Entrepreneurship Fundamentals: Flat6Labs and Startup Success in UAE

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This report provides an in-depth exploration of entrepreneurship fundamentals, focusing on the role of Flat6Labs, a startup accelerator, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The report examines the various services and benefits offered by Flat6Labs, including training, networking, legal support, and mentorship, to support entrepreneurs in launching and growing their businesses. It outlines the entrepreneurial process, from idea generation to opportunity evaluation and business incorporation, with specific reference to the UAE context. The report also contrasts the UAE's entrepreneurial ecosystem with those of Silicon Valley and Europe, highlighting key differences in legal frameworks and investment landscapes. Furthermore, the report features success stories of startups like Jumpsuite and Collectionair, illustrating the practical application of entrepreneurial principles. The report concludes by summarizing the core concepts and emphasizing the importance of support systems like Flat6Labs in fostering a thriving entrepreneurial environment.
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Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
Entrepreneurship Fundamentals
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:
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Executive summary
In this study, the fundamentals of entrepreneurship have been discussed with instances. There are
many entities that provide help to the entrepreneurs in starting and running the business. One
such entity is Flat6Labs that operates in UAE. This entity helps the entrepreneurs in all aspects
of launching a new venture. The flat6labs entity provides benefits to the entrepreneurs through
training, perks and services, legal supports, mentorships and networking. In this regard, the
Flat6Labs entity provides all types of support to the entrepreneurs so that the entrepreneurs can
fly high with funding. Flat6Labs provides help to the entrepreneurs in funding of the business
and it helps the new venture to get the investors. Flat6Labs gives the seed funding to the new
ventures so that they can run the business process in the initial stage. In addition, this entity has
partnerships with more than 100 large multinationals and these leaders listen to the ideas of the
entrepreneurs and provide suggestion to this. In this study, the entrepreneurial process has been
discussed in UAE basis. The entrepreneurs need to identify the opportunity that is present in the
market. Moreover, they can develop the opportunity in the market by finding the gap, however,
incorporation of paper works are needed. In the UAE, the entities have been there who can help
the entrepreneur in finding the investment from GCC meeting and office spaces. There have
been other entities too that provide help with the entrepreneur's help in Silicon Valley and
Europe. The differences between the two types of help have been discussed. The main difference
between the UAE and Silicon Valley was the legal framework and the mindset of the
entrepreneurs. In the UAE, the investment issue can be resolved easily; however, in Europe and
Silicon Valley, it was never easy. From the community of Flat6Labs, there have been more than
200 companies that have taken help and one such organisation is Jumsuite. This is an app based
startup that follows the business model of Airbnb and the organisation has been able to innovate
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the idea of health and fitness based ideas. This startup has managed to register more than 5000
active users of their app. Another example of Collectionair can be taken as it is a website baed on
artworks runs in Middle East and African continents. Therefore, it has been clear that it Silicon
or in Europe, the process of entrepreneurship practice has started early and the framework has
been made there earlier. UAE is trying to generate the process of fundamentals of
entrepreneurship.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
2. Overview of Flat6Labs................................................................................................................6
Joining and working processes of Flat6Labs...............................................................................6
Benefits are given by Flat6Labs......................................................................................................7
Training:......................................................................................................................................7
Networking and Exposure:..........................................................................................................8
Perks and Services:......................................................................................................................8
Legal Supports.............................................................................................................................9
Mentorship:..................................................................................................................................9
3. Entrepreneurial Process.........................................................................................................10
Getting the idea..........................................................................................................................10
Opportunity identification.........................................................................................................11
Opportunity development..........................................................................................................11
Opportunity evaluation..............................................................................................................11
Choosing business activities......................................................................................................11
Finalise all incorporation paperwork.........................................................................................12
