Dubai: The University of Manchester Middle East Centre in Dubai has announced a partnership with a new programme for young Middle East entrepreneurs and startups - UAEpreneur. UAEpreneur is an initiative of Dubai-based Innovest Middle East and aims to identify 10 leading startups from the region and introduce them to angel investors at an investor day in Dubai. The University will provide expertise in the screening and selection of the 10 startups and also access to professional development opportunities for the winners.
The UAEpreneur programme is initially focusing on young entrepreneurs and has already attracted interest and applications from across the GCC and wider Middle East region. The screening and selection process of the top 10 startups is now underway, supported by experts from the University’s Middle East Centre in Dubai. Many of the startups are digital businesses targeting the b2b and b2c sectors.
Following the selection of the 10 startups, the young entrepreneurs will be invited to the Investors Day event in Dubai to present their ideas to angel investors and prospective industry partners within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The prospective investors are both individuals and entities willing to invest seed funding of USD50,000-250,000 to help start up or scale the businesses.
UAEpreneurs is an initiative by Innovest Middle East, a business Incubator that accelerates high potential Entrepreneurs and SME founders during their startup and growth stage. UAEpreneurs is also supported by Johnson & Johnson Middle East, Startupgrind, and MENACatalyst.
Moatassem Moatez, partner at Innovest Middle East, said: “UAEpreneurs is an initiative to support the fast growing startup community in the region. Our focus is on younger entrepreneurs and a practical approach to getting them the support, finance and skills they need to succeed. Our commitment goes beyond matching startups to investors and Innovest will offer additional professional support to the winning startups. Ideas are important of course but potential investors look first at the people and their skills to assess a startup’s viability, so the participation of The University of Manchester will be valuable.”
Randa Bessiso, Middle East Director at The University of Manchester, added: “From our own experience, we can see the very powerful attraction of entrepreneurial careers among professionals across the Middle East. Our aim is to support these innovators and our partnership with Innovest and the UAEpreneur programme is another way of doing this. The Middle East Centre will enable access for the 10 startups to our executive education programmes and our extensive network of students and alumni across the region. Investors invest in people first and so our support in personal and professional skills development will be valuable to startups.”
The University of Manchester Middle East Centre has developed into the largest and fastest-growing centre in the University’s international network comprising six hubs in key business cities around the world. The centre has supported more than 2,300 part-time MBA students based in the region and has graduated more than 1,300 MBA students since opening in 2006.
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About Innovest ME
Innovest ME is an incubator that partners with high potential Entrepreneurs and SME founders during their startup and growth stage. We share with our partners the passion, the big dreams, and the success, but equally the sleepless nights, the hard work, and the potential setbacks.
About The University of Manchester Middle East Centre
The University of Manchester Middle East Centre at Dubai Knowledge Park opened in 2006 and is the largest and fastest growing in the university’s international network comprising six hubs in the key business cities around the world. The Centre has supported more than 2,300 Manchester Global Part-time MBA students in the region, and graduated more than 1,300 MBA students. The Middle East Centre has recently launched a new portfolio of executive education programmes and is introducing a series of new, industry-led specialist Masters programmes; the first of these include the MSc Reliability Engineering and Asset Management, and MSc International Healthcare Leadership. The Centre works in regional collaborations with a range of industry groups, professional bodies and companies, and supports a regional alumni association with more than 2,500 members.
About The University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is currently delivering a £1 billion 10-year masterplan for its campus to create world-class facilities for staff, students and visitors. This includes the redevelopment of the Alliance Manchester Business School, the £350m Manchester Engineering Campus Development and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC). Completed projects so far include the award-winning National Graphene Institute and The Whitworth Art Gallery.
Media contact:
Jonathan Walsh,
WPR Dubai,
jon@wprme.com,
+97150 4588610
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