Shakeel Avadhany and his friends were still students when they invented a shock absorber capable of converting kinetic energy created by bumps in the road into useable electricity.
Armed with a brilliant idea but no links to industry, they turned to a student entrepreneurship network for help and advice.
That network allowed them to get in touch with Admiral William Owens, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and within a couple of years their invention, called GenShock, was being used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The network was the Kairos Society, a global group of student entrepreneurs that has the backing of the White House and business luminaries such as Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft.
This September it will open a chapter in the Emirates.
"From what I see right now the student community is fairly limited in terms of entrepreneurship in the UAE," says Shehmir Shaikh, the president, who got involved with the group while studying at New York University.
"For me, the Kairos Society's mission in the UAE is to inspire a student entrepreneurship movement."
Mr Shaikh is also introducing a group called Moneythink to the Emirates, which teaches high school pupils about financial responsibility and opens their eyes to the opportunities offered by working for themselves.
Youngsters taking part in Moneythink's financial literacy course will be taught how to budget and deal with banks, while those on the entrepreneurship programme will learn how to build a business and pitch a product. Both will be taught by university students.
"I see a sizeable opportunity in the Middle East and Dubai especially. With the financial crisis that hit Dubai, we need to educate people so there is no surprise. Equipping people with the skills is essentially solving the problems of tomorrow," says Mr Shaikh.
The Kairos Society chapter will consist of a founding board, leadership team and advisers from the local entrepreneurship community. Membership will be open only to students.
"We will give them an environment in which they can excel, in which they can develop their businesses further, put them in touch with mentors who are interested in what they are doing, to help them."
Mr Shaikh is seeking businessmen and women to become mentors and has just agreed a collaboration with SeedStartup, an outfit based in Dubai that aims to invest in entrepreneurs and provide coaching, mentoring and contacts.
"I want it to be something that's going to be here for years to come, to develop the student entrepreneurship sector and get individuals to start thinking out of the box," he said.
"And to those who are there and doing it already, because we do have people that are doing it, that's why we're setting up here, for them to come and join us and for the board to know that these people are here and we are solving problems through entrepreneurship, through innovation."
Mr Shaikh, born and raised in Dubai, is optimistic about what the group can achieve, but acknowledges that finding financial backers will be a major challenge.
Insead professor of entrepreneurship Philip Anderson says what makes the Kairos Society special is that it is run by the students, which allows them to learn by doing.
"Kairos fellows have founded dozens of successful companies, so the young Emiratis who join this network and forge close ties with tomorrow's entrepreneurs from around the world will be much more likely to start globally successful enterprises themselves," he says.
"What I particularly appreciate about the Kairos global fellows is that they have a strong commitment toward making society better. They are the kind of young entrepreneurs the UAE needs to nurture as it builds a sustainable future."
Anyone interested in becoming involved should contact Mr Shaikh at shem.shaikh@kairossociety.org
