A New Generation Of Entrepreneurs: Meet The Winners Of The 2022 Skillup Start Competition Staged By Bizworld UAE And The Entrepreneurial Nation The 2022 edition of the SkillUp Start program attracted 1,500 students, who were divided into over 160 teams composed of 3-6 members, and then submitted their business ideas

"Don't underestimate your children's ideas, because our generation is capable of learning new things in a short period of time as we have YouTube and other apps that can replace the old learning process." With this statement, Mohamed Ali AlKetbi, co-founder of grocery app Dukkan, reflects the bold and confident spirit one would expect from the winner of the SkillUp Start competition that was held virtually in May 2022. It was staged by the UAE branch of Silicon Valley-based education consultancy BizWorld and The Entrepreneurial Nation, an initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy that aims to help create 20 unicorns from the UAE over the next 10 years.

The Entrepreneurial Nation has teamed up with Silicon Valley-based education consultancy BizWorld to teach students how to start and operate their own businesses, and in 2022, the two partners launched the SkillUp Start program, the latest edition to the Entrepreneurial Nation's already well-established SkillUp academy.

Speaking at the opening session earlier this year, H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, who was the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises at the time, emphasized that the SkillUp Start program marked a new phase in the growth and prosperity of the entrepreneurship and SME sector in the UAE. "We are pleased to see the extensive participation of applicants between 8th to 12th grades as well as parents and teachers, who serve as ambassadors of the initiative at the UAE school-level," H.E. Dr. Al Falasi said. "It reflects a great deal of awareness on the importance of acquiring and developing entrepreneurial skills and financial information, which are essential for professional and institutional success. These considerably expand future prospects for our students in line with our wise leadership's vision to support and empower young people and enhance their contribution and involvement in the national economic development, given their potential roles as essential drivers of sustainable growth and leaders for the future economy."

The Jabbar team, first runner-up, SkillUp Start competition. Source: Bizworld/The Entrepreneurial Nation

Helen Al Uzaizi, CEO for BizWorld UAE, Jordan, and Egypt, noted that the 2022 edition of the SkillUp Start program attracted 1,500 students, who were divided into over 160 teams composed of 3-6 members, and then submitted their business ideas. "It was exciting for us to see the quality of the business ideas, presentations, and video submissions this year," Al Uzaizi explains. "I believe that today, it's not so much about technologies and platforms anymore, but about a need to invest in entrepreneurial skills development." Al Uzaizi added that the SkillUp Start program ran across all the seven emirates, accepting applications from UAE students from grade 8 to 12 of all nationalities and from both public and private schools. After completing the full, six-week-long training program, ten teams were selected to pitch to the SkillUp Start judging panel composed of Wissam Younane, CEO of BNC Publishing, Rashid Al Ghurair, founder and CEO of CAFU, Nour Al Hassan, founder and CEO of Tarjama, Raghad Al Jughaiman, Project Expert - Office of UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the UAE Ministry Of Economy, and Dr. Hassan AlSayegh, Advisor to the UAE Minister of Education.

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In the end, the jury selected the Dukkan app as the Skill Startup winner, whose founder, AlKetbi, declares it to be "not just a program for ordering daily groceries, but the first smart program in the world that uses machine learning technology and artificial intelligence algorithms to track the customer's consumption patterns daily and to order foodstuffs before they run out." Together with his team, which included Rashed Saif AlTeneiji, Mohamed Saif AlTeneiji, Ali Saif AlKetbi, and Zayed Sultan AlTeneiji, AlKetbi now plans to focus on raising funds for Dukkan to invest in product development, and enhance customer experience. "In 2023, we plan to start cooperating with local supermarkets, aiming to cover 85% of our service area in UAE, and then in the second half of 2023, we will launch the app for the public."

The founders of the first and second runner-up of the event – Jabbar app and Be Better app – both have big plans for 2023. To start with, Haya Shaikh, co-founder of the second runner up -Be Better app that aims to inspire everyone to take action against food waste- told us that her team plans to focus on research and development throught the next year. "Be Better is aimed at giving food that normally would go to waste a second life," she explains. "Through the app, we provide a platform for restaurants, bakeries, and other food institutions to list the surplus food that hasn't been sold, and then we will see how people will react to having cheaper, more accessible, and more sustainable options for buying food." Shaikh and her team composed of Precious Guanga, Alvis Jackson, and Soha Hitesh Barot have a big goal- to turn the users of the Be Better app into active ambassadors for conscious consumption. The mission of their startup, Shakih adds, is proof that the ideas of young entrepreneurs should be taken seriously. "The smallest of sparks create the biggest of fires, and so young entrepreneurs like ourselves should not be undermined by older generations solely based on our age," Shaikh says. "The older generations should help nurture us for success and provide us with the appropriate skill set to enkindle the fire of entrepreneurship that lies within us." She advises her peers to be collaborative, creative, and to learn about entrepreneurship at their own pace. "It varies from individual to individual as everyone learns at a different pace, so we need to be patient with young entrepreneurs while they construct their own understanding of the world around them and build new thoughts, ideas, and innovations."

The Be Better team, second runner-up, SkillUp Start competition. Source: Bizworld/The Entrepreneurial Nation

Ghaya Ghanem Alameri, co-founder of the first runner-up -the Jabbar app that aims to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles- explains that it was the very process of learning and discovering that led him and his team to start working on this concept in the first place. "The main problem that we concentrated on was the rise of of petrol and gas prices, which led to people buying electric cars, but because electric cars are a new invention, many cons were discovered, and so we first tied to make the lives of owners of electric cars easier," he explains. "But, we then realized that Jabbar also helped in saving the environment by decreasing carbon emissions from cars by helping convert vehicles that work only on petrol to vehicles that can work on both petrol and on electricity." In terms of the road ahead, the Jabbar app team, which also includes Ghaya Jasim Alnaqbi, Shima Hassan Almhri, and Saeeda Sultan Alsuwidi, are now looking for investors who would support the launch of the Jabbar app in the UAE market. "Our plan is to install Jabbar on 1,000 vehicles in the UAE, and in line with our leaders saying that we all are partners in this country, in its happiness, progress, security, concerns, we also want to contribute to the UAE as we are all responsible for the development of this country," Alameri concludes.

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