The Winners of the Third Annual Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC)

The Winners of the Third Annual Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC)
10. November 2008 - 10:46 pm | Arab World, Press Release, Startups, VC & Capital, Web 2.0 | Permalink
The announcement of the winners came few days ago, as this year competition was open for Jordanian entrepreneurs only, next year it might be open to all Arab entrepreneurs.

Last Thursday, Princess Sumaya said the Kingdom’s large pool of graduates “represents a tremendous value that Jordan creates every year”.

In her address at a ceremony to honour winners of the third annual Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC), the Princess said that the participants in this year’s competition represent “job makers rather than job seekers”.

The Princess, who was deputising for Her Majesty Queen Rania at yesterday’s award ceremony, added their success is “important to Jordan as role models for the next generation of entrepreneurs whom they will inspire, as future employers and as innovators who are solving valuable problems for society”.



The competition, which aims to encourage a business culture among Jordanian youths, focuses on launching new competitive products and services in various technical sectors, including the environment, information, communications, water desalination, energy and agricultural technologies.
In her address, the Princess stressed that Jordan’s human capital is needed at home to build the country’s economy and advance society.

“If we are to examine the numbers of Jordanians abroad, we learn that more than 500,000 live in the Gulf states alone, and nearly one million worldwide,” she said, adding that if the figures are examined “on how much it costs Jordan to educate these expatriates, Jordan is in fact a donor to the global economy in the form of billions of dollars worth of human capital”.
Mohammad Gawdat, Google’s MENA Emerging Market managing director, also commended the quality of Jordan’s graduates and human capital, describing them as innovative.

He added that the country’s human capital is well-known at Google for their inventiveness and success.
“I am responsible for 112 countries in the world; however, I haven’t seen enthusiasm and creativity more than in Jordan,” Gawdat said in yesterday’s ceremony.
The winners of this year’s award ranged from students to new entrepreneurs.

Hussam Salhab, who won the third prize in the Academia category said his project, “Medical Diagnosis on the Internet”, could never have succeeded without the help of the award organisers.

“I am grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in this competition… It was easy for me to develop the project, but I had no idea on how to work on a business plan without the training offered at the Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship,” Salhab told The Jordan Times.

The QRNEC, which was first initiated in 2005 as the Princess Sumaya National Entrepreneurship Competition, is designed to promote the spirit of creativity and innovation among young people and highlight the significant role citizens play in social and economic development.

This year marked the first-time participation of Google, which awarded a $10,000 prize for the best online business plan, in addition to providing mentorship through online workshops.
The King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau also offered a prize for the best security and defence business plan.

Starting with $20,000 in award prizes in 2006, the award has now grown to $70,000 in order to help encourage entrepreneurial initiatives in the Kingdom.

Award winners

KADDB Award for the Best Defense and Security Business Plan
YAMAMA: Developing vehicle monitoring systems, that can be used for detecting and reporting various vehicle traffic violations, and for tracking.

Google Award for the Best Online Business Plan

Populace Ads: Ad serving technology for small businesses.


First Prize in the Academia category
Human Heater: from the name, a personal portable heater where users can control the degree of warmth needed.

Second Prize in the Academia category
JUST TEAM: Interactive e-learning e-notebook that replaces paper and pen.

Third in the Academia category

FRIENDS: A medical diagnostic tools for personal health record (PHR) project from Google Health.

First Prize in the Mature Entrepreneurs category
KEENWASH: waterless car washing technology.

Second Prize in the Mature Entrepreneurs category
TALASIM: Arab online comedy community.

Third Prize in the Mature Entrepreneurs category
MIDA: developing and manufacturing interactive non-solid free space displays that give three-dimensional effect, and reduce the complexity of interaction between humans and computers.

Best Financial Plan
Better Care


Best Marketing Plan
Advanced Security and Technical Systems