Trusity and Heriot-Watt University Form Partnership to Boost Student Entrepreneurship

Trusity and Heriot-Watt University Forge Strategic Partnership to Nurture Student Entrepreneurship

With entrepreneurship at the heart of future-ready education, Trusity and Heriot-Watt University Dubai have partnered to give students the tools, mentorship, and platforms they need to create ventures that shape tomorrow’s economy.

Through this collaboration, Edinburgh Business School Global Incubator (EBS) at Heriot-Watt University will work closely with Trusity’s incubator, TruNext, to deliver a structured Entrepreneurship Bootcamp that cultivates entrepreneurial thinking, innovation, and real-world problem-solving. The program combines mentorship, hands-on workshops, and practical business challenges, culminating in an on-campus investor pitch event. Promising projects emerging from the bootcamp will have the opportunity to be incubated under TruNext, giving students a clear pathway to turn their ideas into impactful ventures.

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp will be conducted once every academic semester, aligning with the university’s calendar to ensure maximum student participation. Over the course of four weeks, participants will undergo immersive training sessions based on Stanford’s Design Thinking methodology, the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) and Trusity’s curated entrepreneurship and incubator program. The training and engagement will guide them through the stages of ideation, prototyping, business and financial model development, GTM, and ultimately, investor pitch readiness.

The final week of each cohort will culminate in a pitch event, where student and teams will present their startup ideas to a panel of investors, faculty, and industry professionals. This real-world experience will give students the chance to validate their ideas and connect with the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE. What sets this collaboration apart is its commitment to ensuring continuity beyond the classroom. Through TruNext, projects with high potential will be offered structured support, including mentorship, access to networks, and incubation services to help transform viable ideas into impactful startups.

With a student base of over 4,500 learners across disciplines, Heriot-Watt University’s Dubai campus offers fertile ground for entrepreneurial talent. The partnership with Trusity aims to channel this talent into tangible ventures by providing access to mentor and investor networks, strategic connects with industry experts, internship opportunities, exposure to professional environments as well as regional pitch competitions, thereby enhancing visibility and competitiveness of student-led startups. Participants will also receive co-branded certificates of completion, recognizing the skills and competencies developed during the bootcamp, direct pathways to incubation and potential funding through TruNext for select projects. This comprehensive approach ensures that students learn and experience both – theory of entrepreneurship and the process of building, testing, refining and launching a business idea in a supportive environment.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajani Nalla, Founder & CEO of Trusity, emphasized the impact-driven nature of the partnership:

“At Trusity, we believe entrepreneurship is not just about starting businesses, but about building mindsets that embrace creativity, problem-solving, and resilience. Through this collaboration with Heriot-Watt University, we are enabling students to take their ideas beyond the classroom. Aligned with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 and Education 33 strategy, with TruNext supporting promising ventures, we hope to see student-led startups contributing to the innovation and economic growth of the UAE and beyond.”

Professor Dame Heather J. McGregor DBE FRSE, the Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai added:

The Edinburgh Business School Global Incubator is proud to collaborate with Trusity in fostering an entrepreneurial culture that transforms ideas into real-world ventures. This partnership represents our continued commitment to nurturing innovation, leadership, and sustainable enterprise among our students. Through this collaboration, we invite aspiring entrepreneurs, industry partners, and mentors to engage with us in shaping the future of entrepreneurship education and in building ventures that make a lasting impact across the UAE and beyond.”

Dubai has established itself as a global hub for innovation, startups, and entrepreneurship, with government-led initiatives creating a thriving ecosystem for new ventures. Partnerships like the one between Trusity and Heriot-Watt University play a crucial role in sustaining this ecosystem by embedding entrepreneurial skills at the university level. By aligning student projects with real-world challenges and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the program ensures that entrepreneurship is not pursued in isolation but is tied to creating sustainable impact as it also contributes to the broader vision of nurturing a future-ready workforce and positive change-makers.

The inaugural Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is set to launch in the upcoming semester, with registrations opening soon. Both Trusity and Heriot-Watt University envision this as the start of a long-term collaboration that will grow in scope and impact over time. Through the bootcamp and the support of TruNext, the partnership aims to incubate a pipeline of student-led projects, preparing them to launch in the local markets and build for global entrepreneurship opportunities.

Trusity is an accredited skill-tech platform dedicated to developing 21st-century, financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills in children and youth. Its flagship Dubai SME-certified incubator, TruNext, focuses on nurturing entrepreneurial talent by providing incubation, mentorship, and access to networks that enable startups to scale.

The Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University is dedicated to supporting student entrepreneurs by fostering innovation, creativity, and sustainable business development. With a strong focus on experiential learning and industry engagement, the EBS Incubator provides a platform for students to transform ideas into impactful ventures.