The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), the UAE’s largest applied higher education institution, has partnered with Ford Motor Company to launch the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy (Hefa) in the UAE.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Dr Abdullatif Al Shamsi, vice chancellor of the HCT, and Simonetta Verdi, director, Government and Community Relations - Ford Middle East and Africa, on the side lines of the Dubai Airshow 2017, where HCT is an exhibitor.

The UAE edition of the Hefa will be hosted by the HCT-Sharjah Women’s campus from November 14-16, 2017 and is aimed at enhancing business-focused education and skills of prospective entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates.

Hefa will provide seed funding of $1,000 for the participant who best demonstrates an entrepreneurial capacity.

The intensive three-day academy will see HCT Business faculty members working with trainers from Ford and the Virginia Commonwealth University in the US, to deliver highly focused seminars and workshops to 50 aspiring business people.

Dr Al Shamsi said: “We thank the Ford Motor Company for partnering with the HCT to facilitate the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy at our campus. This collaboration will undoubtedly enable HCT students to fully consider the possibilities of starting and operating their own business ventures.”

“The academy will provide students with the training, skills and education needed so that they are properly equipped to handle the many challenges and opportunities in a diversified and globalized business world,” he added.

Dr Al Shamsi added that encouraging and facilitating HCT students to have an entrepreneurial mindset, and to set up their own businesses, was a fundamental objective of the institution’s five-year HCT 2.0 strategy.

“We are creating innovation zones in all HCT campuses, which will act as business and idea incubators, enabling students to develop, refine and ultimately commercialize their innovations and entrepreneurial ideas,” he said.

In addition to establishing the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy, the parties will also work together to create opportunities for selected groups of HCT students to undertake short experiential learning program at various Ford facilities in the US.

Further, the parties will explore the possibilities of creating community engagement programs in the UAE, such as the Ford Community Challenge which is an innovative grant-making initiative designed to empower student-led projects at higher education organizations. These enable community-building projects that address pressing local needs to be implemented in local communities. – TradeArabia News Service