Badir Program for Technology Incubators and Accelerators, one of the leading initiatives of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), has won the Best Incubator and Accelerator award in the GCC region at Future Enterprise Awards 2018.
The region’s leading awards are organized by TahawulTech, the definitive platform in the Middle East which brings together business leaders and technology decision makers to share stories of innovation and transformation.
Nawaf Al-Sahhaf, CEO of Badir Program, accepted the prestigious award at a gala ceremony held at Emirates Towers, Dubai, on Sunday.
Future Enterprise Awards are designed to recognize corporates and government departments across industry sectors that are truly transformative and innovative.
Badir Program was invited to enter the competition and then shortlisted by a jury of experts along with four other GCC-based incubators. The jury and the public voted to select the final winners.
Nawaf Al-Sahhaf, CEO of Badir Program, said: “This award comes in recognition of performance and the program’s plans to develop and support tech entrepreneurship and incubators throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are happy to win this award and to continue playing an active role in providing the right environment for the growth of technology startups.”
“This recognition is based on the hard work and dedication of our members and I thank them for this outstanding success,” Al-Sahhaf added.
Badir Program was established in 2007 to improve and support technical entrepreneurship throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by helping the strategic policy applied in entrepreneurship and incubators in collaboration with government agencies, universities and the private sector.
Badir has served more than 280 startups since its inception. The Program currently has incubated 248 technical projects through its seven incubators throughout the Kingdom. Total funding for startups under the Badir Program has reached SR 150.951 million ($40.253 million) since inception until the end of June 2018. The program aims to establish 600 startups and create 3,600 jobs by 2020.