HFEA is a primitive objective of the five-year HCT 2.0 strategy to furnish students with the necessary training, skills and education required to manage the challenges and opportunities presented to them in this globalised business environment.
HCT partners with Ford
The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and Ford Motor Company (Ford) have signed the Memorandum of Understanding to collectively launch the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy (HFEA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The MoU was signed by Dr. Abdullatif Al Shamsi, Vice Chancellor of HCT and Simonetta Verdi, Director, Government and Community Relations – Ford Middle East and Africa.
The HFEA (UAE edition), hosted by the HCT-Sharjah Women’s campus, is a 3-day academy aimed at strengthening the business-focused education and skills of future entrepreneurs in the UAE. It serves as a common ground for HCT Business faculty members to collaborate with trainers from Ford and Virginia Commonwealth University in the United States to present informative seminars and workshops to 50 ambitious entrepreneurs.The academy will also provide a venture captial of $1,000 to the participant who exhibits the most outstanding entrepreneurial capacity.
Dr Abdullatif Al Shamsi, HCT Vice Chancellor, expressed his gratitude towards Ford for working with HCT in the facilitation of HFEA and emphasised on the important contribution this initiative will make to the UAE’s existing strong entrepreneurial mindset. This academy is a primitive objective of the five-year HCT 2.0 strategy to furnish students with the necessary training, skills and education required to manage the challenges and opportunities presented to them in this globalised business environment.
Dr Al Shamsi said “We are creating innovation zones in all HCT campuses, which will act as business and idea incubators, enabling students to develop, refine and ultimately commercialize their innovations and entrepreneurial ideas”.
Both parties will also be cooperating to forge opportunities for selected groups of HCT students to embark on short experiential learning programmes at various Ford facilities in the United States. In addition, they will be looking into the possibilities of shaping community engagement programmes in the UAE, such as the Ford Community Challenge – an innovative grant-making initiative designed to empower student-led projects at higher education organizations. It warrants the implementation of community-building projects that help rectify the urgent needs of local communities.
Source: Zawya