DAU’s College of Business Administration hosts an annual entrepreneurship competition. The competition is open to both male and female students from all Saudi universities. Applicants present entrepreneurial and creative ideas across all sectors, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

A. NAWAT Competition Objectives:

ü Promoting entrepreneurship among male and female students.

ü Activating innovation for positive social impact.

ü Equipping students with the skills and abilities to develop and implement entrepreneurial ideas that benefit society.

ü Assisting students develop prototypes of their entrepreneurial ideas.

ü Providing students with the opportunity to present their entrepreneurial ideas and projects to advisors, experts, and investors.

B. NAWAT Competition Eligibility Requirements:

1. Applicants must be active students at Saudi universities.

2. Student entrepreneurs may compete as solopreneurs (teams of one person) or with multiple team members.

3. Team members are restricted to participating in a single team.

4. One team member should submit all work via the Nawah platform

5. Entrepreneurial ideas should be innovative and unconventional, solve a problem or fulfill a societal need or desire, and be feasible.

6. The entrepreneurial project must have a clear vision or prototype available.

7. NAWAT platform forms must be used to apply for the competition.

8. A comprehensive presentation must be submitted, which includes all required elements and themes for the entrepreneurial project.

9. After acceptance into a competition, the team may not make any changes to the venture name, idea, concept, or technology that was used in the application during the competition period.

C. NAWAT Competition Stages:

– Stage 1: Competition application – (deadline: April 11, 2025)

– Stage 2: Intensive training for candidates, validation of the idea, creating a business model, and pitch their idea within a short time (5 minutes) – (2 days)

– Stage 3: Each team presents a 5-minute presentation to a panel of judges and an audience, followed by the announcement of the winners and the award ceremony (1 day)

D. Entrepreneurial Project Evaluation Criteria:

Entrepreneurial project evaluation criteria are divided into three axes:

1. Entrepreneurial Idea Evaluation Criteria: An idea’s clarity, importance, and objectives; its relevance to the problem, need, or desire it is addressing; its advantages compared with other ideas; its positive impact on Saudi society; the information provided is of high quality and reliability.

2. Business Plan Evaluation Criteria: The business plan for the entrepreneurial project should be submitted using the templates provided by the competition platform. The evaluation is based on feasibility, quality, cost, revenue, timeliness, sustainability, safety, market, and user satisfaction.

3. Entrepreneurial Project Owner Evaluation Criteria: Demonstrate administrative, technical, and personal skills (certificate of experience, certificate of participation in workshops, training certificate, etc.).

E. Competition winners:

ü First, second, and third winners are determined by a jury.

ü Fourth and fifth winners are determined by public voting.

F. Prizes for winners:

ü An appreciation certificate from the university

ü The innovative products and ideas will be displayed on NAWAT’s website and linkage with supporting parties

ü Attending specialized training courses

ü In-kind gifts and cash prizes to be announced later