Social entrepreneurship is gaining traction in Qatar and more young people are aspiring to be part of this growing ‘impact movement’. Mahmoud Sawalha and Dana Abu Subeih, students from Qatar and the national winners for the first ever Tatawwar programme in the Middle East, are only two of the growing number of youngsters who are now actively taking part in several entrepreneurial activities to solve the various sustainability issues plaguing the region.
Responding to water sustainability, which is one of the major challenges facing the Mena region, the HSBC in partnership with the British Council and Potential.com launched the Tatawwar programme this year.
The programme targets students from Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and other countries in the region. The pilot phase of the programme saw almost 500 applicants from eight countries. As many as 78 applicants completed the programme and submitted their business plans. Two finalists from the five countries competed in Muscat, Oman, after attending workshops that produced initial prototypes.
Sawalha, a student from Ahmed bin Hanbal Schools for Boys and Abu Subeih, a student from The Palestinian School for Girls, both represented Qatar in the competition, where they continued to develop their business projects and learn more about social entrepreneurship.
Sawalha eventually won third place for his Absorbent Super Polymer project, which is made out of natural substances such as Arabic gum that can reduce water consumption in agriculture up to almost 40 percent. His project will now be placed on a crowdfunding platform to raise funds to implement his idea on a large scale.
Abu Subeih, during the competition, also presented her Aqua Pureit Filtration System, which filters grey water and reuses it for irrigation purposes. For Abu Subeih, being with like-minded young people who were intentional about their business projects to solve problems affecting the region, was an eye-opening experience.
“I used to know nothing about business before I participated in the Tatawwar programme. But meeting people that are already doing business helped me a lot. Each day I would learn something new about entrepreneurship. The programme also taught me a lot about water sustainability, especially through the videos we watched while completing the modules, and when we visited the Aflaj water canals in Oman during a field trip. It made me start reading more and more about water sustainability,” added Abu Subeih.
Speaking about her prototype idea, Abu Subeih added: “My filtration system is different from the others that already exist in the market, because it is made from raw, natural materials such as sand, pebbles, and charcoal. This makes it affordable and eco-friendly. It will benefit people by making them use the filtrated greywater which usually only ends up going to waste”.
According to Abu Subeih, even though her project didn’t win an award in the competition, she will continue to develop her social entrepreneurship skills. “Hopefully one day I’ll be able to come up with better solutions for the problems we are facing in today’s world, work on them and try to help make this world a better place,” she added.
