The 13-hour flight to Dubai consisted of me sleeping and conversing with the Bangladeshi woman sitting next to me; she was traveling with her daughter to see her family and parents back home. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives within an eight-hour flight from Dubai. The Dubai airport is located in a prime position for people from all across the world to connect, so naturally my flight was filled with people of all nationalities with a myriad of final destinations.
Arriving in Dubai was a bit of a shock due to the heat, but I am slowly beginning to adjust to life in the desert. I arrived during the Eid holiday, so most workers were off and many expats were away on vacation. I spent my days before starting my internship touring the city, visiting museums, and touring the desert and Burj Khalifa.
Some background on the company I am interning for: Endeavor is the leading “high-impact entrepreneurship” movement around the world. Endeavor supports entrepreneurs so that they can build thriving companies that employ thousands of people, generate billions in wages, and inspire countless others as role models. Together, these entrepreneurs hold the key to sustained economic growth in every part of the world. Through a rigorous, multi-step selection process, Endeavor annually screens thousands of entrepreneurs from around the world to identify those with the best talent and potential for impact. Currently, Endeavor is working with nearly 1,800 entrepreneurs, who are leading over 1,100 companies in 33 markets, spanning North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
I started work at Endeavor on June 9th and hit the ground running. I attended a meeting with prospective Endeavor Entrepreneurs and Endeavor mentors, as prominent consultants, bankers, and industry executives provided valuable advice and connections for entrepreneurs at an inflection point in their business. The businesses we work with come from a range of industries including fintech, food and beverage, retail, and logistics, just to name a few.
In addition to attending meetings, I have also gained hard skills. I have been entering cross-border support and investor introduction requests into Salesforce, pouring over excel sheets about mentor skills, and helping compile profiles of all our mentors, board members, and entrepreneurs to showcase on Endeavor UAE’s new web page. I am looking forward to next week’s presentation by the bankers who facilitated Uber’s purchase of Careem, its Middle Eastern rivalry as well hearing from the Local Selection Panel, the final selection board that decides who becomes and Endeavor Entrepreneur.