The wait is finally over as the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Pan Arab announced the semi-finalists of the 12th edition of the Arab Startup Competition earlier this week. As you probably know, the competition is conducted along three different tracks, including the Ideas Track, Startup Track, and Social Entrepreneurship Track. Bahraini startup Nakheel, an agri-tech firm that aims to solve major issues faced by date palm farmers, is one of the semi-finalists in the Startup Track. For the uninitiated, MITEF has been hosting the pan-Arab startup competition since 2006 with the vision of boosting the spirit of entrepreneurship across the region. A number of regional and global organizations including the likes of the World Bank Group and Community Jameel have traditionally contributed to MITEF’s efforts to turn the Arab Startup Competition into one of the most prestigious and challenging events-of-its-kind in the region.

To be held in Beirut this year, the competition is targeting 21 Arab countries with an expected turnout of no less than 12,000 entrepreneurs.

The semifinalists to have qualified for the forthcoming competition will undergo a pre-boot camp training session as preparation. This is an important step for all participating startups as it gives them the right platform to fine-tune their pitches, optimize their business model, scaling their ventures, and other important key ingredients of entrepreneurial success.

The pre-boot camp will kick off at the Zain Innovation Campus ZINC (King Hussein Business Park), Amman on Feb 26, 2019.

You can find the full list of Startup Arab Competition 2019 semi-finalists for all three tracks here.