Dubai: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF), an initiative launched by the Ministry of Finance to support innovation in the UAE, has announced that registrations are now open for the next cohort of its Innovation Accelerator (IA) Programme.
As part of the programme, MBRIF will mentor aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs from priority sectors: technology, health, education, transportation, renewable energy, water and space.
Programme benefits
The programme offers coaching on implementing business strategies, routes to market, access to funding, enabling founders to elevate their capabilities, unlock value and accelerate scale. Other benefits include networking opportunities with key players, potential investors, market experts and entrepreneurs for the cohort members.
The IA programme provides “high potential” innovators from across the globe with non-financial support, to complete the ecosystem needs through the programme’s unique “member-centric” design, customised services, and access to coaches and industry experts to enable making a positive impact towards the UAE’s economy.
Commenting on the opening of the registrations, Fatima Al Naqbi, chief innovation officer at Ministry of Finance and MBRIF representative, said: “The maturing economy coupled with nationwide innovation initiatives is making the UAE an attractive place to launch or scale an innovative start-up and the IA programme provides the perfect platform to help accelerate these innovations towards scale and success. With a huge amount of talent and innovation emerging in the UAE market and from abroad, we are extremely excited to witness the next generation of entrepreneurs coming through our next IA cohort.”
Success stories
She added: “Since the inception of this programme in 2018, the IA programme has brought together 77 members from 18 different countries in diverse sectors of the economy and has placed emphasis on nurturing and growing local entrepreneurs to augment the domestic innovation base.”
MBRIF Innovation Accelerator Alumni who have achieved huge success include Hawa Water, the first locally produced bottled drinking water harvested from air; Ajar, a cloud-based property management and rent collection platform; Rizek, an on-demand services platform, and Sarwa, an online independent financial advisor.
