Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center sponsors young fintech talents

UAE-based Sheraa (Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center) has announced that it sponsored ten students who participated in recently held GlassQube Startup Weekend FinTech Hackathon in Abu Dhabi, as reported by mid-east.info.

This year’s GlassQube Startup Weekend competition was held as a part of the global movement coordinated by TechStars and supported by ‘Google for Entrepreneurs’. The event saw developers, designers and ideators in the UAE and challenged them to build a functional minimum viable product within 54 hours. The winners had a chance to win cash prizes and other non-cash prizes valued more than AED 500K, release stated.

Sheraa-sponsored ‘Sahim’ team demonstrated grit and creativity at the weekend-long fintech event and secured the first-place finish in the competition. The team consisted of seven members and impressed the judges with real-world solutions to develop sophisticated Sharia-compliant trading instruments that contribute to a robust, technology-led financial landscape.

Additional students were also sponsored for the hackathon, including one of the youngest participants from 10th grade.

"Supporting young talent in the region and channeling their creative spirit towards entrepreneurship is at the core of our efforts. The Hackathon was a grueling competition that tested the participants’ knowledge, innovative thought, and mental endurance. We believe that if the youth are surrounded by a strong support ecosystem, their age is not a barrier to pursuing excellence, and this is what we endeavored to do by sponsoring students as young as sixteen and the results speak for themselves. We want to play our part in helping the next generation of entrepreneurs focus on the task at hand and not be daunted by challenges,” Najla Al-Midfa, General Manager of Sheraa, said.

The winners will have the privilege of receiving $5,000 in cash prize to strengthen their startup idea, $1,000 to launch an online crowd-funding campaign, access to GlassQube Coworking’s 2017 Incubator Program, 12 hours of free legal advice, a free website domain and mentoring for a range of functions such as business development, web designing, among others.

"Sheraa belongs to a new breed of incubators that gives everyone an equal chance regardless of their age. The will to be an entrepreneur emanates from passion, and passion is ageless. They help startups take that plunge with undivided guidance and support,” Sana Rahim, Lead Organizer and Branding and Marketing Consultant, Startup Weekend Abu Dhabi, said.