Community Jameel Saudi Launches the 8th Edition of the StartSmart Entrepreneurship Competition

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 30/7/2024: As part of its efforts within the “Entrepreneurs Advancement” area of development, Community Jameel Saudi Foundation announced the launch of the 8th edition of the annual StartSmart Competition. The competition aims to support and encourage entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia and to stimulate SMEs growth and success in the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The StartSmart Competition benefits greatly from Community Jameel Saudi Foundation’s accumulated experience in entrepreneurship, and from its membership in the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which serves as a collaborative platform for innovators working in the field of education and exchanging ideas and knowledge from all over the world. Moreover, the StartSmart Competition is considered as one of the most prominent entrepreneurship competitions in the Kingdom, as it has served as a leading platform for discovering talents and providing support to aspiring entrepreneurs in various sectors since 2016.

The Competition aims to support the Saudi entrepreneurship ecosystem, spread its culture, empower local entrepreneurs, and provide them with the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to establish and develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In turn, this will hopefully lead to the development of the national economy, provide new job opportunities, and combate unemployment, which comes in line with the ambitious goals of Saudi Vision 2030. Over the years, the competition benefited more than 9,500 people, and 1,260 contestants competed, with the first-place winners winning prizes worth up to 2.38 SR million.

Commenting on this news, Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar, Senior General Manager of Social and Entrepreneurship Initiatives at Community Jameel Saudi, stated: “The StartSmart Competition attracts annually the most prominent and aspiring entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which confirms our organization’s firm commitment to strengthening the local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. We deeply believe in utilizing our expertise and extensive relationships to support entrepreneurs and providing them with a nourishing environment and guidance, which will enable them to achieve a greater and more prosperous economic impact”.

It is noteworthy that registration for the 2024 edition of the competition will be open from July 28th to September 14th. The competition features three tracks: the Startup Track, the Social Enterprise Track, and the Environment Track. A total of 45 entrepreneurial projects will be selected to advance to the semi-final stage, benefiting from a boot camp conducted by top experts in entrepreneurship and business skills. The final selection of winners will then identify nine winners who will receive financial prizes totaling 425,000 Saudi Riyals.

Interested participants can apply for any of the competition tracks through the website: https://www.StartSmartsaudi.com/