- Effective Date: 20 November 2025
Privacy Policy
- Effective Date: 20 November 2025
Welcome to the mobile application to register for the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (“Event App”), an event hosted and organized by the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (“Sheraa”, “we”, “our”, or “us”).
Thank you for using the Event App. This data privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to help you understand how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and safeguard your personal information in connection with the Event App. We are committed to protecting your privacy and processing personal data in a fair, transparent, and lawful manner, consistent with Federal Decree-Law No. (45) of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (the “PDPL” )..
By using the Event App, disclosing your personal information, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy this Privacy Policy.
Scope and Applicability
This Privacy Policy applies to personal data processed by Sheera as a controller in or from the United Arab Emirates and, where applicable, to personal data of individuals in the UAE processed by us or on our behalf, irrespective of where the processing takes place, as contemplated by the PDPL.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to government data or data held by judicial or security authorities and may not apply to entities in free zones with separate data protection regimes or to categories of data subject to sector-specific legislation (such as certain health or banking data), to the extent those laws prevail.
1. Information We Collect
Information you give us
When you download, register with, or use the Event App, or enter a contest or promotion sponsored by us, we may ask you to provide information:
- By which you may be personally identified,
- That is about you, but individually does not individually identify you.
This information may include:
- Personal (identification and contract details) information, such as contact information: name, email address, telephone number, other contact details, and/or billing information and payment-related details. Further, you may, if you choose to, provide additional information such as a profile picture.
- Records and copies of our communications and interactions (including your inquiries, feedback, and correspondence with us).
- Preferences, responses to surveys, and participation in events or promotions.
- Details of transactions you carry out through the Event App and of the fulfilment of your orders. You may be required to provide financial information before placing an order through the Event App.
- Your search queries on the Event App.
- Sensitive Personal Data only where necessary and lawful (for example, accessibility requirements in events or services, or biometric data where expressly enabled by you and permitted by law).
If you do not want us to collect this information, please refrain from providing such information on the Event App and cease using the Event App immediately. Further, you may opt out at any time by emailing us at help@sheraa.ae. For more information, see Section 5 below entitled “Your Rights”.
Please note that as a user of the Event App, you are responsible for keeping your login information, including your password, confidential. If you believe that your login information or password has been compromised or that someone else has accessed your account, please notify us immediately by contacting us at hello@sheraa.ae.
Information automatically collected:
Each time you visit, access, or use the Event App, we may automatically collect information about you and the device you are using, including but not limited to:
- Usage Details. When you access and use the Event App, we may automatically collect certain details of your access to and use of the Event App, such as traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data, and the resources that you access and use on or through the Event App.
- Device Information. We may collect information about your mobile device and internet connection, such as the device type, unique identifiers, operating system, IP address, browser type, and mobile network information generated by your interaction with the Event App.
- Stored Information and Files. The Event App may also access metadata and other information associated with other files stored on your device. This may include, for example, photographs, audio and video clips, personal contacts, and address book information.
- Location Information. The Event App may collect real-time information about the location of your device when you enable location-based features. With your consent, we may collect and use your precise location data to provide location-based features and services.
- Other Event-Related Information. As the Event App is in relation to your registration for and participation at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (“Event”), we may collect data related to programs you attend at the Event, such as participation in such programs and related details, location, date, and time.
If you do not want us to collect this information, delete it from your device. Further, you may opt out at any time by emailing us at help@sheraa.ae. For more information, see Section 5 below entitled “Your Rights”. Note, however, that opting out of the Event App’s collection of location information will disable its location-based features.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the collected information (including personal data) for specific, clear, and legitimate purposes, including the following:
- Provide you with the Event App, its contents, and to operate, maintain, and enhance the Event App’s functionality and your user experience.
- Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
- Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
- Notify you when Event App updates are available, and of Event-related information, updates, notifications, and important announcements.
- Personalize your experience by showing you relevant Event recommendations and related content.
The usage information we collect helps us to improve the Event App and to deliver a better and more personalized experience by enabling us to:
- Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
- Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize the Event App according to your individual interests.
- Speed up your searches.
- Recognize you when you use the Event App.
The above reasons may not be exhaustive, and we may at any time process your personal information for any other purposes. In such cases, we will notify you as soon as possible of the reason. Updates to this Privacy Policy may constitute such a notification.
3. Legal Bases for Processing
Our processing is based on one or more of the following legal bases recognized under the PDPL:
- Your consent, obtained through a clear, specific, and unambiguous affirmative action. You may withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
- Performance of a contract with you or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.
- Compliance with legal obligations applicable to us.
- Protection of public interest or public health, where applicable and in accordance with law.
- Protection of your vital interests or those of another person.
- Establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
- Employment, social security, or social protection law purposes, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
- Scientific, historical, or statistical purposes, in accordance with applicable law.
Primary purposes for which we process Personal Data include:
- Providing, operating, maintaining, personalizing, and securing the Services.
- Creating and managing accounts, facilitating transactions, and providing customer support.
- Communicating with you about updates, service notices, and administrative information.
- Improving our Services, performing analytics, testing, research, and quality assurance.
- Managing promotions, surveys, and events.
- Complying with legal and regulatory requirements and responding to lawful requests.
- Detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
We will inform you at or before the point of collection where additional purposes apply.
4. Direct Marketing
We may use your contact details for direct marketing and to inform you about products, services, events, or promotions that may be of interest. Where required by law, we will obtain your prior consent through a separate affirmative mechanism. You may opt out of direct marketing at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions in our communications or by contacting us as set out below. If you object to direct marketing, we will cease processing your Personal Data for such purposes.
