Young Arab Leaders, in collaboration with Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, hosted Startup Weekend Dubai on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams, and the entrepreneurial community of Dubai. The event was held last November 28-30, 2013 at Xpoze, The Idea Factory, in Alserkal Avenue Arts District, Dubai, UAE with Narain Jashanmal, GM of Jashanmal National Co. as speaker. 120 people, including start-up entrepreneurs, signed up for the event and almost half of them pitched their ideas on the first day. Among them, 40% have background in business, 30% technical & 30% design. 17 teams formed and went on to compete for the final 4 winning spots. More than 9 of the startups went on and launched and are in the process of incorporation or raising seed funds.

2013 Success Stories
The first winner is Kidz Weekend, a web and mobile app for parents to reward their kids on the weekends for accomplishing assigned tasks during the week. The children collect stars that can be redeemed as rewards promised by the parents. Second winner, Coco Events, empowers conference delegates to efficiently find the people who matter to them at the event – similar to the online dating concept but for conferences. The third winner, Rent a Local, is a platform to connect worldwide travelers with locals through the world, offering them an authentic travel experience. Fourth winner is GaraJack, an application that helps motorists find the right garage according to their needs and find reviews done by peers and fellow motorist.