UAE alumni and students had another opportunity to progress their thoughts on future ventures during a 'Business Start-up Workshop' which Professor Jonathan Levie, of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, facilitated on January 21 in Dubai. A series of concrete and engaging short exercises took participants through several ways of 'visualising' their core competencies, products and markets, assumptions, business model and key strategic actions in the context of their end goal.
Several participants expressed how the recent series of alumni-focused events on career strategizing and entrepreneurship had enabled them to sharpen their vision and become more confident in their approach. The workshop followed the annual Dubai alumni event, also organised by the Dubai Chapter of the Strathclyde UAE Association in partnership with the University’s Alumni and Development Office, during which three alumni entrepreneurs had shared their experience of enterprise.
The next event in the series, on Saturday, March 16, will see the UAE launch of Strathclyde 100. This event - well established in Glasgow - aims to provide a forum for the development of a supportive community of Strathclyde entrepreneurs, where more experienced entrepreneurs can assist budding ones.
At each session, a selected few starting entrepreneurs get the opportunity to present their business following a period of coaching on their presentation from trained coaches and ask for specific help or advice from the audience; the presentations are followed by a more informal period allowing networking to take place. Alumni interested in participating or presenting at the event can contact Fiona Ireland or Dr Catherine Demangeot.