The Jeddah Entrepreneurs Meet and Competition witnessed massive response from universities, businesswomen centers and chambers of commerce across Saudi Arabia during the 10 week roadshow undertaken. A special program was initiated targeting universities and businesswomen centers to introduce the competition and hosting sessions about entrepreneurial development and the infrastructure development. Visitation program took place across numerous cities, including Jeddah, Riyadh, Onaizah, Madinah, Makkah, AlHassa, Jizan, Buraidah, Dammam, Al-Khobar and Hail, with the participation of more than 15 educational institutions. "The goal of the roadshow is to take a more structured and face to face approach to allow students and future entrepreneurs the opportunity to get first hand information and feedback on the entrepreneurial infrastructure, the process of the competition and the innovative aspect of entrepreneurial excellence," said Sarah Al Ayed, the Jeddah Entrepreneurs Meet and competition Chairperson. "We've been on a ten week roadshow that took us to various region of the Kingdom and within each visit we witnessed key findings that showcase entrepreneurial opportunity and excellence how ideas are being formulated to launch business initiatives," she added. Aiming to develop and promote the understanding of the spirit of enterprise the KSA wide roadshow is one of the tactics implemented by the entrepreneurs meet and competition to reach the target stakeholders and open doors for participation within the three set categories. Upon completion of the roadshow and the competition deadline all entries were rated and assessed by the Jeddah Young Businesswomen Committee based on a 10-point evaluation process allowing for the selection of the top 100 business ideas and ventures to be invited to the second round. During the second round all 100 candidates must attend a designated workshop hosted in Jeddah, Riyadh, Qassim and Al-Khobar. The workshop topic was "Entrepreneurship: Personality & Project" discussing the nine characteristics: confidence, passion, vision, motivation, risk taker, discipline, flexibility, understanding of the market and its needs and planning. During the workshop the 100 participants had undergone an evaluation of their project understanding, implementation and character upon which 30 finalists are being selected by the Jeddah Young Business Women's Committee to take part in the final phase of the program. The 30 finalists will be attending a designated boot camp from Jan.10-14 hosted by Qotuf Al Riyadah, one of the program organizers and in cooperation with Effat University, the Academic Partner for the Jeddah Entrepreneurs Meet and Competition, within each of the competition categories to help them develop their final plans and be ready to meet with the judging panel for the final winner selection. The evaluation process for the finale judging will be based on the evaluation criteria: Start – Operate – Grow. One winner will be selected from each category and will each receive SR100,000 in funding and an 18 month mentorship program. Three runners up will be selected within each category and in turn will receive SR 25,000 and also be mentored for 18 months.
