Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 - The Grand Finale 'Celebrating the Spirit of Entrepreneurship'

Dubai (I-Newswire) February 19, 2012 - Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 held in association with Dubai SME & Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) reached its crescendo on 16th February at the Dubai Knowledge Village Auditorium with the top 10 aspiring entrepreneurs across UAE presenting their Business Plans.

Reena Banerjee, Idea Director & Co-Founder at Big Idea set the tone for the evening by welcoming the dignitaries and talking about the innovative platform being provided to the Ideators and Innovators of Tomorrow. “Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 is just a beginning of the journey. Our objective is to nurture the aspiring entrepreneurs in association with Dubai SME and transform them into success stories” said Reena.

Speaking on the occasion, Guest of Honour Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director, Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), a member of TECOM Investments’ Education Cluster, said: “In today’s dynamic and highly competitive business environment, it becomes increasingly important to encourage young talent and instil in them a business sense that inspires innovation and the creation of sustainable business ideas. DIAC is pleased to be associated with The Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012, an ideal platform that opens up new interesting avenues for growth and leadership among young, aspiring entrepreneurs.”

Big Idea Entrepreneur Icon Awards 2012 was presented to 3 Iconic figures. These Awards are a tribute for Inspiring entrepreneurship dreams in millions of aspiring entrepreneurs and instilling the 'dream it dare it do it' attitude in them, said Reena Banerjee. ‘These Iconic Entrepreneurs started from the scratch with the belief and passion of living their dream and here they are today, sharing their journey with the aspirants’. ‘Big Idea Global Entrepreneur Icon Award 2012’ was conferred on N.R.Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys while Yogesh Mehta, Chairman & Managing Director, Petrochem Middle East was conferred the ‘Big Idea Entrepreneur Icon Award 2012’ . The ‘Emax Big Idea Young Entrepreneur Icon Award 2012’ was conferred by Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO Emax to Alia Al Mazrouei, Mohammed Bitar & Reema Shetty, Founders of Just Falafel.

Top 10 shortlisted ideas were presented by the aspiring entrepreneurs who then went through an extensive grilling session from the distinguished Advisory Board Members consisting of Herman Lewis – CEO Radio Spice; Khalid Al Jowder - Chairman Al Jowder Group & Winner of Young Entrepreneur Award from Mohammad Bin Rashid Establishment (MBRE); Satyajeet Roy- Director & Head of Commercial Banking, Citibank UAE /Bahrain, Mukund Cairae – Territory Head of Zee Network, Middle East, Sumantra Dutta – Country Head of STAR Middle East, Ayub Ahmed – CEO, Capital International Group.

‘Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2010 – Winner – Titanium’ went to Fatima Sarwar from SZABIST who presented her Big idea ‘TeleTution Online’ – an innovative online tuition portal. ‘Raymond Big idea Start-up Challenge 2012 Winner – Platinum’ was bagged by Jasveen Kaur of S P Jain School of Global Management for her concept of ‘Unique Apparels’. The Team consisting of Gautam Ahuja, Lata Raisingani & Sanjay Tolokani, walked away with the ‘Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 Winner- Gold’ for their LogNSave – a single platform that delivers latest ongoing deals / offers helping merchants reach their target audience at no cost & helps the consumer to get the best deal at the click of a mouse thus giving real value for their money.

‘Raymond Big idea Start-up Challenge 2012 –Most Innovative Business Plan was bagged by the team consisting of Ankur Kumar Daftuar, Apurva Bhargava, Archit Jauhari who presented their Big idea ‘Trailblazer’ – Social Media Marketing (SMM) Services for companies in Business to Business (B2B) segment. The top honor ‘Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 – Best Business Plan’ was bagged by the team from IMT,Dubai – Navneeth Loya, Prakash Ranjan & Adarsh Kumar for ‘Treecil’ an innovative idea of manufacturing toxic free pencils from wastepaper.

The winners at the Raymond Big Idea Start-up Challenge 2012 will have their ideas go through simulation at the Idea Lab of Dubai SME who will then be guiding them in setting up a lean organisation .

The Institutes & Universities were also felicitated with the ‘Landmark Big Idea Mentor Awards 2012′ for the innovative practices and methodology implemented in nurturing the students. ‘Landmark Group Big Idea Mentor Award 2012 ’ went to Skyline University,Sharjah while S P Jain School of Global Management was adjudged the ‘Landmark Group Big Institute of the Year 2012.’

The evening was hosted by Carole Spiers, BBC Guest Broadcaster & CEO Carole Spiers Group, UK & partnered by Title Partner -Raymond, Co-partner -Landmark Group, Associate partner - Capital International Group, Official Television Partner -STAR Plus & Life OK. Official Radio Partner -Radio Spice, Hospitality Partner -Citymax Hotels, Support Partner-EMDI, Production Partner- Digitally and Printing Partner- MCS Printing Solutions.

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