Startup stories sound great. Especially if they are successful ones that changed the industry they stepped into and have an emotional background story. However, not all startups live to tell the tale. Most fail due to various reasons including the lack of proper infrastructure and support that could have catapulted them and turned them into success stories.
As a Multi-Sector Business Incubator / Accelerator ZtartUpNetwork aims to give that much-needed push to such budding ideas and see to it that they don’t die an untimely death.
Getting the Foundation Right
Led by the enigmatic Dr. V Francis John, ZtartUp.com is the first private sector entity to be ratified as a “Multi-Sector Tech Business Incubator/Accelerator” in Dubai. They help emerging startups/entrepreneurs gain access to mentors, training, shared space, professional assistance, capital, and allied admin services that move them onto the fast track to success. It helps in creating employment and buoying the credentials of the UAE. The trades are unlimited as ZtartUp.com pushes for innovation in the realms of technology, trade, services, films, music, arts & sports.
“When you think of the Burj Khalifa, you think of how it reaches the sky – often times we don’t think of the depth of its foundation. As such, I believe if you do not get your foundation right – in terms of team, scalability, and sustainability, no matter how disruptive your ideas are, they are set up to fail if they do not pivot to the market sentiments and apply foresight,” cites Dr. John.
Having been an industry veteran, Dr. John understands the potential of a startup when he sees one. He uses the following guidelines to access them to fund:
- A de rigueur compelling story
- A team par excellence
- A viable scalable model with fit-to-market metrics
- A sustainable business model
- Strong execution skillsets
- Validation from early customers and/or end users
- Impeccable financials
- Alignment with the investor’s strategy
- Be passionate to the core
The Hands-on Leader
Dr. John has come to head ZtartUp.com with over four decades of experience in technology, governance, and policy. Apart from being the CEO of ZtartUp Network, he is also on the Board of Startup Village by mUrgency Business Incubator, Board of mUrgency International, Director of mU Holdings, and Partner in KUBE VC.
He founded Intelligent Beings, an organization that leverages emerging technologies to realize smart industry and ecosystems of innovation and collaboration. As a champion of finding tech-oriented solutions, he believes in helping startups and entrepreneurs to establish and scale up in this fast-changing world, and have achieved so with several of them under his belt. This aligns with his overarching mission to leverage technology to find and bridge disparities. More importantly, after decades of dabbling in various entrepreneurial ventures of his own, the prospect of imparting decades of knowledge and experience aggregation to the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs excites him to be proactive and sometimes hyperactive and that keeps him driven and enthusiastic and more so ….. nimble-footed.
“Leading by example and dirtying my hands on the shopfloor is my mantra. As a leader, incorporating a growth mindset in the organization can provide the encouragement employees need to be innovative and tackle a challenge. Instead of limiting themselves, employees are encouraged to act like entrepreneurs and have the freedom to try and fail until they succeed in their endeavors. ZtartUp.com is the way to go as it comes with a one-window operation for attaining entrepreneurial excellence,” he says.
UAE – The Land of Opportunities
Across the globe, in both developing and developed economies- small businesses play an integral path in driving growth. ZtartUp.com Business Incubator serves as a hub for tech start-ups, actively identifying and providing the value-added services required to support them. ZtartUp.com’s broader mission has been central in the nurturing of startups in the UAE by training, mentoring, and developing them into commercially viable entrepreneurs who add to the number of successful “homegrown” companies originating and developing in Dubai.
“We are facilitating emerging companies to gain access to mentors, training, shared space, professional assistance, capital, and other services that move them onto the fast track to success. By fulfilling this mission, we are contributing to job creation and enhanced economic health in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,” says Dr John.
The UAE has the infrastructure, talent, and fertile ground – all it needs is a sandbox for entrepreneurs and innovators to experiment with their ideas, thoughts, processes, innovations, inventions, services, platforms & applications and that is what ZtartUp.com is.
Embracing Technology
Innovation and problem-solving strategies have always been key components of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs now have access to a wide range of tools, applications, and resources thanks to the development of technology, which can help them grow their companies. Technology influences and facilitates entrepreneurship in various ways, from social media to e-commerce platforms, automation tools to artificial intelligence.
Dr. John and his team leverage the power of technology in business for the benefit of the industry in the following ways:
1. By embracing cloud computing and making the switch to the cloud for the company’s operations is among the best things one can do as an entrepreneur. Cost reductions, enhanced adaptability, and effective data security are a few proven advantages of cloud technology. You may utilize your information and software from any location, collaborate with teammates instantaneously, and speed up procedures by storing them in the cloud.
