A Rama Chakaki is the chief executive and co-founder of Baraka Ventures, which offers entrepreneurship mentoring at no cost. She speaks about how the company's business model makes that possible.
q What services do you offer?
One, we offer workshops to the public, mostly entrepreneurs. They're run twice or three times a month and those workshops are kind of awareness-raising. Two, we have delivered in partnership with universities an entrepreneurship programme. They tend to be paid for by the university. They're relatively low-paid, but I see it as a subsidised programme. They take an entrepreneur from A to Z in a six-week period in how to set up a business. Three, for a few select entrepreneurs who come to us, if their business is in line with our investment approach, we will come in as equity partners. If not, then we will deliver free services to the best of our capability.
q So you effectively become a partner in some of the businesses?
It depends on the degree of commitment we give them and they give us. For some entrepreneurs we will purely become a sponsor. In their marketing services they say we're sponsored by Baraka, so that comes back to us as marketing, but we're giving them a service in lieu of that. There are only two in the past that we've actually become partners with. We are very selective with who we become partners with because obviously that's a lifetime commitment for both of us.
q How can you afford to help entrepreneurs for free?
It's a Robin Hood model, so we take from the rich and give to the poor. What hasn't been free is when universities come to us and say we have a class on entrepreneurship and we would like you to teach it. We run consultancy programmes with government organisations or large institutions and they pay for those programmes and then we offer the services as and when we can to the entrepreneurs free of charge.
q Is it achievable to help entrepreneurs for free, while still making money yourself?
I think so. We are still refining the model. We are getting help from advisers on how we could do it and do it better. Perhaps if we collaborate with other similar organisations we could do that, but our aim is to be able to do more of these services and figure out how the few that are for-profit ventures will turn sufficient profit to offset the other work that we do. We're doing this for a long-term investment, rather than to make a quick buck.
q How do you choose the projects you invest in?
We specialise in social entrepreneurship, which is an area where someone is trying to solve a social problem using business means. It really varies in terms of what social problems they're looking at, but the approach is consistent. They're using entrepreneurial means, they're using business means to solve the problem as opposed to pure charity.
* Gillian Duncan
SPECS
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The Internet
Hive Mind
four stars
SPECS
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Representing%20UAE%20overseas
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The line up
Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego
Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh
Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
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