The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a rich heritage of innovative and successful entrepreneurs. While this trend continues, it is important to note that new breeds of entrepreneurs are also sprouting up here. This is the growing movement of social entrepreneurs who are risk-takers willing to improve social issues and problems currently prevailing in the UAE. They fundamentally believe that there is a solution out there for some of these social issues, and which can not necessarily be understood within the status quo.
Within the UAE, a number of notable actors are paving the way for this inspiring movement. The Hub Dubai, a dynamic network of people with different backgrounds brainstorming innovative social ideas, managed to raise more money than they targeted to get their association started in February. Dubai+Acumen, a non-profit global venture fund that supports entrepreneurial approaches to solving global poverty problems launched a four-part workshop on social entrepreneurship and held a competition that has shortlisted the 21 best social projects out of many willing to compete in the Acumen Fund Social Competition Challenge in March. Also, Hult International Business School in Dubai recently concluded its regionally held competition in the Hult Global Case Challenge in Knowledge Village. This competition, which in three short years has become the world's largest crowd sourcing platform for social ideas, challenges students from around the world to use innovative thinking to create self-sustaining solutions to poverty. The best ideas will be presented to Muhammad Yunus and Bill Clinton on April 26 in New York City. Finally, a number of social innovation consultants such as Baraka Ventures, Alter Ego People or Consult & Coach for a Cause (C3) are extremely active in advancing this new wave. These organizations and the growing network of people working towards social causes from the angle of business ownership marks a new and noteworthy trend.
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