Today The Duke of York hosted [email protected] GCC 1.0 at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was also in attendance.
The Audience listened to 14 Emirati and Gulf National Entrepreneurs who Pitched their businesses from within the theme of ‘Technology Serving Humans’, ranging from technologies to combat water pollution, to a programme which has developed smart algorithms to help match the skills of job seekers to suitable employers.
After an Audience vote, the following Entrepreneurs were announced as the winners of [email protected] GCC 1.0, along with the People’s Choice Award winner, and all four will be invited to take part in [email protected] Global 3.0 at St James’s Palace this December.
The winners were:
One GCC, which has developed smart algorithms to help match skills of job seekers to suitable employers.
Artelus, which uses artificial intelligence to provide screening solutions for the billions of people around the world who don’t have access to primary healthcare screening.
Foodate, an online delivery service for restaurants.
The [email protected] GCC 1.0 People’s Choice Award winner was AlRawi, an App which crosses borders with its digital capability in audio book creation and distribution of Arabic books in a range of languages.
Opening the event, HRH said: “It is an enormous pleasure to be here at [email protected] GCC. Pitch has been expanding in this area for two years to include other members of the GCC. I believe very strongly that enabling entrepreneurship is a team effort. We need to build a community that gets behind and encourages these start-up businesses, and working with colleagues here makes our job easier.
“Pitch works for Entrepreneurs in a country, with the county, to give them that doorway to help their business move forward.
“The one thing that makes more of a difference than anything else is the connections that you – the Audience – can make. You are going to have a ‘lightbulb moment’ when you realise exactly who you can put these businesses in touch with. All of you can make an enormous difference to these businesses when you make that serendipitous connection.”
