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INJAZ UAE and Tejar Dubai, joined forces to kick off the annual global Company Program Competition cycle at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s head office on Tuesday, launching high school teams as part of an entrepreneurship accelerator event.
More than 150 enthusiastic Emirati youth took part in the event, which was attended by Dubai Chamber’s Chairman, H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair, and Mr. Essa Al Zaabi, Senior Vice-President, Institutional Support Sector, Dubai Chamber, and General Coordinator of Tejar Dubai. During the event, participants worked with their mentors from Citi, Shell and other consultants to form entrepreneurial teams and start their Company Program journey, enabling them to explore the various aspects of starting a business as part of their academic experience.
The INJAZ UAE Company Program is the flagship program run in partnership with Tejar Dubai and supported by Citi UAE and Shell SEPIL. During the program, students transform their classrooms into start-ups for 12 weeks. Guided by their mentors, students are given the opportunity to lead their “enterprises”, come up with business ideas and manage their companies to compete at the end of the academic year for the “Best Student Company of the Year Award”.
During an action-packed event, students immersed themselves in the first stages of forming teams, ideation, and working through business challenges, while networking with business professionals and mentors. The Company Program Accelerator marked a golden opportunity for business and education partners to provide the support youth need to accelerate their entrepreneurial learning and ignite a fun competitive spirit amongst students from Dubai high schools.
During his welcome speech, Mr. Al Zaabi, explained the importance of the program, as it fosters a culture of entrepreneurship among the UAE’s youth and provides them with the right platform to launch innovative ventures. He noted that such initiatives fall in line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai one of the world’s most innovative cities by 2021.
He revealed that innovation and entrepreneurship are key focus areas under the Chamber’s 2017-2021 strategy, adding that the organisation works to nurture and develop the emirate’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through various initiatives. These include Tejar Dubai, Dubai Smartpreneur Competition and Dubai Startup Hub, which are designed to support and guide nascent entrepreneurs who bring with them creative business ideas, many of which support the emirate’s vision to become a global smart city and leading technology hub where startups can thrive.
Tejar Dubai previously teamed up with INJAZ UAE, a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, in 2014 to boost entrepreneurship education amongst UAE National youth (aged 11 to 24) in Dubai. Five entrepreneurial programs run each year, reaching 3000+ to date.
Sulaf Al-Zu’bi, CEO of INJAZ UAE: “Today’s events brings youth, educators and the private sector under the Dubai Chamber umbrella, making this the perfect collaboration that will enable youth to build their skills to become tomorrow’s business leaders” .
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