Kazan hosts 8th OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum
Baku, May 23, AZERTAC
The 8th traditional Kazan OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum jointly organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan, the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF-ERC) and leading youth organization of Tatarstan “Selet” Youth Organization, has been held in Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan.
Addressing the event, President of Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum Taha Ayhan, Acting Director General of the Eurasian Regional Center of the ICYF (ICYF-ERC) Vusal Gurbanov, Head of Direction of Rosmolodezh Business Alexey Rvachev highlighted the uniqueness of this platform for the Youth of OIC countries to submit projects and get investments.
During the plenary session held on the first day of the forum, President of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB) Hasan Basri Kurt, CEO at Azerbaijan SABAH.Lab (online) Rahim Bayramli, Representative of Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan (KOBİA) Anar Yusufzade, Storytelling, Pitching and Critical Thinking Coach/Mentor, International Entrepreneurship Consultant Ziad Barouni, and CEO at EjadLabs Arzish Azam delivered training programs on the topic of “Building business in OIC countries” and answered questions of the forum participants.
During the partner session, Head of Target program department at Investment and Venture Fund of Tatarstan Adel Gilaziyev, Community Manager at Sabah.lab Talifa Isgandarli and Head of international activity department at Youth project and programs sector Valeria Chernogorodova made presentations about their centers.
During one month's preparation stage, about 35 startups from 150 countries have been registered for the Forum. During this period, young entrepreneurs, authors of 20 startup projects representing 50 countries in an online format, took part in trainings conducted by experts and mentors operating in different countries of the world and gained relevant knowledge. Overall, the best 33 startup projects, representing 15 countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Jordan, etc.) were selected for the “Demo Day” - final stage of the investment session. At this stage, startuppers held presentations of their projects with the participation of investors and created relevant connections with them.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the Forum, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum Taha Ayhan and Acting Director General of the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum Vusal Gurbanov congratulated successful project authors as well as highlighted the importance of this project. During the event, which also featured promoting and sharing of Azerbaijani experience, it has been announced that 3 startup projects will be financed by the ICYF-ERC. Minister of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan Timur Suleymanov emphasized the importance of the OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum, adding that they will continue the cooperation with the Center to this end.
During 2014-2021 as a result of the Kazan International Forum 2 million USD have been assigned for more than 1000 young entrepreneurs representing 50 countries.
Other news in this section
