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The crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, awarded Badir Program for Technology Incubators the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders (YBL) for the best incubators and accelerators.
The award was received by Nawaf Al-Sahhaf, CEO of Badir Program, during an event at Dubai World Trade Center on Monday.
Badir Program is one the leading initiatives launched by the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST).
The jury lauded the program’s achievements, including growth performance indicators, creativity and innovation, social responsibility, organizational excellence and active contributions to support small- and medium-sized enterprises and technology startups.
Speaking on this occasion, Al-Sahhaf commended the program’s winning of the award, which reflects its performance and plans to develop and support technical entrepreneurship and incubators throughout the Kingdom, and its success in helping female and male Saudi entrepreneurs transform their technical ideas into successful investment projects by providing the right environment for the growth of technology startups.
Al-Sahhaf said: “Since its inception, Badir Program was able to provide its specialized services to more than 200 technology startups. In 2017, the number of technology startups incubated by the program increased to 157, as we plan to support the establishment of 600 new companies that will contribute to the provision of 3,600 jobs for Saudi young men and women, as part of the National Transformation Program 2020.”
He said the program’s most important achievements last year were the establishment and operation of three technology incubators in the Kingdom, the opening and launching of the first business accelerator in Riyadh, as well as the support and organization of more than 65 entrepreneurship events, including three events for Demo Day that gathered start-up companies and financing investors.
A first of its kind in the region, the YBL award aims to create a competitive environment among entrepreneurs to honor and motivate individuals and institutions that have contributed to the development of the entrepreneurial sector performance.