O2 boosts entrepreneurship in difficult times through the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.

Today marks the successful completion of the GEW which consisted of an intensive week of events that took place to inform, assist and connect existing and potential entrepreneurs and also help them develop new ideas and benefit from personalised information and support.

Commenting on the event, Vice-Chairman of Young Arab Leaders- Bahrain Mazin Al Shehabi stated “Today more than ever the contribution of entrepreneurs for preserving jobs and creating new ones needs to be recognised and supported. This week has also allowed entrepreneurs to discover information, advice, support and ideas available to help them develop their activities.”

The students were given a business challenge to work on throughout the week and finally present their business solutions on the final day to a judging panel for a chance to be one of the three winners of the Zain Dream Campaign consisting of BD5000 each.

The judging panel consisted of: Ahmed Bin Hindi Board member of YAL Bahrain, Mohammed Johmani YAL member, Dr. Fouad Shehab President of Dreams Come True with Zain campaign, Mrs. Amal Al Dossari Vice President of Dreams Come True with Zain Campaign, Samia Hussain Zain Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Raman Jaggi VP-Business Advisory Unit Bahrain Development Bank.

In addition to the cash prizes, the winning teams will also be provided with assigned mentors and advisory services from the BDB and YAL Bahrain.

Present at the ceremony were YAL members, O2, Zain Communications representatives, BDB representatives, and participating universities representatives as well as students and interested individuals.

Prior to presenting their business solutions, students were addressed by Ahmed Bin Hindi on behalf of Young Arab Leaders who encouraged them to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and practice what they have learned throughout the week. In his speech he also thanked Zain for their generous support and commitment to the local youth through the Dreams Come True with Zain Campaign as well as the Bahrain Development Bank and 02 Marketing Communications for their invaluable effort in ensuring the success of this program.

The criteria for the business challlenge states that the business solution presented should ensure job creation in Bahrain, benefit the local youth and community, as well as be enivronmentally concious.

After viewing over 10 business ideas from Bahrain’s future entrepreneurs, the judging panel has agreed on the three best business plans to be awarded the Dreams Come True with Zain Campaign.

The winners of the business challenge awarded the Zain Awards were :

-Switch Green Technologies: Aysha Al Araifi, Elfya Dadabai, Moh'd Abubaker, Moh'd Ali Matar
- Al Tamasuk: Tariq Al-Olaimy, Hisham Shehabi, Shereen Abdulla, Imane AlAlaiwat
- Oxygen: Roya Tariq, Zahra Salman, Zainab Habib