Azernews.Az

23 May 2022 The VIII traditional Kazan OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum jointly organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, The Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF-ERC) and leading youth organization of Tatarstan “Selet” Youth Organization, was held in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan.

Mikhail Vanushin as moderator, welcoming the guests and participants gave the floor toTaha Ayhan, president of Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, Vusal Gurbanov the Acting Director General of the Eurasian Regional Center of the ICYF (ICYF-ERC), AlexeyRvachev, Head of Direction of RosmolodezhBusiness, whohighlighted the uniqueness of this platform for the Youth of OIC countries to submit projects and get investments..

During the plenary session held on the first day of the forum, Hasan Basri Kurt, President of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), Rahim Bayramli, CEO at Azerbaijan SABAH.Lab (online), Anar Yusufzade, representative of Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan (KOBİA), Ziad Barouni, Storytelling, Pitching & Critical Thinking Coach/Mentor, International Entrepreneurship Consultant, and Arzish Azam, CEO at EjadLabs delivered training programs on the topic of “Building business in OIC countries” and answered questions of the forum participants.

Then, during the partner session, Adel Gilaziyev, Head of Target program department at Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan, Talifa Isgandarli, Community Manager at Sabah.lab, and Valeria Chernogorodova, Head of international activity department at Youth project and programs sector, made presentations about their centers.

In general, during one month's preparation stage, about 35 startups from 150 countries have been registered for the Forum. During this period, young entrepreneurs, authors of 20 startup projects representing 50 countries in an online format, took part in trainings conducted by experts and mentors operating in different countries of the world and gained relevant knowledge. Overall, the best 33 startup projects, representing 15 countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Jordan, etc.) were selected for the “Demo Day” - final stage of the investment session. At this stage, startuppers held presentations of their projects with the participation of investors and created relevant connections with them.

At the closing ceremony of the VIII Kazan OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum H.E. Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Taha Ayhan, President of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, and Vusal Gurbanov, Acting Director General of the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum addressed official speeches, congratulated successful project authors as well as highlighted the importance of this project.At this event, where Azerbaijani experience was discussed and shared, it has been declared that, 3 startup projects will be financed by the ICYF-ERC. Minister of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan Timur Suleymanov in his speech emphasized on the importance of the OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum and informed about the future cooperation with the ICYF-ERC to this end.

It should be noted that, during 2014-2021 as a result of the Kazan International Forum 2 million USD have been assigned for more than 1000 young entrepreneurs representing 50 countries.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz