Start-ups in Qatar: How can the AIA help you?

Start-ups in Qatar: How can the AIA help you?

Starting up a business in Qatar has its own set of challenges that you need to overcome and hurdles to rise above, but thankfully, there are measures in place to help you kick things off. The Arab Innovation Academy, which began in 2018 via a healthy collaboration between Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) and the European Innovation Academy (EIA), is one of the biggest entrepreneurship programs in the world. It can not only provide early assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to take advantage of the lucrative business environment in Qatar, but it can also serve as a deep well of inspiration for the wide-eyed hopefuls who wish to become multimillion dollar conglomerate owners someday.

Participating in the AIA will enable you to interact with more than 40 mentors and coaches, as well as with both local and international participants the world over. Some of the coaches hail from the US, the UK, Singapore, and the European Union, so there will be plenty of global exposition there. Nationalities of participants in the program will include Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Russia, Tunisia, and India.

For aspiring ‘techpreneurs’, the program will provide an accelerated way of being exposed to experiential learning. In just 10 days, you should be able to turn your idea into an actual start-up. You will be able to go through a wide range of real-life experiences and venture into new tech developments and experiments, as well as get valuable insight on real marketplace situations and receive actual feedback from consumers.

The wonderful thing about the program is that it is open to the whole pan-Arab region, which means that anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset and a lot of innovative ideas can participate even if you don’t have a background in business management or marketing. According to the QSTP, the AIA “is testament to Qatar’s commitment to diversifying its economy by cultivating youth entrepreneurship and innovation at the university level. QSTP is at the forefront of Qatar’s quest for long-term economic sustainability and prosperity.” With a foolproof platform on how to start a business from scratch, your homegrown talent and innovative ideas will definitely be fostered to fruition under the tutelage of mentors and experts from all over the world.

To start the new decade with a bang, the AIA 2020 recently kicked-off at Education City with a whopping 800 applications. This will be the third edition of the program, and it will run until the 20^th of January. Apart from a keynote speech from Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI) vice president Richard O’Kennedy, there was also a presentation from EIA president Alar Kolk. Participants were also regaled with insightful knowledge from a panel discussion with AIA alumni.