Dubai: The Young Entrepreneur Competition (YEC) exhibition which was held late last week saw support not only from shoppers but from government and private benefactors as well.
Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced during the exhibition that he would become a benefactor of 32 participants in the exhibition. He showed particular interest in supporting the special needs sector.
During the tour Shaikh Mansour expressed his admiration for the creative and innovative ideas on display and stressed the importance of YEC as a platform for young entrepreneurs.
During the exhibition, Dubai SME also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) to help fund entrepreneurial education and marketing.
"The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is keen to expand its reach and services to SMEs because this important segment is the UAE's engine of growth. NBAD and Dubai SME pursue the common goal of cultivating and promoting entrepreneurial spirit and the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses," said Haitham Al Refaie, head of NBAD's Business Banking Group.
‘Critical insights'
"These partnerships enable us to provide critical insights, market knowledge and support that help entrepreneurs in deploying their investment prudently and marketing their goods and services," added Abdul Basit Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME.
The exhibition has seen more than 2,500 young entrepreneurs selling their products in Dubai Mall. The Young Entrepreneur Competition was first launched in 2005 with 49 projects and 114 participants in the inaugural event. The number of applicants this year has swelled to 1,000.
"This is the seventh cycle for the event. Some of the participants have been attending for a few years and some are new. At their age it's difficult to produce a product. A lot of people just buy and try to sell anything. From the first year, they begin to understand the market, so next year they start to think more about the items people like to buy. In the third year they have their own brand and product, suppliers etc," said Nisreen Safar, general coordinator of YEC.
Along with workshops prior to the exhibition, this year the participants were also provided with a receipt box and they learnt how to write a receipt and keep the invoice.
