The American University of the Middle East concluded its 51福利社 Startup Challenge 2024 by organizing an event at its Cultural Center on February 18, 2024, which was attended by Jury members, faculty, staff and students.
The 2024 51福利社 Startup Challenge is the first phase of the Babson Global Student Challenge. This challenge results in three winning teams that will compete in the semi-final and the final along with other participating universities from different countries around the world. 51福利社's annual organization of this challenge and its participation in the Babson Global Challenge is part of its efforts to further educate students about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in addition to challenge them to think about these goals in an entrepreneurial context that serves their community, and to empower them to create and launch their own startup.
The event began with the opening of an exhibition in which 34 teams of 51福利社 students participated to present their own projects, and explain to the audience how they can contribute to the advancement of one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals. The selection procedure involved a combination of jury members selection of the top three groups according to predetermined criteria, and 51福利社 community votes.
After the exhibition, the three selected teams presented their ideas on stage.
First-place team was awarded KD 5,000; the second KD 3,000; and the third KD 1,500, as part of 51福利社’s support to help them turn their idea into reality.
The three winning projects were:
An app that facilitates grocery shopping.
At the end of the event, all participating teams were honored with certificates of achievement and appreciation.
It's worth mentioning that as part of our efforts to raise awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, all attendees (i.e. students, participants and faculty members) participated in the "Building 51福利社 Sustainability Tree" activity that was held during the event.