seeqnce
speaking to samer karam, one of the key co - founders seeqnce, he was quick to point out that seeqnce is not an incubator, but an accelerator .
seeqnce, an award - winning internet... - lebanese american university – alumni | facebook
difficulties meant that activity through seeqnce gradually decreased and eventually, samer karam started up ‘alice’ – a virtual accelerator .
seeqnce based: in beirut, lebanon. launched: july, 2011, by samer karam, co - founder at think green. model: web and mobile startups can apply to receive mentorship from seeqnce, which provides incubation from the idea stage to the growth stage. seeqnce also offers co - working spaces for tech entrepreneurs generally. alumni you may know: monaqasat, cuevox
more than 150 aspiring entrepreneurs have made it to the 2012 seeqnce accelerator program (sqp2012) shortlist, after successfully passing the one - on - one interview round and moving on to group working sessions and team - building events, known as the seeqnce shuffles .
seeqnce is a highly acclaimed internet startup accelerator based out of beirut, lebanon. ranked in the top 5 accelerators of the mena region, seeqnce has successfully advised & accelerated over 20 startups in 24 months, establishing a 25, 000 - strong community across 6 continents .
seeqnce accelerator program 2012 might have spent a lot of time doing outreach, but this brought them strong candidates who developed several great projects .
seeqnce is a highly acclaimed internet startup accelerator based out of beirut, lebanon. recently ranked in the top 10 accelerators of the mena region, seeqnce has successfully advised & accelerated over 20 startups over the course of 18 months, establishing a community of over 3000 entrepreneurs along the way .
“seeqnce took cinemoz from idea to concept to funding to team to product in less than 9 months. now that’s what i call acceleration! ”
prior to founding startup megaphone, karam founded seeqnce, which started off as a founder collective providing advisory events and organizational workshops. however, due to its immense success, in 2012 seeqnce opened its accelerator programme and is now the advisor to the central bank of lebanon’s $ 400m sovereign startup fund .
the seeqnce mixers are highly - energetic applicant - only parties that allow them to network and interact with one another, thereby helping them find their ideal team - members and cofounders. completing one’s team is an essential step before the seeqnce challenges begin as the future entrepreneurs race for the final 8 spots .
each of the 150 will participate in the seeqnce shuffles and mixers throughout the month of july, to develop entrepreneurial skills that lie beyond their own curiosity .
but seeqnce succeeded in creating 8 startups that will capitalize on ideas that have been kicking around the startup scene in lebanon for awhile. and they generated energy that surpassed the geek population; young sparkly party - goers continued to trickle in, teetering in heels up to the front seeqnce door after the final pitch ended .
along with our scs is the seeqnce lounge. our unique lounge allows people to bring their own food, relax, and rub shoulders with seasoned seeqnce professionals. this grants the innovative person the ability to work and avoid over priced coffee shops or unhealthy fast food restaurants, and a chance to mingle with people of the same caliber .
even though seeqnce discontinued its offline acceleration program, it continues to lead many startup ecosystem initiatives including an online acceleration program, and advising corporations and governments on early stage investment .
in the first year (2012) of the seeqnce accelerator, 8 companies were accepted to the six month programme, and 3 companies went on to get further investment, 37% success rate .
seeqnce has a number of options for the use of its space. the seeqnce league, an exclusive application - based membership for hackers, geeks, inventors, and technologists, provides monday - friday access to the seeqnce community space from 6 pm to 10: 30 pm for only 20 usd / month. web & mobile entrepreneurs, startups, et al can become seeqnce residents for 525 usd / month (discounts available for three and six months paid in advance), getting monday - friday access to the seeqnce accelerator space and ideation chamber from 8 am to 10: 30 pm and saturdays from 8 am to 2: 30 pm. daily walk - in coworkers pay 20 usd / day, 90 usd / week (paid in advance, otherwise the rate is 100 usd / week), 152 usd / 2 weeks (paid in advance, otherwise the rate is 180 usd / 2 weeks), and get access to the seeqnce community space monday - friday from 8 am to 10: 30 pm and saturday from 8 am to 2: 30 pm (discounts apply for saturdays). all forms for applying to residency, daily coworking, or the league can be found at urltoken
join us to hear the stories of people from seeqnce who started companies, the mistakes they made and what they learned. find out how successful startups do it. discover what it takes to win .
