Boeing and Injaz Al-Arab, a non-profit organisation, have revealed that their Start Up programme has supported the establishment of 60 businesses by Arab youth across the Middle East, including 23 in 2016 alone.

Nearly 700 students across the region have worked with Injaz Al-Arab’s Boeing-supported Start Up programme to establish 60 businesses since the program’s inception in 2009, said a statement.

Just this year, Start Up has supported 23 businesses through incubation and acceleration across the Middle East and North Africa region, it said.  

The Start Up program was designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship education and economic success by supporting the creation of startup ventures.

With Boeing’s support, Injaz Al-Arab embarked on creating a Start Up programme for youth, accelerating their entrepreneurial talent into registered, operational ventures within an intense six-month period combining funding, training, mentoring and business operations.

A pilot programme was operationalised by Injaz Egypt and an evaluation of this programme was completed in 2014. Due to its success in Egypt, the program has been rolled out to in Algeria, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Qatar.

“The Injaz Start Up programme is a source of pride for Boeing in the Middle East, as this is an initiative that assists in directly addressing unemployment in the region,” said Bernard Dunn, president of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

“The number of businesses established this year demonstrates the ongoing success of this programme and its roll-out across the region will help create a sustainable economic environment,” he said.

“By working with established incubators and partners, Start Up has nurtured a wide range of innovative ideas from students across the region and helped them to take the crucial step in launching a company,” he added.

The programme has not only encouraged entrepreneurship but also ensured that innovative ideas are promoted and brought to life across the region. Egypt, the first market to launch has demonstrated how successful this programme can be, with a range of forward-thinking businesses opening in the conuntry, including RecycloBekia, an electronic waste recycling company serving the entire region that won the Start Up program in 2011.

The company is the first in the Arab world offering green recycling of electronic waste and safe data destruction services.

Kijamii, founded by Bassem Elhady through the Start Up programme in 2009, is a social media agency that aims at realizing social experiences for their partners, customizing creative solutions and strategies on social media. The company now generates approximately EGP5 million ($255,448) in annual revenue.

Akef Aqrabawi, president and CEO of Injaz Al-Arab, said: “Boeing has helped us to bring the programme to life and transform student business ideas into fully-fledged companies that create jobs and new economic opportunities.”

“Boeing’s corporate incubation model defines a new method of corporate social responsibility in the region, one that must be learned from and replicated in the interest of the region’s young people,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service