Winners of the top prize receiving the QR50,000 cheque.

The chief executive officer of the Qatar Finance and Business Academy has called for the formation of a network of free enterprise groups “and all relevant state bodies” to “facilitate the exchange of expertise and development of the skills of entrepreneurs.”

Dr Abdulaziz al-Horr made the call yesterday during the conclusion of the “Entrepreneurship in Economic Development Forum,” organised by Qatar University (QU) in collaboration with Interactive Business Network (IBN).

According to al-Horr, “there should be a network of entrepreneurship organisations and all relevant state bodies in this regard to facilitate the exchange of expertise and development of the skills of entrepreneurs.”

In his lecture on the law of success for entrepreneurs, al-Horr requested all the organisations that provide support for entrepreneurs in Qatar “to sit at a round table to discuss and debate the most important ways to address the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.”

The two-day forum, which was sponsored by Qatar Petroleum (QP), gathered more than 500 international experts in education, finance and government as keynote speakers.

Under the patronage and with the presence of His Excellency Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al- Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, the event featured several seminars and sessions that discussed the importance of supporting entrepreneurs, the role of entrepreneurship in the expansion of economic activity and supporting the private sector, in addition to the most important challenges faced by entrepreneurs and the role of existing organisations and how to take advantage of previous experiences.

Interactive Business Network CEO Raed Shuhaib said: “The forum highlighted the most important challenges faced by entrepreneurs in terms of the political, economic and legal incubating environment as well as the development of skills and learning entrepreneurship academically.”

“One of the most important achievements of the forum is bringing together all the government, semi-government and private organisations concerned with entrepreneurship in Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, India and many countries under one umbrella,  as well as proposing a framework for interaction and integration among these organisations, in addition to presentation of some important projects by young people,” Shuhaib stressed.

Among the main recommendations presented during the forum was “the need for considering the Qatari private sector as a key partner in supporting entrepreneurship projects, not a competitor.”

Also, resource persons at the forum emphasised that “government policies play a key role in facing the challenges of the fear of failure, market challenges and work culture in the local society.” The experts also noted that “funding is a central challenge in forming a new understanding of entrepreneurship.”

The last day of the forum was highlighted by the awarding of cash prizes to winners of the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.”

At least 164 students representing 62 teams from three colleges — Management and Economics, Engineering, Arts and Sciences, joined the contest.

The cultural consulting centre project bagged the first prize and received QR50,000 while the project of a device to purify the air using date stones came in second with a QR30,000-cash prize and the project of a solar cooling system won the third prize of QR20,000.