Farzan Institute for Science, Research and Technology was selected as the top entrepreneur in the service sector in the Sixth National Festival for Appreciating Top Entrepreneurs in 2011. Dr. Gholamreza Habibi, the founder and CEO of the institute, was thereby awarded a certificate of honor and the festival’s statuette by President of Islamic Republic of Iran.
The festival was held on July 25 in Shahid Beheshti Conference Hall at the president’s residence. The President, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, some members of parliament and other authorities attended the ceremonies.
In the beginning of the festival, some verses of the Holy Quran were recited, and then Dr. Habibi, as representative of top entrepreneurs, expressed his opinion about entrepreneurship and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.
He highlighted the essentiality of presence on an international scale and exporting goods and services abroad, particularly knowledge-based goods and services, citing the example of FaraData software by Farzan Clinical Research. He stated that development of this software not only preserved monetary funds inside the country, but also created job opportunities for many Iranian experts. He opined that such an approach and accumulative saving of dollars will preserve billions of dollars inside the country.
The top Iranian entrepreneur concluded his speech thus, “Presence of a dynamic relation between universities and knowledge-based corporations may play a pivotal role in development of knowledge-based economics. The science and technology transferred from universities to knowledge-based corporations will contribute greatly to their formation and development”. He insisted that it is not sufficient to allocate resources to knowledge-based corporations; rather, it is crucial that students and graduates modify their attitude and try to create jobs rather than seeking them, and this should be accomplished by education, consultations and preparing the cultural background so that the small and medium knowledge-based enterprises may thrive.
Subsequently, Dr. Sheykholeslami, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, made his speech. He mentioned that the number of constructive projects in different parts of Iran is rising by day, and that the entire nation are determined to take up the steps of development and bring about the progress of the country.
The ceremony continued with Dr. Ahmadinejad’s speech. He cited parts of Dr. Habibi’s speech and emphasized the need for an economical revolution and amendments in the labor law.
It is noteworthy that the participants in the national festival were first assessed in provincial festivals for entrepreneurs in industry, agriculture and service sectors, and the top entrepreneurs in each province were then judged for participation in the national festival. After being selected and appreciated as the top entrepreneur in the service sector of Tehran province, Farzan Institute was also chosen as the Top National Entrepreneur and received honors in the presence of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The National Festival for Appreciation of Top Entrepreneurs was concluded with the award of certificates and statuettes by the Minister of Labor, the Minister’s Vice President and some other high ranking authorities.