The 7th Kazan OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum kicked off today, on 11 June 2021 with the official online Opening Ceremony. The Forum is co-organized by the Eurasian Regional Center of ICYF (ICYF-ERC), Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, and “Selet” Youth Organization of Tatarstan in partnership with the INNOLAND Incubation & Acceleration Center of the State Agency for Citizen Services and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, ICYF Secretariat OIC Youth Forum and Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh).
The launching ceremony of the Forum was addressed by H.E. Mr. Timur Suleymanov, First Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, H.E. Mr. Taha Ayhan, President of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF), Ms. Tatiana Seliverstova, Deputy Head of Youth Projects and Programmes Directorate of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (RF) and Mr. Elmaddin Mehdiyev, Director General of the Eurasian Regional Center of ICYF, co-organizer of the Forum.
Among the hundreds of applicants from 41 countries, 135 startups representing 32 countries were selected by an international jury to participate in the Forum. Along with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) the Member States, representatives of non-Member States as the US, UK, Canada, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Lithuania, Venezuela, and Georgia are also participating in the Forum with a view of supporting the Muslim communities out of the OIC geography and also to create favorable conditions for exchanging experience and knowledge with the youth beyond the OIC geography.
Throughout 7 weeks of training to be conducted by international experts the participants of the Forum will get the necessary skills and practice to develop and present their projects to international investors during the final stage of the Forum – Demo Day to be held in Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan (RF), on 27-30 July with the participation of official guests and investors. 2 months of distance learning, as well as distance work with mentors will ensure high quality of project readiness for participation in the offline Demo Day as well as effective interaction with potential investors.