Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
The Ouargla Hub of excellence serving project leaders
Initiated by “SLB” in partnership with “Incube me”
Launched a year ago by the multinational specializing in oil services, SLB (formerly Schlumberger), in partnership with “Incube me” and the Kasdi-Merbah University of Ouargla, the “Hub of excellence” of Ouargla, the first incubator of Start-up in southern Algeria is ready. All that remains is the official inauguration which should take place during the month of June 2024. This project dear to SLB will allow support for young project leaders from the next school year.
The finalization of this project was announced by the North Africa communications manager at SLB, Fawzia Mekkaoui during a press conference presenting the project which required an investment of $500,000.
“Support project leaders, by providing them with the framework and all the elements necessary for the creation of their Start-ups” and “create, in the medium and long term, a national alternative in terms of content, products, services and technologies currently used in the oil and energy sector,” she said. It is also about “developing technological, energy and entrepreneurial expertise with tailor-made incubation programs, cutting-edge training and various events, aimed at promoting inclusion, in a springboard dynamic towards employment”.
With a capacity of 200 people, this Hub covers an area of 700 m2. It has a creative studio, 50 workstations and an amphitheater, event spaces… In fact, there has been an establishment of an ecosystem to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship to quote Fawzia Mekkaoui. A pride for the Director General SLB North Africa, Redha Kelkouli and Mohamed Halilat, rector of Kasdi-Merbah University, of Ouargla present at this meeting with the media.
Speaking, the first cited affirmed that “this project is in line with the objectives set out by the highest authorities of the country in terms of encouraging foreign investment in Algeria to face the challenges of the energy sector for the next ten years. There was also talk of decarbonization of Algerian hydrocarbon to give it more value, according to Kelkouli, but also digital transformation, access to markets, optimization of wells, energy transition, etc.
For Mohamed Halilat, rector of Kasdi-Merbah University in Ouargla, “this Hub will support students, project leaders, from the idea to its realization. This project will encourage other companies to do the same thing.
The rector took the opportunity to provide a brief history of his University, which had approximately 132 students at its creation in 1987, as a National Higher School, whereas today, with its ten Faculties and two Institutes , there are nearly 30,000 students, including 2,000 enrolled in doctorates.
It should be noted that the idea for the creation of this Hub dates back to September 2022, as Mekkaoui recalled. Then, there was the signing of the partnership agreement with the pan-African incubator, “Incube me”, in June 2023.
Finally, for the speakers, it is also a question of ensuring this Hub independence, self-financing, which would ensure its sustainability independently of SLB. Good luck to the “Hub of excellence Ouargla” which should take off next October… Sofiane Gassouma