INJAZ Kuwait Team Won 1st Place in the Regional Students Company Competition
INJAZ Kuwait students team has won the accolade of being named the ‘Best Student Company’ in the INJAZ Regional Competition held on May 4th -7th in Oman. The first prize award was given to the Green Target Company of the Al Ruya Bilingual School of Kuwait following a series of entrepreneurial assessments at the 3-day INJAZ regional event.
The Green Target Company had previously won the first place in the INJAZ Kuwait’s annual competition “Battle of the Best 2007”, best Student Company of the year, qualifying them to move on to compete against other leading INJAZ Al Arab student companies in the regional competition in Oman.
During their project, a group of 25 boys out of 75 KD start up capital made a profit of 1175 KD. They presented a model of a paper recycling company providing a service that links between schools, homes, and recycling companies.
The group with the motto of “Green is our planet, saving it is our Target” collected and recycled more than 44 tons of paper by organizing paper collecting competitions from schools, companies and houses around Kuwait. The idea behind the project was to recycle and treat used paper at homes and schools so it can be re used for later purposes, making sure to spread the idea of environmental safety.
Their ambitions are unlimited. The boys continue to use their skills and experiences acquired through INJAZ Kuwait to strengthen the relationship between the Kuwaiti economy and the environment and will continue their quest to “Make Kuwait Green”. They are currently working on a new project that deals with establishing a new industrial unit that is able to recycle more than one product and not just paper!
Through the competition process in Oman, the student companies appeared before regional independent judges who assessed how well they performed against the company criteria, compared to the other companies at each of the stages.
With added motivation, self confidence and recognizable experience, the INJAZ Kuwait team is now more than ready to continue developing their company. “The competition was a great experience for us. We learnt so much on both a business and a personal level. As a team, going through this experience, it enabled us to get to know each other even more and be proud to present our country in such an opportunity.” mentioned Omar al Awadhi, Secretary of the Board of GTC.
“The judging committee, a group of very profound business men and woman, were very transparent, credible and clear on the guidelines. It gave us such pride to see that the business community takes such interest in the future of the young entrepreneurs” added Abdulaziz Al Anaz, Vice Chairman of the Board of GTC.
“I would like to thank INJAZ Kuwait for its continuous support and for giving us this great opportunity that will certainly open new doors to our future,” said president of GTC, Othman Ayman Boodai. He added “At a young age of 18 and already having the opportunity to participate in the social entrepreneurship session where we interacted with governments and business leaders is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The winning team attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) of the Middle East in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 18-20 May 2008. During their participation in WEF, the boys had the pleasure of meeting many important individuals including the Kuwaiti delegation to WEF and Hilda Schwab, Head of Schwab Foundation.
Mr. Omar K. Al Ghanim, Chairman of regional board of INJAZ and chairman of INJAZ Kuwait, discussed the Green Target Company in the Arab Business Council meeting.
The project that the students presented in the INJAZ Kuwait national competition and accordingly to the Regional competition, was the main theme of the WEF drawing a lot of attention to the students idea.
While the world leaders were still emphasizing on the need for environment friendly initiatives, the INJAZ Kuwait team have already implemented a successful step towards this initiative!
