More than 12,000 graduates from the National Entrepreneurship Institute (RIYADAH) were offered to join the contest recently organized by Tamakon Initiative under the supervision of the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM), an affiliate of the Saudi embassy in Washington, to promote the concept of oneself-designed-and-authored business project among Saudi undergraduate students. As many as 400 applied where 136 business proposals were initially accepted by a committee comprising of a number of experts, led by Ali Al-Othaim, a businessman, Saudi Youth Council President, and Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry board member; Mohammed A-Owaid, ex King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals professor and current Riyadah business plan trainer; and Abdulwahab Al-Fardan, Dammam branch manager. The highest ten contesters were chosen to attend the graduation ceremony in Washington, which was recently held under the sponsorship of Al-Bilad bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where three top ideas were honored with $30,000 for the first, $25,000 for the first runner up and $20,000 for the third place. The initiative was appreciated by the Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, the Minister of Education, as one of the pioneering Riyadah projects to create a national level competition for Saudi students, this time with SACM graduates at different academic levels. Organizers say that next year the initiative would witness several additions such as e-traning on how to write business proposals with the participation of other financing bodies such as banks.