according to fadi bizri, a seeqnce founding member and program director, “with the current roster of applicants, sqp2012 is shaping up to be the largest web and mobile accelerator program in the region. ”
the excitement in the colourful offices of seeqnce, a business incubator in beirut, is palpable. in one room disembodied entrepreneurs pitch their ideas over skype to a three - judge panel. in another fadi bizri, one of seeqnce’s founders, scrawls business plans on a wipeable desk. so far mr bizri and his colleagues have considered 433 applications in their hunt for eight winning teams that will spend six months in the incubator creating internet and mobile companies .
livingsocial' s recent exit made for good small talk, but hardly daunted budding web entrepreneurs in lebanon this past saturday night, as a crowd of over 300 gathered on the seeqnce rooftop to watch the finale of its 2012 accelerator program .
last week we invited antoine abou - samra, the founder of app & above; , to seeqnce space. he told us more about his company, including its business culture, the company’s purpose of existence as well as its business model .
seeqnce is a game - changing startup accelerator space in hamra. it takes internet startups from idea to team to funding to product to growth. all of it in record time before your competitors catch up. that’s what startup acceleration is all about .
seeqnce is a premier startup accelerator for the arab world. located in the heart of beirut, in the hamra neighborhood, seeqnce aims to help develop the knowledge economy in lebanon. our dynamic and interactive seeqnce community space (scs) allows for a broad spectrum of students, inventors, tech geeks, free lancers, professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the mena region to collaborate and exchange new ideas and information. we are the first in lebanon to have a space for coworking and hacking. the scs gives people the opportunity to work in a clean and safe shared environment, giving them space to develop their creative ventures. it also allows for a number of high profile workshops and events to take place weekly. our scs is also used for high profile events that have discussed important platforms such as ruby on rails .
the month of june was dedicated to having one - on - one interview sessions with each entrant, in order to shortlist over 150 high - potential developers, designers, and business persons. seeqnce believes it has selected excellent candidates, the best of whom will go on to create eight successful startups .
an accelerator is like any startup; it requires the right timing, team management, funding, cashflow, and an understanding of the competition. but sometimes, even though they offer a great service, things just don’t align. this was the case with accelerators seeqnce accelerator program 2012, meydan, and tahrir 2 .
these final 8 teams succeeded through sheer tenacity and being strong - willed. what we put them through was intense ,
says fadi bizri, co - founder at seeqnce, describing the first session of one - on - one interviews, the series of random team shuffles and 5 - hour projects they had to complete .
they all have good potential, and cover a wide variety of themes ,
says bizri .
we' ve worked hard to bring them to an investor - ready level .
he says seeqnce itself injected $ 76, 000 into each startup, a number we can only assume is part in - kind mentorship donation .
during a healthy delay, we browsed booths where the 8 startups were set up, showcasing their products with flat screen tvs arrayed along the seeqnce roof. many of them had just finalized their ideas in the last few weeks if not days, having just completed a rigorous 48 hour hackathon as the capstone to a summer of project development .
if you were going to choose an interesting place to run an accelerator program for startups, beirut would probably be one place you’d pick. i recently travelled to the city to meet with seeqnce, a unique project which hopes to woo the lebanese diaspora – spread throughout the world after beirut’s notorious war - filled history – to a newly peaceful lebanon .
seeqnce is part of another arab spring. incubators are trying to do for cairo (flat6labs) and jordan (oasis500) what seeqnce is doing for beirut. private - equity firms such as abraaj capital and citadel capital are investing in high - growth companies. arabnet helps techies to network. new ventures are popping up everywhere. cinemoz, in beirut, allows access to the arab world’s biggest online library of films and soap operas. diwanee, in dubai, provides online articles in arabic for women. ekshef links patients with doctors in egypt. linda rottenberg of endeavor, a networking group for entrepreneurs, says the arab world resembles latin america a few years ago when it comes to start - ups .
