The Center for Career Placement and Alumni at the United Arab Emirates University organized the ‘Akoun Entrepreneurs’ Workshop’ recently in order to introduce students to the concepts and practice of entrepreneurship. It was presented by Mr. Ghanim Al Hajeri, Director General of Al Ain Zoo, on Tuesday, 14^th April, 2015, in the College of Information Technology. It was held under the auspices of Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development, and in the presence of a delegation from the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development.

Mr. Ghanim Al Hajeri said that successful entrepreneurship first requires determining the requirements of the community. Then you must start new projects with passion, planning, and perseverance in order to face challenges and create a working environment. This all aids in promoting the national economy. He pointed out the importance of providing young Emirati people with the tools and knowledge necessary to become successful entrepreneurs in different sectors and to assist them to become real innovators.

Khalifa Al Kuwaiti, a business consultant at the Al Ain branch of the Khalifa Fund, said that the main goal of launching the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development was to instill and deepen a culture of investment among young citizens. In addition to supporting small and medium-sized investment in the country, and providing loans to entrepreneurs, he noted that the fund provides workshops and training courses to help young entrepreneurs to hone their skills and to convert their ideas from paper projects into reality.

The aim of the ‘Akoun’ campaign is to inspire young people and enable them to enter the private sector through the establishment of their own small and medium-sized businesses. This is all in line with the objectives of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, which aims to transform the emirate into a global economic center that can achieve sustainable growth across different economic sectors.