Winning teams of Enterprise Business Challenge honoured

AMMAN — More than 4,000 students from 114 schools around Jordan participated in the Enterprise Business Challenge (EBC) programme in 2022. 

Now its 11th year, the programme was administered by INJAZ, a local non-profit organisation in the Kingdom, in partnership with the Prince’s Trust International (PTI).

In partnership with the Ministry of Education, Mashrek International School, Ayla Oasis Development Company and the Launching Economic Achievement Programme (LEAP) for Women in Jordan Project, which is funded by the Government of Canada and jointly implemented by INJAZ and the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), the EBC grand finals were held online on Tuesday.

Out of 12 nominated teams, “Team Doctors” from Queen Zein Al Sharaf Secondary School for Girls in Aqaba, “Excellence Team” from Zaid Bin Haritha Secondary School for Boys in Karak, and “Champions Team” from King Abdullah II School in Tafileh won the first three places, respectively.

Team Doctors presented a drip irrigation system, which depends on temperature and humidity sensors, connected to a programmed device to open the water valve, which helps to save water resources. Excellence Team presented a project based on manufacturing educational blocks with simple and complex electrical circuits, while the Champions Team project was a delivery service company utilising both a website and a mobile application.

The competition has given the participating students a chance to conduct experiments with their mentors and teachers throughout the programme’s duration, in which mentors taught the students about the business world and entrepreneurship and how to conduct business while focusing on various important skills such as team work, decision making, utilising points of strength, confidence, creativity and much more, the event said.

During the closing ceremony, which was moderated by INJAZ Education Executive Director Muhannad Jarrah, last year’s EBC participants expressed how beneficial the programme is and how much they have gained and learned from their experience.

Also during the ceremony, the Head of Delivery - Europe, Middle East & North Africa, Ann Newman from PTI, said that the sustainable, green and environmentally friendly products and business ideas which the participants came up with shows how “young people are leading the way in terms of tackling the climate crisis and environmental issues”.

Expressing her pride in PTI’s continuous work in Jordan with INJAZ, Newman noted that the EBC is one of PTI’s “most successful and longest standing programmes”

“I believe that the programme will play a key part in the future, particularly across schools in Jordan,” she added.

Newman said that despite how challenging it is to administer, PTI aims to implement the programme into every school in the Kingdom during the upcoming years.

The experts’ panel discussion during the event discussed how COVID-19 affected the perspectives and ideas of young people. Experts noted that most projects presented were solutions for problems originating after the lockdown.

The EBC programme included specialised training for students in different fields, and with the help of trained teachers and volunteers, introduced students to the basic concepts in the entrepreneurship world, such as how to build and plan effective strategies, and how to practise and apply what they learn into their projects, according to INJAZ Education Executive Director.