Approximately 20,000 students from across the United Arab Emirates will participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week this year. Students at GEMS Education schools will dive into entrepreneurship through in-class activities, global and local competitions, workshops on coding, game and app design, as well as an inspirational line-up of speakers.
2014 will mark GEMS Education’s second year as a Global Entrepreneurship Week partner organization. In 2013, approximately 5,000 GEMS students across the United Arab Emirates participated in their Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Students as young as seven and eight will participate in “Grow Ten Dirhams,” a home-grown program in which students launch businesses using a small investment of approximately $2.70 from their parents. Parents are then issued a shareholder’s certificate and receive a shareholders’ report detailing the product developed and sold as well as the company’s expenses and revenues. Students are invited to reflect on their experience at the end of the project.
Older students from across the school will participate in international competitions including theDECA Idea Challenge and the NFTE World Series of Innovation - along with in-class and evening workshops to address everything from business ethics to turning your love of sports into a business.
Global Entrepreneurship Week in Dubai has been marked by an overwhelming level of enthusiasm and support, not just from students, but from parents and local businesses and organizations. A panel of regional entrepreneurs presented to parents on “Encouraging Your Young Entrepreneur.” The panel was moderated by Tindley Whipple Gilbert, founder of diggity.com and mother of three budding entrepreneurs. This year, parents and students will be invited to team up, present solutions to challenges posed by companies with a regional presence, and will have a chance to win some fantastic prizes in the process. Teachers and parents alike can join the DECA excitement and will have their top ads shared with students. GEW will culminate with the “The DECA Oscars and Global Entrepreneurship Awards Ceremony” on December 7 at GEMS Wellington International School.
It is the community partnerships built around both international and regional Global Entrepreneurship Week programs that provide a real world context – and a genuine sense of purpose - to the students. Last year, GEMS Global Entrepreneurship Week programs were sponsored by Mashreq Bank and supported by diverse community partners. GEMS sought to involve community partners by having them engage with students, not simply to provide prizes. Local finalists for the NFTE World Series of Innovation were invited by Innovation 360 to develop their ideas with the support of their global accelerator. The regional division of N_K_D Pizza launched the DECA Challenge for students with an assembly on product development, marketing, and, of course entrepreneurship.
Mashreq Bank took this one step farther and worked with GEMS teachers and staff to develop theMashreq-GEMS Mobile App Development Challenge. Students have been charged with creating working applications intended to educate corporate and investment banking customers on the benefits of online banking. The program was launched with an information session on corporate and investment banking, online banking platforms, the needs of regional customers – as we as an innovation and user experience workshop for participants.
Students who participated in the GEW 2013 have enthusiastically embraced a leadership role in this year’s week. GEMS Wellington International School Year 11 student, Conor Marshall, addressed a group of fifty students participating in this year’s NFTE Innovation Day. He told the students how GEW 2013 was the springboard for his yearlong work at the i360 Accelerator. “Take this seriously,” he told the students. “Great opportunities can come out of GEW.”
Program co-organizer James Rostron attended the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 and was inspired by the examples of youth entrepreneurship and the emerging eco-system that support it. He returned to Dubai intent on bringing the purpose and creative energy of GEW to the students of the UAE.
“Participating in Global Entrepreneurship Week is clearly aligned with our core values. Students adopt a startup mindset. They are encouraged to innovate; they learn in-demand skills while developing solutions to real challenges; and they engage with peers and experts from around the world,” said Christine Nasserghodsi.
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Christine Nasserghodsi is the director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at GEMS Wellington International School, a partner of GEW in the United Arab Emirates.