A business school is betting that a big following can be the start of a real company. According to Khaleej Times, Tetr College of Business has announced scholarships worth up to $100,000 for its Graduate Programme in Entrepreneurial Leadership, aimed at established creators, aspiring content producers and people who want to turn a business idea into an actual venture.
Three cities in one year
The one-year master’s program moves students through Shanghai, London and Dubai, with a focus on product development, brand building and international expansion. As Net Influencer‘s Dragomir Stojkov reports, the first cohort starts in March 2027 and applications are open now.
Tetr says the program has academic partnerships with Fudan School of Management and Imperial College London, and that the final credential is co-signed by both. The college also claims ventures built by its students have brought in more than $1 million in revenue and raised over $500,000 in funding.
Creators who don’t call themselves founders
Founder Pratham Mittal pitched the scholarship at people who don’t think of themselves as entrepreneurs yet. “Some of the most interesting businesses of the future will be built by people who may not see themselves as entrepreneurs yet,” he said, as quoted by Net Influencer. “They could be creators who understand their audiences deeply but don’t know how to turn that connection into a business, or entrepreneurs who instinctively spot opportunities others miss. The challenge is turning that instinct into a business.”
Part of a bigger UAE push
The scholarships land in the middle of a wider government-backed effort. Khaleej Times notes that the 1 Billion Followers Summit and the National Media Authority recently launched a $1 million initiative to help 100 content creators set up businesses with funding and mentorship. Net Influencer adds that Creators HQ, the Dubai facility that opened in January 2025, is backed by a roughly $40 million Content Creators Support Fund and offers Golden Visa help, relocation support and company registration.
Khaleej Times sums up the shift as moving the focus from monetizing social media audiences to building businesses that can grow beyond the platforms.
The takeaway
Creators who earn from subscriptions, brand deals or fan platforms already run small businesses, whether they call it that or not. Programs like this one are a sign that schools and governments see the creator economy as a pipeline for founders. For anyone whose income depends on one platform’s rules, learning to build something they fully own is worth a look, scholarship or not.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
