H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, introduced the Fifty-Year Charter, outlining nine articles poised to reshape the Emirate’s future. Among these, article six—which calls for the creation of free economic and creative zones in universities—inspired UAE-based entrepreneurs Mohammed Mukhtar and Reem Al Mosabbah to contribute towards this visionary goal. Their efforts led to the establishment of Unipreneur, a Dubai-based platform focused on youth entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and innovation, in 2021.
“The problem we’re solving is the lack of a youth-focused innovation incubator in the region, which can empower youth in the UAE with the right skills, tools, and support to become successful global entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and innovators,” Mukhtar says. The primary inspiration for Unipreneur was the UAE leadership’s vision and support for youth empowerment. Mukhtar and Al Mosabbah also drew from their own experiences of navigating future readiness, industry connections, and innovation development during their university days.
Unipreneur was built using the triple helix model of innovation, a business concept that fosters collaboration between universities, governments, and businesses. “Unipreneur’s unique selling point is its focus on creating future leaders,” Mukhtar adds. “We believe we are the only platform in the region based on the triple helix model of innovation, with a focus on entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and innovation development for youth. Innovation in strategy, engagements, and impact is important for us. Technology is a crucial tool that will help us further streamline innovation, enable inclusivity, and improve the overall youth development experience.”
Since its inception in 2021, Unipreneur has been bootstrapped and has generated over AED 2 million in revenue for its clients and AED 800,000 for itself. Al Mosabbah is confident about the platform’s potential for further growth. “Our current business model is based on revenue generation through organizing youth-focused events, programs, and activations for reputed government entities, corporate organizations, and academia,” she explains. “We see the current state of the business as healthy and in line with our initial vision of building Unipreneur as a reputed youth empowerment brand for the first two to three years of operations, before transitioning digitally. In the near future, our business model will expand with a major focus on digital or in-app engagements.”
Mukhtar and Al Mosabbah are also preparing to launch Unipreneur’s Young Innovators Attraction program, an initiative aimed at engaging young minds across the UAE with support from the MBRIF Innovation Accelerator program. When asked why the MBRIF program is central to their startup’s vision, the co-founders emphasized the influence of the UAE leader who inspired their initiative. “One name: H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,” they say. “As the core of our youth programs are built around learning and implementing entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership lessons from the life of the Ruler of Dubai, we chose the MBRIF program so that we can develop such programs, and also achieve our dream of establishing the world’s best youth innovation incubator in Dubai.”
