JEDDAH — The pitch for investment competition, a highlight of Izdehar SME to be held May 19-21, at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel, under the aegis of Prince Mishaal bin Majed, has attracted huge interest from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and budding entrepreneurs. “As a groundbreaking initiative, Izdehar SME is expected to create a great deal of buzz throughout the Kingdom's business world — which is not surprising since SMEs count for almost 95% of Saudi Arabia's business establishments and employ the majority of the country's workforce,” said Hussain Al-Harithy, Vice Chairman of NEC. “Equally, it's no surprise that much of the excitement and interest is centered on the pitch for investment competition to the extent that all places have now been filled with some very innovative new ideas set to be featured.” The pitch for investment competition at Izdehar SME is a great opportunity for anyone with a new business idea or SME project to pitch their idea to a panel of leading business experts for the chance to win an investment injection to fund their project. The expert panel of judges will include Ahmed A. Mahayri, Vice President, LMC Investments; Osama Ghanim, CEO, Innovabia; and Nael Fayez, CEO, INJAZ Saudi Arabia Commenting on the competition, Nael Fayez said: “I am sure that there are many great ideas out there and the youth of Saudi Arabia are up for the challenge. All they need is an opportunity, professional mentoring and financial support. I can't wait to hear great ideas.” Osama Ghanim added, “Pitching for investment competitions is one important thing I always encourage entrepreneurs to go for. The competition by Izdehar SME 2013 is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in Saudi to possibly partner with the right future business partner. I believe that the exercise alone will be of a great value for entrepreneurs, to hear any feedback from the audience can be as valuable as finding an investor. I personally enjoy these types of competitions and I am very excited about participating in this important one by Izdehar SME.” The winners will be given access to funds from investors at the show and the professional mentoring offered to winners of the competition is just as valuable as the monetary value of the funding since the lucky winners will have the opportunity to learn from some of the Kingdom's most successful business leaders. As well as the special mentoring offered to the winners of the competition, anyone visiting Izdehar SME can attend special workshops which are free-of-charge training events taking place each day on Izdehar SME exhibition floor from 15:00 -17:00. The workshops will be lead by industry experts including Izdehar SME's Gold Sponsors Zahid Group, Strategic Career Partners Bayt.com, Innovabia and King Abdul Aziz University. Izdehar SME includes the Inspiring Women Summit, a ladies-only activity, featuring presentations and panel discussions from some of the most successful and inspiring businesswomen from Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world. Organized by NEC “National Exhibition Company”, and sponsored by Zahid Group, and supported by Kafalah Fund, Injaz Saudi Arabia, Human Resources Development Fund, Bab Rizq Jameel, National Entrepreneurship Institute (Riyadh) and Jeddah Youth Business Committee of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI), Izdehar SME is an innovative B2B event that provides the perfect platform for SMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs to meet, network, share ideas, learn from and do business. — SG
