New Economy Academy UAE, HCT Launch 10,000-Student Startup Drive
Two thousand students at the Higher Colleges of Technology will receive structured startup training over a five-year period under a partnership announced in Sharjah on Friday with the New Economy Academy. The initiative forms a core component of a broader national entrepreneurship campaign launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, to train 10,000 Emiratis in commercial enterprise development.
Laila Faridoon, chief executive officer of the New Economy Academy, stated that the programme will scale by training 400 students annually from the Higher Colleges of Technology to reach the 2,000-student milestone. Alongside domestic talent development, the overarching national campaign also seeks to attract 10,000 individuals from outside the UAE to establish and grow their enterprises within the country.
The curriculum addresses operational hurdles encountered by early-stage founders, covering regulatory frameworks, available institutional support, and tax obligations. Participants will also examine artificial intelligence integration for product development and business planning, alongside market analysis modules that teach students to evaluate competitor environments, consumer demand, and sector viability.
Ayesha Markhan, acting vice-president of employability and knowledge economy at the Higher Colleges of Technology, noted that the partnership expands career options beyond conventional post-graduation employment. The institution’s existing business incubation centres across multiple emirates provide an operational baseline, which the new training framework complements by requiring participants to establish market demand prior to launch.
The programme concludes with a pitch session where student teams present business concepts to a specialist panel drawn from the academy and the Higher Colleges of Technology. Promising, sufficiently developed ideas will be considered for support from relevant organisations to transition from academic concepts into operational commercial ventures.
