Doha: Qatar University (QU) Foundation Program in the Deanship of General Studies recently organised its 5th Entrepreneurial session in collaboration with the Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development. Ahmad Al Saygh and Ola Abdin delivered a series of presentations to students of English for Business Communication.
The main objective of the event was to inform students aspiring to start their own businesses of the support and services provided by the Bedaya Centre, Qatar Business Incubation Centre, Qatar Development Bank and other specialised services such as the Digital Incubation Centre.
The guest speakers’ presentations proved insightful, candid and inspiring. They morphed organically into students’ collective brainstorming, sharing their business experiences and quick Q&A exchanges. They clarified the difference between entrepreneurship and regular business, pitching a number of business ideas for the students to categorise into either truly original, innovative, creative, disruptive, on one hand, or as a mere replication of successfully implemented ones.
The guest speakers did a reality-check about the percentage of start-ups that manage to survive and stay in business at least in their first year. To the students’ surprise, only 2 to 5 percent of new business ventures worldwide manage to survive the market.
In response to students’ curiosity about the viability of new “coffee shop” business concepts in Qatar, they were warned that a typical “coffee shop” business idea in Doha appears to be a mere replication of previously implemented business ideas, and it is risky due to competition, deep market saturation and high operational costs.
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