Want to Become an Entrepreneur in Dubai? Try the Big Start!

Are you tired of working for your current employer?

Are you in a career dead end? Is your job boring?

Or maybe, you just simply cannot find the job that you want?

Or it could be that you have an amazing idea for a business and you don’t know what to do to get it off the ground?

Well, if you answer, “yes”, to any of these questions, then maybe you need to check out the Big Start.

So, what is the Big Start?

Well, the Big Start is an an initiative to give students in the UAE the chance to turn their start up ideas into a reality.

Launched in 2009, The Big Start is a yearly event which seeks to encourage entrepreneurship and is open to all final year undergraduate students who are studying in the UAE. The initiative focuses on creating opportunities for students and to help them develop core business skills.

The successful student(s) will be developed and mentored throughout the start-up phase of their business by an experienced team of successful entrepreneurs, industry consultants, CEOs and the Al Tamimi Investments team.

As soon as the business launches, the successful student will take up the role of CEO and an agreed structured shareholding in the company. Al Tamimi Investments will offer full funding and support for the new business.”

The new round of funding begins

According to a report in zawya.com, the Big Start entrepreneur competition is launching its fourth season next week.

How to apply for Big Start

If you are a budding entrepreneur, you should submit your application on-line at the www.thebigstart.ae, but you must be under 30 to participate. The registration for this competition opens on the 17th February, 2013 and will close on 31st March, 2013. At this point, Al Tamimi Investments will short-list Round 1 Student entries for progression to the second round of the competition. During the second round, students will be mentored individually to progress their business ideas into credible business plans.

How to come up with an idea

Coming up with a new business idea can be difficult, but it shouldn’t be. Here are four tips to come up with a new innovative business idea.

1. Network, socialize and travel. For example, lets say you visit Barcelona and you find a great new cafe with an innovative way of getting customers. You can bring this already proven idea back to Dubai and try this idea out in Dubai where it will be a fresh innovation.

2. Up-gradation; Look for an idea, product or service which you have seen and which works – and spots its weaknesses and then improve it.

3. Adaptation; Take an idea from one context, (another country, alternative business sector or even an earlier decade) and adapt it and introduce it back into Dubai where it will be a fresh new innovative product.

Good Luck with being an entrepreneur in Dubai!