INJAZ Al-Arab Celebrates Young Entrepreneurs with 2022 Company of the Year

October 31–November 2, 2022

INJAZ Al-Arab JA MENA kicked off the third regional Company of the Year competition today with its Youth Entrepreneurship Celebration (YEC), the first in-person edition of the regional celebration since 2019. Hosted in Dubai by INJAZ UAE, the weeklong event brings together the top national JA student companies from around the region at both the high school and university level. But YEC is only partly an awards competition. It’s also a hands-on, real-time learning experience, during which students are exposed to additional job-ready skills, including design thinking, innovation, project management, and more. Students interact with a wide range of participants, from business executives, ambassadors, diplomats to volunteers, teachers, and JA alumni. Both global and regional JA partners teach in-depth seminars, mentor students, and further prepare them for employment and entrepreneurship. By creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the INJAZ Al-Arab YEC offers an exceptional opportunity for MENA youth.

The Skills-Enhancement Sessions

The INJAZ entrepreneurship ecosystem includes six skills-enhancement sessions that cover six segments of business: business strategy, project management, innovation, design thinking, customer service, and growth and development. Each session presents students with a challenge that they must work together to solve. These sessions serve as the basis for the six signature awards from sponsors FedEx, the Project Management Institute, Citi Foundation, Boeing, Investcorp, and Mastercard.

Day 1 began with the FedEx Access seminar. In 2007, FedEx became the founding sponsor with JA Worldwide to expand regional JA Company of the Year competitions around the world. FedEx has continued its support annually through sponsorship of the signature award, which honors the JA student businesses that best exhibit the principles of global connectivity—driven by innovation, connecting to new markets, fueling community development, and sustainable and social responsibility. Each year, this award incentivizes young JA entrepreneurs to seek higher achievement and recognition at regional JA competitions around the world by creating products and services that improve lives. The first day also included sessions with the Project Management Institute (project management) and Citi Foundation (customer service), and concluded with a bus tour and dinner for the students.

On Day 2, students started out their day of skills-enhancement sessions with regional sponsor Boeing. Designed for high school students, the Boeing Business Challenge helped students develop design thinking and innovation skills. Next up, students participated in the Investcorp Value Creation Initiative, during which Investcorp presented a real-world problem and asked students how they might solve it. Some students imagined the exact solutions Investcorp employees used. In the third and final seminar of the day, Mastercard asked students to present ideas to help small businesses digitize payments that could replace cash transactions across multiple markets. The day ended with a networking dinner for students before they turned in for the night to rest up for the next day, when they will present their companies in front of the judges.

The Awards

On Day 3, students presented their companies to panels of judges as they vied for the title of Company of the Year, one each for the university and high-school levels. But first, student companies were awarded the signature awards, based on their learnings from the previous two days in the skill-building seminars.

Signature Awards

Boeing Business Award: Go For Fit, INJAZ Qatar (high school)

Citi Client Focus Award: Artemis, INJAZ Oman (high school) and Caftech, INJAZ Bahrain (university)

FedEx Access Award: Join Me, INJAZ UAE (high school)

Investcorp Value Creation Award: Homey, INJAZ Qatar (university)

Mastercard Excellence in Technology Award: Afkary, INJAZ Egypt (high school)

PMI Project Management Award: Afkary, INJAZ Egypt (high school) and Caftech, INJAZ Bahrain (university)

INJAZ Al-Arab Awards

Social Impact Award: Artemis, INJAZ Oman (high school) and Caftech, INJAZ Bahrain (university

Product of the Year Award: Salamtek, INJAZ Bahrain (high school) and Redacom, INJAZ Al-Maghrib (university)

Company of the Year: Join Me, INJAZ UAE (high school) and Homey, INJAZ Qatar (university).

As the INJAZ Al-Arab high school JA Company of the Year, Join Me will join JA Europe Company of the Year Microgreens from JA Greece and JA USA Company of the Year Brainwave from JA of North Central Ohio—along with the soon-to-be-named champions from JA Asia Pacific, JA Americas, and JA Africa—to compete for the third-annual De La Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award in 2023. Learn more about the award at jaworldwide.org/de-la-vega-award.

Congratulations to all the JA student companies from MENA!

The Student Companies

Which student companies won their respective national Company of the Year competitions? Find out by scrolling below.

High School Student Companies

INJAZ Bahrain

Salamtek is on a mission to protect young children and the elderly from getting lost using technology made from 3D-printed filaments to keep them safe.

INJAZ Kuwait

INJAZ Egypt

Afkary uses clothing to raise awareness about traditional Egyptian culture and mental health.

Eco-International created a biodegradable mask from plant materials.

INJAZ Lebanon

Capable uses technology to help people with disabilities participate in all aspects of society.

INJAZ Morocco

Robees created a mini robot that supports beekeepers.

INJAZ Oman

Artemis’s sustainable products work to reduce the odors emitted from domestic animal waste.

INJAZ Palestine

Baseera developed solutions for the visually impaired that enable them to be independent and self-reliant.

INJA Qatar

GoForFit promotes healthy eating and exercise with an app and subscription box service.

INJAZ UAE

JoinMe is a safe digital community that introduces women to the world of networking with other women who have similar interests.

University Student Companies

INJAZ El Djazair (Algeria)

SEND is an innovative logistics and delivery online service provider.