Qatar Development Bank (QDB) announced the winners of the Entrepreneurship World Cup national qualifying competition, which concluded on Tuesday at the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum in the presence of the most prominent names from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The three winning startups, Sponix Tech, Fatora.io and Droobi, were awarded $100,000 in prize money during the event. This is the first time that the national qualifying tournaments in Qatar have been held under the organization of QDB.
This is the fourth Entrepreneurship World Cup since its inception in 2019 as the largest entrepreneurship competition of its kind, celebrating outstanding entrepreneurial ideas and innovative projects across multiple fields. The upcoming finals will include participants from more than 200 countries and the participation of the most respected startups from around the world.
QDB is the national organizer of the competition in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Financial Center Regulatory Authority of Qatar and is sponsored by QNB, Doha University of Science and Technology and the Department of Sport and Youth.
The brightest startups from Qatar competed for the opportunity to qualify and represent the State of Qatar in the finals of the global competition, which will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abdulrahman Hesham al-Sowaidi, Acting CEO of QDB, opened the event with a speech highlighting the importance of these national competitions in helping to support and motivate start-ups to rise to the highest level of competitiveness and professionalism .
In his speech, Jonathan Ortmans, Founder and President of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, thanked QDB for organizing the event and emphasized his admiration for the emerging projects that entered the competition to reach the final round of the competition.
Twelve participating companies presented their business ideas to a jury and the public. The pitches reflected pioneering and innovative ideas worthy of representing Qatar in various fields on a global scale, such as VR and AR technologies, sustainability and solutions in SportTech, Fintech, Smart Payment and HealthTech.
At the end of the judges’ presentations and deliberations, QDB recognized the participating partners, sponsors and judges for their outstanding efforts in making this competition a success.
Al-Sowaidi said: “We congratulate the three winners and wish them a successful journey on the global stages of the competition. We trust in our entrepreneurs and their ambitious skills.
“This competition, when it was first held in our country, has achieved a large turnout, a testament to the strength of the national entrepreneurial ecosystem, which we always seek to strengthen through many initiatives and programs in line with our strategy and national vision of our country. Therefore, the importance of competitions like the Entrepreneurship World Cup lies in their ability to motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to come up with innovative solutions.”
Heba Ali al-Tamimi, General Manager Group Communications at QNB, said: “We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winning teams on their success and contribution to national development.
“As a strategic partner to these National Qualifiers, we are proud to witness the qualification of these startups as a testament to the advancement of Qatar’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
The winning startups from Qatar will join the other winning companies from around the world in an intensive virtual bootcamp early next year. At the end of the bootcamp, the top 100 startups will move on to the global finals, which will take place in March 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
