Winners of Dubai Smartpreneur Competition will be selected today

On the side-lines of the ArabNet Digital Summit 2016 closing ceremony today (Tuesday 31^st May), the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry will announce the three finalists from the 10 shortlisted entries for their creative ideas at the Smartpreneur Competition recently launched in cooperation with the Smart Dubai Office.

The specialised committee of judges including Ayesha Sultan, Board Member at Smart City – Dubai Holding, Abdulla Ali Al Madani CEO, Corporate Technology Support Services Sector Roads and Transport Authority, and Saeed Alabbar, Director at AESG and Chairman of the Emirates Green Building Council, will assess the presentations of the 10 shortlisted participants for their innovative ideas before selecting the three winners.

The competition received 350 entries out of which 48 qualified in the second phase last week and attended two full day workshops on sector-specific training from experts in the field while 10 were shortlisted in the final phase to select the three finalists by the committee of judges.

The 10 shortlisted ideas include Smart Labour, which is about spreading happiness among workers, Taqarir, a website for tracking automobile history, Efhamni (Understand Me) an application designed to bridge the gap between deaf and hearing people, Redjani, which is about creating a start-up platform for Arab start-ups to explore the market potential, while Namla is about a company that focuses on making educational augmented reality applications based on scientific research findings delivered in the user’s mother tongue.

The other ideas included are “iwant” which is an on-demand platform that helps people buy anything on retailers’ shelves with the push of a button, 24/7 venues is an online platform, (247venues.com), Hashtracker is a mobile app that allows businesses to grow their economy successfully with smarter marketing campaigns, LoadMe is about reducing traffic through GPS tracking and smart phones apps to connect load owners with available trucks and pick-ups in their area, and Quickbytz which is a one-stop solution for food-court patrons to select, place and track their orders.

The first three winners will get a cash prize and the opportunity to join Tejar Dubai entrepreneurship development programme for a year which will help them turn their business ideas into reality. The competition was open for all UAE-based entrepreneurs and required them to submit their business ideas in line with the Smart Dubai dimensions including smart economy, smart living, smart mobility, smart governance, smart environment, and smart people.

Essa Al Zaabi, Senior Vice-President, Institutional Support Sector, Dubai Chamber, and General Coordinator of Tejar Dubai, informed that the number of innovative ideas put forth by the 10 competitors reflect on the spirit of entrepreneurship prevailing in the emirate as well as the participants’ keenness in adopting creativity and innovation to make their presence felt in the competitive world of business.

“This competition is designed to help young entrepreneurs to be part of emirate’s strategic initiatives like the Dubai Smart City, in addition to strengthening their role in creating happiness through the adoption of innovative technology while enhancing the emirate’s transformation into a smart city,” added Al Zaabi.

All applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria including the problem the business addresses in a large or growing market opportunity, if the idea has a value proposition and identifies customers’ need for the product or service in line with the market and competitive landscape and if it supports one of the Smart Dubai dimensions. Also, if the team demonstrates passion about their idea, and if they have a thorough and credible execution plan along with the idea’s Business Model, its revenue generation methods as well as its financial growth projections.