4. Steps to which UAE entrepreneurs can start a business............................................................12
Pitching......................................................................................................................................12
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Writing a business plan..............................................................................................................13
Meeting GCC investor...............................................................................................................13
Office space...............................................................................................................................14
Funding......................................................................................................................................14
5. Differences in helping the entrepreneurs and explain why.......................................................15
Entrepreneurs and job creation......................................................................................................15
Understanding the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem..........................................................................17
Differences between Silicon Valley and GCC..........................................................................18
6. Success story of Jumpsuite........................................................................................................21
7. Success story of Collectionair...................................................................................................23
8. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................24
Reference List................................................................................................................................26
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1. Introduction
An entrepreneur is a person who makes an organization for commercial purpose and
entrepreneur must be energetic. Moreover, entrepreneurship is the method of designing, running
and launching a new business that is often in initial stage a small business. Moreover,
entrepreneurs must have the willingness to organise and develop a business venture in order to
make a profit. However, not all business start-up can see the light of success, in many cases, lack
of funding, economic crisis and lack of market demand can create issues for the entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs find opportunity in the market and from these opportunities; they develop new
services or products. In recent time, most of the entrepreneurs start the business using online
platform. In this regard, entrepreneurs must have the desire for independence autonomy and they
should have a desire for responsibility. Entrepreneurs should take the risk and they must be
organised in capacity. However, the entrepreneurs face issues in opening the start-up in many
occurrences. There are some of the entities that provide help to flourish the start-up business as
well.
In this study, Flat6Labs organisation has been chosen that operates in Abu Dhabi and it is
a start-up accelerator. In the later section of the study, the steps to open a new business have been
discussed in this study. However, there are other entries there which provide help to start-ups in
Europe and Silicon Valley as well. There are some basic differences in providing help to the
start-ups in Silicon Valley, Europe and UAE. In this study, the differences as also been
discussed. A successful start-up Jumpsuite has been chosen to discuss its success story as well.
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2. Overview of Flat6Labs
Flat6Labs is a startup accelerator programme that helps the young entrepreneurs to foster
in their startup business. Moreover, Falt6Labs fosters the innovation with cutting-edge ideas. In
addition, Flat6Labs provides investment to the startup so that the entrepreneurs can grow in
business. Flat6Labs gives seed funding, creative workforce, strategic mentorship, entrepreneurs
focused training and multitude perks. Moreover, Flat6Labs assists the entrepreneurs to make an
expensive network of various partners that can invest and mentor the business to grow
(Flat6labs.com 2017). This entity creates an environment to the startup to flourish the small
business in the very short time frame. In addition, Flat6Labs provides 24-hr office space and it
assists the entrepreneurs to keep in touch with the mentors with well-established advisors. The
entrepreneurs can get the best business plan as well as execution strategy of the business plan.
Flat6Labs has partnerships with many famous and foreign companies like Sawari, Microsoft,
GAN, PWC, Qualcomm and TechSparks and these organisations help the entrepreneurs in
getting the ideas and investments (Flat6labs.com 2017).
Joining and working processes of Flat6Labs
Apply
In order to join Flat6Labs, the entrepreneurs have to apply online and the employees have
to go through multiple screening processes in order to get selected. Flat6Labs screens all the
candidates and best entrepreneurs get selected for the programmes.
Grow
This is a programme course and by the end of the programme, this entity asks the
entrepreneurs to pitch the business plan to the investors' community at Demo Day. The
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Flat6Labs rises funding for the entrepreneurs so that the entrepreneurs can get the opportunity to
grow the business easily (Flat6labs.com 2017). After the Demo Day, the entrepreneurs may leave
the Flat6Labs; however, they can get connected with Flat6Labs. However, Flat6Labs provides
always support and connection to the entrepreneurs.
Accelerate
Once Flat6Labs accept the entrepreneurs, they become part of Flat6Labs family.
Flat6Labs guarantees that within four months, the business can flourish under the umbrella of
them. This entity provides seed funding and it gives start-up workshops with educational
programmes. It provides office space and seed funding for the entrepreneurs.
