Cultural Diversity at Stenden University
QHackathon 2013 brings entrepreneurs from around the Arab world
colorful captivation of music, food and pure talent – that was the theme of Stenden University’s cultural day. The annual event, organized by the Student Representative Council, had the students proudly showcase their countries’ culture, music, dance and food. The countries represented were Qatar, the Netherlands, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Germany, South Africa and Costa Rica. Each stall competed for the prizes of best decoration, best hospitality and best food and was backed by performers who gave their best during a talent show. The talent show opened with Farhan Al-Suwaidi, who gave a beautiful guitar rendition and paved the way for his colleagues. The Indian community started with a fashion show displaying the different traditional outfits of each region, and later demonstrated the true Bollywood spirit with a colorful dance performance. The Middle Eastern nations were represented by Mohammad Daibes and his friend Suapi, who rapped in honor of Lebanon. Lebanese singer Jamal Mansour gave a special tribute himself while the students danced the dabkeh to the powerful melodies. Hailing from Syria, Ahmad Abaisad’s beat-boxing had the audience stunned and leaping to their feet. Abdullah Al-Ghanim, representing Qatar, left the audience laughing and asking for more with a satirical one-man show that shed light on the differences between men and women. Abdul Rauf gave a unique performance with his guitar, honoring the Costa Rican love for music. The last performance of the night was Pakistani band ‘Raakh’ (Ashes of Life). When the four members stepped on stage, little did they know that their performance would mark the best part of the evening. Their heart-warming performance made all students, regardless of nationality, stand up and join them in singing and dancing.
he biggest regional event for entrepreneurs and stakeholders in Arab enterprise took place at Katara last month. The challenge this year was to develop apps based on mobile payment solutions. The event brought together 130 young qualifiers selected from 13,000 entrants across 20 Arab countries for the finals of the MIT Enterprise Forum competition. The event was first of many designed to connect the Qatari entrepreneurship ecosystem to the international community and global standards. It’s the first example of its kind to make real international connections between Arab-world and Silicon Valley enterprises along with other interested stakeholders. Noora Al-Mannai, CEO of Enterprise Qatar, said: “Entrepreneurs in the Middle East are still facing challenges hindering their efforts to grow their own businesses, such as the absence of necessary funding and lack of incubation opportunities and technical support. EQ has now partnered locally with Silatech and globally with Silicon Valley and MIT-EF to create a new SME support system in Qatar.” The day featured a series of intensive sessions including full briefings on the event and themes, team formation, and an introduction to co-creation and design methodologies. The groups then had to identify breakthrough opportunities or incremental innovations with regard to stakeholders and stakes mapping. They then used usercentered design to create value, and concept-proofed by pitching service concepts to get feedback between teams. Lastly, they went through a prototyping rush to build the product and develop its story before finally pitching their apps to the jury of experts. The winners and awards were presented by Noora Al-Mannai. In first place was “Clickcloc” an electronic substitute for keys to help users control doors and gates remotely. Second place went to “Laties First” a mobile application to help users maintain their appointments through social networking. Third place went to “Oserve” a mobile application to connect households with domestic service providers.
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issue 18
2013
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