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Following the success of last year’s event, Batelco is organising ‘Startup Weekend Bahrain 2012’ to encourage young aspiring entrepreneurs and assist them on the road to establishing successful ICT and e-business enterprises.
Startup Weekend Bahrain, backed by GulfWeekly, will take place on November 8, 9 and 10 at the Batelco Staff Centre in Hamala and form part of Global Entrepreneurship Week with a large number of similar events taking place globally to mark the occasion.
Startup Weekend is a non-profit US-based operation in Seattle, Washington, that organises 54-hour events in cities around the world, all of which help to educate, support and empower people to become entrepreneurs.
They bring together developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch new businesses.
Startup Weekends are hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring ones can find out if start-up ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend’s attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business, marketing or non-technical backgrounds.
Beginning with brief pitches to outline their ideas on Thursday, attendees aim to inspire other participants to join their team.
Over Friday and Saturday the teams will focus on customer development, validating their ideas and building a minimal, viable product.
A number of organisations have already pledged their sponsorship and support including Mumtalakat and Ericsson as Platinum Sponsors and GulfWeekly, CoEds and Business In Gulf as media sponsors. It is expected that a number of additional sponsors will confirm their support in the next couple of weeks.
Throughout the weekend, mentors who are entrepreneurs themselves or come from leading local and global organisation, will be on hand to give advice and answer questions to help the teams develop their ideas into a business plan. On Saturday evening the teams will present their prototypes and receive feedback from a panel of experts who will select the winning ideas.
Young aspiring entrepreneurs of all nationalities are invited to visit the Startup Weekend Bahrain web page (bahrain.startupweekend.org) to learn more and register to attend and participate. Interested parties can also keep up- to-date with details by following the progress on the Facebook page (facebook.com/StartupWkndBH) and Twitter (@StartupWkndBH).
The top three teams will walk away with cash prizes and follow-up support to help them launch their new ventures. Additionally, Batelco Innovation Centre will select one team and provide them with the Startup Pack prize which consists of a smartphone, tablet, personal computer and high-speed broadband connection for one year.
Batelco group general manager Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi said that Batelco was delighted to once again bring Startup Weekend to Bahrain to provide a great opportunity for young people to receive valuable feedback from those with experience in a range of industries and also have the opportunity to benefit from practical and financial support from potential investors.
“It has been found in numerous events that have taken place all over the world that about half of the Startup Weekend participants attend the events to learn a new skill, learn how to develop a product, or learn how to start a venture – there are many opportunities to share experiences and learn from each other and from the mentors and judges who will be on hand,” he said.
“We extend our great appreciation to the companies that have committed their support to help us deliver such a worthwhile event that will undoubtedly benefit all the young aspiring entrepreneurs who take part.”
More information on Startup Weekend including video clips from previous events is available online at www.startupweekend.org
