Emirati inventor takes top entrepreneur award

Mohammed Al Otaiba, Editor-in-Chief of The National, presents Ahmed Al Mazroei with his award. Lee Hoagland / The National

ABU DHABI // Inventor and businessman Ahmed Al Mazroei was on Monday presented with The National's top innovator award for entrepreneurship.

Mr Al Mazroei, who has had little formal training, developed problem-solving technology including a falcon-training system that preserves the lives of small birds, and the lightest, most advanced robot camel jockey.

To highlight a critical area in our country’s development, in February we had asked you to nominate your top innovators in the entrepreneurial category by email, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, using the hashtag #UAEinnovators. The feedback we received was overwhelming.

Mr Al Mazroei is chief executive of Ahmed Al Mazroei Metal Industries, which has a factory and R&D centre in Mussaffah with about 100 employees. He received his award yesterday from Mohammed Al Otaiba, Editor-in-Chief of The National.

Mr Al Otaiba said the #UAEinnovators campaign had allowed readers to learn about fascinating businesses with innovation at the heart of their work ethos.

“This is a celebration of the achievements of entrepreneurs and an acknowledgement of the place we live in, where ideas are encouraged, nurtured and turned into real commercial products and services, accordingly adding value to the local economy,” he said.

“Congratulations to all nominees, particularly Ahmed Al Mazroei for being this year’s top innovator in entrepreneurship.”

After receiving the award, Mr Al Mazroei said he was very proud to be recognised and hoped that his inventions could continue to benefit the country.

A string of innovators and their creations have been highlighted in The National’s recent reports. They include the Sharjah graduates who let you wear your memory on your wrist, the group helping you to turn your rubbish into robots, a start-up launching an Uber-like app for empty lorries and Dubai’s version of Google for retail.

Last month, Mr Al Mazroei was also recognised as Entrepreneurial Personality of the Year at the eighth Mohammed bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders in Dubai, at a ceremony this month in the presence of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman of Emirates airline.

He was nominated for the #uaeinnovators entrepreneur award by the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development.