The Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) recently held a graduation ceremony for the first batch of  participants of the Double Up 3M corporate accelerator programme launched last September.

The pioneering programme was created especially for Dafza customers to help accelerate business growth and develop their companies, in line with the freezone's commitment to make innovation a key pillar in the nation’s move to build a competitive knowledge-based economy characterised by diversification, productivity and sustainability, said a statement from the authority.

It was also created to help support the freezone companies and encourage them to adopt a culture of innovation. The ceremony took place at the Dafza’s Business Center in Dubai, UAE.

The honouring rites were part of the freezone’s special activities for this year’s UAE Innovation Week running from November 20 to 26.

Double Up 3M is an intensive 95-day capacity building and accelerator programme open to Dafza’s hosted companies and overseen by the freezone’s Innovation Unit. It develops customised plans to enhance the mission, market and money of participating enterprises and addresses other major organisational challenges that impede business growth in neighbouring and global economic markets, said a statement.

The programme facilitates customer discovery and selection, provides mentorship from highly-skilled professionals, and shares specialised content with key teams of the business, it said.

Among the members of the first Dafza-tailored Double Up 3M batch were Inspativity, Winoa, Armada, Chapman Freeborn, Raw Trade, BOS, Green Technologies, Topnet, Rainbow International, and Unitechnik FZE, it stated.

They were mentored by experts on business management and strategy, marketing and advertising, branding and marketing, credit and cash management, and business strategy and leadership.

Amna Rashid Lootah, assistant director general of Finance and Commercial division, Dafza, said: “UAE Innovation Week highlights the latest achievements related to the National Innovation Strategy, which aims to make the country one the most innovative in the world by 2021.”

“As such, it was a fitting occasion to coincide with the graduation of our Double Up 3M participants. We will continue to use the programme as a major platform for fully supporting our innovation strategy by utilising it to attract and cultivate foreign direct investment for the development of the national economy in all vital sectors, and strengthen Dubai and the UAE’s position as a leading global hub for trade, business and investment,” he said.

“The success of the first edition of Double Up 3M serves as further encouragement for us to continue to launch subsequent sessions, in line with our commitment towards supporting freezone companies in growing their business and encouraging them to explore growth opportunities and seizing them by adopting a culture of innovation and excellence as an organizational model in their daily operations,” he added.

“We congratulate all the graduates and encourage other companies to follow their lead and pursue higher levels of business excellence and creativity,” Lootah concluded. – TradeArabia News Service