Arabnet Arabnet

Starting on Tuesday, February the 18th, Damascus will play host to its first ever Startup Weekend. Local entrepreneurs, developers, designers, and startup enthusiasts will get an invaluable chance to connect with mentors and access critical resources to kick start their entrepreneurial career. They will share ideas, form teams, and launch startups all within a 54 hour timeframe.

“This is going to be a great learning experience for the entrepreneurial community in Damascus and will encourage growth and innovation in these hard times,” said Ahmad Sufian Bayram, Lead Volunteer Organizer, “Our mission in this weekend is not only creating local startups; we want to grow our community locally and build a supportive entrepreneurial environment.”

You (probably) know the drill

During the first day attendees will pitch their ideas to the audience in 60 seconds or less. After that, participants will form their own teams. The remainder of the weekend will be spent implementing the most popular ideas – typically web apps, mobile apps, and hardware – with the help of mentors and seasoned startup entrepreneurs. And by Thursday, teams should be ready to present their ideas before a panel of judges.

Startup mentors will be on hand throughout the entire weekend to provide expertise and give talks on their experiences in the fast ­paced world of startups, with the presence of some remote entrepreneurs for whom it’s difficult to come.

Prizes

Winners will be awarded prizes valued over $1,000 each, including co­working space subscriptions in addition to other benefits geared towards helping them continue their journey well beyond the weekend.

Around 150 participants are expected to partake in the event, but there are limited tickets available for the public for watching the presentations on Thursday. So hurry up and register now.

“One particularly challenging aspect of this event is that it will be held under the hard circumstances in Syria. Still, these very circumstances make it more essential to encourage entrepreneurship as the only chance to create over millions of jobs needed in the next five years after all the job losses.”

Startup Weekend Damascus is organized by local entrepreneurs from various backgrounds, in partnership with Wikilogia. “We all are excited about the event and doing our best to make it awesome. It is an exceptional opportunity that not only meets our vision to fix education, but also will help us promote entrepreneurship and demonstrate its importance for the Syrian youth and the future of the country,” said Al­Amjad Tawfiq Isstaif, Co-­organizer of the event and Main Coordinator at Wikilogia.

Where?

The event will take place from Tuesday, February 18th at 9:00 AM to Thursday, February 20th at 6:00 PM at IT Plaza, West Mazzeh. For more information about this weekend’s 18, 19, 20, Feb 2014 Press Release event, as well as tickets to participate, make sure you visit the dedicated page here. You can also follow the event on Twitter @SW_Damascus to stay up to date.