Benefits are given by Flat6Labs
The flat6labs entity has its offices in 5 locations and it has more than 200 mentors who
provide help to the entrepreneurs. At present, the organisation has more than 220 entrepreneurs
under them and it has support from more than 100 companies. Flat6Labs provides almost 50% of
the funding in the opening of the start-up and it has created more than 700 startups initiatives.
Apart from the UAE, it has its offices in Cairo also. Moreover, it offers various services to the
entrepreneurs.
Training:
Flat6Labs provide training to the entrepreneurs in order to make them experienced in the
field of business. This entity provides help to the entrepreneurs in academic training, partners
training, industry experts training and boot camp. It provides up-to-date focused in training
sessions from many of the industry experts as it has a connection with the many famous
organisations around the world. Many of the corporate leaders provide helps in flourishing the
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business in the Middle East countries. Flat6Labs has resources and tools for giving training to the
entrepreneurs in such competitive global market.
Networking and Exposure:
It is not easy to open a business and the business will be successful in no time. The
entrepreneurs try to plug into a community where they can access the contacts of the various
network (Drucker 2014). Flat6Labs provides help to the entrepreneurs who can take help from
partners, investors, customers, developers and mentors that are associated with the entity.
Flat6Labs is growing in the market and they are the ever-expanding network. This entity has a
relationship with international and local industry experts, managing directors, innovators, media
and CEOs. It provides web support to the entrepreneurs to teach them about various marketing
tools. Most importantly, Flat6Labs can be a well-mentioned brand name when the business will
grow up. The networking and exposure of entrepreneurs will be startup events, media & PR
coverage, demo day and business networking.
Perks and Services:
Flat6Labs provides help to the entrepreneurs in providing added values of perks and
services. Flat6Labs provides the startup with the benefit of $300k in perks and benefits that can
provide entrepreneurs with best resources. This resource helps the start-ups to flourish and build
in the market. It provides benefits to be part of Global Accelerator Network that helps to make
various partners in the industry. This partnership can provide help in taking the advantage to get
huge perks from the sponsors like PayPal, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. The perks and
services are related to the Softlayer, Bayt.com, Eleance Oedsk, MailChimp and Rackspace
(Flat6labs.com 2017).
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Legal Supports
Flat6Labs provides entrepreneurs with up-to-date focused legal support in free of cost in
the opening of new business. Moreover, in Abu Dhabi and in Cairo, the legal system of the
marketing and opening of business, the entrepreneurs can take help from Flat6Labs. In getting
the legal support and advice can be expensive for the entrepreneurs in the opening of start-ups
(Kirzner 2015). Flat6Labs has a team of lawyers who provide help to the start-ups in any query
that they have in relation to business and licensing. Legal consultation, service and support are
needed in starting a business as these are related to the company establishment, agreements, legal
contracts and IP (Intellectual Property). In registering the company through following the
government rule, this entity provides support to the entrepreneurs.
Mentorship:
This entity provides four months support to the entrepreneurs as mentors and they claim
that these four months are better than one year struggling by them alone. Flat6Labs links
strategically the entrepreneurs' goals with providing help in making a business plan, arranging
funding, logistic supports, hiring employees, solving technical issues, attracting customers and
presenting the entrepreneurs in front of investors. In facing the critical decision, each of the
entrepreneurs needs to solve the dilemma. In this regard, the startups can get guidance in various
aspects from this entity. In the first occurrence, all the entrepreneurs make some mistakes;
however, in improving the learning curve in the process of business, Flat6Labs can help the
entrepreneurs. The features of mentorship are related to the coaching, weekly dinner and one-on-
one meeting with mentors who can share the knowledge of the business and the entrepreneurs
can experience bluntly and honestly the information of startups (Baum et al. 2014).
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Figure 1: Benefits given by Flat6Labs
(Source: Flat6Labs.com 2017)
3. Entrepreneurial Process
Entrepreneurial process is related to the recognising and refining of a viable economic
opportunity in the marker.
