Is Saudi becoming the Middle Eastern version of Silicon Valley?

Under the patronage of H.R.H Prince Khalid Alfaisal, adviser of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Governor of Makkah region, Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) represented by Wadi Makkah held an event on entrepreneurship, was held in 4-6 of November 2017 and was attended by members of various government organizations and number of officials, experts, and other parties interested in the development of local entrepreneurship

Aramco Entrepreneurship Center “Wa’ed” Participated as an exhibitor in the event in the aim of strengthening startup presence and initiatives in the local economy and to inspire the individual initiatives as well as creativity and to accelerate the promising chances through developing Start-Ups along with SMEs and investing to develop them. The center also aimed to highlight the strategies and programs that sponsor entrepreneur’s ideas and to transfer them to projects and businesses that can be implemented and developed.

On that regard, Khalil Alshafei, CEO of “Wa’ed” Has stated during a panel discussion with other executives about the possible methods to accelerate businesses “it is true that business incubators and accelerators existed not only recently. However, they struggle because of certain issues such as lack of interest from investors and laws that would facilitate the work.

Alshafei concluded his speech by saying “although entrepreneurs faced a lot of obstacles in the past, I can see clearly that with the vision of 2030, there is a real attempt to revive entrepreneurship and there is a great ambition to achieve the Silicon Valley model.

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.