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The MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Saudi Arabia, part of MIT Enterprise Forum global network, in collaboration with Bab Rizq Jameel, an initiative of Community Jameel, the global philanthropy, has announced its fourth annual edition of the Saudi Startup Competition dedicated to the promotion of Saudi entrepreneurs and providing a platform to present their projects and ideas and enhance their role in the future innovative business environment.

Registration for the 4th edition of the competition will opened on September 10, 2019 on the official website of the competition, and will continue until December 21, 2019. Applications will be evaluated by a specialised panel of judges from the entrepreneurial community, with the names of the 45 teams qualified to the semi-finals of the MITEF Saudi Startup Competition announced on January 16, 2020.

The competition runs for more than six months, during which e-induction briefs will be organised in selected universities and educational institutes throughout Saudi Arabia starting from September to mid-December 2019. Preparatory activities, orientation sessions and a boot camp under the supervision of specialists and experts in all commercial and social fields will be held throughout the competition for the teams qualified for the semi-finals.

Finalists will have the opportunity to participate in the Saudi StartSmart Forum, a programme of the global network of MIT Enterprise Forum, which will be held before the winners are announced on March 7, 2020 in Jeddah. Saudi StartSmart aims to encourage, motivate, and guide entrepreneurs in terms of ideas creation and commercial and social enterprises through workshops and seminars focused on technology and innovation. In addition to cash prizes totaling more than SAR 325,000, the nine winning teams will be invited to participate in the 13th edition of MITEF Arab Startup Competition.

Speaking at the launch of the fourth edition, Hassan Jameel, President, Saudi Arabia, Community Jameel said, “The MITEF Saudi Startup Competition demonstrates the values at the heart of Community Jameel’s mission. We continue to drive excellence within Saudi Arabia’s entrepreneurial environment, in line with Vision 2030, by promoting technical projects, smart ideas and creating jobs for young Saudis.

“We invite all aspiring Saudi entrepreneurs to put their projects forward for the competition, and use the platform to help drive their ideas into reality and scale from small businesses into global companies.”

Registration for the fourth edition of the MITEF Saudi Startup Competition is open to all Saudi and non-Saudi entrepreneurs from all age-groups and business sectors in one of the three tracks: Ideas Track, Startup Track and Social Enterprise Track. For more information on how to participate and judging Criteria for the MITEF Saudi Startup Competition, In addition to the scheduled induction tour, please visit: http://www.mitefsaudi.org/