Getting the idea
Getting the primary idea about the market can help in starting the startups and the idea is
related to the simple conception of opportunities and obstacles in business. The ideas of opening
business can be various, however, the entrepreneurs need to find the market opportunity,
building a successful business and implementing the ideas in the business process. As stated by
Storey (2016), market opportunity can be defined as gap left in the industry that can give chance
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to entrepreneurs to penetrate the market with new ideas. The ideas must be related to the
disruptive innovation and that can open up the prospect of the business.
Opportunity identification
Entrepreneur alertness is the ability to see the vacuum in the market and exploit the
opportunities in the market (Nandan 2013). This alertness can create the opportunity in the
market to recognise and capture the market value. The entrepreneurs need to scan the market
opportunity that would provide the changing information of external environment.
Opportunity development
Timely adaptation of the opportunity is needed if the entrepreneurs find the market suit to
his/her services or products. Opportunity development can be defined as the method of
combining resources with the systematic approach of promising potential opportunity.
Opportunity evaluation
Opportunity evaluation is the critical stage that affirms that the entrepreneurs can execute
the business process with investment and risks to be taken. Opportunity evaluation process can
be undertaken with various factors, market opportunity, products and services, costing and
pricing, profitability, capital requirements and issues and risks (Karimi et al. 2016).
Choosing business activities
The entrepreneurs find the ‘free zones' in the market and then select the type of business
they want. Moreover, the entrepreneurs can start the business online or they can just start the
business that has proximity to the urban places. In the preparation process, the final activities
must be done.
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Finalise all incorporation paperwork
After selecting the names of the business, the entrepreneurs need to confirm the names
from the government. The paperwork needs to be done through online as the entrepreneurs are
required to complete an application for the chosen company activities along with the copies of
the stakeholders. The startups must have a Non-Objection-Certificate from the authority and the
startups need to have a letter from current sponsors. In addition, in Dubai, getting the license for
the organisation is an easy way as the entrepreneurs’ just need to apply the process (Covin and
Miller 2014).
4. Steps to which UAE entrepreneurs can start a business
Pitching
There is no definitive framework that can help a startup to raise money in business and
there are various tactics that framework use to gather in starting of business. There are some of
the quantitative and qualitative factors that help an organisation to take the funding decision. The
pitching of the business should be perfect in a finding of the capital of the business. However,
the startup pitch can hold in any place, formally or informally. Great way to start a business is to
establish a relationship to the capital investor. A friend referral or any entity can provide help in
gaining the funds; however, business models in the earlier stage of the business do not matter. In
earlier stage startups, meaningful metrics should be taken in order to understand the business
requirements. Existing customers in the market should be judged before startups take the
momentum. As stated by Brain (2013), most important part of the pitching is the ‘why' as the
entrepreneurs should know why they are starting the venture with risks. Every startup has a story
and motivation to start a business. Moreover, the entrepreneurs must have a clear idea why they
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want to start the business ‘now’ as the idea of the business should be powerful that can fulfil the
gap in the market.
Writing a business plan
In UAE, the entrepreneurs can get help in wring the business plan as the entrepreneurs
have an idea of the business; however, they do not have an idea how to start a business. The
entity like Flat6Labs provides help in starting the business with a business plan. In starting the
business, the mentors are needed in order to make understand them the idea of new business. A
new business plan should start with the idea of market and Flat6Labs helps the organisation to
start the business with correct planning. The entity like Flat6Labs helps the entrepreneurs to
research the market with competitive analysis. In this stage, the most important part of business
planning is the calculating the startup costs and find a fund for the business. Moreover, the
startup business can buy new franchisee as well in order to penetrate the market (Boseli 2016).
Business planning is related to the marketing mix when the startups can take promotional
activities in order to sustain in the market. Moreover, the business planning must be inspirational
and achievable so that the business startup can gain this with actual planning.
