Microsoft Gulf has told startups they should use cloud to easily scale up their business operations.
Cloud is a proven course the company said while citing several UAE success stories to make its point.
It said enterprise-level technology tools are no longer out of reach for SMEs while noting that its BizSpark helps startups succeed by giving free access to Microsoft cloud services
“We are very pleased with the progress that regional start-ups have made,” said Samer Abu-Ltaif, general manager, Microsoft Gulf. “The BizSpark scheme is chartered to provide companies with the right tools – software, services, cloud computing – and the right training to turn their ideas into thriving enterprises.
BizSpark allows us to connect startups with incubators that we work with, and get them the right guidance on their journey, as they become an integral part of the diversification of the economy in this part of the world.”
In January this year, Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, met with several UAE-based entrepreneurs while on a visit to the country. Each of the business leaders had made strides in growth for their venture through BizSpark and were interested to know how they could take bolder steps using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
“Unlike any CEO you could imagine, Nadella was able to listen to our idea and intimately understand it, and provide feedback and guidance on how we could further leverage Microsoft technologies and grow as a start-up,” said Rami Salman, founder and CEO, Wrappup, which has developed a meeting productivity tool that allows users to record meeting conversations, summarise them and then search them.
Mohamed Elwazer is founder and CEO of KinTrans. His start-up journey starts with a very personal story.
“One day I saw a deaf child in the Metro station and he was trying to communicate with a police officer using sign language, and obviously the police officer didn’t understand him,” Elwazer explained. “Later, I saw some people dancing in front of an Xbox Kinect system and thought that was something we could use to develop a sign-language translator.”
Because of its capital-intensive demands, Elwazer’s idea a decade ago was one that could easily have run out of steam without an angel investor or VC funding, but BizSpark helped him to take it forward.
“BizSpark is a fantastic programme for start-ups and entrepreneurs,” said Thea Myhrvold, founder and CEO, teachmenow.com, an online global marketplace that connects students with tutors in one-to-one, real-time learning sessions.
Myhrvold believes that cloud architecture helped her company get off the ground more quickly than it would have if it had been forced to procure an expanse of costly equipment.
The BizSpark programme has empowered over 90,000 startups around the world.
