Ten entrepreneurial projects from the teams participating in the “Eastern Entrepreneurs” programme have progressed to the “Entrepreneurs Competition” stage, the final stage of the programme which the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (“SYEA”) launched in cooperation with Total Exploration and Products in mid-April last year. The programme seeks to motivate young Syrian entrepreneurs in the three Eastern provinces (Deir Azour, Al-Hasakah and Al-Raqqah) and assist them in implementing their small and medium-sized projects by providing them with the basic tools to transform their project ideas into effective businesses in the economic market.

The progression of the ten teams to this stage comes after the jury listened to a complete explanation of each project and its strong points. A jury offered some directions and observations to develop the business plan, and each team was assigned professional advisers with business experience in order to transfer their expertise to the participants and assist them in placing the final touches on the business plan.

Each team presents a final business plan to an independent jury, which in turns chooses the team winning the one million Syrian pound prize at a ceremony in the coming October. The selection of the winning project is based on a number of criteria, including: “entrepreneurship and the ‘stand out’ nature of the project, the possibility of implementation, market size, competition, growth potential, harmony amongst team members and application of their skills for the project’s success, and the economic and social impact of the new project.”

The “Eastern Entrepreneurs” programme was able to attract 58 entrepreneurial projects from Deir Azour, Al-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah, with the projects ranging across the service, agricultural and livestock, industrial and commercial fields. The entrepreneurs who submitted these projects go through a number of training rounds about how to write a business plan and are provided with the experience and skills to study the market, pricing mechanism for products, selection of workers, financial management, and other areas.