• A New Competition For Start-Ups And Entrepreneurs In The Middle East

By Ron Chen, Correspondent ASEAN Region

Aviram Family Foundation and Forbes have announced a new annual competition called “Aviram Awards — Tech for Humanity” that will spotlight ground-breaking Middle Eastern and North African start-ups developing innovative solutions to today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Aviram Awards – Tech for Humanity is looking for trailblazing entrepreneurs across the region who are dedicated to giving back to humanity through the use of technology and innovation. This competition will gather the region’s top entrepreneurs together on one stage for the first time at an event in Dubai in March 2022.

Aviram Awards – Tech For Humanity is the first initiative launched by the Aviram Family Foundation, founded by Ziv Aviram, the co-founder of world-changing solutions Mobileye and OrCam – and his family. The Aviram family’s mission is to combine cutting-edge innovation and technology with social responsibility and positive action to impact the lives of millions for the better. Aviram Awards – Tech For Humanity and the partnership with Forbes embodies this ethos.

The competition is designed to provide a springboard for long-term growth for these entrepreneurs and make their ideas a reality. To do this, Aviram Family Foundation is granting US$500,000 prize and offering expert mentoring to the grand place winner, as well as a US$100,000  to a first prize winner and $50,000 USD to a second prize winner, which will be announced at a ceremony in March 2022 in Dubai. To enter, visit the competition website here.

Submissions are encouraged from across the region, and five finalists will be selected from a virtual pitch event in late January 2022, before having the opportunity to present to judges in-person at the ceremony hosted by Forbes and the Aviram Family Foundation in Dubai in March 2022. The event will bring together the most talented and inspirational entrepreneurs from the region on the same stage, for the first time.

Entries will be judged by ambassadors from Middle Eastern and North African countries including top leaders and industry pioneers across entrepreneurship, technology, academia and more.

“At Forbes, we have a long history of celebrating the power of entrepreneurship to solve some of society and the environment’s biggest challenges, so we are really excited to be partnering with the Aviram Family Foundation to spotlight a new generation of start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa,” said  Chief Content Officer & Editor, Forbes, Randall Lane. “There is so much untapped potential across the Middle East and North Africa just waiting to be uncovered and nurtured.”

“Following many years of work, I have discovered the tremendous impact of combining business and technology with doing good,” said Entrepreneur and Founder, Aviram Family Foundation, Ziv Aviram. “We established the Aviram Family Foundation to harness these forces, for a real impact on the reality of people in Israel and the region. In the past year, we received an unprecedented opportunity – to connect Israel and the countries of the Middle East through joint action in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation. I am excited to start this journey with my family and to locate the next venture that will make a big contribution to humanity and to the realities of our life in Israel and the Middle East.”

Aviram Awards – Tech For Humanity is accepting entries from companies based in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Entries opened on November 1, 2021 and will close at midnight on December 10, 2021.