• Project FloodCopter, designed by a group of Grade 10 students at GWA, was awarded First Place at the ‘CAFU Creates SDG Challenge’ held at the World’s First 3D Printed Commercial Building in Dubai Future Foundation. Microsoft and Mastercard will now mentor the winning team to bring their project to life through innovative tech platforms.
  • Under the programme, 300 students participated and presented innovative solutions to mitigate climate change, aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 13.

Dubai, UAE:  The winning project of the very first ‘CAFU Creates’ competition, in which over 300 students participated, was recently revealed at the grand final event held at Dubai Future Foundation.

The competition was launched by CAFU, the pioneering leader in fuel delivery and vehicle services, in collaboration with partners GEMS World Academy – Dubai (GWA), Mastercard, Microsoft, and Dubai Future Foundation. The competition is aimed at providing support to young bright minds and offering a platform for them to pitch their innovative, feasible, and exciting ideas aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Presenting their idea, titled ‘FloodCopter’, a drone designed to support action taken by first repsonders in remote areas affected by flooding brought about by climate change, complete with imaging data processed via AI to identify safe areas, the ‘CAFU Creates - SDG’ First Place winners consist of exceptionally talented Grade 10 students, Sofia Faghihy Nejad, Tudor Balaj, Seongjoon Yang, Jihyum Yang, and Cormac Hynes.

Second Place was won by another creative group of Grade 10 GWA students who presented their idea of ‘Carbon Wallet’, an activity tracker and reward scheme that evaluates carbon saved through environmentally friendly changes to the users’ lifestyle. The team consisted of Arnav Kedia, Lukas Baumgartner, Vinn Kuijpers, Viktor Mirazov-Jensen, and Sumedh Sabherwal. Third place, was awarded to a group of Grade 7 students, including Amelia Fay Allan, James Tran, Michael Schooley, Mishti Sharma, Mythri Nair, with their fantastic project, ‘Plastic Paints,’ that creates an environmentally friendly use for recycled plastics.

Strengthening CAFU’s sustainability agenda and as part of its mission to promote youth engagement in community leadership, CAFU initiated this challenge together with its corporate partners to encourage GWA students to think about careers focused on sustainable business models to reduce and respond to climate change.

Nabra Al Busaidi, Sustainability and Community Manager of CAFU, congratulated the winners and proudly stated: “With sustainability and climate action high on the UAE agenda, CAFU is honoured to join hands with Gems World Academy and our corporate partners, Microsoft, Mastercard, and Dubai Future Foundation, to support and encourage the next generation of leaders. At CAFU, we strive to make lives better for our customers and residents by taking real steps forward in our sustainability plan to reduce the impact on our environment and the world we live in. Therefore, we are so excited to have provided a meaningful platform like ‘CAFU Creates’ for young people to be innovative and imaginative in tackling Climate change.”

Helen Al Uzaizi, Director of Entrepreneurship at GWA, also congratulated the winners and said: “We are happy to see enormous support from our corporate partners towards the future generation of leadership. Our purpose was to mobilise with organisations with social responsibility at the core of their ethos. Every idea submitted was a winning entry; however, we had to carefully choose a winner that met the competition criteria and showcased the best innovative solution in addressing the climate action needs.” 

Launched as part of GWA’s ‘Genius Week,’ CAFU Creates involved 300 students from GWA, who actively pitched their ideas to an exclusive group of technology and sustainability experts. The esteemed judging panel included Jeff Baker, Chief Experience Officer at CAFU; Robert Croci, Managing Director of Microsoft Start-ups for MENA, Pakistan, and Turkey; and Prakriti Singh, Senior Vice President of Acceptance Solutions and Digital Infrastructure at Mastercard.

Connected by the sense of shared purpose of doing well by doing good to the communities, envisioning a tech-enabled world – Microsoft and Mastercard have stepped forward to provide mentorship and an opportunity to bring the winning students’ idea to life by presenting the award-winning idea themed, ‘FloodCopter,’ by the winning team of Grade 10 students at Mastercard’s Global Sustainability Innovation Lab in Stockholm.

