A schoolboy, a professor and a designer among winners of Dubai's app championship

Ehsan Adouane started interviewing scientists on YouTube at the age of nine. At 13, he beat thousands of entrants worldwide to win one of Dubai's top tech prizes.

His app, Ettan Ehsan turns homework into a game, breaking school subjects into quick, visual challenges. It took the Best Youth-made App award at this year's Create Apps Championship. "I want to now help students just like me to make homework more fun and more fast-paced and more gamified," he says.

The win brings money and backing. "I really can now make my mark on the market as I have money to further develop this app and support from Dubai government to help me do this."

The competition was fierce. There were 9,754 entries this year, more than the competition's first two editions combined. Launched in 2023 as a local contest, the championship opened to the world in its second year and has now drawn applications from 153 countries. The winners were honoured on 7 October by Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at Emirates Towers Boulevard.

'A very disconnected world'

For almost 20 years, Agnieszka Kocznur designed retail spaces for beauty brands. Then she walked away to back her own idea. "I left my corporate job; I'm completely full-time on Rush, and I really believe we can create an impact on human disconnection," she says.

RUSH, which matches travellers with group trips built around shared interests, won the Most Impactful App award. "This reward matters because we are living in a very disconnected world with technology, but we found a way for technology to bring us together." Her message to anyone hesitating is simple. "I think you have to be courageous, believe in your ideas, and apply, see what happens."

From lecture hall to fintech

Alan Villegas spent years teaching entrepreneurship in Mexico City. Then he decided to put his teaching into practice. He quit academia, and after an earlier fintech venture elsewhere, chose Dubai. "I moved here specifically to do this business because we are in fintech and this is the most active fintech hub in the world probably," he says.

His company, LiaPay, took Most Innovative App. "We are a UAE-based company helping UAE employees access their salaries earlier than payday."

Part of the draw, he says, is a regulator open to new ideas. "The regulator is friendly; they understand or try to understand the innovation."

Built to a deadline

For the team behind Kwelio, the biggest enemy was perfectionism. "All three of us are perfectionists unfortunately and we kind of dwell on the little details so having set deadlines was a godsend," says co-founder and CEO Mohamed Al Rahma.

Then the mentors pushed them further, and they rebuilt the app mid-competition. "The mentors from CreateApps actually told us that it needs to be calmer; it needs to be more of a journaling experience, which is why we actually redid the UI and the UX of the app during the competition," says co-founder and CTO Sumi Mahmud.

The pitch they built is now their template. "I think this is the best pitch that we have ever done, and we use this pitch across every other investor pitch or other competitions."

The top prize, Dubai's App of the Year, went to POP by Kwelio, a medication-adherence app.

Life after the trophy

For past winners, the trophy was just the beginning. Takeem, a winner from the first edition, set out to bring trust to Dubai's rental market. "We won the CreateApps Championships and what it did is what every early-stage startup needs and that's credibility," says co-founder, Rakesh Mavath. "That credibility opened doors to partnerships, to investors."

The numbers since speak for themselves. "We're now over 117,000 units, which is about nine billion dirhams in annual rent that Takeem can protect." The support did not stop at the ceremony. "Whenever we've asked them for anything or opened a door, they've immediately done it," he says, pointing to "the real open-door policy to regulators and government officials".

Last year's App of the Year, Boom, helps delivery drivers find customers and set their own prices. For co-founder Mariam Mohammed Almarri, the win was the turning point. "Before the championship, the application was still a project in its early stages of ideation and prototyping."

This year's finalists and semi-finalists now head straight into a six-month programme with Oraseya Capital, the venture capital arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority, built to get young start-ups ready for investors. For anyone still wondering whether to take the leap, Takeem's advice is blunt. "If you're thinking about getting involved, my advice is just do it."

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