1- Registration phase by filling in the application available on the website.
2- Preliminary screening that eliminates the candidates who do not satisfy the programme’s criteria. Teams that succeed in this phase will be entitled to proceed to the Idea Competition.
3- Idea Competition: during this phase, a committee will meet all participants where they briefly present their ideas. The committee’s role is to support all candidates and provide them with feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of their application. The interview is important because it will highlight the major areas of improvement. Additionally, all teams will be enabled to attend SYEA Ventures training programme which includes business planning workshops, strategic management, team building, presentation skills, etc. This phase ensures that candidates with no previous business planning experience get the chance to reach the Entrepreneurship Competition. Participant should submit a preliminary business plan (in Arabic or English) and the successful ones will be entitled to proceed to the Entrepreneurship Competition. A suggested business plan template is available to download from the website.
4- Entrepreneurship Competition: in this phase, an industry expert (mentor) will be assigned to each team. The role of the mentor is to transfer his experience in the industry to the team and help in finalizing the business plan. Participants will have to deliver a full business plan and a 20 minutes presentation to the final judging committee.
The judging committee chooses the winner based on:
a. The feasibility of the project (convince judges that 1 million are
enough to start the project)
b. The uniqueness of the new venture.
c. The market size, competition, growth potential, etc.
d. Synergy among team members and the relevance of their skills to
the success of the project.
e. Economic impact of the new venture
5- Closing Ceremony: the ceremony will include the announcement of the winner who gets a prize of SYP 1,000,000 conditional-cash to be used strictly to implement the idea. It’s worth noting that the prize is not a loan. Second and third runner-ups get an honorary prize
Project Plan & Milestones
Milestones | Duration (in days) |
SYEA Ventures Launch | 1 |
Registration | 55 |
Preliminary Screening | 7 |
Idea Competition | 21 |
Entrepreneurship Competition | 72 |
Closing Ceremony | 1 |
Total | 157 |
Who can apply?
- Age from 20 to 45.
- Individuals or teams can participate.
- The new venture’s required financing for the project to take off should not exceed SYP 1,000,000 unless the difference is secured by the participating team.
- Syrians or non-Syrians can be part of the team with at least one Syrian and the venture should be based in Syria.
- Had not won another competition with the same idea.
- Each candidate can be part of one team.
- The new venture should be a profitable business.
How to participate in the programme?
Participants can download the application from SYEA website www.syea.org of get a hard copy from SYEA’s office based in Rawda, Damascus.
The applications can be sent either by email to
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or delivered to our office before 20/01/2008.
Who is the judging committee?
The judging committee would include entrepreneurs, investors and businessmen with proven track record bankers, consultants, and lawyers.
