Seven candidates for the Sirb Awards, from an initial tranche of 100 competitors, have been chosen for the final selection process that will produce three winners of the prestigious Sirb Award. The seven candidates were chosen from a selected 25 who completed a training program that tested and evaluated the candidates and their propositions for investment. In preparation for the awards ceremony, a panel of seven judges, selected from national and international companies, has been selected. The final preparation session that will ensure the seven participants will be ready for the final ceremony. The mentors will evaluate the investment propositions and select just three for the final ceremony, to be held in Jeddah on May 26, under the aegis of Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Governor of Makkah Province. At the preparation session, each of the seven participants will have five minutes to present his/her work to the mentors who will discuss the presentations and give pointers to improve it before it is presented. The seven projects will then be presented in the final ceremony to the judges, investors, officials and academic leaders in the region. The three winners will receive a monetary prize in addition to a full year membership of a specialized mentoring program to further develop their skills and ideas. The mentors for the seven projects consist of personnel from Price Waterhouse Cooper, ESCWA Organization, Qotuf AlRiyadah, and Full Stop Advertisement. The selected and nominated projects are, in random order: • (Amateur) Hawee project by Anas Dahlawi • (My news) Newsy project by Adnan Musky • (Jazan Mango shop) Matjar Mango Jazan project by Abdulrahman Alsahely • Sateer educational company project by Mohamed Ashgar • (Vertical Drilling) Alhafer Altoli project by Haitham Bushnaq • (Calories) Soarat project by Wael Yar • Arab Rooms.com project by Hattan Ahmad. Sirb is an Angel Investor Network established by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and a part of the Badir program for Technology Incubators. It was designed to encourage technology entrepreneurs to develop distinct technology projects and present them to angel investors in order to build successful partnerships. — SG
