The President of the University Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish inaugurated on Tuesday 10, May, 2016 the Business Portal in the College of Business Administration in the University City. The inauguration was attended by a group of Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Fund employees and a number of Entrepreneurship specialists. Dr. Al Rubaish affirmed that the University of Dammam is keen on supporting its students in the fields of originality and Entrepreneurship through adopting and embracing their achievable ideas and suggestions.
This speech was during the inauguration of the Business portal that was held during the closing ceremony of the Entrepreneurship Plan Competition which resulted in awarding its first place to the Family Needs application which was created by Osama Qassim, Saber Sufian and Omar Bayoussif. The second place went to the Hearing Impairment Individual application. The third place went to Paper, Rock and Scissors application and three other groups received the Outstanding Idea Award.
Dr. Khalid Al Falqi, Dean of the College of Business Administration in UoD stated that “In the College of Business Administration we are interested in innovation, Entrepreneurship and to achieve UoD’s leading transformation plan which has been coinciding with the national transformation plan that the Kingdom is witnessing, this shows that what has been planned by the University is compatible with the developments of the new concepts of the world of economy which requires relying on innovative entrepreneur cadres who support knowledge based economy instead of a reinter based economy.
The inauguration of the Business Portal is an embodiment of the University’s vision in regards of qualifying students to be ready for the work environment, to be creative in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation and professional work. The Business Portal is a place where ideas grow and transform as well as a place where distinctive partnerships will be born and will achieve greatness and become future leaders. Dr. Al Falqi pointed out that the Entrepreneurship Plan Competition was organized and launched in the University as an initiative by the College of Business Administrative in cooperation with its strategic partners; Waed Saudi Aramco’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Fund. The competition was organized in order to reinforce the spirit of creative competition among UoD students. The number of participants in the competition amounted up to 150 and the Entrepreneurship projects were 55 projects. The participants were prepared by courses, workshops and they presented their projects in front of a jury.
The College of Business Administration celebrated the outcome of its first Entrepreneurship Project Competition and the College believes that students should be qualified scientifically and academically with the latest techniques in the world of business either in teaching or up-to-date curriculums in order to prepare an innovative, skilled, and creative entrepreneur generation.
Also, Dr. Adel Al Oraifi, Vice Dean of the College of Business Administration for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, the supervisor of the Business Portal Services mentioned that “The Portal provides a collection of programs and services which are carefully designed to bridge the intellectual and professional gap in the local markets. According to the national economic vision we as an educational organization need to support the entrepreneur orientation in order to become compatible with the requirements of the private, government and entrepreneur sectors.
Finally, the Business Portal in the College groups together a number of centers and services which are; the Business Entrepreneur Center, the Business Incubator, the Graduate Studies Center, the Executive Education Center, the Financial Center, and the Business Hub.
