Doha, Qatar – Sponix Tech, Fatora.io and Droobi LLC captured top prizes at the national finals of the Entrepreneurship World Cup competition held recently in Doha, Qatar.
Mohammad Ali Abbaspour, founder of Sponix Tech, Waleed Alyafie, founder of Fatora.io, and Ayman Bari, founder of Droobi LLC, received $100,000 in prizes and advanced to the next round of the global competition against national winners from 200 countries.
Sponix Tech is an award-winning technology company that provides solutions and services to help leagues, clubs and broadcasters increase revenues and enhance fan experiences.
Fatora.io is an online invoicing solution that enables SMEs to collect payments instantly using the customer’s mobile number.
Droobi is the leading digital therapeutic solution for chronic disease and wellness in Qatar and the MENA region, offering programs that help users manage, reverse, or prevent Type 2 Diabetes.
In preparation for the EWC Global Finals, the founders will participate in a Bootcamp which features virtual training and mentoring sessions targeted to their company’s current stage and growth trajectory.
Sponix Tech, Fatora.io and Droobi LLC emerged victorious from a pool of 225 contestants who applied – each receiving access to free virtual training services and up to $25,000 in perks to help them take their venture to the next level.
Mr. Abdulrahman Hesham Al Sowaidi, Acting CEO of Qatar Development Bank, said: “We extend our congratulations to the three winners and wish them a successful journey in the global stages of the competition. We are confident in our entrepreneurs and their ambitious capabilities. This competition achieved a great turnout in its first edition in our country, a testament to the strength of the national entrepreneurial ecosystem, which we always seek to strengthen through many initiatives and programs in line with our strategy and our country’s national vision. Hence, the importance of competitions such as the Entrepreneurship World Cup lies in their capability to motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to come up with innovation solutions.”
As Global Finalists, Sponix Tech, Fatora.io and Droobi LLC will compete for a share of USD 1 million in cash prizes. The top 100 Global Finalists will receive $100,000 worth of in-kind services and support from service providers such as AWS, Freshworks, Oracle, Hubspot, Stripe and Segment.
Global finalists also gain automatic entry into the GEN Starters Club, an invitation-only community of talented founders from around the world.
Judges for the competition were:
- Mr. Ismail Mohammed Al Emadi, AGM SME Banking at Qatar National Bank
- Ms. Muna Al Thani, head of Business Expansion at Qatar Financial Center
- Mr. Faraj Abdullah, RDI Programs Manager at Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council
- Mr. Gerard Dominic, Department Head, Digital Marketing at Doha University of Science and Technology
- Mr. Rashid Al-Rahimi, Executive Director, Qatar Scientific Club at the Ministry of Sports and Youth
- and Mr. Mohammed Al Emadi, Acting Senior Manager of Investment, Qatar Development Bank.
The EWC Qatar National Finals were organized by Qatar Development Bank in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, and sponsored by Qatar National Bank, Doha University of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Sports and Youth.
Since launching in 2019, the competition has attracted 400,000 registrations from 200 countries and connected founders with over US$3M in cash prizes and another US$256M worth of perks and free support and services. Global Finalists will face off against one another in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March 2023.
EWC is an initiative led by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Monsha’at, with support from a collection of national and global partners including One Valley, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), Entrepreneurs’ Organization, KAUST and Startup Genome.