Dubai, January 19, 2015: Canadian University Dubai (CUD) student, Abzal Assembekov, and his team mates have received a huge boost for their enterprising idea following their recent win at the Dubai Startup Weekend event.  

Abzal was part of a four-member team of entrepreneurs who took first place at last month's event with their business proposition 'Photo Real', which aims to provide a quality, professional stock photo database to Real Estate agents, starting with in-demand neighbourhoods in Dubai.

The team will now benefit from an impressive package of business support services to convert their idea into a viable business, including 6 months free office space, mentoring, training and networking events from In5, free advertising on the Dubai Internet City website, and a seat for 3 months at the AstroLabs Dubai Tech Hub.

The Dubai Startup Weekend was part of an international network of competitions that have taken place in over 700 cities and created more than 13,000 entrepreneurs across the globe. The contest was a gruelling 54-hour event consisting of brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, and ending with demos and presentations.

Abzal teamed up with established businessmen to provide the technical and design expertise required to develop and demonstrate their business concept.

As a serial entrepreneur since high school, Abzal wasn't daunted by the competition, or his fellow competitors. He said, "I started out as a freelance graphic designer while I was still at school and have been working ever since.  When I moved to Dubai I began developing business ideas and now have a number of projects on the go."    

Abzal's own enterprises include motorsinme.com, an online community providing photos, videos, classified and blogs focussed on motoring across the Middle East, and gccdaily.com, a news sharing site that aggregates daily news articles by subject from a wide selection of GCC publications.

Always coming up with new ideas, Abzal is also working on projects linked to education, advertising and mobile technology, and hopes to source investors for these and other initiatives.

Fitting all of this around his Bachelors degree in International Business, Abzal maintains that it's important to continue with his education alongside his enterprising endeavours.

He said, "It's vital for me to develop the full skillset required to help me succeed in the business world. The International Business program is developing my skills in marketing, finance, HR and, most importantly, leadership, that will support my long-term professional growth."

ABOUT THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITY OF DUBAI:
The Canadian University of Dubai (CUD) is an initiative of Emirates Investment and Development PSC. The University offers a range of programs, from Bachelor and Master degrees to professional certificates and corporate training, at its campus in Dubai. CUD is accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and has affiliations with reputed international universities and institutions from Canada, France, Ireland and the USA. CUD offers education services at the Tertiary Level, providing a gateway for students to pursue Higher Education in Canada by delivering high quality education in the UAE. CUD attracts students from across the globe with over 86 different nationalities currently pursuing degrees in various educational disciplines.

For further information, please contact:
Naheed Maalik, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communication, Canadian University Dubai.
P.O.Box 117781, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Phone: +971 4 7096801, +971 50 2277301
Email: Naheed@cud.ac.ae
 Website: www.cud.ac.ae

© Press Release 2015