Participants in the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” Summer Program Deliver Innovative Startups
Over 200 students from multiple colleges at the university took part in the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” summer program organized by the Business Incubator Center during July and August 2020. Throughout 8 weeks, students went through a journey of turning their ideas into businesses. Students’ businesses were innovative and unique in the since that students from multiple majors worked together integrating their skills in creating their businesses. Many of the businesses addressed current challenges related to COVID-19 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as a strong focus on environmental issues such as recycling and preserve the environment and natural resources.
Dr. Esra Wali, Director of the Business Incubator Center, expressed her pride of the students for their sense of social responsibility, and their eagerness to solve problems and challenges faced by the Bahraini community through their innovative projects.
Furthermore, she stressed that the program was built to allow students to learn by doing where each week has a theme where students were guided by industry experts and then they were given the chance to apply what they acquired in these sessions to their business ideas.
The students enrolled in the program provided positive feedback on the program and expressed working with students from other colleges at the university was one of the main factors that helped the creation of their businesses. In addition, students valued their interaction with industry experts and entrepreneurs who were hosted throughout the program. They found this to be essential to the creating of their businsses as it provided them with a way to learn from others’ experiences and especially the best practices that these professionals apply to succeed in their businesses and fields.