Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Dar Al-Hekma University and StrateSphere LLC, a company based in Columbus Ohio (USA) and specializing in creating private-public partnerships in the education sector, teamed up recently to run White Space Event, a business pitch competition at Dar Al-Hekma campus.

The event was the culminating experience of a 10-day intensive course in entrepreneurship and design thinking, offered to 60 students.

Guided by StrateSphere instructors, the students presented 15 creative and innovative business ideas and competed for cash prizes of SR7,500 SR. While several business ideas evoked strong interest in a significant number of potential investors, the winning teams were Zen Zone (first place), a developer of sleeping pods in universities and airports, Near Me (second place), a tracking and communication safety device for children and the elderly, and Elabi (third place), an application designed to help cut down customer wait times at institutions.

StrateSphere and DAH have built a robust introductory entrepreneurship course that is now mandatory for all DAH students. The course offers students not only extensive knowledge of entrepreneurial concepts and processes, but also hands on exercises that simulate real business experiences.

Dr. Inass Ali, business professor at Dar Al-Hekma University, stated that she was pleased with “yet another successful delivery of the Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking course by the passionate and brilliant instructors of StrateSphere”. “Dar Al-Hekma students’ entrepreneurial talents were on full display at the final pitching event”.

Tariq Farwana, StrateSphere’s founder and managing partner, said “StrateSphere is committed to inspiring and educating young entrepreneurs in collaboration with local partners around the world, and we are pleased to continue to strengthen our partnership with such a prestigious academic institution as Dar Al-Hekma University”.

StrateSphere is looking forward to helping Dar Al-Hekma continue to expand its entrepreneurship programming, culminating in the development of an entrepreneurship center on campus, where students can work with coaches and mentors from the Jeddah business community to develop their ideas and launch their businesses.