the new seeqnce programme invests $ 75, 000 for 30% equity with 10% buyback option based on performance. follow on rounds have the right of first refusal. the large amount of equity is structured on the basis that they are skipping a round based on the fact they are going through series a. but “we are not adamant that it will always work this way, ” says karam .
the seeqnce accelerator program, recently ranked in the top 10 accelerators of the mena region, brings together promising individuals or teams from the business, design, and engineering fields, who want to create the next big startup. collaboration between entrepreneurs and skilled individuals – even those coming from completely different industries – can help create the new spin ideas and talent need to grow into a healthy, young business .
this summer it plans to create 8 new startups drawn from lebanon and the rest of the arab world. each startup will get investment, mentoring and offices. so far they’ve had over 275 applicants from 17 countries apply for the program which starts in september and ends in march 2013. located in the the cool hamra district of beirut, in an office that was converted from a derelict apartment, seeqnce plans to accelerate beirut’s startup scene .
at the beginning, seeqnce accelerator program 2012' s startups were spending two hours a week with each of their two mentors, but soon, the founders ended up spending all of their time helping the startups. “this was beneficial, ” says bizri, “but then we noticed we were spending most of our time with the startups that were progressing the least. if this startup is underperforming, you realize you shouldn’t be putting more time into it. ”
seeqnce was, in typical fashion, hyping every element of its team and event, but its bravado generated an optimism that was needed in an ecosystem gaining confidence. they launched the accelerator program with a great deal of fanfare, and here was their moment to deliver. they did - the ideas presented were not revolutionary, but several showed promise. it was, as one vc pointed out, a similar caliber to those at oasis500, a much larger accelerator in jordan .
once launched, the accelerator quickly made a reputation for being intense, even by typical accelerator standards, with entrepreneurs staying in the office late at night, and the organization team being really engaged. “we had to succeed, ” says bizri, “because it was a first time, and we [ the accelerator and the startups ] had to raise money. ” seeqnce accelerator program 2012 invested $ 76, 000 usd (half in cash, half in services) in each startup .
the four managers agree: it is difficult for startups to raise money, so accelerators need to engage investors from day one. kaddoura explains that you need to arrange funding deals with partners from the beginning. and seeqnce accelerator program 2012' s el meouchi adds that you need to let the investors know how the startups are doing so that when the startups are looking for money, investors already know and trust them. the challenge, he says, is that you don’t want to saturate investors or bore them with updates .
back in 2011, in lebanon, building a team was a huge challenge. so seeqnce accelerator program 2012 decided to integrate team building in their process in order to get teams that would work well together and have all of the necessary skills (development, design, and business development). they gathered the candidates a few times to do mini - hackathons, giving different groups three hours to work on project. this way, candidates had the chance to size each other up and choose with whom they would work best. “back then, i don’t think there was any other way, ” says the entrepreneur .
2) be transparent: vcs can be more transparent in simply explaining what they are looking for. by putting out sample term sheets, similar to what fred wilson of union square ventures posts on his blog, companies will get a sense of what they are signing up for. similarly, vcs can include templates for the types of presentations and information they are looking for in pitches along with sample financial models. “they also need to talk about the investments they have made and how they are doing, ” comments samer karam of seeqnce, one of the few accelerators in lebanon. by being more transparent about their requirements and their performance, both vcs and entrepreneurs can save a lot of time .
the first pre - accelerator to step forward was altcity. (seeqnce closed its accelerator after graduating its first class). the central bank hopes this dual approach will seed the ecosystem with growing companies that can boost the national economy. “we think in the coming two years the circular can generate 1% economic growth and create thousands of jobs indirectly and directly, ” predicts marianne hoayek, the executive director of the central bank’s executive office, and the lead of the circular 331 initiative. since fully getting off the ground last year, the circular 331 has directly benefitted and funded 4 - 5 companies already [ 4 ]. in order to meet their mandates, banks need to deploy between $ 30 - $ 50m a year into startups: so we can expect to see more and more investments ramping up in the coming months .
