This year’s competition celebrated innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration
urtin Dubai’s annual Business Cup Challenge (BCC) wrapped up earlier this month, achieving a milestone year with over 1,500 students engaged from across the UAE. This year’s competition celebrated innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, drawing participants from Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and even from the borders of Saudi Arabia.
The challenge commenced in October with a workshop introducing a fresh new format. Previously centred on solving case studies tied to fixed themes such as sustainability, IoT, and nanotechnology, this year’s edition encouraged students to generate real-time business ideas. Using the Business Model Canvas, participants developed and refined their concepts, receiving expert feedback from Curtin Dubai faculty and industry professionals. The journey included multiple rounds of idea development workshops led by the University’s academic leadership, which helped students hone their idea for the final rounds.
The Director of Learning & Teaching at Curtin Dubai, Dr Bilal Siddiqi, also introduced the Curtin Dubai Incubation Program during the Business Cup Challenge finale. The competition concluded with a series of Elevator Pitch presentations for 40 seconds each by hundreds of teams, judged by a distinguished panel:
- Mr Daniel Adkins, Game Master of BCC and Group CEO, Transnational Academic Group ME
- Dr Nidhi Sehgal, Head of the School of Business & Humanities, Curtin University Dubai
- Ms Sannah Rajpurohit, Strategy Advisor, Mastercard MEA
The top 10 teams progressed to the grand finale, where they presented their ideas in detail and answered challenging questions from the judges. The final panel included:
- Mr Daniel Adkins
- Ms Jaya Maru, Co-founder and CEO, Rewardz Middle East
- Mr Atinirmal G Pagarani, Managing Director, Yogi Group
The following teams and institutions emerged as winners of the edition:
Winning Teams:
Winners: RAK Academy, Ras Al Khaimah
Team Name: Cash Cows
Members: Siyyam Aasim, Angel Faisal Alkhuzouz, Meera Rashed Alnuaimi, Sara Ashraf Eloraby, Anja Aleksic
Mentor: Farah Alhousani
Second Place: Al Diyafah High School, Dubai
Team Name: Palindromous
Members: Brandon Orlando Fernandes, David Paul Samraj, Mikhail Fonseca, Mustafa Aamir, Sanshray Aiman John, Yusuf Mohammed Sabuwala
Mentor: Fiona Rosette Tauro
Third Place (Tie): GEMS Winchester School Dubai and Cambridge International School Dubai
GEMS Winchester: Team Pawfection
Members: Alisha Kadri, Ameerah Fatima, Omar AlJundi, Awab Aziz, Ahmad Habib, Meriem ElBatoul Boudjeniba
Mentor: Remya Muralidharan
Cambridge International: Team Visionary Vanguard
Members: Muhammad Aayan, Mahad Mehmood, Izabella Faye Lebig, Vivaan Hemil Surti, Ayaan Ashik Ibrahimi
Mentor: Kavitha Kuduva Mohanram
Special Awards Categories:
Public’s Choice Award: Nexus Innovations (Asian International Private School, Abu Dhabi)
Members: Abdul Ahad Khan, Fatima Ansari, Ritisha Dayananda Karkera, Erick Noyel, Tanishtha Pawar, Rahee Paras Patel
Mentor: Suresh Kumar Sharma
Peers’ Choice Award: Women of Finance (GEMS Millennium School Sharjah)
Members: Manyata Lakhwani, Ziva Ann Sam, Sheza Abdul Latheef, Hania Mazher
Mentor: Abhishek Shah
Through the industry sponsor Transnational Academic Group, the winning teams received exclusive scholarships to study at Curtin Dubai, along with gift packs from Hunter Foods and vouchers from Life Pharmacy. The champions will also gain access to the Curtin Dubai Incubation Program which is due to be launched next year.
“Gaining access to the Incubation program, which prioritizes Curtin students, will enable the winners to further develop their ideas and potentially pitch them to investors,” explains Dr Bilal Siddiqi, Director- Learning & Teaching.
All participants were also provided with vouchers from Hungarian Games and noon.com.
The participants had an overwhelmingly positive experience and departed with a determined mindset to return even stronger next year. The 2024 Business Cup Challenge inspired the next generation of entrepreneurial thinkers, reaffirming Curtin Dubai’s commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration, and industry connections. The future looks bright for these budding leaders!
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