5. Sharing Your Information
We respect your privacy and only disclose personal information that we collect or that you provide:
- To our affiliates.
- To third-party processors in relation to event management, communication, experience, and notification, including contractors and service providers, where such third parties perform services on our behalf under written contracts specifying processing scope, purpose, duration, security controls, and confidentiality obligations.
- To Business partners in connection with co-branded offerings, events, or promotions where you choose to participate.
- To fulfil the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address to use the “email a friend” or similar feature of the Event App, we will transmit the contents of that email and your email address to the recipients.
- For another lawful purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- To other third parties with your consent or at your direction.
- To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including the Event App EULA, and for billing and collection.
- To third parties in connection with a corporate transaction (e.g., merger, acquisition, restructuring), subject to appropriate safeguards.
- In response to a legal request or when required by law to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our customers, clients, vendors, or other associates. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
The Event App has been developed by a third-party partner (“App Developer”). Accordingly, through the use of the Event App, certain information may be collected by the App Developer in accordance with their privacy policy, which may be viewed at https://www.cvent.com/en/cvent-global-privacy-policy.
The Event App may also contain links to third-party websites, applications, or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy policies.
We may share aggregated information about our users, which does not identify any individual or device, or is otherwise anonymised.
We use analytics tools (including but not limited to Google Analytics) to collect details of how you use the Event App, as well as anonymous data that you enter into our forms. We do this to help us analyse how visitors use the Event App. All the information that is collected is anonymised.
By using the Event App, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
6. Your Rights
Under the data protection rules, you have several rights in respect of your information, which include the right to:
- Access your information processed by us.
- Disable location permissions.
- Withdraw your consent to the processing of your information at any time. (However, consent can only be withdrawn for future processing activities; withdrawal of consent does not have any influence on the lawfulness of past processing activities; and withdrawal may not prevent data being lawfully processed for a different legal purpose.)
- Ask us to make changes to the information we hold about you to make sure that it is accurate and up to date.
- Delete or erase your information (sometimes called the right to be forgotten).
- Stop or restrict our processing of your information.
- Object to our processing of your information.
- ASK US TO TRANSFER YOUR INFORMATION TO ANOTHER CONTROLLER.
If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at help@sheraa.ae. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. We will respond in accordance with applicable law and may decline certain requests where permitted or required by law, including where the request is excessive, affects the rights and freedoms of others, or would undermine security or legal obligations.
You have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you by sending your request in writing to us at help@sheraa.ae.
You can unsubscribe from our emails at any time by clicking on “unsubscribe” at the bottom of the email or writing to us at help@sheraa.ae.
7. Children’s Data
We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from such children without appropriate authorisation. If you believe a child has provided Personal Data to us without required authorisation, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps.
8. Cookies and similar technologies
The technologies we use for automatic information collection may include:
- Mobile Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on your smartphone. It may be possible to refuse to accept mobile cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your smartphone. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Event App.
- Web Beacons. Pages of the Event App and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related app statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain Event App content and verifying system and server integrity).
You can typically remove or reject cookies with your device settings. Many devices are set to accept cookies until you change your settings. If you remove or reject our cookies, it may affect certain features and functionality of the Event App and how the Event App works for you.
9. Cross-Border Transfers and Data Storage
Personal data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the UAE. Where we transfer personal data outside the UAE (for storage or otherwise), we comply with the applicable requirements in this regard imposed by law.
By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer and storage. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal data is treated securely and in accordance with this Data Privacy Policy.
10. Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction, taking into account the nature, scope, context, and purposes of processing, and the risks to individuals. Measures include encryption and pseudonymization where appropriate; access controls; secure development and testing practices; resilience of processing systems; and procedures to restore availability and access to personal data promptly following an incident. We regularly test, assess, and evaluate the effectiveness of our security measures.
The safety and security of your information also depend on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of the Event App, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Event App, like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Event App.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet and mobile platforms is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted through the Event App. We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures we provide.
11. Data Breaches
If we become aware of a breach that is likely to prejudice the privacy, confidentiality, or security of personal data, we will notify the competent authority and affected individuals as required by the DPL, and we will take appropriate remedial steps.
12. How Long We Keep Your Information
We only keep your information for as long as we need it.
If you have registered with the Event App or provided information directly to us by filling in the forms on or through the Event App, we will keep your information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, accounting, or reporting obligations, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. Where retention is no longer necessary, we will securely delete or anonymize Personal Data. If we anonymize data, we may retain and use the anonymized information for legitimate purposes without further notice to you.
We maintain appropriate records of our processing activities as required by law. Where processing is likely to result in a high risk to individuals’ privacy due to new technologies or volume or sensitivity of personal data, we will conduct a personal data protection impact assessment and implement measures to address identified risks.
13. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes via the Event App or by email at the address you provided us through the registration process on the Event App.
By using and continuing to use our Event App, you agree to the terms and practices described in this Privacy Policy, as may be updated from time to time.
We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your privacy.
14. Making a Complaint & Contacting Us
The Event App is operated by Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre, founded by Her Excellency Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi and located at C-Wing, Sharjah Research, Technology, and Innovation Park, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about the way we process your personal information or about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at help@sheraa.ae.
- Data Protection Officer: Mishab PM, IT Support
- Email: it.support@sheraa.ae
- Address: Sheraa offices, 3rd Floor, Wing C, Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (STRIP), Sharjah.
If you are not happy with the way we have handled your complaint or are still concerned about our handling of your personal information, you can complain to the relevant privacy supervisory authority.
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ABOUT SHERAA
The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa) is committed to building a dynamic ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the UAE. Through year-round initiatives, programs, and SEF, Sheraa offers resources, mentorship, and valuable connections to empower the next generation of innovators.