as more and more startups pop up on the scene today, this rational thinking echoes across lebanon’s startup ecosystem. you see bankers, consultants, engineers, alike, somewhat gloriously quitting their jobs to try their hands at entrepreneurship and the chance to create the next facebook. ten years ago, however, very few lebanese were starting high - risk, fail - fast, profits - after - 5 - years companies like their present - day entrepreneur counterparts. “we didn’t have this culture of entrepreneurship, ” reflects samer karam, founder of startup megaphone and seeqnce, lebanon’s first accelerator [ 1 ]. whatever flickers of activity existed were not cohesive, and thus could not build momentum. samer recognised this lack of support for funding, advisory, training, etc, firsthand when he started one box, his first tech company similar to the concept of google wave, in 2007. after closing the company a few years later, samer decides to coax the entrepreneurial community out of isolation and rents out an apartment in downtown beirut .
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as my flight out of beirut reached cruising altitude, and the seat buckle lights flickered off, i leant back in my chair and wondered if i had, in fact left the country just in time. admittedly, it wasn’t quite an ‘argo - esue’ escape from another middle eastern country, but labelling a controversial government minister on a conference stage as an “idiot” maybe wasn’t the wisest of moves. beirut is not a town known for its placid history, after all. furthermore, my comment had made the front page of the beirut daily star the next day. perhaps it was just as well that i left the next day .
but the trip was worth it. beirut is rapidly shaping up to be a powerhouse for startups in the middle east. it has many of the key elements: a highly entrepreneurial culture; incubators and accelerators; venture capital; some gradually favourable government policy and access to growth funding. the exits and the ‘paypal mafias’ may be a ways off but its a beginning. in part because it is the most liberal state in the mena (middle east and north africa) region, and has a western - style banking system bequeathed to it by the french a long time ago, lebanon is uniquely poised to generate startups which aim both at the arab world and the wider world at large .
last week a new $ 71 million mena - focused vc fund was announced by leap ventures, based out of beirut. and the lebanon central bank “ circular 331 ” initiative promises to put up to $ 400 million into the local startup economy. in addition, this year, the uk government is supporting a scheme to bring lebanese startups to the uk and to the attention of london - based investors. furthermore, late last year the country saw the launch of its very own disrupt - style startup - focused conference .
banque du liban accelerate wasn’t the first conference about technology in lebanon, but it was the first to focus exclusively on startups, and specifically, the beirut tech startup ecosystem. it therefore benefitted from that far more laser - like focus, and even managed to attract over 50 international speakers from over 20 countries and 1, 000 attendees (video of the event here). given that a civil war in syria is raging on the border, this was no mean feat. some parts of beirut are awash with syrian refugees, and yet delegates were treated to a startup conference close to any other they might encounter in the us or europe .
one of the attractions of the tech scene in beirut is the city itself. the city’s restaurants, bars and nightclubs, equal anything you might find in san francisco, new york or london. the safe areas of beirut are well documented and patrolled by armed soldiers. personally, i have never felt in danger in beirut .
the conference was also a leap of faith. banque du liban governor riad salameh green - lit the sizeable event, while director marianne hoayek put the project into gear. she in turn brought in samer karam (pictured above), who was previously involved in beirut’s first attempt to create a valley - style accelerator .
the conference was also attended by some heavy hitters from the financial and political world including marianne hoayek, director of the executive office at banque du liban, riad salameh, governor of the central bank of lebanon, francois bassil, chairman of the association of banks in lebanon, mohamed choucair, chairman of the federation of the chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture in lebanon, and tom fletcher, ambassador of the united kingdom in lebanon .
