Etisalat announces second ‘Hello Business Pitch’ competition winners

Etisalat announced the top three winners of the second ‘Hello Business Pitch’ competition at a live awards ceremony, giving out prizes worth AED 350,000 to aspiring entrepreneurs and providing a platform to bring their business ideas to reality.

Focusing on innovation, the competition’s second edition received an overwhelming response this year with 52 candidates shortlisted progressing to the latter stages of the competition.

YallaGive won first place for a brilliant business pitch and will receive AED150,000. The second place winner Key2enable Assistive Technology will be awarded AED120,000, while App4Legal placed third in the competition and will walk away with AED80,000 for their respective creative pitches.

Salvador Anglada, Group Chief Business Officer, Etisalat, commented: “Small and medium businesses are a backbone of the UAE economy, accounting for 86 percent of the total private sector workforce and more than 60 percent of the country’s current GDP. This year’s ‘Hello Business Pitch’ has indeed succeeded in attracting high-potential start-ups and harnessing the potential of aspiring entrepreneurs who are bringing innovative ideas to the market. I have witnessed first-hand the thoroughness and the quality of the content of their pitches, and look forward to hearing about their entrepreneurial journey.”

Esam Mahmoud, Senior Vice President, SMB, Etisalat, said: “It is my pleasure to congratulate the entrants, shortlisted candidates and winners of this year’s ‘Hello Business Pitch’. This competition showed the strength of the UAE’s future business leaders and their passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. Our initiative is in line with Etisalat’s continuous efforts to support SMBs and start-ups in the UAE and position Etisalat as the preferred business partner of choice for SMBs.”

The competition launched in December 2019 has gained popularity and got bigger every year. Hundreds of passionate start-up businesses applied, and 52 shortlisted businesses were invited to pitch their business online after an intensive and comprehensive assessment of the applications based on the creativity of the business models, demonstrative scalability, and the ability to effectively portray their potential business growth in a clear and concise way.

Twenty-five businesses were selected and then given a dedicated training session by Dr Petar Stojanov, Partner, Innovation & Future Strategy at Black, on how to perfect their pitch. Two more pitching sessions were conducted and the jury selected the top three winners, who were announced by Etisalat at a live awards ceremony viewed by the business industry around the globe.