Speaking at the final round, Managing Director of Microsoft Start-ups for MENA, Pakistan, and Turkey, Robert Croci, said: “Microsoft for Startups Middle East and Africa is proud to support the very first ‘CAFU Creates’ competition as we believe this initiative is aligned with our mission to support Youth across our region to acquire the skills needed in the 21st century and adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. We are excited to support the winner “Floodcopter” with a tech session with a senior cloud solution architect and 2 hours of mentorship, also promoting their story across different channels. We look forward to further collaboration with CAFU and GEMS World Academy around more challenges that catalyze youth in our region.”

Senior Vice President of Acceptance Solutions and Digital Infrastructure at Mastercard, Prakriti Singh, said: “Mastercard is delighted to join hands with CAFU, GEMS, the Dubai Future Foundation, and Microsoft and we come together for a shared goal of creating a better future through the power of technology. It was an honour to be on the panel and a delight witnessing the innovative solutions and commitment the participants brought to life. I look forward to continuing this journey as we help mentor the winning team."

The Genius Week at GWA hosts several interesting and exciting activities for students, fostering team building and sustainability habits within an immersive and experiential learning experience. Jointly with GWA, CAFU is excited to host the CAFU Creates competition annually and use the collective power of innovation through partnerships to serve the wider communities and make lives better. The next CAFU Creates will be launched in March 2023.

For more information on CAFU Community programmes, please log on to https://www.cafu.com/cafu-community.

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About CAFU

CAFU is one of the world’s leading fuel delivery and vehicle services platform. Since our launch in Dubai in 2018, we’ve been driving innovation, delivering ease, and giving back to our users the most precious commodity of all – their time.

As part of CAFU’s vision of convenience in motion for its customers, CAFU continues to make life better through greater car connectivity, predictive enabled features, and innovation, evolving the consumer experience and ease of use to make operating a car simpler and smarter.

Beginning with on-demand refuelling, we’ve continued to disrupt the status quo, connecting our customers to an ever-growing roster of convenience-driven services, including on-demand car washes and battery, tyre, and engine oil change services delivered anytime, anywhere. The CAFU application is available to download on Android and iOS. To learn more, please visit https://www.cafu.com.

For further information and interview requests please contact Karen Lobo at email karen.lobo@manaraglobal.com

About the Partners

About GEMS Education 

GEMS World Academy Dubai is a premium IB school and a member of GEMS Education. GEMS Education is one of the world’s oldest and largest K-12 private education providers. It is a highly regarded choice for quality private education in the Middle East and North Africa region. As a company founded in the UAE in 1959, it holds an unparalleled track record of providing diverse curricula and educational choices to all socio-economic means. GEMS Education now owns and operates 63 schools and educates over 130,000 students in the MENA region, and through its growing network of schools as well as charitable contributions is fulfilling the founder’s vision of putting a quality education within the reach of every child. 

About Dubai Future Foundation

Dubai Future Foundation aims to realize the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for the future of Dubai and consolidate its global status as a leading city of the future. In partnership with its partners from government entities, international companies, startups, and entrepreneurs in the UAE and around the world, Dubai Future Foundation drives joint efforts to collectively imagine, design, and execute the future of Dubai.

Under the supervision and with the support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dubai Future Foundation, DFF works on a three-pronged strategy – to imagine, design, and execute the future. It does this through the development and launch of national and global programs and initiatives, preparing plans and strategies for the future, issuing foresight reports, and supporting innovative and qualitative projects. These contribute to positioning Dubai as a global capital for the development and adoption of the latest innovative solutions and practices to serve humanity.

Dubai Future Foundation focuses on identifying the most prominent challenges facing cities, communities and sectors in the future and transforming them into promising growth opportunities by collecting and analyzing data, studying global trends, keeping pace with and preparing for rapid changes. It is also looking at future sectors, their integration, and the reshaping of current industries.

Dubai Future Foundation oversees many pioneering projects and initiatives, such as the Museum of the Future, Area  2071, The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE, Dubai Future Accelerators, One Million Arab Coders, Dubai Future District, Dubai Future Solutions. Its many knowledge initiatives and future design centers contribute to building specialized local talents for future requirements and empowering them with the necessary skills to contribute to the sustainable development of Dubai.

For more information on the initiatives, projects, and programs of Dubai Future Foundation, please visit the website: www.dubaifuture.ae