Damascus, 02 December 2022 – My Rootstock, Al-Ather Tracking Solutions, and Smart Window shared the first prize at the national finals of the Entrepreneurship World Cup competition held recently in Damascus, Syria.

The three start-ups were at different stages of development; ideation, early and growth. They emerged victorious from a pool of 218 contestants who applied from across the country– each receiving access to free virtual training services and up to 6,000,000 Syrian Pounds in perks to help them take their venture to the next level.

The three start-ups will advance to the next round of the global competition against national winners from 200 countries.

Alaa Ibrahim, Founder and CEO of My Rootstock, captured first place as a start-up in the ideation stage. “Agriculture is the cornerstone of the economy in Syria. Our project will significantly cut costs and increase production for farmers,” said Ibrahim. “We hope to put Syria on the map as an exporter of seedlings rather than an importer.”

My Rootstock aims to be the first agricultural centre in Syria to produce locally grafted vegetable seedlings using scientific and reliable methods.

Mohammad Jihad Alhindi, Founder and General Manager of Al-Ather Tracking Solutions captured first place in the growing start-up category. “It was very challenging to build a business in Syria during the war, but there was a need we wanted to respond to,” said Alhindi. “With determination, we taught ourselves how to become resilient and adapt to constant change.”

Al-Ather, operating in Syria since 2019, provides innovative fleet-tracking solutions via web and mobile applications for companies, schools, and individuals.

Ahmad Ramadan, Founder and CEO of Smart Window, the first place in the category of an early-stage start-up. “We have come a long way but still have a long way to go,” said Ramadan. “We have high hopes for the future.”

Smart Window is a digital business space that links service providers and companies with potential customers with the possibility to customize the list of services, filtering reviews and orders to help them get the best services available.

In preparation for the EWC Global Finals, the winners will participate in a Bootcamp which features virtual training and mentoring sessions targeted to their company’s current stage and growth trajectory.

As Global Finalists, Smart Window, Al-Ather Tracking Solutions, and My Rootstock will compete for a share of US$ 1 million in cash prizes. The top 100 Global Finalists will receive US$100,000 worth of in-kind services and support from service providers such as AWS, Freshworks, Oracle,  Hubspot, Stripe and Segment.

Global finalists also gain automatic entry into the GEN Starters Club, an invitation-only community of talented founders from around the world.

“Despite all the problems that we have in this world, we have every reason to be optimistic because this generation of young people will bring about positive change”, said Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP Syria Resident Representative.

Congratulations and thanks to the panel of judges.

Judges for the competition were:

• Hassan Shams, Audit Director and Leading Instructor, Talal Abu Ghazaleh
• Obey Sandok, Head of Software Engineering and Information Systems Department, Faculty of Informatics Engineering, Damascus University
• Amer Kharboutly, Head of Damascus Chamber of Commerce
• Oby Roshan, Head of Labour Unit, Damascus Chamber of Industry
• Mohamed Yaman Alsabek, CEO & Co-founder, Sanad Youth for Development Foundation

The EWC Syria National Finals were organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through both its Youth Leadership Programme (YLP) and the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP) in partnership with Sanad Team for Development.

Since launching in 2019, the competition has attracted 400,000 registrations from 200 countries and connected founders with over US$3 million in cash prizes and another US$256 million worth of perks and free support and services.

Global Finalists will face off against one another in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early next year.

EWC is an initiative led by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Monsha’at, with support from a collection of national and global partners including One Valley, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), Entrepreneurs’ Organization, KAUST and Start-up Genome.

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Notes to Editors

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About Entrepreneurship World Cup

EWC is an initiative led by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Monsha’at, with support from a collection of national and global partners including One Valley, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), Entrepreneurs’ Organization, KAUST and Start-up Genome.

About United Nations Development Programme

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.