Dubai Knowledge Village's unique incubator for small businesses unveils Phase II

The launch event, which took place at Knowledge Village was attended by representatives of international consulates, Business Centre partners and other premier representatives of the business community. It served as a valuable networking event for like-minded professionals in the knowledge sector.

Since its inauguration, the Business Centre has been the springboard for success for over 114 entrepreneurs and with the expansion it hopes to help turn even more business dreams into reality.

The centre provides a stunning state-of-the-art business environment in the heart of Dubai Knowledge Village. It began its operations in October 2003 with around 27 business partners and just 16 months later, due to overwhelming demand, expanded its operations to a second site on the KV premises.

"The KV Business Centre is one of the only incubators dedicated to education start-ups in the world," said Dr Abdulla Al Karam CEO Dubai Knowledge Village. "Companies in the Business Centre demonstrate that you don't have to be large operation to make a contribution to the region's growing education sector. With tools such as the internet, knowledge no longer has a fixed location, allowing many start-ups to provide online training courses from their workstations to professionals across the world. In addition, the Centre's pool of training, HR and research consultants provide an invaluable on-hand support for other segments in the KV community," he added.

Since its opening the Business Centre has helped nine freelancers upgrade their operations to launch their own companies. One of those freelancers is Judith Mary Barton, a professional trainer, who was with the Business Centre from the beginning and moved into Phase II when she launched her company in January 2005.

"When you're new, the Business Centre provides a sense of community and the choice of the sizes of offices you can have, gives you room to grow," said Barton on how the Business Centre supported her. "It's a great networking environment and you meet people with companies that complement yours allowing you to test out ideas, and if you have a big project it's easy to find people with the right skills to help you."

The Centre's elegant modern interior and first-class amenities have also held a great attraction for both members of the Business Centre and their customers.

"The facilities are great and really useful to our operation because we hold monthly workshops for clients where we use the Business Centre's amenities such as computer labs and training rooms," said Ricard Mouton, Managing Director of Market Traders Institute, a training centre dedicated to providing know-how on currency markets. "Clients are always impressed with the amenities we have here and it leaves a good impression."

The Business Centre's licensed activities include training, human resource development, e-Learning and research and development.