Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development yesterday (September 10) organised the first qualifying session as part of the preliminary events of Pitch@Palace – UAE, hosted by Abu Dhabi for the first time in the region.

Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, established in 2007 as an independent body of Abu Dhabi Government, aims to contribute towards enhancing the country’s competitive economy and to transform the Emirate of Abu Dhabi into a major investment and economic hub in the region.

The competition is the UAE version of an international competition launched by HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, in the UK in 2014.

It aims at enabling the qualified entrepreneurs and innovative business owners to present their projects along with financial, marketing, administrative or development and other requirements of such projects before a group of businessmen and CEOs of prominent companies at St James's Palace in the UK, in order to have the opportunity for supporting and developing their projects, said a statement.

Over 37 entrepreneurs and innovative idea owners presented their ideas and projects before a committee of experts and judges, including representatives of Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Nation's Fund, British Petroleum Company and VentureSouq, it said.

Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development stated that the first workshop witnessed strong competitions among the entrepreneurs who put forward valuably high-quality ideas that impressed the judges. It added that the Committee had considerable difficulty in determining the shortlisted projects, it added.

Khalifa Fund asserted that Pitch@Palace – UAE is a significant platform for developing their visions and ideas and enabling them to realise their investment dreams based on technology. It pointed out that Khalifa Fund and other partners have classified applications and nominations of the unique innovative projects according to their requirements before being subject to the preliminary appraisal, said a statement.

Eight projects shall be shortlisted form the participating projects in the qualifying sessions, before another group of projects are selected for the second qualifying session which will kick off in the next week and will be hosted by Sheraa in Sharjah, it said.

Khalifa Fund stated in a press release that the qualified participants from the two sessions shall join an extensive training camp in Abu Dhabi early October. An event will be organised to announce the winners on October 4 the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service