but one heavy hitter that didn’t attend was abdel menhem youssef. and perhaps it’s best that he stayed away. let me explain .
unfortunately, it’s his policies which stand in the way of beirut motoring ahead .
the current average internet speed in lebanon is 3. 11 mbps, far lower than the gulf countries such as the united arab emirates, which enjoys an average 27. 9 mbps .
it’s been estimated that doubling lebanon’s bandwidth could improve gdp by 0. 6 percent. that’s a healthy amount for an emerging market economy which currently has a war on its doorstep and a refugee crisis .
to improve the speed, in 2011 the country was connected to the india - middle east - western europe (imewe) maritime cable. but while an improvement was felt. , lebanon still sits at 177th out of 200 countries on the ookla list for internet speed .
the reasons for this are simple. it’s entirely due to local politics. youssef, the head of the public - private organisation (ogero, set up by the late rafik hariri) has blocked the utilisation and distribution of the imewe and other cables that have been hooked up .
as of today, less than 10% of the available capacity of the already operational internet cables is made available to the market. it’s scandal which ought to have those at the highest levels of government fuming with anger .
even former telecommunications minister nicolas sehnaoui (pictured above) estimates it would take only a year to organise fibre to the home to every lebanese citizen. if they could just connect up the imewe .
the finger has therefore been pointed at ogero, run by youssef. the company is responsible for distributing the boosted internet capacity enjoyed from the imewe to different internet service providers as well as building the network. it also sells internet access direct to consumers. but, in a bizarre twist, ogero’s chairman is not only the state regulator of the telecommunication industry, but also in charge of ogero itself .
so the body charged with widen gin broadband internet, is directly hindering the development of lebanon’s internet economy and ultimately the development of the country .
indeed, marwan kheireddine, the chairman and general manager of al - mawarid bank, has been quoted as saying that there is a conflict of interest within the telecommunications ministry, given that the general director is also the chairman of ogero. “that doesn’t work. it is designed to fail, ” he recently told the beirut daily star .
certainly the implication is that youssef is either incompetent (hence my ‘idiot’ remark) or worse .
all this, despite a law drafted in 2001 which recommended that lebanon fully privatize its telecoms industry .
but this never happened. it never happened because the government at the time completely destroyed the telecom infrastructure in the hope of privatising it cheaply to cronies, and then reaping the benefits a couple of years down the line. for example, dsl deployment in lebanon was actively stalled until 2006 in the hope that this privatisation would occur. this would partly explain why ogero behaves in the way it does .
the current uk ambassador to lebanon (pictured above) and former private secretary for foreign affairs to the prime minister, tom fletcher, is powering a new initiative – a uk lebanon “tech hub” would be formed to bridge the startup communities between lebanon and the uk .
the private sector initiative begins this year, with the support of lebanon’s central bank. as the ambassador says, the idea is to bring “british expertise and investment and connect them with lebanon startups. ”
but time is a - wasting. lebanese startups need access to regional and international markets, as their success depended largely on their ability to sell products and services abroad. in that respect their fate matches many other smaller middle eastern countries. on lebanon’s side however is it’s relatively liberal culture, it’s multi - language society and its reputation as a cultural engine of the middle east .
so far three venture capital firms have established funds that have raised decent amounts of money. middle east venture partners (mevp), berytech fund and leap ventures have each raised at least $ 50 million .
mevp has $ 75 million in capital and is growing. so far it’s invested mainly in lebanon - based startups, but also in jordan, saudi arabia, the emirates and egypt. one of the first vc firm across the arab world, it’s been investing since 2010, putting between $ 200, 000 up to $ 5m per startup. in addition, wamda capital (recently spun out of a company best known as a media site, wamda platform) has also built a $ 55m fund. a newer player is y venture partners (yvp), a new, early stage investment and advisory firm created by brothers abdallah and ghaith yafi, who founded lebanese ecommerce site scoopcity as well as canadian ecommerce site thevolts .
