DUBAI: Emirates airline is teaming up with the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) to boost the UAE’s start-up and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The Dubai-based carrier will be the strategic partner of Sheraa and will offer discounted fares to and from its network of more 90 destinations for start-ups attending the annual Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival. It will also offer fare discounts to start-ups that relocate to the UAE through Sheraa’s programmes, report agencies.
“The UAE has clearly established itself as a hub for innovation and ideas … drawing in the brightest minds and talent from around the world,” Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ chief commercial officer, said in a statement on Monday. “We will be contributing to those efforts through attracting and connecting start-ups to the UAE with Sheraa across our network … with the end goal of fostering innovation and stimulating valuable economic activity.”
Gulf countries are investing in growing an entrepreneurship ecosystem as they look to diversify their economies and fuel post-pandemic growth.
Sheraa, which means “to sail” in Arabic, is Sharjah’s initiative to build a start-up ecosystem in the emirate. It is headquartered at the American University of Sharjah and its hub, launched in September 2018, is based at the University of Sharjah.
This partnership will open up new avenues for collaboration across UAE’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Najla Al Midfa, chief executive of Sheraa, said in the statement.
“Sheraa’s community of enterprising founders will be able to capitalise on this exciting partnership to unlock access to [the] global opportunities and scale their businesses to new heights,” Ms Al Midfa said.
