RISE Kuwait is a new business program that aims to help the wave of young talents in today's active and competitive private sector in Kuwait to "rise" and flourish. They recently launched this business program with an event which was held at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. The event was held outdoors around the beautiful, sublime and picturesque Roman amphitheater. It consisted of an open market peppered with kiosks and booths promoting different smaller businesses, as well as an array of café and food vendors around the fountain. The Rise event was further complimented by an expertly played Darbuka goblet drum followed by circus and street performances, all of which served as pre-show entertainment. Khaleejesque had exclusive access to the first leg of the RISE festival, which was a private event.
Dalal Al-Hamad, one of the organizers of the three-day festival states, "The festival is just the first step in our program,and was held to launch the RISE program and promote it." The Rise Team have all worked round the clock for months at end to make this program possible. The finishing fruit of their labor marks a milestone which will be further developed in the coming months into a full fledge program. Dalal continues, "Our next step is developing the program, which will hopefully take place by the end of the year; it will target the young entrepreneurs in Kuwait as it is an entrepreneurial program."
The event consisted of an introductory launch forum on the first day. The second day consisted of market promotions and entertainments. Finally on the third day a competition was held, complete with a committee of judges. The panel consisted of prominent business owners and entrepreneurs; the likes of Fahad Al-Fahad of Magnolia Bakery and Areej Al-Kharafi of Fortune Cookie Boutique. The grand award went to Bader Al-Issa, founder of MyU, a social app specifically designed for collegiate interaction between lecturers and students.
RISE is a program dedicated in warming young Kuwaiti business ideas to hatch and spread their wings potentially to entrepreneurial success. RISE aims to see through a rising wave of innovative, thriving and ambitious ideas materialize; all from the deep talent pool of Kuwaiti youths.
For more information about RISE, check out their website or follow them on instagram @risekwt
-Bader A. Shehab