Meeting GCC investor
The Corporation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf originally known as Gulf
Corporation Council is a regional intergovernmental economic and political union that comprises
of all Arab States of Persian Gulf. GCC is a trade bloc and it helps the business to flourish in
UAE. The common goal of the GCC is to have a customs union and common market for the
business. The main objective of the GCC is to start common currency. GCC helps the business to
formulate the finance, trade and legislation system that can establish the scientific research centre
(Sharpe and Schroeder 2016). Moreover, the GCC helps the private sector to operate in
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cooperative mode. In UAE, the entrepreneurs can access the investors for the funding of the
business and it helps the businesses to strengthen ties between the people. This entity segregates
the markets into five different categories, in Market 1, it invests $100,000 to $1 million and in
case of Market 2, it invests of $1 million to $10 million. Moreover, in market 3, it invests $10
million plus amounts. Some of the assets that can be invested in GCC activities are bonds,
property, carbon credits, businesses, diamonds and art, silver and gold. This GCC entity helps
the UAE entrepreneurs to grow in the market. Moreover, the entity like Flat6Labs arranges the
meetings to the GCC to entrepreneurs.
Office space
Office space is needed in starting of the business and the entity Flat6Labs helps the
entrepreneurs to have state-of-the-art space and the entrepreneurs can start the business in a
similar stage. Flat6Labs provides help in co-working hubs and it has flexible space designed that
facilitates the productivity and interaction (Ismail and Yehia 2016). Physical space is provided
by the entity like Flat6labs and working at the office can provide help in growing the network in
entrepreneur field.
Funding
In opening a startup, the entrepreneurs need to select the funding model. The
entrepreneurs can opt to a bank loan or they can find the angel investors who can help the
business is flourishing. The entity like Flat6Labs helps the entrepreneurs in the opening of
business through funding, the entity invests $10k to $15k as seed funding in exchange for small
equity in the business. As stated by Acs (2016), this seed funding helps an entrepreneur to cover
up some of the expenses in an early stage that the business has to go through. The entrepreneurs
need to define the programme with core application and it is commercialised attempt of the
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organisation to develop the services and products. There are two types of funding, seed funding
and follow-on funding. The seed funding serves as a critical catalyst to achieve the specific
milestone of the business.
Figure 2: Opening startup in UAE
(Source: Hoffman and Jamal 2012)
5. Differences in helping the entrepreneurs and explain why
Entrepreneurs and job creation
The Middle East is one of those regions in the world that has a large population of the
young generation. Approximately more than half of the population is young workforce. Such a
large population of younger generation carries both opportunities and challenges with it.
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However, this all depends on the opportunities that are there in their respective regions. If they
have sufficient job opportunities in their region they will certainly deliver their best to their home
country. Consequently, the home country will be benefitted from the flooding of talented
professionals. On the other hand, if the respective region does not have sufficient opportunity to
such a large population, the society will not perish. The society will certainly struggle to retain
the young talent. Moreover, they will leave with one option to move to foreign locations where
they can get maximize opportunities. Such movement will serve the purpose of the younger
population but this will not serve the purpose of the concerned region (Hoffman and Jamal
2012).
The Middle East countries are way behind in providing opportunities to the young
population than any other countries. According to the World Economic Forum, the Middle East
region needs to create 75 million jobs by 2020 in order to stay as per the standard opportunity
rate. This further means a high jump of 40% than what exists. Keeping the scenario in mind, the
region has started to feel the requirement to have an entrepreneurial environment. Such
environment does not only provide an employment opportunity to the owners but it also provides
a way for the others. The success of such a start-up business will definitely influence the local
economy, which is good for both the company and the country it represents. The benefits do not
end here, this will rather provide ample of the job to others who will support the newly formed
entrepreneur. The innovation that the entrepreneur uses will benefit the purpose and also the
work environment in the country. This is indeed a potential strategy as this will supply the
required number of employability to those who are left with no option in the country (Ncube,
Anyanwu and Hausken 2014).
