Brilliance in the Spotlight

Do you want to learn from the best? First you have to discover who they are! The Arabian Business StartUp Awards revealed these high achievers on December 3rd at Dubai’s Emirates Towers. The event succeeded in highlighting “the people and companies who really drive the economy, create the jobs, and develop the ideas,” says Arabian Business editor Neil King.

Among the winners was the crowd-investing platform Eureeca.com, voted the best start-up of the year. They were also previously selected as innovator of the year this September at the Gulf Business Industry Awards – making two impressive wins in the same year. Just Falafel, named in the Dubai SME 100 rankings as the country’s top performing SME, gained more fame when its founder and MD Mohamed Bitar won the award for entrepreneur of the year, while Young Arab Leaders UAE chairwoman Muna Al Gurg won the women in business award.

Other names that shone brightest were Propertyfinder.ae and the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, named SME and SME supporter of the year, respectively, MarkaVIP and Souq.com as mobile and digital business of the year, and Emirates NBD as SME bank of the year. Best-of-2013 winners also included AstroLabs for innovation, Mona Ataya of Mumzworld as best SME executive, Fadi Ghandour as best mentor, and Restronaut and Snapp.ae co-founder Leith Matthews as best young entrepreneur.

For more info – www.arabianbusiness.com