‘The New Dawn’ programme was hosted, facilitated, and supported by Bradford University, working in conjunction with National Zakat Foundation. It was geared towards helping refugee entrepreneurs from different countries including Syria, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan, to pitch their business ideas in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event to a panel of judges. It came to be that one of those judges was our own Director of Websquare, Tanveer Qamar.
Many of these refugees were entrepreneurs in their former countries, with most coming from tragic, impoverished, and war-torn countries. They were forced to flee due to ongoing conflict and had entered the UK as refugees. Their businesses and livelihood were completely shattered due to the war conflicts in their countries, and have had to suddenly pack up and leave. Now they are in the UK, they are looking to rebuild a brighter future for themselves through their entrepreneurial ambitions, and have the opportunity to pitch towards the ‘Dragons’, who were given the responsibility of allocating seed funding to the refugee entrepreneurs based upon their pitch and what they were proposing as their business idea.
We got to hear from many entrepreneurs, such as a barber who wanted to open a children’s only hair salon. We heard from some ambitious young ladies that wanted to launch their food truck. We got to hear from a senior tailor who was very successful in his own country and wanted to launch his own drive-out tailoring company, in which he would arrive in his van to fix garments for people on site or have a pickup/takeaway tailoring service. We also got to hear from potential entrepreneurs who wanted to launch their own eCommerce business where they would purchase products from auctions, and then resell them on eBay and Amazon for a markup. There were also Sudanese entrepreneurs who wanted to launch their own juice truck that produced traditional drinks that they had learnt to make from their forefathers. These drinks were flavorful and delicious, while also providing health benefits.
So we got to hear from ten determined entrepreneurs, from all walks of life and depending on their business proposals they were awarded seed funding between £1,000 and £7,000 each, with a total funding amount of £55,000, for them to move forward and springboard their entrepreneurial ambitions.
Tanveer Qamar, Director of Websquare said:
“It was a great pleasure for me to partake in the decision process, and I was greatly inspired by these entrepreneurs, who although they’ve come from a background in which they have experienced so much trauma, tragedy and god-knows what they have gone through to arrive in the UK, yet they are very driven, hardworking, and ambitious. Their past has not eliminated their drive to make something of themselves, to start all over again, and build something from scratch. They are very ambitious and it was quite inspiring to hear their pitches and to be a panelist at Bradford University, and help facilitate the allocation of seed funding.”
All these entrepreneurs have come to the UK in search of a better life and have overcome many tribulations to get to where they are today. We know that they will go on to achieve great things, and will launch a very successful business in the not too distant future. Good luck to all of the entrepreneurs that proposed their business ideas to us, we hope you all the best.
Everyone has different needs to bring their ideas to life. We can get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Websquare is a digital agency that specialises in helping businesses and founders turn their unique ideas into incredible products and services. We’re always happy to answer any questions you might have about creating a new app or website, and you can contact us anytime via info@websquare.co.uk, or why not try our Pricing Calculator.
