At Innovation Café Qatar, It's All About Creativity, Collaboration, And, Yes, Coffee Innovation Café Qatar is ensuring entrepreneurs in the peninsula can innovate, network, and thrive- all while enjoying some fresh coffee

Like most working spaces that aim to encourage the exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing, Doha-based innovation and design thinking studio Innovation Café Qatar too offers plenty of options for its users to choose from. Its services range from rooms to accommodate small groups of up to five people, to larger ones rooms that can house up to 20 people at a time.

But for the founder, Ramzan Al Naimi, creating a dynamic yet easygoing environment for users was something he placed great emphasis on when he first launched Innovation Café in 2018- and it is a goal he continues to work towards even today. And in achieving this very specific goal, Al Naimi has ensured the addition of another -perhaps equally important- offering: fresh coffee. "We wanted to create a space that is different from traditional work sites and offices, providing a stimulating and comfortable environment for creators and entrepreneurs in a way that supports their specific entrepreneurial thinking styles," Al Naimi says. "Innovation Café is the only café in Doha that offers a designated space for creative thinkers, who are looking for a resourceful platform, which provides flexibility to work on their projects, while enjoying a cup of freshly prepared coffee."

For Al Naimi, his vision for Innovation Café Qatar is extremely clear in his mind: it is to become a "hub of entrepreneurship in the field of innovation and creative development" in Qatar and across the MENA region. "Our focus, therefore, remains on supporting and promoting growth for startups," he says. "Innovation Café Qatar is made up of a team of strategists, designers and technologists who have spent the last decade partnering with companies and individuals to make dreams come true and create amazing experiences!"

Source: Innovation Café Qatar

In Al Naimi's introduction to his team lies a neat segue to Innovation Café Qatar's second (third, if you include the coffee!) main offering: consultancy and training. "We help companies and startups in bringing about a change in management style using customized training, and also help organizations to develop ideas using existing prototypes," Al Naimi says. "In addition, we can use our platform to solve problems as well as to develop new products for our users through the adoption of the best business tools and further enhanced with the ideas submitted by the employees after the approval of their management."

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Here, Al Naimi emphasizes on the importance of the firm's human capital, adding: "Our main strength is the team! Our team of experts have a global imprint in successfully delivering value in the realm of innovation and design thinking through the most advanced knowledge, tools, techniques, and, above all, our unique approach."

Through all of Innovation Café Qatar's offerings, Al Naimi says that he hopes to create a synergetic collaboration not just within Qatar's startup ecosystem, but also between technology and human skillsets. "Technological advancements have had positive effects, including the fact that they allow people to produce more with little resources, and this, in turn, has had the favorable effect of increasing productivity," he explains. "As productivity grows, so does the economy. With these benefits and advantages in mind, Innovation Café will aim to provide a hub which fosters innovation through research and development, training in terms of technical know-how and support, professional mentoring and coaching, providing access to the market and fostering strategic partnerships, as well as connecting entrepreneurs to investors."

Source: Innovation Café Qatar

In the years since Innovation Café Qatar was launched, Al Naimi has seen the country's startup ecosystem grow by leaps and bounds over the last few years. "Entrepreneurship in Qatar is flourishing with a small market and great potential for growth, and we expect an enormous expansion during and after the upcoming FIFA World Cup as well, as our ecosystem will be exposed to entrepreneurs all over the world," Al Naimi says. "And as such, I believe that we will truly be a central hub to direct, guide and lead any entrepreneur towards success in Doha- from building an idea and implementing it, to Series C investments round matchmaking."

But even as Al Naimi and his team work on bolstering Innovation Café Qatar's future, they are also currently getting started on a whole new endeavor. "Currently we are working on our scale-up plan to launch the first venture builder in the country," Al Naimi reveals. "It will be one that counsels and guides entrepreneurs on the many other nuances needed to successfully launch and grow a startup, including strategy, branding, marketing, and communications, as well as management of operations, finances, legal matters, human resources, administrative tasks, and more." These goals may seem lofty, but Al Naimi is confident about realizing them all- after all, look at what he has been able to do with Innovation Café Qatar. "Based on the successes we've achieved so far, we know we can offer a strong network of mentors, as well as coaching and business opportunities," Al Naimi says. "We fully believe in our values and vision as a company , and we are already contributing well to the Qatari ecosystem. So, now, we are working on a couple of great ideas to expand this community support across the MENA."

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