Press

Source: CNN

Aired December 16, 2015 – 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:12] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HSOT: After the fireworks, life in Las Vegas where the spoke has cleared from the Republican presidential debate.

It all started with a 2am text message from a student in Abu Dhabi to another in Stockholm.

“Yo, let’s start a magazine,” it read.

The runner-up, the Hydrotech Cleaning Solutions team from New York University Abu Dhabi, took home US$10,000 for their invention, inspired by the Namib Desert beetle.

The 3rd Arabian Business Achievement Awards recently celebrated the UAE’s most impressive achievers in the growing startup and small-medium business sector. NYUAD student Mohamed Amine Belarbi (Class of 2016) was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

What can an industrious beetle that is found in some of most arid parts of Africa teach the Middle East about solar power? According to a trio of NYU Abu Dhabi students who have taken second place in the Siemens Student Award Competition, plenty.

Besides attending classes, NYU Abu Dhabi students devote hours each week to conducting student organization meetings, coordinating community service projects, and leading other initiatives to better the lives of their peers and members of the Abu Dhabi community. In late April, our students took a brief pause from their various endeavors to celebrate their leadership contributions at the first annual Al Khayr Student Leadership Awards Gala.

Spring break on college campuses typically means travel with friends or simply trying to catch up on much-needed rest. But for NYU Abu Dhabi sophomore Mohammed Amine Belarbi, spring break 2014 was spent delivering a lecture – to a global online audience.

Addressing an issue near and very dear to their hearts, NYU Abu Dhabi junior Clive Miranda and freshman Mohamed Amine Belarbi recently participated in the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) 2013, held earlier this month at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Their proposal was not only keenly heard by a distinguished audience of leading professionals, renowned global figures, and future leaders, but also awarded a Resolution Fellowship in The Resolution Project’s Social Venture Challenge — run in conjunction with CGIU — which was designed to support student-launched social ventures that are sustainable and have measurable impact.

Ashley Madison, Sony, the US government, Iran Nuclear Centrifuges and ARAMCO facilities in Saudi Arabia. These are just a few of the high profile targets that have been hacked in the past and that reminds us all how vulnerable the cyberspace is. But asides from the stories that make it to the front page of the New York Times, there are billions of hack attacks taking place all year long, every hour, every minute, every second.

23 years old. Serial Entrepreneur, Founder of Gulf Elite, Business Arabi and VUL9 Security Solutions. Awarded “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” 2015

Well first things first! UNLEASH will take place in Madrid (Yes, Spain); one of the most dynamic capitals in the world where the best of sports, culture, and innovation merges to create the most dynamic hotspot in Europe. A place where you can visit historic European monuments in the morning, get a taste of enriching Spanish cuisine in the afternoon and end the day by gazing at the greatest football teams in the world dominate the field. (Hint: I’m a big Real Madrid fan!)

As the importance of entrepreneurship continues to grow across the region, Arabian Business StartUp once again celebrates the success of those who have stood out from the crowd.

The Global Shapers Profiles section will help introduce the Global Shapers active in the UAE, their backgrounds and initiatives aimed at catalysing positive change within their communities.

We’re all too accustomed to the image of businesses and corporations being evil institutions sucking every possible profit out of people and countries. Whether it is Wall Street or the greedy multinationals setting sweatshops around the world, the realities of today’s corporate landscape are far from being ideal.

Mohamed Amine Belarbi has been involved and engaged since graduating in 2012. From RCN he went straight to New York University in Abu Dhabi where he is not only successfully pursuing his studies but is also something of a serial entrepreneur, having founded two NGOs and two businesses. His entrepreneurship-focused publication, Gulf Elite has 40,000 readers a month, and his Arabic publication, Business Arabi has 30,000 readers in the region. He also founded the ‘Opportunities for Students‘ facebook group, which has 49,000 international student members where opportunities – for internships, competitions, conferences, scholarships and more – are shared for the benefit of a worldwide student population.

So, we put our heads together and put this list together with the hopes of spreading some inspiration along the way.

Some of these individuals you may know, some you may not. Our primary goal was to highlight those who have fearlessly stepped out to launch a new program, initiative, business or idea designed to make a difference in the world or community around them.

You can imagine me as a true book-nerd in my childhood because as a kid my mind was always overwhelmed with schoolwork, and I was in a constant state of struggle to make my family happy with my academic grades. My childhood was spent here in morocco until I reached the age of 17. I was no different than any other Moroccan children, and like most of them I never thought about anything else except going into engineering and sciences. Entrepreneurship came to me as a surprise because as a child I didn’t have an understanding of what entrepreneurship was,so it is a shock for me too that now I am running multiple startups and being featured as a speaker at entrepreneurship conferences and so on.

The “what to do in life” conversation usually starts at the rambunctious age of 6 for most people, when first graders scribble on career assignments that they’re going to be a “fiyah fiter” or “noorse” when they grow up (sound it out spelling at it’s finest).

Award for the three winners is seed funding and incubation for a period of six months to develop the prototype of the product and the detailed business plan, in addition ADU Enterprise will offer technical and business mentoring and coaching.

Tamakkan successfully held its second seminar session of 2015 entitled: “The Path to Successful Entrepreneurship” wherein all attendees ranging from startups to big time CEOs were given helpful insights on the latest trends regarding the business scene within the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the seminar also focused on success stories of businesspersons within the country.

Hey guys! If you didn’t already feel bad enough about yourself, be sure to catch today’s episode! We speak with guest Mohamed Amine Belarbi, a super-entrepreneur with 5 enterprises (3 companies+ 2 other things you’ll never be able to achieve), about what he feels people should know about starting a company and creating your “own value”. Did I mention he was on TEDx?