Continuing to play its part and pursuing its commitment to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa) hosted Startup Weekend from the 27th to 29th of September 2018.  The intense 54-hour event brought together startup enthusiasts to share ideas, experiences, and launch businesses.

Forty-five registered teams were given the opportunity to immerse themselves in an ideal environment that enabled concepts to turn into reality. The three-day event kicked off with a ‘pitch your idea’ round, followed by a shortlisting process to decide on the 10 finalists. Day two was filled with various workshops that gave participants access to Sheraa mentors, while working on their ideas.

The weekend concluded with startups pitching their ideas to a panel of judges where the winners, Falcon – an e-scooter sharing concept that simplifies the issue of short distance travel, Smart Guide -an app that acts as a personal tour guide and Wave – an audio recording and audio marking application, received 25,000 AED15,000 AED and 5,000 AED respectively.

The Emirati Innovator Track prize of 25,000 AED, that rewards Emiratis innovating in the field of entrepreneurship, was awarded to Solarino Power Rental, a renting solar system in Africa using a Pay As you Go model.

Commenting on the occasion, Najla Al Midfa, CEO of Sheraa, said: “This Startup Weekend holds added significance, because it is also Sheraa’s inaugural community event at our new University of Sharjah Hub. The competition provides anyone curious about entrepreneurship with a launchpad to create a startup in 54 hours, and we are excited to see the ventures that will grow out of the innovative ideas developed over this weekend. This would not have been possible without the support of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and Sandooq Al Watan, with whom we have also launched the Emirati Innovator track to further support pioneering Emirati founders.”