Video: Young Emirati entrepreneur Alia Al Ali creates platform connecting youth with UAE start-ups

Video: Young Emirati entrepreneur Alia Al Ali creates platform connecting youth with UAE start-ups

Dubai: A young Emirati entrepreneur has created a platform where the youth can connect with UAE start-ups and acquire relevant entrepreneurial skills that would help them either to build their own start-ups or jumpstart their careers. Meet Alia Al Ali, the co-founder of Startlings. Al Ali told her company “is a global ecosystem created to kick-start the start-up and entrepreneurial thinking of the youth. Startlings is a digital platform that brings together established start-ups and students in high school, university and post-university”. According to Al Ali: “The entire programme, which runs for eight weeks, goes hand in hand with the National Agenda for Entrepreneurship, aimed at establishing the UAE as an entrepreneurial nation by 2031.” “The National Agenda includes 29 initiatives aimed at enhancing the business environment and entrepreneurial mindset in the UAE and an integrated package of incentives that will enable the country to increase the number of its start-ups to reach one million. This will also serve as an incubator for ten unicorn start-ups, thereby achieving a strong partnership between the public and private sectors.” Al Ali, however, noted: “Industry opportunities and exposure are difficult to obtain for students given largescale competition. In a time like this, a