The Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy returns to the United Arab Emirates this week with a three-day workshop to be hosted by the Higher Colleges of Technology’s Ras Al Khaimah Men’s campus, from May 6-8, 2018 – the first time the programme will be run in the UAE’s northern Emirate.
The Ras Al Khaimah workshop is the latest UAE-based Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy programme to take place this year. The programme was successfully launched in the UAE in partnership with the Higher Colleges of Technology’s Sharjah campus last November.
The continuation of the partnership between Ford and the Higher Colleges of Technology carries on the Ford Motor Company Fund’s long-standing commitment to empowering people by providing better opportunities through education.
The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE has been growing at a rapid pace, and there’s been a 10 per cent growth since 2016. In fact, SMEs comprise 95 per cent* of businesses in the country. The three-day workshop in Ras Al Khaimah is aimed at enhancing the business-orientated education of prospective businesspeople, who will, in the future, contribute greatly to the success of the region’s economy and development.
“Workshops like this Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy, that provide an environment for aspiring businesspeople to experiment with their ideas in direct exchange with mentors and coaches, offer invaluable experience,” said Simonetta Verdi, Director, Government and Community Relations, Ford Middle East and Africa.
“Importantly,” Verdi continued, “this unique programme also provides an opportunity to learn from people who have successfully navigated the entrepreneurship journey, and that can help build the courage they need to take on the business world with their own budding venture.”
Dr Abdullatif Al Shamsi, HCT Vice Chancellor, said the continuation of HFEA workshops was an exciting opportunity for HCT students in the northern Emirates to show their full entrepreneurial potential.
“We are very excited to again host the three-day, intensive Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy workshop, after the highly successful workshop at the HCT-Sharjah campuses last year,” Dr Al Shamsi said.
“Working with the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy, we can continue to encourage and facilitate our students, in the Ras Al Khaimah region, to embark on rewarding futures as entrepreneurs, where we can nurture a ‘can-do’ mindset, as well as providing the appropriate skills and training for future student success,” he added.
“The combination of the innovation zones being set up in our campuses, together with future entrepreneurship courses will enable our students to shape their thinking and approaches to the modern business environment, while learning how to build their future businesses using best international practices,” he concluded.
The three-day HFEA workshop, entitled “The Entrepreneurship Journey”, has been designed to complement the work undertaken by the UAE government, which has recently created programmes and initiatives to empower youth to innovate, contributing to the welfare of the wider UAE community.
Guest speakers, academics and businesspeople who have successfully navigated the entrepreneurship journey will be on hand, acting as mentors, throughout the workshop to aid the building of entrepreneurial capacity through the introduction to key aspects of the Entrepreneurship Journey: Human Story, Mindset, and Set of Activities as a competitive advantage.
Due to such a positive response by young entrepreneurs in the Emirates, Ford recently teamed up with the UAE’s Ministry of Youth Affairs at the Youth Hub – a new centre in Dubai for youth to connect people, power, and potential across all sectors – to deliver the first HFEA workshop in Dubai.
The Ford Motor Company Fund invests about one third of the funds in support of education, including scholarships and programmes that help schools offer students new approaches to learning. Since its launch in 2015, the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy has trained close to 250 entrepreneurs across the Middle East and North Africa.
While Ford is firmly focussed on empowering the youth, it is also gearing up to extend its Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy programmes further, with both Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and Casablanca in Morocco, all holding HFEA events in May. Plans are also in place to extend the programme further in the region over the course of the year.
Together with the Ford Motor Company Fund and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy workshops offer a great opportunity for local future business leaders to excel in their endeavours, and influences them to think and act like entrepreneurs.
Add a new comment