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This study is also focused on one of such stories. Flat6Labs is one of such entities
operating in the United Arab Emirates, which has become responsible for much entrepreneurial
business startup. The entrepreneurial activity in this region seems robust. This is worth
mentioning that approximately around 13% of the working population is engaged in
entrepreneurial activity. The figure is astonishing. This is even far bigger than in US, Germany
and Japan (Schroeder 2013). However, despite all the opportunities, there are ample numbers of
such entrepreneurs who start up the business to satisfy their needs. They are less innovative and
are loosely connected to the betterment of the nation they represent. It is very difficult to resolve
the issue of employment in such cases. There is a need to have leaders who can identify the
potential entrepreneurs that have thirst in them to innovate. If this happens this will produce a
flood of job opportunities to the citizens (Nuwait 2017).
Understanding the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Currently, there are many entities operating in the Middle East region. Flat6Labs is one
of those names that are based in the United Arab Emirates. It also operates in some other parts
such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, an increasing number of such entities do not
make much difference. Indeed, their effectiveness matters the most. The purpose is to serve the
needs of innovative entrepreneurs who are hidden and needs opportunities to explore their
credentials to the world of business. The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has four elements, which
will be required for supporting a startup business to an entrepreneur. Following is the list of four
elements (Naqvi 2012):
Personal enablers
Business enablers
Financial enablers
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Environmental enablers
It is obvious from the current state in the Middle East countries; the entrepreneurial ecosystem is
missing on the regulatory framework and equity investors.
Differences between Silicon Valley and GCC
There are huge differences in between the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Middle East
countries and the Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is supported by giant investors who accelerate
the startup business. There is no match between the numbers of a startup business, which is
supported by the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Middle East countries are nowhere near to the
number. Additionally, the Silicon Valley has already witnessed giant startup business turning
into the multibillion-dollar company. Some of such names are IBM, Sun, HP and Oracle
(Kushida 2015). These are not the only names. The giants are further producing giant
entrepreneurs, which still does not exist in the United Arab Emirates. On contrary to this, the
United Arab Emirates have large numbers of such entrepreneurs who are living their own needs
and demands. They do not have any such innovative thoughts. The Middle East countries do not
have a single success story like such. However, competition is really high in the Silicon Valley.
It is indeed much difficult to succeed with the startup business in the Silicon Valley. On the other
hand, this is relatively easier to succeed with the startup business in the Middle East countries. It
is further relatively easier to impress the investors in the Gulf countries (Zengyu Huang et al.
2013).
The surrounding atmosphere is very competitive in the Silicon Valley. People working in
Whatsapp, Facebook, Uber and Google can be easily found even in the restaurant. However, this
is hardly possible in the Gulf countries. Dignity is respected in gulf countries, not the innovation.
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The thirst for success is also very less in the Middle East countries. People coming from Google
will be warmly welcomed in that region. However, they should rather feel pride on their natural
and financial resources. It is very ironic that Silicon Valley where finding a talent is way much
harder than it is in the Middle East countries, it is still way ahead of the region in terms of
accelerating the startup businesses. Retention is way tougher in the Silicon Valley. It is not only
hard but very expensive as well. Employees working there frequently shift from one company to
another as they have many options to switch over. Despite all these odd situations, the Silicon
Valley is still a way ahead to the GCC (Auerswald 2014).
The Venture Capital funds (VCs) is very powerful in the Silicon Valley. There are
thousands of investors in the area but it is relatively harder to get the investments done. Ne needs
to be really creative and goal oriented in order to get the investment supports from such venture
capital. It is not that easy to start up a business by just starting up a business. It rather requires
sheer innovation, which will excite the investors. On contrary to this, numbers of such
entrepreneurs are much in the Middle East countries who start up a business for their personal
need only. They do not have in them the zeal to move ahead and use an utmost innovation to
flourish the business. Moreover, they are in very limiting numbers who are actually supporting
living up to the expectations and opening up ways to others. The Middle East countries have
comparatively a better condition than the Silicon Valley. Investors can be easily found in the
region. However, entrepreneurs in this region are missing on innovation and the zeal to progress
ahead (Acs, Szerb and Autio 2016).
