Ooredoo Inspires Innovation in Arab Mobile Challenge

Mobilk - The regional Arab Mobile Challenge (AMC), a competition co-founded by Ooredoo, kicked-off in Oman with an ‘Acceleration Day’ for the hopeful entrepreneurs on 3 October. Designed to promote entrepreneurial skills and technical innovation, the AMC gives aspiring app developers and those with innovative concepts, the opportunity to turn their ideas into reality and win big.

The AMC welcomed nearly 700 regional teams from 14 Arab countries in 2014 and this year promises to be even bigger and the competition more fierce. This year, the focus is on developing an app to advance the education, health, entertainment or employability sectors, with the winners receiving USD 20,000 for the ‘Best Idea’ and ‘Best Start Up’ proposals. The full day workshop was a chance for entrants to get together with leading app developers to explore their proposals in detail and get expert advice on how to succeed. 

“Ooredoo is all about supporting human growth through technology and innovation and we want to support the entrepreneurs of Oman; the future SMEs and leaders of the country. We also want to inspire people to dream big and give them the chance to develop something that could be ground-breaking and make a difference to peoples’ lives,” said Greg Young, CEO of Ooredoo. “In previous years, the Arab Mobile Challenge has resulted in some innovative new products and services and we want to actively encourage talented young Omanis to showcase their skills amongst the region’s best – Ooredoo has every confidence that they will represent the Sultanate in style.”

Participants are not required to have technical skills to take part in the competition and their team can comprise both technical and non-technical participants. All that is needed is an entrepreneurial spirit. Teams can be anything from two to six people, with at least one team member holding a passport from the Middle East and North African region. No funding should have been received to support the development of the app in the ‘Best Idea category. And less than USD 100,000 should have been invested or received to qualify for the ‘Best Start Up’ category.

Dana Shaddad, Project Director of Arab Mobile Challenge, commented, “We are extremely happy, proud and grateful to be able to launch yet another cycle of this competition. This is a testament to the commitment of regional organisations, and their mission to support the growth of young talent. From our perspective the challenge is a window to a number of opportunities such as acceleration, incubation and funding, for aspiring entrepreneurs that may not typically have access to these options or exposure to reach them. “

The AMC is the largest platform of its kind in the region, and has been endorsed by the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association and will have a presence at this year’s Mobile World Congress. It is the regional chapter of the Global Mobile Challenge, which hosts some of world’s leading pioneers in mobile technology. 

Finalists will be invited to the regional finals in January 2016, with runners up either winning cash prizes or the opportunity to get a fully-paid trip to compete at the Global Mobile Challenge in Barcelona. Interested parties can visit www.arabmobilechallenge.com to register as participants before 10 October, for the upcoming selection for the regional finals in the first week of December 2015.  To follow the AMC in Oman and find out more, please visit www.ooredoo.om or any of the Company’s social media platforms.