Dubai Women's College (DWC) students Lamees Al Hajri and Mai Kamali have great ambitions of taking the catering and events world by storm one day.
From their creations of miniature chocolate chip cupcakes and cookies to pretty little glasses of strawberries and cream desserts, Al Hajri and Kamali have already impressed their family and friends by providing these treats on special occasions.
To achieve their dream the two Applied Media Studies students at DWC are planning to start a small home-based catering and events business that offers the delicious miniature finger foods, juices and desserts.
Business plans
This was after their business professor Dwight Anthony tasked them and 20 of their classmates with putting together a business plan about 10 weeks ago.
A Business Plan Exhibition and Oral Defence showcasing the students' work was held earlier this month with industry partners also judging it.
"Our family members just love it (the miniature foods) because it is different from what we usually have in this region – a lot of food, spices and fat," said Al Hajri. "Our food is healthy and simple."
Promoting Emirati culture
Naeema Abdullah and her six-member team proposed the idea of an Emirati café that promotes UAE cuisine and culture. Although they set up their cafe on a small scale during the exhibition, they hope some day to pursue it as a business.
"Have you seen an Emirati restaurant in Dubai? It's very hard to find," said Abdullah.
Team member Hamda Lootah said their café, named Al Naif, would have an ambience in which every customer would be treated like a guest of honour while he or she experienced Emirati hospitality.
Traditional foods the students served at the fair include herris, a wheat and meat dish, lugaimat, a doughnut-like sweet with date syrup, and, of course, coffee.
"We used fresh ingredients like fresh milk. [In future] we plan to hire local chefs who live in the UAE and local Emirati males and females to work in the café," Abdullah said.
The business of translation
After realising that there was a great demand for translation services in Dubai, Badria Khalifa and her team came up with the business plan for a company that provides translation services.
Khalifa said government, private companies, conference organisers and individuals would all need their services in translating legal documents, education certificates, birth documents and confidential information.
They aim to provide the service in 10 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog, Indonesian, German and Malayalam.
The video gaming generation
Students and video gaming fans Mohammad Al Huraiz, Shamsa Al Sharif and Hessa Al Sharif are already well on their way to business success.
They have attracted more than 700 active members to their website www.chapter6.net and get 5,000 hits a week.
Their business plan was based on the website, which contains gaming forums, news blogs, video podcasts, e-newsletters, audio podcasts and more.
They hope to make a profit by attracting advertising and sponsorships for the site.
The team has already partnered with a UAE business that supports youth hobbies and social activities.
Al Huraiz said a Dubai radio station recently approached him for an interview on the website.
"At the moment the video gaming industry is becoming bigger than the movie industry. Video games are part of our lifestyles," Al Huraiz said.
Going beyond theory
Dwight Anthony said the exhibition had entered its fifth year. He encouraged students to pursue entrepreneurship.
"Too often everything is too theoretical," he said. However, the assignment to produce a business plan often produces ideas that are good enough to take to a financial institution and get funding, he added.
"I'm trying to show them something from inception to implementation and encouraging them to pursue business, especially service businesses."
Engineer Yasser Al Ali, who was one of three industry partners who assessed the students' work, said: "It's actually amazing. I never knew ideas like this could be so creative and new."
Top five books for student entrepreneurs:
- College Entrepreneur Handbook: Ideas for a College Based Business
By Jonathan R. Aspatore
- Secrets of the Young & Successful: How to Get Everything You Want Without Waiting a Lifetime
By Jennifer Kushell and Scott Kaufman
- Generation, Inc.: The 100 Best Businesses for Young Entrepreneurs
By Elina Furman
- Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
By Steven Gold
- The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business
By Steve Mariotti
- Source: www.college-startup.com
