Khalifa Fund highlights AI Mentor initiative at 2019 GITEX Technology Week

Integrated platform created to assist entrepreneurs in developing business plans

Abu Dhabi, 05 October 2019: The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (KFED) has announced its participation at this year's edition of GITEX Technology Week, the biggest tech show in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA), which will run from October 6 to October 10, 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

During the event, KFED will highlight its ‘AI Mentor’ initiative, an integrated platform designed to help local entrepreneurs in creating successful business plans. According to the Fund’s senior officials, the initiative is the result of a strategic partnership agreement between KFED and startAD, the Abu Dhabi-based global accelerator powered by Tamkeen and anchored at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). ‘AI Mentor’ helps entrepreneurs in the creation and implementation of business plans utilizing a smart, clear and correct format, providing essential guidance and instruction on the best way to write a business plan that fits the nature of the project and in line with today's market trends and requirements.

Mouza Al Nasri, Acting Chief Executive Officer, KFED, said, “The KFED is excited to be part of this year's edition of GITEX Technology Week, which serves as both a timely and strategic opportunity to throw the spotlight on our 'AI Mentor' initiative, a program that we have developed to assist and support today's entrepreneurs in writing a successful business plan. The creation of this program demonstrates the KFED's continuing commitment towards improving and promoting a culture of entrepreneurship in the UAE, in general and Abu Dhabi, in particular. The move also reflects our constant efforts to adopt new and innovative initiatives and ideas that local entrepreneurs, including owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), can highly benefit from.”

Al Nasri lauded the extensive support given by startAD in the further development of the ‘AI Mentor’ platform. She added that the initiative is part of KFED's endeavor to be at pace with modern technology, which is considered as the language of the modern times. She shared that the Fund will continue its journey in instilling a culture of innovation and creativity among UAE Nationals, providing smart and intelligent services that promotes entrepreneurship and freelancing.

Meanwhile, Ramesh Jagannathan, Research Professor of Engineering, Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Managing Director, startAD, emphasized on the important role that the ‘AI Mentor’ initiative plays across the local business scene.

“startAD is proud to partner with Khalifa Fund in their strategic AI Mentor initiative. It is focused on creating a smart technology platform, using state of the art machine learning algorithms to help Emirati entrepreneurs build successful business plans. We look forward to working closely with Khalifa Fund on their plans to help position the UAE as a leader in the entrepreneurial economy transformation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” he concluded.

The KFED intends to include the ‘AI Mentor’ platform in its enterprise development programs and also across its advisory and consultancy services, which are provided to SME owners to help enable them in finding the right path to starting their projects and achieving their desired success.