HUB Dubai, a unique community of ethical entrepreneurs, responsible corporate innovators, and socially-conscious individuals yearning for a more sustainable lifestyle and centered around places to meet, learn, and innovate, has launched operations in 21st-century fashion: through a Twitter announcement on 12/12/12 12:12 PM and precisely 12 seconds Dubai time, followed by a launch event hosted by boutique heritage hotel Orient Guest House and attended by representatives of private, academic, and government circles.
“In a Middle East plagued by unemployment and intellectual deprivation, we need to enable meaningful self-employment for everybody,” said Aman Merchant, HUB Dubai cofounder and executive chair. “The Hub Dubai does exactly that – by curating an experiential learning platform for collaborative entrepreneurship and innovation,” he added.
The initiative for HUB Dubai embarked on in 2009 was a milestone achievement for the city of Dubai, furthering its position as a regional capital for starting and advancing new ideas into good, sustainable enterprises.
HUB Dubai’s launch was marked by having raised the requisite funding to open its space through EMERGE VENTURES, a premier venture capital firm, as well as a group of individual private investors composed of leading Emiratis and expatriates. HUB Dubai will continue raising seed capital through 2013 for scaling its impact.
The HUB will open during Q1 2013 in the Burj Downtown area as a result of an unconventional crowd-built design process. “In our choices of location, we considered how Dubai’s evolving urban landscape is contributing to the spirit of endeavor,” Mr. Merchant said.
“We honored where enterprising ideas and cultural appreciation really began in Dubai, through our choice of a launch event venue in Bastakiya’s Souk Al Kabeer. And through our forthcoming opening of HUB Dubai in the central proximity of Dubai Mall, Dubai Opera House and Business Bay, we are simply listening to where our community have been telling us they want their HUB to be going. Upon opening, Hub Dubai will become the hangout for the city’s coolest entrepreneurs and sophisticated thought leaders, who are now ready for an established global launchpad and worldwide tribe that only The HUB can provide,” he added.
Preceding the space, HUB Dubai’s launch today marked the start of operational activity through its free pilot of HUBnet, an exclusive HUB-only online global collaboration platform where HUB Dubai’s community can interact and engage with 5,000+ other HUBsters from 35+ HUBs across 5 continents worldwide, around areas of shared interest spanning social, environmental, and economic sustainability such as permaculture, green energy, startup acceleration, microfinance, space exploration, DIY, crowdfunding, eco-travel, and other world-changing causes.
Through its website, HUB Dubai is now open for HUB Virtual plan applications which allows members of the Hub Dubai community to explore HUBnet entirely free through its BETA period between today’s launch and the grand opening of its physical space.
