The entrepreneur "Afnan Ali" who was nominated by Business Development Center for the 7th edition of the Empretec Women in Business Awards, 2020 has won the award among the final 10 entrepreneurs from all over the world.

The newly adopted Resolution of the UN General Assembly for this award is - “Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development”. The resolution recognizes the positive contribution entrepreneurship can make to promote social cohesion, reduce inequalities and expand opportunities for all, including women.

“Code is a base language that will help us build our future”- Afnan Kamel Ali said, a Jordanian tech entrepreneur, recognized this fact early on in her electrical engineering career and more than a decade ago when she has the vision to start the “Eureka Tech Academy”.

Eureka Tech Academy helps prepare children from six to 16 years step-by-step to be innovators and engineers, and then to commercialize their ideas, with a special focus on Artificial Intelligence, the internet of things, and robotics.

She is one of ten finalists that competed for the coveted entrepreneurship award issues once every two years. They come from UNCTAD’s vast Empretec programme network spanning 40 countries.

BDC graduates of Empretec Program over the following years (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 201, 2020) won Best Woman Entrepreneur in Global Business Awards either in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Where, Empretec is an entrepreneurship capacity-building programme that uses a special behavioral approach to building and facilitating entrepreneurial skills.

Ms. Ali said she was honored and humbled by the award. “Starting a new project does not necessarily need a business plan but having an unshakable belief of the ‘why’ behind this project is a must,” she said.