CERT & Wharton School Announce “EPIC” Competition for Young Entrepreneurs

December 9, 2009: For the first time in the Middle East, the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announce a business plan competition for young entrepreneurs.  The CERT-Wharton “Entrepreneurial Planning and Innovation Competition (EPIC)” is open to all students from accredited academic institutions in the UAE and all Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) alumni. The top eight teams will share in US $50,000 in cash prizes with the winning team receiving US $20,000. Details are available online here: http://epic.hct.ac.ae/index.asp.

The CERT-Wharton EPIC business plan competition offers students a comprehensive, four-month platform to help them gain the entrepreneurial knowledge and expert feedback needed to launch their new business ideas. 
CERT-Wharton EPIC helps teams develop their business plans in both a collaborative and competitive environment. The competition is structured as follows:

• Teams submit an executive summary of their business plan. 
• These submissions are evaluated and up to 25 teams will be selected – known as the “Top 25”.
• These “Top 25” submissions will be further evaluated and the top eight teams will be selected to participate in the finals – known as the “Great Eight” finalists.
• The “Great Eight” finalists will prepare and submit a full business plan for evaluation.
• The “Great Eight” finalists will present a formal pitch to a distinguished panel of judges.  Winners will then be selected.

Key Dates

“Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of any economy and to develop and encourage these skills is an important role of educational institutions.  We are pleased to collaborate with Wharton, with over 125 years of business education experience and renowned expertise in entrepreneurship.” stated Dr Tayeb Kamali, Vice Chancellor of the HCT and Group Chief Executive CERT Group of Companies.

On November 1, the Wharton School opened the Wharton Entrepreneurship and Family Business Research Centre @ CERT.   Wharton faculty will pursue research on entrepreneurship, innovation, family business practices and challenges of the region at this newly established Centre.  In addition, the Centre will publish an Arabic language version of Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton’s award-winning online business journal.

“We are delighted to contribute to the first-ever CERT-Wharton Business Plan Competition.  We are confident that participating students in the Middle East will gain valuable entrepreneurial skills in the same way as students in our Wharton Business Plan Competition have for more than eleven years,” said Wharton Prof. Raphael (Raffi) Amit, lead faculty member for Wharton’s engagement with CERT. 

The CERT-Wharton EPIC finals will be held during the Third HCT Global Entrepreneurship Conference March 7-9, 2010.

About the Wharton School, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Wharton Global Family Alliance and Knowledge@Wharton Arabic Edition

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 85,000 graduates.

In 1973, the Wharton School became the first school to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies. Today Wharton, through Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, supports and seeds innovation and entrepreneurship globally through teaching, research and outreach to a range of organizations through its many programs, initiatives and research centers. At the same time, Wharton students and alumni are helping to build entrepreneurial enterprises around the world and impacting virtually every industry.

Since its formation in January 2004, through an agreement between the Wharton School and CCC Alliance, the Wharton Global Family Alliance (Wharton GFA) has become the knowledge leader in family business research focused on family businesses, primarily in the areas of governance, philanthropy, and wealth management.  Wharton GFA focuses on rigorous scholarly research in combination with the practical experience of successful global families to highlight the social impact of families worldwide. Wharton GFA has a robust research agenda and a wide variety of outreach focused on a global audience.

Knowledge@Wharton is a free biweekly online resource that captures knowledge generated at the Wharton School and beyond through such channels as research papers, conferences, speakers, books, and interviews with faculty and other business experts on current business topics. The Knowledge@Wharton network – which includes Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Indian editions--has more than 1.3 million subscribers worldwide.

About Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Training

The CERT Group of Companies began as the commercial arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates, and has grown to be the largest private education provider in the Middle East. CERT is also the largest MENA (Middle East North Africa) investor in the discovery and commercialization of technology.

Since its creation in 1996, the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) has been synonymous with quality in education, training, research, and socioeconomic progress. Over the years, CERT has helped thousands of professionals and companies meet their goals and achieve the next level in their development, and it is now the largest private education provider in the region. Included is an Executive MBA in Innovation & Entrepreneurship which features the best professors from leading institutions around the world.

CERT additionally, hosts the regions premiere biennial Global Entrepreneurship Conference where students throughout the GCC and regional entrepreneurs attend. The Conference features leading international thought leaders & entrepreneurs throughout the world.

For more information contact:

Dean Hoke
Head of Institutional Development
Higher Colleges of Technology
Tel: +971 2-6922-716
Email: dean.hoke@hct.ac.ae
Web:  www.hct.ac.ae