The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) which has been in the forefront of supporting start-ups and entrepreneurs build businesses that serve as engines for socio-economic development, hosted a workshop on Wednesday on ‘Business Model Canvas’ to help young Emiratis and upcoming entrepreneurs start up their own businesses. “Sheraa’s objective is to teach and encourage young people and entrepreneurs with winning ideas to start their own businesses and create jobs, rather than look for jobs themselves,” emphasised Naser Al Sughaiyer, an expert with Sheraa, advising a predominantly young audience about the importance of turning their ideas into sustainable businesses and coming up with a simple business model.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah activities at Al Majaz Waterfront, which concluded on Wednesday. Sheraa cultivates change makers out of young talent, nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit that celebrates infinite possibilities and building a thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem essentially from scratch, said Al Sughaiyer.
Explaining the ‘Social Business Model Canvas’ as ideal for start-ups, he said it is lean and easy to present, is concise and focused and offers a ‘helicopter view’ making it easy for everyone, especially potential investors, to understand. He also gave a practical demonstration about preparing such a business model with a power point presentation.
Speaking about Sheraa’s support to start-ups and promising business ideas, Al Sughaiyer said that Sheraa, a non-government organisation generously supported by the Emirate’s leadership, has been working with partners such as Air Arabia, Sharjah Media City (Shams) and Crescent Group etc., to help entrepreneurs.
He pointed out that Sheraa offers Dh35,000 to start-ups at the outset without any conditions and without expecting its payback in order to help entrepreneurs with their basic needs and help them put together a business plan and approach investors for funds. The idea is to build a positive environment and ecosystem for new businesses and start-ups in the Emirate, emphasised the expert.
The UAE Innovation Month in Sharjah celebrations held from February 15 to 21 attracted more than 40,000 people, with hundreds of specialised workshops, presentations and lectures, not to mention demonstration of innovative ideas, services and products by various Sharjah government institutions, federal bodies and university students. For more details about various initiatives of Sheraa Sharjah, please visit https://sheraa.ae/.
