Encouraging enterpreneurship in young Emiratis
A new programme aiming to encourage entrepreneurship in young Emiratis was launched in Dubai. The programme is a partnership between Microsoft and the Arab Business Angels Network (Aban). Trough this programme young entrepreneurs will find opportunities to partner with corporate and academic support and funding from “angel†investors.
Microsoft supports entrepreneurship among young people across the world. It’s corporate social responsibility strategy aims to provide start-ups with advanced technology access, market knowledge and innovative business development expertise that will help build the business ecosystem.
At the launch of the partnership, new technology start-ups from the region demonstrated their wares. One such product was WeNear, an application integrating social networking with mobile phone and location-based technologies.
Also at the event were students from the American University of Sharjah, who developed PolluMap, an application that tracks and maps pollution levels across cities. The students had previously won the GCC leg of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, a software development competition for students.
Governments, civil society and the private sector in the Arab world are taking an increasing interest in encouraging entrepreneurship and self-employment among youth, as more than 100 million young people are set to enter the region’s workforce by 2020.
The ICT Fund, a project under the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, offers both funding and support to local technology start-ups. Both Etisalat and du contribute one per cent of their yearly revenues to the fund.
With more than Dh200m in capital, the ICT Fund has the capacity to make major investments in start-up companies, but its activities so far have been limited. At least eight applications have been made to the fund, with at least two accepted. Representatives of the fund were not available for comment.
The Khalifa Fund has even deeper pockets, with a recent Presidential order raising its reserves to Dh1 billion. It has given funding and support to 95 ventures since its inception a year ago, and has received almost 2,700 applications.
In the UAE and across the Arab world, self-employment is seen as an attractive career prospect, with research showing that between 25 and 50 per cent of university students in the region express the hope of starting their own business. But many do not follow through with their ambitions. Sulaf al Zu’ubi, the executive director of Injaz in the UAE, said less than five per cent of young people went on to start a company. The reason was “the fear factorâ€, she said.
“Young Emiratis have so many opportunities in front of them, funding and support,†said Ms Zu’ubi. “It is a naturally entrepreneurial culture. But they need to know what is ahead of them, the challenges, the skills needed.â€
Injaz, which is the Arab-world associate of Junior Achievement, a global youth development organisation, runs a programme where school students in years 10 to 12 go through a 15-week start-up simulation, incorporating everything from business planning to funding and operational management. Ms Zu’ubi said that 20 per cent of the students who completed the programme went on to start their own companies. “Entrepreneurship is a learned skill, and you have to start at a young age,†she said.
In April, Injaz signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Education to formalize the organisation’s presence in schools. Ms Zu’ubi said the MoU was an “unprecedented†step in the region.
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