August 2013

Manama, Bahrain (7 August, 2013) – MBA Fakhro Group, the holding company for Bahraini entrepreneur Mohammed Adel Fakhro’s business interests, today launched a call for applications for an Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program, the first in a series of initiatives focused on supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs. The program aims to encourage students to think outside the box and consider entrepreneurship as a very real possibility for their futures careers.

Mohammed Fakhro

More than a summer internship, the MBA Fakhro Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program aims to help five budding businessmen and women to develop their business ideas and bring them closer to reality. The initiative, which is set to be personally overseen by Fakhro targets university students between 18 to 23. Candidates will undergo an interviewing process and will be selected based on the potential of their business ideas and their ambitions. They will be placed within the Group’s various entities, where they will also gain valuable work experience.

Successful applicants will attend weekly mentoring sessions with Fakhro, where he will help develop their business plans and suggest solutions. Where possible, Fakhro will also utilize the Group’s network to support the entrepreneurs in realizing their goals. A panel of experts will also be conducting regular sessions with the students on various topics, focused on teaching them about the business world and helping to foster within each of them an entrepreneurial spirit.

“With the support offered through government initiatives such as Tamkeen, as well as the establishment of organisations such as the business angels network Tenmou, the time has never been better for young entrepreneurs to try out new ideas at a relatively lower risk level,” said Fakhro.

“We feel that supporting budding entrepreneurs is a noble effect and the best way of supporting the economy as a whole. It is, after all, entrepreneurs and the possible jobs that they will create that will pave the way for a better job market, and a better economy as a whole,” he said.

The program will also teach applicants to be ideal employees through practicing   ‘intrapreneurship’, the concept of innovating from within an institution.

The panel which supporting the program will include:

• Hasan Haider, CEO, Tenmou Business Angels (The region’s first business angels network )
• Noof Khonji, innovation consultant whose career has been based on helping people and institutions think outside he box
•  Venkat S, Head of Strategic Business Initiatives at MBA Fakhro
• Deepu Krishnan, Manager – Internet Businesses at MBA Fakhro Group

This program is the first of a series of events through which MBA Fakhro hopes to contribute to the growing interest in promoting new business ideas. Getting accepted into this program will also have the additional benefit of getting in on the ground floor of further MBA Fakhro entrepreneurship initiatives, another of which is due to be announced in the near future.

Applicants will need to fill a questionnaire and write an introduction explaining why they should be selected. Supplementary information, such as school and university grades, will help, but are not essential, explained Fakrho.

“We debated long and hard about whether to make university and school grades a deciding factor in the selection process. Although higher education played an important part in my personal professional development, we recognize that not everyone reaches their goals in the same way. There have been many successful entrepreneurs who didn’t finish their higher education, including some famous ones like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg,” he said.

“What we are looking for is creativity, enthusiasm, hard work, and an appetite for thinking outside the box. The cover letter and responses to our questionnaire will tell us everything we need to know to evaluate the students. Brief interviews with the students will help us shortlist the final candidates.”

“My colleagues, who have kindly accepted to take part in this program, and I look forward to mentoring these young minds and see where things go”.

Emails can be sent to internship@mbafakhro.com including the following documents:

• A cover letter about why they want to participate in the program
• Educational information and references, or a CV if available
• A copy of the applicant’s CPR
• Responses to the questionnaire downloadable on the website www.mbafakhro.com
• Applicants will be accepted from August 4 – August 24
• The internship will run from August 25 – September 12

For questions and more information, please email internship@mbafakhro.com