A total of 14 high school teams, from across Qatar, have made it through to this year’s semi-finals ahead of the Enterprise Challenge Qatar 2014 (ECQ) Schools Grand Final competition to be held on December 15, at Barzan Youth Centre.

The Enterprise Challenge Qatar is an annual competition that encourages and inspires the entrepreneurial spirit among young people in Qatar. The competition was launched in October, with more than 700 students from schools and universities from across Qatar.

The competing semi-finalists from each of the participating schools hoping to make it through to this year’s Grand Final and walk away with the Enterprise Challenge Qatar. Teams are from Al Rayyan Girls School, Al Khor Girls School, Al Shamal Girls School, Al Guwairiya Girls School, Al Shahaniya Girls School, Qatar Complex Girls School, Umm Hakeem Girls School, Al Shamal Boys School, Qatar Technical Boys School, Ahmad bin Hanbal Boys School, Abdullah bin Ali Al Misned Boys School, Al Zubarah Boys School, Omar bin AbdulAziz Boys School, and Al Doha Boys School.

Since the launch of this year’s challenge, more than 100 volunteer mentors, the vast majority of whom are Qatari, have delivered coaching sessions on core business concepts, focusing on the computer-based business simulation, which evaluates the teams’ performance as a business in a competitive marketplace over a three-year period. Students also received mentoring on ethical business, which tests participants’ ability to balance the economic, environmental and social performance of their company.