Mogadishu- Premier Bank held an award ceremony in Mogadishu on Thursday night, the 28 of April, rewarding $21,000 to the top three students of the Hal-abuur startup competition, which was held for the first time in Mogadishu this year for the talented and creative university students.
Mr. Ahmednur Mohamed, the Head of Public Relations of Premier Bank officially opened the event. Mr. Ahmednur said there were 31 startup ideas from the students of 12 universities. After preliminary evaluation, 12 startup from 10 universities passed the eligiblity criteria set by the independent pannel of expertise and participated the competition. He mentioned that the aim of this competition is to bridge the gap between the young Somali entrepreneurs and access to jobs and financing.
The winners were:
- Abdirahman Sabrie from the Somali National University won the first place for Aaran Agrifarm with award of $9,000.
- Second place award of 7,000 went to Green Waste Management & Recycling of Ismail Abdalla Ali from SIMAD University
- The third place went to Freelance Platform of Abdirizak Gelle from the Jamhuriya University of Science and Technology who was awarded $5,000.
The Chairman of the Somali Universities Association Prof. Mohamed Mohamud Bidey praised Premier Bank for the competition which empowers young entrepreneurs of Mogadishu universities and called them to prepare their students for this annual competition next year. Mr. Abdiaziz Ibrahim Adan, the Director General of the Ministry of Commerce closed the event. He commended Premier Bank for supporting talented and entrepreneurial youth, and appreciated the Bank for its role in rebuilding the country and supporting these young people to make their dreams true which also a a job creation program and a vital contribution to the country’s economy.
As Somalia is recovering from 30 years of civil war, chaos and political instability, Premier Bank, on the promise of a new Somalia wants to empower and create a better future for Somali youth to have their own small-scale business start-up ideas funded, and make sure that their dreams are realistic, sound and implementable and that Somalia is a better place to invest.
Premier Bank plays a vital role in helping and empowering the youth to realise and believe in their potential to do business. The bank has been/ is committed and ready to fully funding the Somali young minds with flourishing and thriving creativities in business.
It’s noteworthy that Premier Bank has been holding such competition in Somaliland for the fifth year in a row. This program has been benefited by many young people and had a huge positive impact throughout the country since it was established.
