Sharjah is about to feel like a startup in motion: the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF) returns on January 31 and February 1, 2026 for its largest edition yet at the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park. More than 14,000 founders, investors, creatives and policymakers are expected across two days, with 300+ speakers and 250+ talks, workshops and hands-on sessions spread over 10 purpose-built zones. Organized by Sheraa under the theme “Where We Belong,” SEF 2026 pairs star power—Sebastian Vettel and Khabib Nurmagomedov among headliners—with founder-first pathways, from the SEF Pitch Competition and SEFFY Awards to an exclusive AED 1,000 license package aimed at lowering the barrier to formalize a business fast.
The first thing you notice isn’t the stage lights. It’s the sound of wheels—suitcases, gear cases, someone dragging a foldable display stand that keeps snagging on the pavement. Coffee breath hangs in the air. Lanyards flip like little flags. A volunteer points left, then right, then laughs softly as if to say: Welcome to the happy chaos.
Sharjah is about to host that kind of weekend—the kind where a city feels temporarily rewired. Tomorrow, the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF) 2026 opens its doors for two packed days, January 31 and February 1, at the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park. The numbers are headline-grabbing: 14,000+ attendees, 300+ global and regional speakers, and 250+ talks, workshops and hands-on sessions threaded through 10 purpose-built zones. But on the ground, it doesn’t feel like a spreadsheet. It feels like momentum—human, noisy, slightly nervous, and very alive.
SEF’s theme this year—“Where We Belong”—lands differently when you’re standing in the flow of people. It’s not a slogan printed on a backdrop. It’s a question founders carry like a second phone in their pocket.
Where do you build if you want access to capital and community? Where do you test an idea without being laughed out of the room? Where can a creative brand sit beside a deep-tech prototype and still feel like it’s part of the same story?
Organized by Sheraa (Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center), SEF 2026 frames entrepreneurship as both an economic engine and a shared cultural space—less “networking event,” more “temporary hometown for builders.”
SEF has grown up. What once felt like a startup gathering now reads as a regional platform with global reach. The design choice is clear: don’t trap people in endless panels. Move them—literally and professionally—toward outcomes.
You can sense it in the layout. Ten zones aren’t just areas; they’re different moods of ambition. One corner is all pitch-deck adrenaline. Another is quieter, focused on impact and the slow math of sustainability. Somewhere, a creative founder is debating color palettes like they’re negotiating a term sheet.
And the conversations? They’re fast, unfinished, and honest.
“Is it live?” someone asks, leaning into a phone screen.
“Not yet,” the founder says. A half-second pause. “But it will be.”
Yes, SEF 2026 brings star power—names that make people stop mid-step.
Sebastian Vettel, four-time Formula 1 World Champion, is set to speak about performance, purpose, and decision-making under pressure. In a room full of founders, that’s not metaphor—it’s daily life. You can almost hear the overlap: the split-second choices, the relentless iteration, the quiet discipline behind anything that looks effortless.
Khabib Nurmagomedov, former UFC Lightweight Champion and Hall of Famer, joins the lineup too—synonymous with composure, resilience, and long-term thinking. His presence pulls a different kind of attention: less glamour, more gravity. Founders don’t just want hype; they want habits.
The program also features Amna Al Qubaisi, Emirati racing driver and trailblazer, alongside business leaders like Rachid Mohamed Rachid (Chairman of Alsara Group and Bidayat) and Patrick Chalhoub (Executive Chairman of Chalhoub Group). On the creative entrepreneurship side, voices like Mounaz Abdel Raouf (co-founder of Okhtein) and Anas Bukhash (founder of #ABtalks and Bukhash Brothers) bring the craft of brand-building into the same room as capital strategy.
Across these sessions, the themes are refreshingly human: high-performance mindsets without burnout mythology, brand building that doesn’t feel like costume, purpose-driven growth that survives the first tough quarter.
SEF 2026 is structured around 10 curated zones, developed with partners who anchor each space in a specific slice of the ecosystem. The effect is practical: you don’t just leave inspired—you leave with a to-do list, new contacts, and (if you’re sharp) a meeting booked for next week.
Walk through these zones and you see the festival’s real thesis: entrepreneurship isn’t a single lane. It’s a city grid. And SEF is trying to improve traffic—fewer dead ends, more on-ramps.
In the middle of the buzz, SEF 2026 drops something quietly radical: a new way to formalize a venture without the usual friction. This year introduces an AED 1,000 License under the Startup Kickstarter Package, launched exclusively at SEF. It’s designed to help founders register quickly and affordably—turning “we’re thinking about it” into “we’re incorporated” with fewer obstacles.
This matters because the earliest stage is often the most fragile. Not because founders lack ideas, but because the admin and cost stack up before revenue does. A lower barrier changes the psychology of the first step. It makes momentum easier to keep.
Layered on top are the festival’s flagship pathways:
Together, these elements reinforce SEF’s positioning as a working platform—not a concept conference. The subtext is clear: come as you are, but don’t leave empty-handed.
When the daytime agenda loosens its grip, the festival doesn’t end—it exhales. Evening programming brings live performances and cultural experiences meant to create informal spaces for connection. Among the performers is Saudi singer-songwriter Tamtam, blending Arab and global influences in a way that mirrors the crowd itself.
You see it in small scenes. Two founders share fries at SEF Eats, laptops closed for the first time all day. An investor stands in line like everyone else, no entourage, listening more than talking. Someone says, “Let’s not pitch right now.” Someone else replies, “Good. Tell me what you actually care about.”
Food, performance, and community are not decorative here—they’re part of the infrastructure. Because trust is built as much in the in-between moments as it is on stage.
SEF 2026 arrives at a time when the regional startup ecosystem is both expanding and specializing. Cities compete not only on incentives, but on how well they make founders feel supported—legally, financially, culturally. By scaling SEF to 14,000+ participants and shaping it around zones, tools, and launch pathways, Sharjah is making a statement: this is a place where entrepreneurship is organized, not improvised.
And for anyone building something—something fragile, ambitious, imperfect—that statement can be the difference between staying anonymous and being seen.
For real estate investors, SEF 2026 is more than a marquee event—it’s a demand signal and a location-brand accelerator with tangible implications across hospitality, office, residential, and mixed-use strategies in Sharjah.
Investor takeaway: SEF 2026 strengthens Sharjah’s narrative as an organized innovation hub, not just an adjacent market. Investors looking at Sharjah can prioritize assets aligned with the ecosystem’s needs—serviced living, flexible offices, and mixed-use communities near innovation nodes—where tenancy is supported by both short-term event cycles and longer-term startup formation dynamics.
