United Arab Emirates, 01 November 2023: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, announced the successful completion of the mentorship phase of EGA Ramp-Up, a programme that supports promising entrepreneurs to maximise their economic, social or environmental impact in line with the Entrepreneurial Nation strategy 2031.

Launched in November last year under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy, EGA Ramp-Up focuses on entrepreneurs whose business ideas are based on application of science and technology to progress sustainability.

The programme received hundreds of applications from aspiring UAE-based entrepreneurs who engaged in a series of online courses on effective entrepreneurship led by C3 – Companies Creating Change.

Following the evaluation process, eight innovative startups were selected to take part in the Investor Pitch Day at EGA’s headquarters in Al Taweelah. The diverse group of young founders representing business hailing from growing sectors presented their innovative businesses ideas to a distinguished judging panel. The finalist startups included Circa Biotech, FortyGuard, MindTales, Nadeera, Olive Gaea, SecuriCIP, Solumar, and Verofax.

The judging panel selected Solumar, FortyGuard and Verofax in the first, second and third place respectively.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Our goal with EGA Ramp-Up is to make a further contribution to the UAE’s economic diversification and development by supporting innovative young entrepreneurs to launch their impact-driven and sustainability-focused businesses. We hope our support will enable these companies to thrive, and that some may even go on to become EGA suppliers, further increasing our local procurement and supporting Make it in the Emirates and the achievement of the UAE’s Operation 300bn industrial growth strategy.”

As part of the Entrepreneurial Nation strategy, EGA Ramp-Up supports the achievement of the Centennial 2071 goal of increasing entrepreneurship in the UAE.

“These startups represent some of the most promising talent in the UAE, and C3 is thrilled to have partnered with EGA to equip them with the tools needed to accelerate their businesses. Through our tailored mentorship programme, we have nurtured their growth trajectory, enabling them to create lasting impact,” said Kevin Holliday, Managing Director of C3 - Companies Creating Change.

EGA is launching pilot projects with some of finalists to further increase local procurement and support the growth of promising local businesses.

EGA made a direct, indirect and induced contribution of some $7.19 billion in 2022, supporting almost 48,000 jobs.

EGA spends around $1.7 billion on goods and services from UAE companies each year, some 45 per cent of the company’s total global procurement spend.

EGA will launch the next round of EGA Ramp-Up in Q4 2023.

For more information about the EGA Ramp-Up Programme, please visit www.ega.ae/en/ramp-up.