The MIT Enterprise Forum (MIT EF) of the Pan Arab region announced the semi-finalists of the 11th edition of its Arab Startup Competition. This year’s competition will be held in Oman on April 19, in partnership with Community Jameel, and with its strategic partners, Riyada, Omantel, and Zain Group.
This year’s MIT EF competition was open between September 3 and December 5, 2017. The number of applicants is immense, where more than 5,300 applied, including Saudi Arabia, which is currently running a parallel competition. Most of the projects are from various fields including internet, services, software, education, healthcare and creative industries.
The 84 semi-finalists are from 14 Arab countries, as follow: Lebanon (20), Egypt (14), the United Arab Emirates (10), Saudi Arabia (9), Jordan (7), Palestine (6), Morocco (4), Tunisia (6), Bahrain (2), Sudan (2), Kuwait (1), Qatar (1), Algeria (1), Oman (1). For a complete list of semi-finalists, click here.
The 84 teams will be participating in pre-boot camps in February and March in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Nine winning teams from the MIT EF Saudi Competition will be announced in March, and will also be part of the Arab semifinalists.
Hala Fadel, Chair of the board of MIT EF Pan Arab, commented on this year’s edition saying: “Every year, our confidence and belief in the importance of this competition grows in its role in supporting and nurturing the culture of entrepreneurship. Developing the ideas and projects of the Arab youth and empowering them to transform these pioneering ideas into success stories couldn’t make us prouder.”
For more information, read here.