Startup Bahrain Visits Saudi Arabia, What Are They Cooking Together?

Several members of the Bahrain Economic Development Board including Pakiza Abdulrahman, John Kilmartin, Simon Galpin, and Abdulmohsen Al-Gosaibi, have paid a visit to Saudi Arabia to promote Bahraini’s growing startup ecosystem, Startup Bahrain, and to exchange knowledge with their peers.

The Bahraini delegation visited the StartUp Lab, a business incubator, backed by Wa’ed, Aramco’s entrepreneurship arm. Launched in 2013 at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, the initiative provides financial offerings and mentorship to young companies in Saudi Arabia. Wa’ed aims to develop entrepreneurs into successful business owners. They also met schlumberger’s innovation center at dhahran techno valley as a successful private company investing in innovation.

The Saudi’s social entrepreneurship initiative, Community Jameel, also hosted the Bahraini representatives. One of the most respected social enterprises in the Arab world has assisted nearly 19,000 Saudi people to find a job during the first half of 2017. Since its launch in 2003, Community Jameel has been actively involved in numerous initiatives to help the disadvantaged people in the fields of healthcare, education and improving their lifestyles.

Startup Bahrain also met one of the main players on the Saudi startup scene — Badir, the technology incubator, and accelerator program. Similar to Bahrain’s initiatives, Badir promotes technological entrepreneurship and aims to create a knowledge-based society.

The Bahraini team did not miss to further introduce CH9, a leading business accelerator in the country. It offers fully equipped startup co-working space. Being together at one place, the young entrepreneurs learn from each other and gain knowledge and leadership skills through collective expertise.

In addition to that, the Bahraini team introduced the Saudi partners to Brinc. Brinc is Hong Kong’s first IoT Center of Excellence and Bahrain’s first IoT Hub. The organization also partnered with Batelco, aiming to empower startups and scale-ups.

The Bahraini team also talked about the activities of the Rowad team to its Saudi partners. The Rowad program, under the Bahrain Development Bank works to grant entrepreneurs access to the local startup ecosystem. It also provides training programs and incubation to support SMEs. One of Rowads programs, Seed Fuel recently gained access to GAN.

C5 Accelerate was also well-presented during the meetings. The international technology investment firm with branches in Washington DC, Bahrain, and London provides seed funding and connectivity to global investors to promising young entrepreneurs.

Both delegations also discussed the recent progress Bahrain made in its regulatory framework to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The Kingdom recently introduced a regulatory sandbox to allow FinTech startups experiment with their products before their official launch.

At the end of the fruitful meetings, the Bahraini delegation invited Saudi Arabia startups to participate in the upcoming Seedstars GCC.

 

Bahrain-based digital platform and publication for startups in the Middle East. Exclusive events, in-depth workshops, insightful content, and informative news. In strategic partnership with Tamkeen Bahrain, Zain Bahrain, National Bank of Bahrain, Zoho, Tenmou, and StartUp Bahrain.

Startup MGZN © 2020. All Rights Reserved.