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Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi University (ADU) hosted the Entrepreneurship Fair last week which brought together business-owners including ADU alumni and current students, providing them with a platform to promote their businesses, interact with aspiring entrepreneurs, and build their network in innovative ways.
Prior to the event, Dr. Rubina Qureshi and Dr. Lina Al Fayoumi from the ADU University College, had incorporated this initiative into the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course as a co-curricular activities to promote a spirit of creative thinking. Following weeks of intensive training in design thinking, students were able to develop and present 12 innovative business ideas at the Entrepreneurship Fair.
The innovation competition’s judges included Vinayak Pareek, ADU Manager of Institutional Strategy, and Nemanja Krstic, ADU Sports and Recreational Activities Officer. Winners were selected for three different categories that included ‘Most Innovative Product’, ‘Best Presentation’ and ‘Best Business Idea.
Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering students Ahmad Mohammad Al Ramahi, Yousef Mezher, Ahmad Fouzi Bakri, Mustafa Awni, and Sharif Omar Elshiwihy, as well as Business Management student Mohamed Miri took home the award for the ‘Most Innovative Product’. The team’s winning idea was the ADU Smart Payment system that would facilitate faster tuition payment transactions for students during peak admission periods.
The ‘Best Presentation’ award went to ADU Human Resources student and young entrepreneur Alia Mohammed, Co-owner of fashion and lifestyle start-up Le Boutique.
Finally, the last category ‘Best Business Idea’ was awarded to Ausra Crikelyte, an ADU Mass Communications student, for her innovative ‘King of Sleep’ idea, a pediatric sleep consulting concept.
Commenting on the Entrepreneurship Fair, Kellye Blackburn, ADU’s Senior Manager for Employability and Alumni Relations, said, “I am extremely proud of the talented ADU alumni entrepreneurs who joined us at the ADU Entrepreneurship Fair to showcase their creative and innovative business ideas. It’s very impressive to see these truly inspirational self-made stories of students who are not only high performers at college but are also entrepreneurs who use some of their business profits to fund their education tuition.”
ADU alumni entrepreneurs taking part included Sawsan Rasti, Flakes Hub Restaurant; Dima Samer Ali, Silver Smith Works Jewelry; Ayman Eladly with Eladly Park, a virtual parking spot locator service; and Shahenaz Safe, Travel Services and Real Estate Company.
Blackburn added, “The ADU Employability and Alumni Relations Department looks forward to hosting future events that will allow ADU’s alumni and students to showcase their businesses and serve as role models for future student entrepreneurs”.
Dr. Qureshi, Senior Sociology Instructor in ADU’s University College said, “The ADU Entrepreneurship Fair was indeed a great experience. This was a wonderful opportunity for students to present and test their business prototypes and get constructive feedback from a consumer perspective that can help them improve their concepts. We hope to see this event become part of a bi-annual event that would be embedded into the course requirements for the University College Innovation and Entrepreneurship course.”
The ADU Entrepreneurship Fair is part of ADU’s Alumni Relations Strategy, which aims to support ADU alumni ventures and highlight their achievements, foster enduring links, and strengthen relationships amongst ADU graduates.
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About Abu Dhabi University (ADU)
Abu Dhabi University is a private, multi-campus University committed to meeting the education, skills and knowledge needs in the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries through qualifications and standards that are respected across the world.
Although young, the University is recognized as a world-class institution committed to excellence in teaching, student experience, research and corporate education. We are regularly featured in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings as among the best higher education institutions in the region. We hold prestigious international accreditations for the institution as a whole, for particular fields of provision and for specific programs. We were the first private higher education institution in the UAE and the GCC region to earn international accreditation from the Californian Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). ADU’s College of Business holds international accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the prestigious EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Only 1% of business schools worldwide have this double accreditation. In addition, its College of Engineering has earned accreditation from the world-renowned Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) and the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It houses the only architecture program to hold accreditation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
According to the QS World Universities Rankings, ADU ranks in the top 701-750 universities worldwide, the top 150 leading institutions under 50 years, the top 27 universities in the Arab World, and the top 6 in the UAE. Being rated 3rd globally for international faculty and 10th for international students, we consider diversity to be among our key strengths.
Established in 2003, Abu Dhabi University has over 7,500 students from over 80 nationalities across its four campuses and sponsored programs. Structured into Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Law and the University College, we offer undergraduate and graduate programs across arts, law, education, business and management, engineering and sciences, including to Etihad pilots, trainees and personnel of the UAE military. Alongside the well-established campuses in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, we have launched a new campus in Dubai Knowledge Park and recently opened a teaching facility in the Al Dhafra Region of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. In addition, a brand-new state-of-the-art campus is planned to open in Al Ain in September 2019.
Media Contacts
Weber Shandwick for Abu Dhabi University
Mohammed Al Azzam /
malazzam@webershandwick.com
+971 2 449 4457
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