After weeks of convincing the jury that their innovations are fully functional products, the candidates had to argue that their products have a solid place in the market when they presented their business plans and displayed their products brand identity.

The competition was fierce as only 4 candidates would continue to the finals and the chance to win up to $300,000 leaving one innovator and their partner to go home.

To evaluate the 5 remaining candidates, 5 jury members made up of regulars Dr. Fouad Mrad and Rachid Ibrahim were joined by VIP jurors that included Vice President of Education at Qatar Foundation, Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, and Founding member of the Bahrain Businesswomen Society, Ms. Fatima Jawad. University Juror Dr. Mohamad Dubashi from Carnagie Mellon University completed the set.

The Prime time stage was fully branded with each candidate’s product as they presented their business plans to the jurors and Hind was the first to step up to the challenge. She explained how ‘Butterfleye’ is going to start small and grow slowly but Dr. Al-Thani questioned her decision and said that the product should expand farther than just the MENA region.

Anis was next to take the stand with his motorized shopping trolley for the disabled, that he branded ‘ShopUp’. After carefully explaining his business plan, Anis mentioned that his product would not be directly welcomed in the Arab world and that his consumer would first be targeted to western societies. Dr. Al-Thani advised Anis that he could create an awareness campaign in his business plan to encourage Arabs to buy his product.

After grading Anis, the jurors listened closely to Abdallah who showcased his look for ‘OMNI’. When challenged about his choice of name by Dr. Dobashi, Abdallah shared that the name of his product would be further developed over time. Ahmad was confident in his presentation after coming first in the Design episode last week and the jurors were keen on asking Ahmad why his market is solely for the U.S. audience.  Ahmad explained that the U.S. market is the largest and he is confident insurance companies will support Goom.

Sadek was the last to present his business plan& branding for ALCHEMIST to the jurors before the final results were revealed by host Khaled.
The top 4 selected to move forward were:

•    Abdallah & Ayman - first place for Omni with 83% of the vote

•    Sadek & Ahmad came second with 80% of the vote for Alchemist.

•    Ahmad & Mojahed ranked third, securing 74% of the vote for Goom.

•    Hind & Nadim walked off with 4th place, in very close proximity to Ahmad & Mojahed taking 72% for Butterfleye.

Anis and his partner Omar departed the program after a series of good wishes from fellow candidates and Jury members.

The countdown to the final has begun. Start voting for your top candidate NOW to help them secure the top prize of $300,000 in the Live Final show on Sunday November 28th, 2010. All numbers and details can be found on the main page of the site. Good luck everyone!