12 top winners will be awarded Dh2 million worth of prizes 

Dubai, Feb 28, 2024: The UAE Ministry of Education has launched an Entrepreneurship Challenge under the Graduate Fund. UAE nationals aged between 18 and 35 who are university students or graduates can participate in the Entrepreneurship Challenge. 

Whether they are young entrepreneurs and SME founders looking to grow their businesses or students who have entrepreneurial ideas they aspire to turn into businesses,  the Challenge aims to provide them with the necessary training and tools for entrepreneurial success. 

Participants in the Entrepreneurship Challenge will have the opportunity to win up to Dh2 million worth of prizes that will be distributed among 12 winners. In addition to the monetary rewards, winners can also join advanced incubator and accelerator programmes and receive personalised mentoring and coaching sessions to enable them to efficiently manage and grow their businesses. 

Commenting on the Challenge, Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Education says, “The Entrepreneurship Challenge, the first programme of the Graduate Fund, fosters the values of innovation and creativity among young Emiratis and encourages them to transform their ambitions into reality.” 

The programme falls under the umbrella of the ‘Projects of the 50’ initiatives that aim to achieve a qualitative leap in the developmental path of the UAE to develop the national economic ecosystem. The goal is to boost the efficiency of Emirati university students and graduates and provide them with the required support for entrepreneurial success. 

The Challenge is the first programme under the umbrella of the Graduate Fund, supported by the Ministry of Education. 

Students and young graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit who wish to participate in the challenge can submit their applications via the programme’s official website – https://gradfund.moe.gov.ae/ – before May 1, 2024.