Intel Youth Enterprise

The issue of Youth Unemployment in Jordan is our primary challenge and the key question that the program hopes to pose to the youth of Jordan is – What can you do to tackle the problem of youth unemployment in Jordan? Provide your solution to meet this challenge and perhaps YOU could be the young person whose solution plays a significant role in tackling the problem of unemployment and helps to shape Jordan’s economic growth. Unleash your imagination and think about the possibilities…….which are endless.

Deputizing for Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of the El Hassan Science City and the Royal Scientific Society, has honored the winners of the fourth round of Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC).

Founded by the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship in 2004, with the full support of El-Hassan Science City & El-Hassan Business Park, the competition aims to fuel the spirit of Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation across society, and to help Jordanians to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into successful companies that supply innovative products and services to regional and global markets.

HRH Princess Sumaya praised all of the participating projects for their pioneering approach to technology and business, and the creative spirit that they embody. The Princess added that these innovations reflect the talent and ‘can-do’ attitude of Jordan’s entrepreneurs and young people:

“We congratulate the winners and the organizers of this competition and, indeed, all participants, and we congratulate Jordan for having such great energy and creativity – This has always been a source of pride for all Jordanians,” said Princess Sumaya.

“I am confident that the outputs of this competition will add more life into Jordan’s Innovation Ecosystem by providing additional dealflow, investment and incubation opportunities,” added HRH.

For his part, Farhan Kalaldeh, the Executive Director of QRCE, said: “These projects demonstrate the potential of Jordanian youth and entrepreneurs, as well as the individual skills and capabilities they possess, as it emphasizes the need to help them, through creating the right environment to unleash and develop these ideas to serve their communities and become a source of sustainable income to our beloved country.”

In addition to the competition’s main objectives, Kalaldeh pointed out that the focus of this year’s competition was to attract investors and raise their awareness of the investment opportunities offered by emerging technology startups and the commercial potential of transforming ideas into products and services aimed at regional and global markets. Moreover, the focus was directed at strategic sectors of the Kingdom’s economy, such as ICT, Clean Technology and Life Sciences.

“Additionally, the competition serves as a tool to nurture the participants’ entrepreneurial skills, assisting them to develop and refine their business plans. Also, it helps to foster the spirit of initiative and innovation among university graduates from technical disciplines and business specialties, encouraging them to move their projects from concept to implementation.” He added.

QRNEC had 400 participants in its fourth round, championing more than 120 projects. The competition process involved comprehensive training in the areas of strategic planning, business plan development, project management and other topics related to starting and growing high impact technology companies.

Thirty teams were nominated for the final phase of the award in three categories: Startups; Projects under Development (Pre-Startup); and Universities. Project sectors were Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Clean Technology and Life Sciences. From these, 19 winning projects were selected:

In the Startups Category, the following projects were selected:

In the Universities Category, the following projects were selected:

It is worth mentioning that QRNEC awards amount to $50,000, awarded to projects in the fields of ICT, Agricultural Technology, Renewable Energy, Water, Life Sciences, and Advanced Technologies.

El Hassan Business Park is organizing Jordans Cleantech Open Ideas Competition supported by USAID.
The Participants in the National Competition in Jordan will be getting the chance to travel to san Francisco to participate in the Global Ideas Competition during the Global Entreprenuership Week and to win $100,000.

AMMONNEWS – DART Student Club, of Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE), concluded its first Jordanian universities entrepreneurship conference, organized at the campus of Princess Sumaya University for Technology in order to promote a culture of entrepreneurship among students and encourage them to join DART Student Clubs.

This conference, in which more than 200 students from various Jordanian universities participated, stands as one of the club’s main goals that aim to develop a sense of leadership and entrepreneurship for the academic groups and draw their attention to the importance of establishing DART Students Clubs and how to benefit from its vital projects.

Mr. Farhan Al-kalaldah, the Executive Director of QRCE, commented: “The significance of this conference comes from the results of our field visits to more than 15 private and governmental universities across the country and from the conversations that showed students’ willingness and readiness to join DART programs that aim to raise a new generation of Jordanian business pioneers.”

Al-Kalaldah added: “Initially, we chose a group of students from 13 different universities to attend this conference and some of its training programs to acquaint them with the club’s goals and programs, urging them to invite the largest possible number of fellow students, especially that entrepreneurship has become a backbone of modern life and the axis of its modern economy.”

During the 2-day event, students had the chance to learn about DART’s goals and programs and how to take advantage of their technical programs and professional trainings. Moreover, they were trained to manage and develop emerging projects and taught the skills of financial administration and managerial leadership, getting the chance to hear from some organizations working in the field of Entrepreneurship in Jordan like Endeavor Jordan, Microsoft Innovation Center, Al-Urdonia LelEbda’a, and the Business Development Center.

