Thara Connect forum closes in Ajman with five-year targets and policy recommendations

The First Thara Connect Forum concluded at the Thara Entrepreneurship Centre in Ajman, running alongside the launch of the Thara Investment and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. The Ajman Chamber organised the event.

Government leaders, investors, founders, industry experts, representatives of economic institutions and emerging businesses attended. The forum was built as a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange and partnership development, and it argued for an integrated business environment able to move promising ideas into successful ventures and generate sustainable investment opportunities.

Three panel discussions carried the agenda: government support for entrepreneurship, startup investment readiness, and founders' own accounts of setting up and scaling a company. Financing, growth and access to markets — the difficulties and the openings alike — ran through all of them.

The recommendations that emerged were specific. Stronger collaboration among government entities, private sector organisations and investors. Broader incubation and acceleration programmes. Easier routes to financing, customers and local and regional markets. Better investment readiness, built on sustainable business models, corporate governance, operational efficiency and specialised mentorship. And more direct contact between founders and venture capital funds.

Participants pressed for young entrepreneurs, Emirati talent, women and people of determination to be given real room to build. They called for innovation in future-oriented economic sectors, and for partnerships between established companies and startups that turn innovative solutions into commercial and investment opportunities.

Clear performance indicators for entrepreneurship initiatives were another demand. Those indicators, participants said, should measure economic impact, track business growth and sustainability, and assess how far such initiatives contribute to job creation and economic diversification.

Maryam Khalifa Al Nuaimi, chair of the Board of Directors of the Thara Investment and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, said the next step is to build on what the forum produced by strengthening the links between investors and entrepreneurs. Partnerships, she said, are what turn innovative ideas into scalable businesses, and sustainable economic collaborations are what raise Ajman's competitiveness. Thara works through an integrated model of six specialised companies, she added, offering flexible workspaces, startup incubation and acceleration, investment and operational solutions, and community initiatives — support that follows an entrepreneur from business establishment through growth and expansion.

Marwan Hareb Al Aryani, Group Chief Executive Officer at Thara, set out the five-year numbers. At least AED 700 million in cumulative economic value added to Ajman. 3,135 direct jobs. Support for 100 companies establishing, relocating or expanding in the emirate. 600 startups backed through Thara X. More than 220 companies prepared for investment. AED 69 million in external financing attracted by startups. And direct investments in 71 companies.

A startup competition held alongside the forum drew applications from more than 45 emerging companies. Alfredo took the AED 100,000 prize, presented as a cheque in recognition of the business idea and its potential. The format gave founders a route to put their ventures in front of investors and experts.

The substance lies less in any single commitment than in pairing a public platform with measurable targets. Most entrepreneurship gatherings end with recommendations. Attaching job numbers, financing goals and a value-added figure to an institution's own five-year plan gives those recommendations something to be checked against, and hands the call for clearer performance indicators an obvious first test case.

Participants want the engagement kept alive past the event itself, with potential collaborations converted into practical partnerships and actionable initiatives. Thara Connect is positioned as the standing platform linking government entities, investors and entrepreneurs, and the forum forms part of the Ajman Chamber's work to establish the emirate as a destination for investment, innovation and entrepreneurship — and to widen the part startups play in sustainable economic development.