be found on Tamkeen’s website (http://www.tamkeen.bh/mashroo3i), which will soon be ready for visitors. Mashroo3i will kick-start at Youth City next week, on Sunday, August 16th.
Major landmarks in the application process are as follows: the 16th of August will see the official launch, and applications will be accepted until the 2nd of November. After that date, Tamkeen will begin selecting the top 60 teams for the Mahsroo3i competition in February 2016.