Eighth edition of entrepreneurship competition announces winners

AMMAN — The eighth edition of the Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC) honoured its winners on Tuesday.

Carried out by the Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship (QRCE), the competition seeks to raise awareness on potential opportunities in the ICT sector and to shed light on innovative and outstanding technology business ideas, plans and start-ups. 

In addition, the QRNEC aims at developing the entrepreneurial skills of participants and fostering the enterprising spirit among university students and graduates, according to QRCE. 

Under the Natural Resources, Clean Technology and Urban Solutions challenge, the first award went to the “Recycle” team, followed by the “Algae Jo Factory” team, while third place was awarded to the “Medical Applications of 3D Printing” team. 

In the Software as a Service category, the first place award went to the “Teletera” team, followed by the “Snackable News” team. Both the “Mujaz” and “AbuFix” teams tied for third place.

However, the awards for the Financial Technologies and Online Payment Services challenge were withheld, as applicants did not meet the requirements, the organisers said.

Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) President Mashhour Rifai, deputising for HRH Princess Sumaya, highlighted the role of the QRNEC in promoting the culture of entrepreneurship among young Jordanians. He added that previous editions’ winners, as well as winners of other entrepreneurial opportunities supported by PSUT have won several international awards and have been recognised worldwide.

QRCE Executive Director Abdelraheem Abu Al Basal said the competition sought primarily to address Jordan’s social and economic challenges, and aimed at encouraging the younger generation to become job creators rather than job seekers.

He added that a total of 485 participants within 265 teams applied to the competition, with 200 participants from 84 teams making it to the second phase. Finalists were 100 participants in 33 different teams.

A QRNEC recipient in 2011, Alia Sheikh, founder of Madfooatcom, highlighted the impact that start-ups and small businesses have in society, as product and service providers.

She added that the electronic payment portal has witnessed nearly 3 million transactions covering 320 different services in three years. The value of services used by individuals added to that of private and public institutions, is worth JD900 million.

For his part, Marwan Juma, chairman of start-up incubator Oasis500, said failure is the best teacher for entrepreneurs, as long as they do not repeat the same mistakes, adding that even if the start-up failed, young people would still have acquired useful skills for their personal and professional development.

Also speaking at the ceremony, US Ambassador to Jordan Alice G. Wells highlighted her country’s support for Jordanian entrepreneurs, noting that the US has provided $9 million to the sector, in addition to supporting some 400 home-based businesses over the past two years.

She noted that starting a business gives hope to individuals and helps harness a country’s economy, especially when it is affected by regional conflict, noting that Jordan always strives for creativity and innovation. 

QRNEC comprises three categories: the university track, where the majority of the teams are university students and faculty members, the pre-start-ups track without a business plan and the start-up track that requires the company to be registered for three years or less and to have 12 employees or fewer.

A non-profit organisation established in 2004 to help develop technology entrepreneurship in Jordan, the QRCE is part of El Hassan Science City and El Hassan Business Park, and functions as a national centre of excellence for entrepreneurship.