The above discussions have provided many important points, which can describe the
differences in between the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Silicon Valley and the Middle East
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countries. Following are some notable differences in the Silicon Valley and the Middle East
countries (Kumar 2013):
Entrepreneurs are comparatively less in innovation in the Middle East countries. To most
of them, the startup business is just a mean to satisfy their needs. They have no such
thoughts of prospering the community with their innovativeness. They have the leverage
with them. They have also the necessary funds with them; however, still, they have been
so confined with their exploration. On contrary to this, the entrepreneurs are innovative in
the Silicon Valley. They are not just fostering their chances but instead, they are opening
up spaces for others to accommodate it. Few such entrepreneurs are Google, HP, Sun and
Oracle.
Attrition rate is comparatively lower in the Middle East countries but still, they do not
cash on that. In the Silicon Valley, the attrition rate is much higher. The employee does
not rely on a single employer. They prefer switching over from one employer to another.
Despite such a challenging situation, the region has produced an utterly superior
entrepreneurial ecosystem. Moreover, this is producing an ample number of giant players.
Investors are relatively easier to get in the Middle East countries. However, they are very
low in innovation, which has also retarded them to prosper. It is very tough to get
investors in the Silicon Valley. They really need innovative ideas. They never entertain
low on innovation personnel. They are giant investors but still, they do not throw away
their money to any cause.
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6. Success story of Jumpsuite
Flat6Labs is one of such names in the United Arab Emirates, which has really been
benefitted from the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The entity has shown utmost innovation, which is
required to prosper the local economy of the United Arab Emirates and to provide ample of
opportunities to the talented professionals in the country. The entity has been responsible to
accelerate the startup business of many entrepreneurs (Flat6labs.com 2017). One of such names
is Jumpsuite. This is an online business that provides a platform to others where they can
actually create, market, sell and train the nutrition plans. The platform has aimed at attaining a
stage where global clients will be able to browse and purchase the program. Sellers can also use
this platform to produce their products in a more effective way. Moreover, the startup business
has worked as it has become a solution to many in the United Arab Emirates. People from the
different parts of the world can also take the benefits of the platform. Following are some of its
objectives (Jumpsuite.net 2017):
To be at the top place for health and fitness
To be at the top rank to review and rate the industry professionals
To be the top contender of SaaS for nutrition and fitness customization
To provide the best fitness App and relatively good Customer Experience
To provide the largest integration in Cross Platform
The platform has so far 5012 registered user on to its credit. It has so far successfully sold 1496
programs. It has been held responsible for burning 3001000 KCALS/DAY. It has already
provided 126020 hours of exercise (Jumpsuite.net 2017).
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22ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
From just nothing to such a significant position, the platform has shown its potential. It
has really been benefitted from the entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists in the United Arab
Emirates. The Flat6Labs has really done wonders for the country as it has helped entrepreneurs
like Jumpsuite to flourish (Flat6labs.com 2017).
Explaining the success story
The success story can relay be understood from a fact that there are very fewer numbers
of entrepreneurs in the Middle East countries, especially in the United Arab Emirates. Jumpsuite
has moved against every odd. In the United Arab Emirates, many entrepreneurs prefer keeping
them confined to their business only (Jumpsuite.com 2017). They took the help to benefit their
own needs only. They were less innovative, which is why there is a huge difference in the
success rate of entrepreneurs becoming a global success as it happens in the Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley has the examples of Google, Sun, Oracle and HP to its credit (Blomberg 2012).
There is no such name in the United Arab Emirates. It is neither in the entire Middle East
countries. Flat6Labs is a success; however, it is not up to the standard of Google and so on.
