Teams from Lebanon, Egypt and Yemen were named winners in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Business Plan Competition 2010 at the annual celebration of MIT Enterprise Forum of the Arab Region in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Company held in Cairo on Saturday. The Little Engineer from Lebanon was recognized as one of the Middle East and North Africa's most promising entrepreneurs and awarded with $50,000 as start-up capital. BioBusiness from Egypt was named first runner-up, with a $15,000 prize to help realize their business aspirations, presented at a glittering gala event in Cairo, Egypt. Arabic Coach from Yemen and EG-Bioinformatics from Egypt received $5000 each in start-up funding, with all teams receiving mentorship from international business consultants and some of the Middle East's most prominent decision-makers throughout the competition process. “Taking part in the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition has enabled us to refine our entrepreneurial vision while really understanding the dedication and attention to detail required to create and manage a successful business. We hope to help inspire our fellow entrepreneurs in the Middle East and encourage them to be a part of the 2011 competition - it's been an incredible learning and development experience,” said Rana El Chemaitelly, The Little Engineer. “The distinguished judges and everyone who took part in the 2010 MIT Arab Business Plan Competition were tremendously impressed with the level of forethought, due diligence and good old-fashioned hard work that had gone into the initial 1,852 applications received, as well as the intensive presentations made this week by the nine finalist teams from all over the Arab world,” said Fadi Jameel, director and general manager, Abdul Latif Jameel Group and chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel Foundation.
