Client Overview

As part of Dubai’s national strategy to transition toward an innovation-driven economy, the government sought to activate entrepreneurship as a new economic engine, particularly among youth and early-stage innovators.

Dubai SME, under the Department of Economy and Tourism, took the lead in designing and implementing a national-level startup program that would inspire, enable, and fund youth-led startups from idea to MVP and beyond.

Challenge

While Dubai had strong foundations in business infrastructure and investment, the startup pipeline remained underdeveloped, especially at the idea and MVP stages.

The government needed a way to:

• Promote entrepreneurship as a viable career path for youth.
• Capture and onboard aspiring founders at scale through online and offline channels.
• Provide structured learning, mentorship, and MVP development support.
• Evaluate startups objectively and allocate funding transparently.

Dubai SME required a comprehensive platform and program that could support large-scale participation, manage the full journey, outreach, selection, training, evaluation, and funding, all under one digital system.

Innavera’s Approach

Innavera partnered with Dubai SME to design and deliver an end-to-end digital startup ecosystem, combining platform technology, program architecture, and implementation support.

Key initiatives included:

• Program Design: Structured a full startup journey from awareness to funding, with both synchronous and asynchronous program delivery.
• Platform Development: Built an integrated online platform covering registration, onboarding, learning modules, mentorship, scoring, and funding disbursement.
• Outreach & Funnel Design: Developed marketing funnels to attract youth participants across universities, social media, and business hubs.
• Evaluation & Funding Mechanism: Created a scoring and review system to assess MVPs through panels of experts and assign funding based on merit.
• Program Delivery: Supported live sessions, workshops, and mentorship activities through the same platform.

Outcome & Impact

The initiative became a cornerstone in Dubai’s youth innovation agenda.

Results:

• Over 3,000 registrations from aspiring entrepreneurs across Dubai.
• Streamlined program delivery and evaluation through a single digital platform.
• Enhanced transparency and efficiency in startup selection and funding.
• Increased youth participation in innovation-led economic activities.
• Strengthened Dubai SME’s role as a national driver of entrepreneurship.