Despite the fact it is a happy note to the United Arab Emirates as it has now started to enter the
innovation zone. The zone will produce many such entrepreneurs in the nearing future like the
Flat6Labs in the United Arab Emirates (Jucevicius et al. 2016).
Another challenging condition in the United Arab Emirates is the legal framework,
which has encouraged the investors to invest in many such projects that were not innovative.
Consequently, the numbers of such entrepreneurs are much in the country that has just initiated
the startup business to satisfy their personal need. The investments made on such entrepreneurs
did not help in flourish the employability condition in the country. On contrary to this, the legal
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23ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
framework is much strict in the Silicon Valley. It is comparatively very challenging to satisfy the
investors. Investors want a really innovative concept before they make any investment. Such a
strict framework is one of the causes behind the success of entrepreneurial ecosystem in the
Silicon Valley (Pierrakis and Saridakis 2017).
7. Success story of Collectionair
Collectionair is a platform for the lovers of art and collectors can sell and buy their
products as well. It is a website based startup that works mainly Middle Eastern and African
countries and it allows the users to borrow and swap the art markets. This plat offers the users to
find the quality art products those are hard to find in the open market. This startup check the
authenticity of the arts and the users can access both pre-loved and new artworks here.
Collectionair startup also does the valuation of artworks, insurance, condition reports and
shipping as well. This startup recruits a team of curator that goes various places to find the
artworks for the users and the teams go to the preferred destinations to search the artworks. The
main focus of the organisation is to find the emerging art markets and merging arts as well. This
startup understands the market gap and the market demands an app or website where artworks
can be sold and bought. The startup gives access to the artworks pricing between $500 and
$50,000. This startup never compromises with quality of the art. Moreover, the art website
provides the art news, art tips and artists news as well. The startup is going to make a connection
between B2B and C2C marketplaces that can allow the users to sell and buy the products and
also borrow and swap the products. The site of the startup is now Beta and it was launched in this
year at the end of March and selling function of the artworks started at the end of the June
(Collectionair.com 2017). This startup believes in content marketing and it launched blog pages
later in April of 2017. Users can log in the pages and discover the online exhibition available on
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24ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
the pages. It has already gathered more than 4000 users and users can find the arts with prices
marking with these.
It is very much evident from the above-mentioned fact that Collectionair has succeeded
after being trusted by the Flat6Labs. However, the success is not in the line of giants like Google
but still, it can be concluded that the scenario is changing for the United Arab Emirates. There
are now few other entities like Flat6Labs who are accelerating the startup business to many. The
picture can be much brighter if the Middle East countries come up with a robust legal framework
(Ding 2015).
8. Conclusion
An entrepreneurial ecosystem is much in practice in the Middle East countries because
the region has comparatively lesser opportunities to the young population. To serve the purpose
of feeding them with sufficient job opportunities, the country has constructed an entrepreneurial
ecosystem to support the acceleration of many startups. However, it lacked in providing a robust
system, which could bring the same success as it has happened in the Silicon Valley. Silicon
Valley has produced many giants such as Google, Sun, Oracle and HP. The Middle East region
has suffered from the lack of innovation in the entrepreneurs and also for the legal framework
that governs the entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the environment is now changing. It has
been proved by many entrepreneur startup entities such as Flat6Labs. It is one of such names that
have been responsible for the startup acceleration of many such as Jumpsuite and Collectionair.
Flat6Labs is providing every possible platform, which is needed in a startup business. However,
there is still the need of a robust legal system, which could identify the hidden innovation in the
country. Investors need to know the place, which is worth for the investment. It is extremely
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25ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
important to have a legal framework like the one that exists in the Silicon Valley. The Middle
East Region, in particular, the United Arab Emirates has such investors who can invest in
supporting the startup business. However, it is extremely important to identify the potential
entrepreneurs and then invest in supporting the startups.
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26ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
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28ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUNDAMENTALS
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