Emirates Foundation Announces the Final Pitching Stage of the Emirates Award for the Arabian Gulf Youth 2019

Emirates Foundation, the national organization set up by the Abu Dhabi Government to facilitate public-private funded initiatives for the empowerment of youth across the UAE, announced today the final pitching stage for the 2019 Emirates Award for the Arabian Gulf Youth (EAAGY), an initiative launched in 2014 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Foundation.  The award is part of the Foundation’s mission to encourage and mobilize youth across the GCC to become active participants in social development.

The 14 shortlisted projects, consisting of individuals and teams from across the GCC pitched their concepts to the judging panel consisting of Dr Adeeb Alafeefi, Director at the National Program for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises; Dr. Saif Alshaali Executive Director – Social Incubator and Contracting Authority for Social Contributions (Ma’an), Nabra Al Busaidi, Executive Director of Young Arab Leaders; and Abdulla Al Shimmari, EAAGY second-place winner in 2017.

The top three teams will receive grand prizes of AED70,000, AED50,000, and AED25,000, respectively, as well as receiving a one-year membership with waived fees on all services and the chance to attend national and international training and exhibitions, easy access to federal government tenders, and the privilege of setting up private office space for a period of three months by the National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises and Projects run by the Ministry of Economy. The award winners will also be trained and mentored by leading UAE based organization Young Arab Leaders.

Mohanna Al-Mheiri, Chief of Staff at Emirates Foundation said: “Emirates Award for Arabian Gulf Youth is part of Emirates Foundations’ overall commitment and social entrepreneurship strategy aimed at supporting the national agenda by unlocking the potential of nationals and enabling them to become the driving force of the UAE’s economic development.”

“The concept of social entrepreneurship is gaining a lot of traction and momentum in the GCC today. We are witnessing a great deal of interest, especially amongst Youth in the establishment of social enterprises because of their ability to deliver benefits in a self-sustaining way as well as their ability to use revenues to address social causes and problems through unconventional approaches that neither the private nor public sectors have been able to do.”

“Today, our main goal behind Emirates Award is to create a social entrepreneurship mindset and empower youth to creative innovative revenue generating ventures using market‐driven
 mechanisms
 to
 solve
 key
 and
 urgent
social
problems,
while making
a
positive
impact
 on
society
as
a
whole.” Al-Mheiri concluded.

Emirates Award for Arabian Gulf Youth is part of an overall social enterprise eco-system developed by Emirates Foundation’s Kafa’at program to empower youth with an enabling environment to deliver sustainable social impact for their communities and countries.