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As part of the Global Get in the Ring competition, Bedaya Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development hosted the first Get in the Ring event in Qatar. The event was held in Carnegie Mellon University on Jan 24th with the support of media partners Qatar Living.
In its first edition in Qatar, Get in the Ring brought together a group of startups from different industries and provided them with a platform to pitch their ideas in front of local and regional supporters. As part of the event 6 startups battled it out against each other through pitches that covered their business model, financials and market valuations. The startups who participated in the final competition were Admissions Buddy, DatePit Filter, Jebel Ali, Metis, Tutors HNM and Concept X.
The three judges at the event were Ms Razan Suliman the Founder of Bylens and Fanilla Couture, Mr Bilal Randeree the Managing Director of Qatar Living and Ms Reem Al Suwaidi the General Manager of Bedaya Center. The winner of the competition was Ms Maymoona Ayseh who’s startup the Date Pit Filter is a project that removes salt from water using crushed date pits as a filter. Her device would make desalination more affordable and accessible to all.
Her Excellency Mrs Yvette Van Eachoud, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands commented: “I am thrilled that the Get in the Ring concept has travelled from The Netherlands to Qatar. It shows the innovative and creative way entrepreneurship is developing in this country. To become an entrepreneur you need to have many skills and talents, and one of them is selling yourself and your product. The Get in the Ring format is an excellent and fun way of preparing yourself for success in the competitive arena of new entrepreneurs. Congratulations to winner Maymoona Ayesh and to all contestants for having the courage to get up there. And congratulations to Bedaya for connecting to the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship in Rotterdam for this exciting initiative, which will no doubt have wonderful spin-offs.”
One of the youngest entrepreneurs in Qatar also pitched during the event, to promote his business BW Design. Khalifa Al Mutawa, a 12 year old Qatari presented his current project and urged everyone thinking of starting a business to take the opportunity and start now.
Reem Al-Suwaidi, General Manager of Bedaya Center, commented; “As the host of Get in the Ring Qatar, we strive to raise awareness of the value of the startup community. We will highlight several initiatives that aim to make it easier for individuals to start new businesses. Also, we are committed to developing entrepreneurs in Qatar and help facilitate this by getting various players from the ecosystem involved.”