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Fri, Dec 05, 2025 | Jumada al-Thani 15, 1447 | Fajr 05:28 | DXB 
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Inside the mind of a maker: Jigar Sagar
In his role as an investor-judge on The Final Pitch, his mission to mould founders before ventures becomes unmistakably clear
There are people who build companies, and there are people who build the conditions for companies to exist. Jigar Sagar has spent the last 15 years doing both, not as two separate ambitions but as a single, intertwined mission. Today, as an investor-judge on The Final Pitch Dubai, he stands out as one of the region’s most distinctive voices in early-stage entrepreneurship: pragmatic yet idealistic, experienced yet endlessly curious, demanding yet quietly empathetic.
The role fits him because it mirrors who he is. Sagar doesn’t evaluate founders from a pedestal; he speaks to them from the ground he knows intimately, the ground where he scraped, failed, rebuilt, and persisted long after most would have stopped.
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Spend five minutes listening to him and it becomes clear why founders gravitate towards his advice. He is fluent in struggle. He remembers what it felt like when “there were no investors, no certainty, and no safety net… just belief, and the will to build something from nothing.”
That memory is why his first filter for every founder is deceptively simple: Do you know why you’re doing this?
“Very few founders know why they’re running their business,” he says. He considers the “why” not a philosophical exercise but the gravitational force that holds everything together: teams, customers, resilience, and the fortitude needed to withstand the moments that break weaker entrepreneurs.
His scepticism towards imitation is not disdain; it is discipline. “If X exists, why should Y exist?” he challenges, pushing founders towards differentiation rather than duplication. And nothing eliminates a founder faster than hearing, “I’m doing this for money.” For Sagar, that answer signals fragility rather than ambition.
Why he said yes to the show
Sagar didn’t join The Final Pitch for visibility. He joined because the intent aligned with his own philosophy. After eleven seasons in Asia, the show expanded to the Middle East with a mission to empower founders long before they have access. That, for him, was the missing piece in the UAE’s otherwise thriving entrepreneurial landscape.
“Dubai has talent from across the globe and a lot of capital,” he explains, “but what’s missing is the connectivity between founders and investors.” Early-stage founders, he says, often “don’t even know where to begin to raise funds.”
The Final Pitch, he believes, starts to address that. Unlike traditional shows where mentorship is fleeting, he emphasises that this one is ongoing: “We continue to mentor these start-ups… it’s an ongoing process.” He sees his role as sharing the experience of “launching these many businesses, failing these many times”, and distilling the lessons failure taught him. He is equally unfiltered about discipline. When a founder is asked to assemble a governance, layer made up of the cap table, IP, patents, and audited financials, many disappear. “Less for me to worry about,” he says with a shrug. For him, preparedness is a proxy for seriousness.
The purpose behind the push
Sagar launches multiple ventures a year, not out of restlessness, but because creation is his native rhythm. Building is how he thinks, contributes, and learns. Watching founders on The Final Pitch brings him the same pulse he feels when he starts something himself: possibility, uncertainty, and the thrill of shaping something that did not exist yesterday. When he says the show allows him to witness “businesses being born in real time”, it carries a weight beyond the words. It reflects a man who believes that when a founder succeeds, “the collective society wins”. That belief, more than the investments, the exits, or the cameras, is what keeps Sagar in the arena, building not just ventures but the pathways for others to build their own.
Kushmita Bose
As a passionate storyteller and content writer, Kushmita Bose loves weaving narratives that inform, inspire, and entertain. Whether she's unraveling tech revolutions, dissecting industry reports, or bringing a brand’s journey to life, Kushmita thrives on transforming ideas into captivating stories.
When she’s not busy crafting content, you’ll probably find her daydreaming about her next travel adventure.
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