Building an entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE.
Region: UAE
Industry: Startups & Entrepreneurship
Project Objective: BUSINESS PLAN and OPERATING MODEL
Strategic Context
Ajman sought to position itself as a premier startup destination by creating a sustainable, commercially viable entrepreneurship hub. The client needed clarity on global best‑practice hub models, Ajman’s current ecosystem readiness, and a feasible 5‑year concept, business plan, and roadmap.
Client Mandate
We were engaged to:
- Conduct extensive research for benchmarking of hubs and a current state assessment of Ajman, and prepare a high‑level concept for the hub.
- Carry out a feasibility study including market, technical, financial, and operational analysis.
- Develop a detailed 5‑year business plan and implementation roadmap with clear budget and funding requirements.
How We Delivered
- Benchmarked leading hubs globally and regionally; defined key quantitative and qualitative metrics, created spiderweb profiles, and summarized best practices.
- Performed current state assessment of Ajman and UAE through industry research and stakeholder interviews, covering funding, talent, infrastructure, regulation, and quality of life.
- Designed the hub concept and positioning, including goals, differentiators, service offerings, partnership model, and operating options.
- Conducted sector‑wise feasibility and recommended priority focus sectors using a structured techno‑commercial evaluation.
- Built a 5‑year financial model capturing revenue streams, costs, CAPEX, funding needs, and scenarios (occupancy, program mix, pipeline conversion).
- Prepared a comprehensive business plan, organization structure, and implementation roadmap split into pre‑launch, launch, and post‑launch activities, supported by a leadership presentation.