University of Bahrain holds specialized workshops for students to prepare future entrepreneurs
Over 100 students at the University of Bahrain recently participated in the Entrepreneurship Skills Program during April and May 2021, organized by the University Business Incubator Centre at the university and in cooperation with several private companies and institutions from within and outside the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The Director of Business Incubator Center, Dr. Esra Ahmed Wali, said: “The aim of the program is to contribute to the preparation of University of Bahrain students from all colleges in the area of entrepreneurship, and the establishment of their own startups”.
Dr. Wali pointed out that students will leave the program having gained different skills and competencies which can not only benefit them to establish their own companies but will also benefit them in their personal and professional development. Explaining that the skills that students will acquire are the ability to define, identify and describe the problem, exploring opportunities for innovation, dividing and analyzing opportunities, evaluating and identifying new project models, quantitative and qualitative research on clients and the market, and the design of a customer’s journey, understanding the product development framework, designing, evaluating and implementing marketing strategies, not to mention developing an in-depth understanding of the target demographic.
Indicating that after completing the program, students would be able to choose entrepreneurship as a career option and working efficiently in a complex and dynamic environment consisting of multiple teams in different disciplines, also students will also be able to apply creative thinking methods to meet the needs of their clients and companies, and to plan and prioritize work tasks, to make the most of capital, manpower, time, and resources available to achieve the desired results.
A number of speakers had participated in the program through a number of workshops, including Executive Director and Founder of The Nourishers, Hamad Al Saad, Co-founders of Archetype Foundry and FabLab Bahrain, Dr. Salman Al Arabi and Ali Rajaei, CEO of HyperGrowth, Myles O’Connor, Investment Associate at Flat6Labs Bahrain, Mahmood Abdallah, Executive Director at Flat6Labs Bahrain, Saleh Abbas, CEO and Founder of MyNutribox Noora Al Askar and Abrar Alhalwachi.
The Business Incubator Center has also organized four sessions on entrepreneurship for the students at the College of Law, in which over 150 students participated as part of the Industrial Training course where they were introduced to methods to develop a business idea, validate that business idea and then understand the target market and customer.
The director of the Business Incubator Center, Dr. Esra Wali, said: “In addition to the center’s efforts to skill the university students with entrepreneurship skills, the center has recently incubated three businesses of students and alumni and is looking to incubate more in the future”.