The Foundation Program Department of English (FPDE) at Qatar University (QU) collaborated with QU’s College of Business and Economics’ (CBE) Center for Entrepreneurship and Qatar Development Bank (QDB) to organize an Entrepreneurial Showcase Event on campus. The event featured 60 teams of female students and 13 teams of male students from the Business English course, who presented their innovative business ideas for the Qatari market.
The Entrepreneurial Showcase Event is the final step of the Business English Entrepreneurship Project, which involves teams of students utilizing their business knowledge to develop a business for the Qatari market and improve their English communication skills. For the event, students created displays of their business ideas and promoted them to an audience from the university and business community. This event reflects the innovative teaching practices of the FPDE faculty, which emphasize critical and entrepreneurial thinking and encourage collaborative work. During their study journey, QU students are encouraged to practice their English language skills through researching, drafting, negotiating, and presenting their findings to an audience.
The showcase was attended by the Dean of CBE, Prof. Rana Sobh; the Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship, Dr. Saeed Albana; the FP Associate Director, Dr. Hala Hadba; the FPDE Head of Department, Mr. Musa Abu Huzaima; representatives from QDB; and numerous local entrepreneurs. Faculty from both CBE and FPDE also attended the event, praising the passion and confidence that students exhibited while presenting their business ideas. During the two-hour event, judges from FPDE, the Center for Entrepreneurship, and QDB evaluated all student teams.
The Entrepreneurial Showcase Event was previously held every semester but due to the Covid-19 pandemic was last held face-to-face in Fall 2019. Thus, the Business English course team was happy to revive the event and once again offer a high-quality learning opportunity for students. The event’s success was due to the hard work of the course team, the involvement of its collaborators, and the support of Foundation Program management. In the future, The Business English course team plans to continue organizing Showcase Events every semester and improve the quality of student business ideas to inspire graduating QU students to start their businesses.