Expo City Dubai offering Dh50k for graduates with ideas to ease traffic congestion

Training, mentorship and grants on offer for aspiring entrepreneurs with start-up plans in the Emirates

Yousuf Caires, executive director, Expo City Dubai Foundation, wants to motivate young people to become entrepreneurs. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Expo City Dubai will soon open an academy for young entrepreneurs in the country’s first "15-minute city", a senior official has told The National.

Yousuf Caires, executive director of the Expo City Dubai Foundation, said the Changemakers Academy will train, mentor, provide licensing and offer visa support to residents who have graduated from UAE universities. They will be housed in the Alif or Mobility Pavilion on the Expo City site.

Applications are open until the end of Ramadan, with a grant of up to Dh50,000 ($13,613) for each of the 10 people or teams who come up with novel ideas to solve domestic challenges from providing traffic and commuting solutions to improving air quality. The year-long programme is open to students who will graduate this year from UAE universities.

“We are very excited because it’s all coming together for us as a community,” Mr Caires told The National. “We want the 10 individuals or teams to have real opportunities to succeed as enterprises. Expo City works as a great launch pad because we have companies here like Emirates and DP World who are on the same wavelength of trying to get our youth to work on meaningful problems.”

After the UAE hosted Expo 2020 in Dubai, the first World Expo held in the Middle East, Africa or South Asia, the vision was to build a city that would attract enterprise and sustainable living. The pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighbourhood will have offices, homes, schools and entertainment centres within walking distance or a short cycle away.

What is Changemakers Academy?

The year-long programme open to UAE citizens and residents will nurture young entrepreneurs, give them guidance, support with licensing and visas, workspace and introduce them to investors. “By creating the academy, we are giving a home and an easy process for young students to really consider entrepreneurship,” Mr Caires said.

“For those who want to do something that matters, we want to make that a reality by combining challenges of what Dubai and the UAE really needs. Can they solve it? It will be a process of identifying individuals with the right character, commitment, helping them identify the challenge, create solutions and finally turn into a business. It's not easy, but it’s achievable.”

Six challenges

The Expo team worked with the Dubai Community Development Authority to create a shortlist of priority areas. The six main challenges cover traffic and commuting, stress and mental health, disability and the elderly, biodiversity loss, wastefulness and poor air quality.

“These are real challenges and it's the community saying these are pain points,” Mr Caires said. “Traffic came up a lot but also mental health, work-life balance, recycling and taking care of our environment. We will turn those pain points over to young and creative students, and ask them 'can you fix this' because there is a market for it – that's the whole ambition.”

Are only students eligible?

The target is young people who will graduate from UAE universities this summer and people who have graduated recently. Applications are open until March 31. The Expo team is ideally looking for people between the age of 20 and 30. Screening will take place until June, with candidates able to obtain advice on their projects before the pitch a month later.

“In this Year of Community, we want to highlight that we can create impactful businesses that provide value to society and are profitable,” Mr Caires said. “If they make it to the end, not only do they have the facilities of Expo City, a visa and licence, but they will also get seed-funding of Dh50,000 to kick-start their entrepreneurial career. This is a programme for those who want to take seriously the opportunity of being an entrepreneur to generate a positive impact in our society.”

Is there a fee?

There is no charge for applicants and successful candidates. “It is free of charge to those who are participating, as it’s run by the Expo City Foundation,” Mr Caires said. “However, we will hold them to account on their level of commitment. Those who do not perform well will not continue on the journey.”

Sharing secrets of success

Winners will gain first-hand experience from a pool of about 200 successful technology start-ups Expo has mentored in more than 90 countries, from clean water projects to agricultural technology.

“This will be a great learning opportunity because we have hundreds of entrepreneurs that have made it,” Mr Caires said. “They will be mentors who say, 'here are the pitfalls, avoid them, and these are the technologies that you should use'. It's not foolproof but creates a greater chance for them to succeed.”

Mr Caires will share his own life lessons as co-founder of Palmade, a Dubai start-up that manufactures biodegradable cutlery from fallen date palm leaves to replace single-use plastic.

“I will take off one hat as an instructor and put another hat on as an entrepreneur,” he said. “A lot of people talk about the challenges but it’s also amazing when somebody wants to buy something you created. It’s a real privilege for me to motivate young people to be entrepreneurs, to try to ask them to fight for it.”

For details on the application process, check the Expo City Dubai website.

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