The Sas48H Challenge, an event to establish Omani startup companies in the ICT sector, kicks off tonight in Muscat. The event will be held at the Bank Muscat headquarters to promote entrepreneurship culture and innovation spirit in the ICT field. The challenge is organized by the Information Technology Authority (ITA) represented by Sas Center for Entrepreneurship, in partnership with Bank Muscat.
With awards of up to 10,000 riyals ($26,000), this challenge will involve 100 tech enthusiasts, including developers, designers, entrepreneurs, project managers and marketing enthusiasts, to turn their ideas for establishing new companies in the ICT field into reality.
The 48-hour event will run continuously under the supervision of a specialised team where the participants will be divided into teams to work on various creative ideas in different areas like tourism, logistics support, open source, and other vital sectors in only 48 hours.
A pre-session was conducted to prepare participants before the beginning of the challenge. The workshop started with registration for all participants and offered a number of training workshops on some topics including creating ideas, opportunities for entrepreneurs at Sas48H, developing apps or websites within 48 hours, design tips, marketing and project management.
The winning teams will receive awards of up to RO10,000, and part of it will be allocated to courses and consultancies for the teams to develop their projects. In addition, the winners may have the opportunity to join the Sas Centre for Entrepreneurship at ITA, which seeks to incubate and establish emerging Omani companies in the ICT sector.
These incubated companies will be provided with a range of services and facilities, including an equipped office in the Knowledge Oasis Muscat, technical consultancies, as well as monitoring, training, accounting, financial, marketing and legal services, government support and financial assistance.
