UAEU Hosts a Program to Discover Youth Leadership in Cooperation with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development

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The Student Activities Department on the male campus at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), in cooperation with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and the Young Arab Leaders program (YAL), organized an introductory meeting (Startup Weekend) in Al Ain recently. This meeting was organized by the Khalifa Fund and hosted by UAEU. It aims to develop young leaders and so encouraged student leaders to participate in programs that will help them to better serve the nation and local communities in the future.

Salma Kayali, the Executive Director of YAL, gave a talk on the importance of the program and the objectives it seeks to achieve. This program is an entrepreneurship competition embracing a variety of disciplines from the development of software to business management and graphic design (graphics). Participants have the opportunity to meet with experts and present their projects to the judges. They can then discuss issues and benefit from the expertise offered. The winners receive valuable prizes, most importantly support for their winning project.

Professor Yaqoub Al Ahmadi, Head of the Student Activities Department on the male campus, said that the Student Activities Department in cooperation with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and the Young Arab Leaders program hosted the ‘Startup Weekend’ over two days: one day for male students and another for female students under the theme, “Unleash Yourself and be a Successful Entrepreneur.” The project seeks to discover talented students and to encourage their potential by providing an environment that will help them to succeed at both the project and international business levels.

He added that every day students presented a range of innovative and creative ideas but that they often lacked the expertise to implement these ideas, to make them successful and continue to maintain that success. This program supports these ideas and provides just such an environment for success and continuity.