January 14th, 2015: Canadian University Dubai (CUD) student, Abzal Assembekov, and his team mates have received a massive boost for their enterprising idea following their recent win in the Dubai Startup Weekend competition.
Abzal was one of a team of four entrepreneurs who took first place at last month's event with their business proposition 'Photo Real', which aims to provide a quality, professional stock photo database to Real Estate agents, starting with in-demand neighbourhoods in Dubai.
The team will now benefit from an impressive package of business support services to convert their idea into a viable business, including 6 months free office space, mentoring, training and networking events from In5, free advertising on the Dubai Internet City website, and a seat for 3 months at the AstroLabs Dubai Tech Hub.
The Dubai Startup Weekend was part of an international network of competitions that have taken place in over 700 cities and created more than 13,000 entrepreneurs across the globe. The contest was a gruelling 54-hour event, starting out with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, culminating in Sunday night demos and presentations.
Abzal, who was one of only two students taking part in the whole competition, teamed up with established businessmen to provide the technical and design expertise required to develop and demonstrate their business concept.
As a serial entrepreneur since high school, Abzal wasn't fazed by the competition, or his fellow competitors. He said, "I started out as a freelance graphic designer while I was still at school and have been working ever since. When I moved to Dubai I began developing business ideas and now have a number of projects on the go."
Abzal's own enterprises include motorsinme.com, an online community providing photos, videos, classifieds and blogs focussed on motoring across the Middle East, and gccdaily.com, a news sharing site that aggregates daily news articles by subject from a wide selection of GCC publications.
Always coming up with new ideas, Abzal is also working on projects linked to education, advertising and mobile technology, and hopes to source investors for these and other initiatives.
Fitting all of this around his Bachelors degree in International Business, Abzal maintains that it's important to continue with his education alongside his enterprising endeavours.
He said, "It's vital for me to develop the full skillset required to help me succeed in the business world. The International Business program is developing my skills in marketing, finance, HR and, most importantly, leadership, that will support my long-term professional growth."
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