Ooredoo wins Telecoms Innovator award

Ooredoo took home the award for “Telecoms Innovator” at the 2015 Qatar Enterprise Agility Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year event last night in Doha. The award is the latest in a string of accolades for innovation that Ooredoo has won in recent months, as the company has powered ahead in supporting digital lifestyles for everyone in Qatar.

The event, which was organised by Entrepreneur Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in association with Doha Bank, recognises and honours enterprise leaders and individuals in Qatar. This year’s award ceremony included a host of top nominated businesses across the country. Ooredoo received the award for the success of its customer service and network operations, and especially for its work with Qatar’s growing ecosystem SMEs and entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the win, Waleed Al Sayed, COO Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Promoting entrepreneurship and encouraging innovation are at the core of the Ooredoo brand and the heart of our work in supporting the 2030 Qatar National Vision. We have launched a number of major new innovations in 2015, such the significant enhancement of the Ooredoo Supernet, which are enriching people’s lives and providing a better environment to launch smart services for the people of Qatar.”

Talking about the reasons why Ooredoo received the prize, Wissam Younane, Director of BNC Publishing, the media house behind Entrepreneur’s publications in the MENA region, said: “Ooredoo Qatar was successfully nominated as the Telecommunications Innovator for its deft customer relations. A distinguishing factor that set Ooredoo ahead of the competition was that, in addition to the Telco’s consumer-centric approach, the company has a forward-thinking drive to foster the continued growth of the Qatari economy.”

Ooredoo’s support for new businesses and aspiring young entrepreneurs was highlighted by its new partnership with Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC), announced last month. The partnership will launch a state-of-the-art “Digital and Beyond” incubator within QBIC’s premises to encourage the creation of a new range of start-ups and technology-focused businesses, as well as a national contest for new start-up ideas. Through the partnership, Ooredoo will form a committee to evaluate and select “disruptive ideas” in the digital space, and provide seed-funding for the aspiring entrepreneurs. The first wave of ideas to be assessed will include innovative digital concepts focusing on customer experience, healthcare, education, sport, smart living and other areas.

“Many companies distinguish themselves in a CSR capacity, which is excellent, but at Entrepreneur Qatar, we feel that building tomorrow’s entrepreneurs is a much more superior and strategic method of giving back to your community – it is social enterprise at its core. Ooredoo is doing just that by giving enterprising youth a chance to fulfil their potential and claim their roles while taking steps to contribute to the realisation of the Qatar National Vision 2030,” Wissam added.

As well as its CSR work, Ooredoo has expanded its portfolio of business services in 2015, launching a range of new innovations aimed specifically at the small business and start-up sector. These include the Ooredoo Web Builder solution, which enables companies in Qatar to develop a professional presence online quickly and easily, and the Ooredoo Business Fibre service, which enables smaller companies to connect to the internet at speeds that were traditionally restricted to large corporations.