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DUBAI/ Budding entrepreneurs may soon be setting up business, launching a center aimed at giving young people a much-needed step up the job market ladder. The Entrepreneurship Center at Dubai Women’s College (DWC) has gained huge popularity since its soft launch late last year, with 80 aspiring entrepreneurs among its alumni.
The center hopes this is just the beginning and looks forward to more to come when it officially launches after Eid al-Fitr in September. Projects so far include a film proposal and a program to help women in rural areas become home bakers. The center is open to both men and women and has 35 faculty members from higher technical schools, each with a different area of expertise. Students have access to expert consultants who provide guidance in all aspects of business and industry.
With 34 permanent and semi-permanent offices available, the center offers basic business skills courses, workshops and seminars in finance and marketing. Nao Valentino, manager of the center and a faculty member at the Higher Institute of Technology DWC, said: “Eighty percent of businesses in Dubai are small and medium-sized enterprises. We cannot rely on the government to absorb the population “no longer. These people are young and need jobs, and hiring Theirs is a small business.”
The center offers the first few free consultations, then charges Dh500 for a year’s membership and unlimited use of its facilities. So far, participants have received help with loans, business licenses and office space, and completed a series of pre-launch procedures. Emirati student Adel Jabri, 21, used the center to develop a business plan and develop a financing proposal for his film.
Jabri, who is researching app-based communications, is still working to secure funding, but said he finds the center indispensable. “It helped me make connections and know how to reach people in the right way,” he said. “I didn’t have the skills.” So far, the center has partnered with institutions including the Licensing Authority, Dubai Economic Development Department and Emirates NBD, which provides services to many in fields including fashion, graphic design, health and charity work. Young entrepreneurs provided funding.
Although its main goal is to help young Emirati people, the center also counts non-nationals among its wards. Lina Salhi, 26, who was born in Syria but has spent her life in Dubai, earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the American University in Dubai and has spent the past three years developing a charity project to help Women from low-income areas of Dubai. The business will operate as a biscuit baking cooperative in Ajman and Umm al Qaiwain.
Women in the program – known as Rayhana, meaning “basil leaf” – bake cookies at home and sell them to individuals and companies. One company ordered 1,500 candies last year as New Year’s gifts. What started as a mother baking gifts for Ramadan has since expanded to three families and is expected to expand again when Ms Sally secures more funding. “The center played a vital role as a consultant, providing expertise that I did not have myself,” she said.
“Entrepreneurs need a lot of support. Starting a business can be extremely stressful,” said Naveed Kashif, a management consultant at DBA Business Advisors. Ms Valentino said entrepreneurship was a growing trend among young people in the UAE. “It’s their culture,” she said. “Dubai is a trading hub, so it fits into this economic landscape. “People are losing their jobs, or want to start doing other things to earn extra income, or just want to do what they love. These people want to work. Train them Running your own business in turn creates jobs for other people.”
Lubna Qassim, a lawyer and financial law reform activist who has campaigned to make it legally easier for small businesses to grow, said: “Entrepreneurs are the ones who help us rekindle society’s hope for tomorrow. The power of. We should help these people.” Have the right platform and enable their needs to flourish. A center like this is a big step in the right direction. “Small businesses are centers of innovation and creativity,” said Dale Murphy, senior fellow at the Dubai School of Government.
“The center will seek to tap into the untapped resources of the UAE’s young, creative generation.” mswan@thenational.ae
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