The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation announced recently the launch of ‘Sawaed’, a new programme that aims to challenge the private sector to develop innovative business concepts to drive the development of the Arab world.
Operating as a ‘challenge fund’, ‘Sawaed’ will encourage businesses to compete for funding in response to a specific regional development goal. Each year, the programme will promote a regional challenge and invite businesses to submit competitive project concepts dedicated to addressing the challenge.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the Young Arab Leaders (YAL).
According to the signed MoU, YAL, an independent, not-for-profit organization with a strong membership base across the Arab region, will leverage the experience of 30 active members who will serve as mentors and support eligible businesses across the region throughout the process of applying to the fund.
As the first initiative under the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship and Employment sector, ‘Sawaed’ seeks to promote business excellence, empower young Arabs to innovate, while facilitating job creation in the region. The program will award non-refundable grants of between AED100,000 to AED1 million (US$27,000 to US$270,000) to projects implemented by private sector entities that aim to increase the amount of high quality Arabic online content, develop and improve access to education, knowledge, and information on ICT platforms to promote Arab capabilities.
Application for Sawaed programme will open on the website starting September 1st, 2008. Interested applicants can download and fill electronic forms of “Concept Note Proposals” and submit them online before October 12th, 2008. Winners will be announced towards the end of March 2009.
Launched with an endowment of AED37 billion (US$10 billion), the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation aims to develop future leaders and create a knowledge-based society in the Arab world through the key components of knowledge creation, culture, as well as entrepreneurship and employment generation.
# Sawaed
thats an excellent first step. although it looks like its dedicated to knowledge based websites, but its just the start!
thats an excellent first step. although it looks like its dedicated to knowledge based websites, but its just the start!
Salam Mohamed,
Thanks for writing about Sawaed. I am really glad that we finally found local support for entrepreneurs. I admire what Sheikh Mohamed is doing.
Insha Allah, I will be participating in the program, so insha Allah you might end up writing about our next project. Your post about ras2ras.com was really helpful.
Amad
Salam Mohamed,
Thanks for writing about Sawaed. I am really glad that we finally found local support for entrepreneurs. I admire what Sheikh Mohamed is doing.
Insha Allah, I will be participating in the program, so insha Allah you might end up writing about our next project. Your post about ras2ras.com was really helpful.
Amad
OUTSTANDING EFFORTS ARE MADE BY H.H SHIEKH MOHAMMED BEN RASHED AL MAKTOUM AND I HOPE SOME ATTENTION WILL BE GIVEN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTERTS AT SOME UNIVERSITIES TO PREPARE FRESH GRADUATES TO THE LABOUR MARKET.