Kuwaiti 'Treps Graduate From MTB Startup School In Silicon Valley In early February, 16 entrepreneurs graduated from MTB Startup School 2016, an acceleration program from the partnerships between Mind the Bridge (MTB), its MENA partner Kuwait's Brilliant Lab, Kuwait's Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, Zain Group, IE Business School, Al Hamra Kuwait, and Gatehouse Capital.

By Pamella de Leon

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Brilliant Lab

In early February, 16 entrepreneurs graduated from MTB Startup School 2016, an acceleration program from the partnerships between Mind the Bridge (MTB), its MENA partner Kuwait's Brilliant Lab, Kuwait's Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, Zain Group, IE Business School, Al Hamra Kuwait, and Gatehouse Capital.

Held in San Francisco, California (the new HQ for future Silicon Valley MTB activities), it welcomed "treps from Brazil, Kuwait, and Italy, and startups in early and later stages, as well as ventures from the education, virtual reality, SaaS and IoT sectors. During visits to Stanford, Google and MobileIron, the students learned from lecturers and mentors on establishing an enterprise, and about Silicon Valley's ecosystem.

Related: Picture Perfect: Startup Success Lessons From Shutterstock Founder And CEO Jon Oringer

Among the lecturers were Brilliant Lab founder Neda Aldihany, FireMatter founder Matteo Fabiano, invisu.me CEO and co-founder Donna Griffit, Timelapse founder Oliver Roth. Launched in 2011, Brilliant Lab aims to encourage entrepreneurship in Kuwait and the wider GCC by supporting new ventures, and connecting entrepreneurs with government entities and venture capitalists.

MEET THE 'TREPS

Graduates of MTB Startup School 2016

AjarOnline Cloud service app for collecting and paying rent via SMS and email

BigHut Games Game development studio

DIVA home An app controlled LED lamp to save and track energy

Fitmeplus A video-chat platform for personal trainers and customers

InteriorBE A community of interior design professionals

Lotebox A workflow management system simplifying cargo shipping and logistics processes

Mindesk An online collaboration tool for CAD modeling

Oncase A solution provider to analyze data for businesses

Prodeaf A software solution to translate text and voice to sign language

Suati A platform for energy trading and management

SiliconReef A system-on-chip solution for the sustainable energy market

Nasser Story An edutainment app aiming to teach children Arabic using tower animation facilities

Pamella de Leon

Startup Section Editor, Entrepreneur Middle East

Pamella de Leon is the Startup Section Editor at Entrepreneur Middle East. She is keen on the MENA region’s entrepreneurship potential, with a specific interest to support enterprises and individuals creating an impact.

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