15 student teams move to final round of ‘2014 Business for Better’ competition

UAE– 15 student teams coming from various UAE-based universities and colleges have been selected to move on to the final round of this year’s edition of the ‘Business for Better’ competition. The shortlisted teams will be given until May 31, 2014 to prepare a business plan based on their submitted concept and present this in front of the competition’s distinguished panel of judges. Universities that have made the cut for ‘Business for Better 2014’ include American University in Sharjah, American University in Dubai, Zayed University, University of Sharjah, Heriot Watt University, Abu Dhabi University, Amity University and Manipal University.

The competition, which is organized by Western Union Financial Services Inc., a leader in global payment services and Al Ansari Exchange, a UAE-based foreign exchange and worldwide money transfer company, is set to award the top three teams with scholarships worth up to AED 285,000. This year’s panel of judges is made up of leading experts from the UAE’s corporate segment. Judges include; Rashed Al Ansari, General Manager, Al Ansari Exchange; Hatem Sleiman, Regional Vice President, Western Union; Imad Ghandour, Founder & Managing Director, CedarBridge Partners; Lisa Labonte, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Arab Youth Venture Foundation; Alexandar Williams, Director for Strategy & Policy, Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development and Nina Curley, Journalist & Media Strategist / Editor-in-Chief, Wamda.

Shortlisted teams will be facing the judges on May 31, 2014 to explain their business plans in length along with an accompanying slide show presentation. Judges will be judging the presentations according to the following criteria—originality of the idea, concept behind the idea and its business description, proposed implementation and methodology and financial planning and their corresponding budgets.

The ‘Business for Better’ competition was launched in 2011 during the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the strategic affiliation between Al Ansari and Western Union. The yearly contest is in line with the two leading companies’ social goal to give back to the community by assisting university students in their education. It also aims to provide a platform for the two organizations to collaborate with and discover talented young people who are capable of developing business ideas that are both sustainable and profitable.