As part of our ongoing commitment to empower and support communities, we supported "Startup Weekends" in Iraq as an initiative to foster entrepreneurship in youth, recognizing promising ideas and helping to implement them. Startup Weekends offer aspiring young entrepreneurs the opportunity to explore the viability of their new business ideas and give them the boost they need to present their projects to the business world.


In August events were held in Baghdad, Erbil, Basra and Suleymania. A vast number of projects - ranging from applications bridging blood donors and hospitals to technical service companies, and from digitized university textbooks to food bank and donations applications - were presented. Beginning with open mic pitches on Thursday, participants brought their best ideas and inspired others to join their teams. Over Friday and Saturday, teams validated their ideas, practiced LEAN Startup Methodologies, built minimal viable products, and focused on customer development. Finally, on Saturday evening the teams demonstrated their prototypes and received feedback from a panel of experts.


An average of 80 young entrepreneurs from each city competed in the program. Many of the young entrepreneurs advanced to the next stage for implementation. CCI supported the events by supplying refreshments and coolers and by participating in the talent jury which selected the top three projects.

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