Mr. Mohammed Obaidat, Networking Program Manager in QRCE, explained: “Participation in the different aspects of this conference was rich and positive; especially Jordanian success stories of realistic demonstration in which we previewed the reasons for the success of a large group of entrepreneurs, as it was clear that the denominators of success were fixed and joint.. It is leadership in thought and action.”

Mr. Obaidat added: “I think that the event successfully delivered its messages to a wide range of Jordanian university students, as it successfully made them aware of the importance of establishing and joining DART clubs. Moreover, the conference was successful in demonstrating the role of QRCE and the periodic events they supervise and coordinate to help the creative owners of inventions and innovations develop their businesses.”

May 28, 2011 – Amman – The international organizers of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) ranked Jordan 16th globally and 1st regionally for hosting the GEW 2010, organized by Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) and Endeavor Jordan.

According to the international ranking of 105 countries, Jordan’s hosting of the GEW was the best in the region, and worthy to be ranked 1st among the Middle Eastern countries and 16th globally, surpassing countries like Australia, Italy, and Germany in Global Entrepreneurship Week activities.

In his comment, Farhan Kalaldeh, QRCE Executive Director said, “This international ranking is considered a crowning achievement of the efforts of QRCE, Endeavor Jordan and GEW activities partners, in organizing the event for this year. We would also like to thank ARAMEX, Irisguard, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, and Pharmacy1 for sponsoring the event.”

With support from QRCE, Orange is launching their Orange Apps Awards:

• This Contest is initiated by Orange Jordan to support Innovators, Developers and Entrepreneurs to produce innovative mobile applications and solutions serving local needs and challenges.

• The contest will create an innovative environment for the participants to create and provide the necessary support for taking their innovations successfully to the market.

For more information please click here

After the great success that our 2nd creative thinking workshop achieved with an excellent feedback received from all participants & Based on the high demand, Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship invites you to join us in the third Creativity Thinking Workshop in which you will learn the use of a set of practical tools that increases and ignites your creative capabilities.

For more information please click here

In line with the centers’ mission and vision of spreading creativity and entrepreneurship, QRCE concluded the 2nd creative thinking workshop successfully last week with an excellent feedback received from all participants.

The workshop covered and focused on the use of a set of practical tools that increases and ignites ones’ creative capabilities.

The first day was a thought provoking discussion on the process of creative thinking, followed by the tools and techniques in the second day. Whereas the third day covered a set of workgroup to ensure the understanding of such tools and engage with participants’ feedback regarding the use of such tools and techniques.

The three days workshop was concluded with a 20 minuets remarks and small talk by Mr. Farhan Kalaldeh who shared and discussed with all participants the very recent trends in creative thinking and entrepreneurship; he also presented the center and answered all questions related to its supporting activities.

The workshop was very interactive and dynamic, the diversity of the audience supported knowledge sharing and different perspectives which all resulted in a very successful and entertaining workshop.

It is expected that the center, and based on the high demand, will announce another third workshop during this week that will take place in this April.

Under the patronage of HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of El Hassan Science City (EHSC) and the Royal Scientific Society (RSS), Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) celebrated the 4th graduation ceremony for the Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC), graduating 90 entrepreneurs.
On behalf of HRH Dr. Issa Batarseh, President of the Princess Sumaya University for Technology delivered a speech praising QRCE’s efforts in supporting and developing technology entrepreneurship in Jordan.
Quoting HRH, Dr Batarseh said “More than 95% of businesses in Jordan are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but their economic impact often falls short of expectations. Many of our SMEs are conventional in their propositions thereby limiting their growth only to the local market.”
Dr. Batarseh further stated that the programs provided by QRCE focus on businesses driven by innovation and creativity that in turn prosper into successful projects with high growth and targeting regional and international markets.
It is worth mentioning that participants in QRNEC have undergone an intensive boot-camp with 14 experts & practitioners who focused on developing the participants’ skills in strategy formulation, business planning, project management, and other topics within the SMEs development framework.
Expanding on the subject, Mohammad Shahin, Training Manager at QRCE, said that the boot-camp focused on delivering the means and tools that should assist the program participants in starting, managing and growing their businesses. He praised the National Fund for Enterprise Support (NAFES) and the support they have offered to ensure the success of the boot-camp for 6 consecutive weeks.
“We’ve hosted several technology entrepreneurs from Jordan during the boot-camp to share their success stories and explain the key factors of success ,” added Shahin. He pointed out that Mr. Ammar Mardawi, KindiSoft Founder and CEO, and a winner in the 1st QRNEC, spoke about his journey to start and grow the company which has managed, in a few years, to sell its flagship online security product to more than 2000 customers in 80 countries; companies such as Sony, Disney, and Adobe, to name a few.
Mardawi urged the program participants to consider the importance of focusing on the success factors before executing their projects, stressing the need for more creativity and innovation.
It is worth mentioning that projects participating in this 4th edition varied, covering different technology sectors such as ICT, Renewable Energy and Water, Agriculture, and other Advanced Technologies sectors.