The results of the semi-final round of the Bahrain Award for Entrepreneurship is out as Tamkeen announced the 21 finalists on Saturday amidst widespread anticipation. These 21 enterprises will now undergo what is likely to be a very closely competed final phase of evaluation. 

The prestigious award is segmented into three categories, including Micro-Enterprise of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Sustainability in Business Award. 

Among the toughest contenders in the Micro-Enterprise of the Year category are Ahmed Al Awadhi for Doctori Online Services and Hala Sulaiman for Al Rawi Media. The first one -- a health-tech startup and platform -- aims to add value to the Kingdom’s growing healthcare sector and is the first and only licensed telemedicine platform by the National Health Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain (NHRA).

Alrawi Media, meanwhile, is a next-generation network of content contributors who convert Arabic books into easily accessible audiobooks. 

The Startup of the Year category also has some pretty strong contenders in it, including Nayef Al Alawi for Eazy Financial Services, a Central Bank of Bahrain-regulated FinTech platform that supplies financial services providers with sophisticated biometric technologies. Other big names in this category include Yasser Hadi from Malaeb, a community app that enables football players to book fields and join matches, as well as Abdulla Almoayed for Tarabut Gateway, which prides itself as the first licensed open banking systems provider in the Kingdom. As for the Sustainability in Business Award, you might want to keep a close eye on Nawaf AlKoheji for Tenmou, the first business angels company in Bahrain. For those of you following StartUp Bahrain for a while are probably aware that Tenmou has been one of the main pillars of support for up-and-coming tech startups in the country. 

By the way, the aforementioned entrepreneurs are merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg in a long list of worthy competitors in all three categories. The full list of finalists is as follows: 

• Micro-Enterprise of the Year: 

  • Ahmed Al Awadhi for Doctori Online Services

  • Hala Sulaiman for Al Rawi Media 

  • Salman Al Qarata for Tome Pollom

  • Mayssa Al Ghawas for Playworks

  • Mohamed Jan Al Bloshi for Jan Click Media

• Startup of the Year: 

  • Sh. Latifa Mohammed Al Khalifa for Clever Play

  • Nayef Al Alawi for Eazy Financial Services 

  • Rashid Al Raifi, Ahmed Al Mannai and Abdulla Binhindi for Shepherd Design Studio

  • Yasser Hadi for Malaeb

  • Abdulla Almoayed for Tarabut Gateway

• Sustainability in Business Award: 

  • Mohamed Abdulaal for All Food for Food Stuff

  • Nawaf AlKoheji for Tenmou- The Bahrain Business Angels

  • Azza Al Hujairi for Azza International

Besides this, there will also be a separate category for the Female Entrepreneur of the Year, designed to encourage female-led enterprises in the Kingdom.