2. By investing in automation to increase the effectiveness of their business operations and lowering the amount of time and resources needed to perform tasks. It has had a significant impact on their business models. Additionally, automation enables them to expand their operations, boost production, lower expenses and errors, and enhance the caliber of their services.
3. By using social media to build brand awareness has increased their brand awareness by positioning Ztartup as a thought leader and developing a consistent brand voice, engaging with followers, producing helpful material, utilizing influencers, and employing paid advertising. They employed social media to expand the visibility and audience of the company by producing useful content, developing connections with the audience, and running paid advertising.
4. By harnessing the power of data analytics they boosted their marketing campaigns, comprehended the customers better, and made data-driven judgments with the aid of analytical tools. Their marketing plan was optimized, keeping trends and possibilities, and the bottom line increased by reviewing their website traffic, social media interaction, and sales statistics.
5. By embracing mobile technology which is becoming increasingly important for entrepreneurs, with more and more customers using mobile devices to access information, shop, and connect with businesses. By ensuring that their website is mobile-friendly and investing in mobile apps and technology, they reached more customers and improved the UX – user experience.
Facing the Pandemic
At the peak of the pandemic, the world was at a standstill, the tourism industry was devastatingly impacted. Instead of just trying to stay afloat, the travel & tourism verticals of Ztartup.com shifted gears and ramped up its activity by leveraging technology. While there existed an entire ecosystem for travel, the potential it held as an interconnected entity was heretofore untapped.
Ztartup.com ramped up operations to integrate and aggregate these verticals ie. https://visaguy.ae/ (visa issuance), https://zafaari.com/ (ticketing), https://thrillark.com/ (experiences), and https://airportassist.com/ (arrival/departure services) into one cohesive network of cross-pollinated platforms. This allowed a traveler to seamlessly complete his entire journey within this ecosystem. The resounding success of this exercise resulted in a myriad of accomplishments for this ecosystem.
Airport Assist was shortlisted for the ATM Draper-Aladdin Startup Competition 2022 and came in fourth place. They also notched up their airport links to 1200+ globally. Zaafari was shortlisted to pitch at the Arabian Travel Market 2022 in Dubai. Thrillark was listed among the top emerging startups in the Middle East by Best Startup Asia. This mainly came from them streamlining efforts to bolster intrastate tourism and as a result of which they could bring in AED 18 Million+ in revenues.
“What’s more, when their industry counterparts were at wit’s end, the teams were working harder than ever while ramping up their operation. All in all, under the aegis of Ztartup.com, the incubatees saw light when the industry across the globe was plunged into darkness,” shares Dr. John.
GLOBAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARD
GLOBAL CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER OF THE YEAR
SMART INNOVATION AWARD
WORLD BIZ AWARDS
OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARD
GLOBAL LEADERS AWARD
WORLD DIPLOMACY FORUM AWARD
RANKINGS: TOP 10 CEOs OF UAE
TOP 20 ENTREPRENEUR TO LOOK OUT FOR
THE WORLD BUSINESS LEADER
MERIT FINALIST AMCHAM SME AWARDS (UAE)
Plans Ahead
Next on Dr. John’s list for Ztartup is an expansion of operations into India, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. He is also looking forward to Cloud Computing Setting up of Virtual Incubation/Acceleration platform on the cloud where startups and entrepreneurs can be facilitated with pitching to investors, a marketplace of products and services, collaborations and partnerships, licensing and visas, and validation of ideas, thoughts, processes, innovations, and inventions in a seamless format.
Words of Wisdom
In his message to budding entrepreneurs, Dr. John says:
Believing in ‘Yourself and Your Product’ is the number one thing You may find yourself being swayed not to pursue it or convinced that you can’t accomplish it because no one else could, but that should never stop you.
Develop your unique ‘Thought Leadership’ Demonstrating your expertise using content by producing short videos, writing long-form articles on quality websites or even building up your LinkedIn or Substack followers by offering intriguing content is an added advantage in the long run.
Listen More, Talk Less For when you listen to people, you have more context regarding any issue, and it enables you to see that issue from every angle that you need to sound smart and earn respect.
Seek a balance between confidence and humility If you can find that balance between being confident and humble, people will respect you and take you more seriously.
Latch onto a Mentor to guide you Find a mentor who is already a well-established entrepreneur to help you navigate at first.
Quote: “World will always expect many things from you. You will expect many things in return. The key is to manage its expectations of you—and yours of it.”