henri asseily (above), managing partner at leap ventures, a growth fund, is amongst the biggest supporters of the lebanon tech scene and a former founder of shopzilla which was sold for $ 500m. (he also happens to be a cousin of alexander asseily the co - founder of jawbone) .
and these investors have been boosted by circular no. 331. this announcement was issued by lebaon’s central bank in august 2013, and it encourages commercial banks to invest in startups. the central bank now guarantees up to 75 percent of the value of a commercial bank’s investments into a startup. that move opened up a potential of $ 400 million that could be invested into venture capital funds or directly into startups. over 15 lebanese banks have already taken part in the scheme .
one of the first startups to benefit from this scheme is presella, founded by walid singer and louay al kadri, which is aiming to become the “eventbrite for the middle east”. presella has so far raised in the region of $ 400, 000 and expanded out of lebanon into dubai, and is rapidly growing its user - based across the middle east .
angel investors are thin on the ground, but are gradually being herded by beirut angels (an initiative by samer karam and ex - telecoms minister nicolas sehnaoui) .
in addition there are two large organisations of the considerable lebanese diaspora in the us who are starting to impact the eco - system. there is lebnet (based in the bay area). and then there daher capital, a lebanon - based family office that only invests in the us market and has had a few successful exits and ipos. there’s also lisa (the brainchild of mark haidar) and thelist (lebanese entrepreneurs and investors network). other players include hala fadel, chair of the mit ef arab, also angel investor; fadi ghandour, founder of aramex and chair of wamda capital, also angel investor .
on the debt side, lebanon is home to more than 50 retail banks with $ 140 billion us (three times its gdp) in deposits. the reputation of beirut being the switzerland of the middle east is well - earned. these banks are fueling debt financing to tech companies through a subsidised government loan program named kafalat – a very innovative public sector initiative. circular 331 has of course taken that up a notch by encouraging venture financing .
as well as being spaced around the city, beirut’s tech clusters include the “beirut digital district”. this is not state sponsored, but rather is afforded benefits like cheaper internet connectivity, and some favourable legislation around company formation. unfortunately, most of these are not operational as the politicians that supported the creation of the bdd are now no longer in power. in addition the rental prices remain too high for the average startup .
but office space is far cheaper in beirut than in dubai, where sales, marketing and business development offices are often put .
lebanon has one of the best educational sectors (and engineers) in the arab world. beirut has more than 18 universities / tech campuses. it places like this which are fuelling the rise of the startup ecosystem .
lebanon is also producing a number of successful entrepreneurs. force of nature entrepreneur hind hobeika (pictured above) created the instabeat health tracking hardware and app for swimmers which was a smash hit on kickstarter. elie habib is the founder of anghami — the first to start a music streaming platform in the mena region which now has over 11 million users. paul salameh created pou, a game making millions on the app store .
ayah bdeir (pictured above) founded littlebits, an award - winning library of electronics dubbed “legos for the ipad generation. ” karim safiedine founded cinemoz, which is aiming to become the hulu for the middle east .
and lebanon is also sending entrepreneurs to the valley. elie khoury founded woopra, but has since relocated to san francisco. as has paul saber who founded etobb, a q & a platform to allow doctors to meet patients virtually in the mena region. then there is roadie, the automatic guitar tuner and app featured on stage at techcrunch disrupt new york last year, and created by bassam jalgha and hassane slaibi .
beirut is also producing new startups at a lively rate. these include ki an enterprise mobile app that eliminates the need for usernames and passwords. zoomaal is also quickly becoming the arab region’s main - kickstarter - style startup. sohati, a content website and interaction platform providing health information and services to patients across the arab world
feedeed, a marketplace for services that give talented people the opportunity to transform their skills & services into a viable business. and saily a second - hand local marketplace. there is even an app for real - time traffic conditions, not unlike waze, called tari’ak .
the wider ecosystem is also buzzing with accelerators and events. these include co - working 961 (co - working); startup bootcamp (pre - accelerator bootcamp); startup megaphone (international promoter of lebanon startups); sett (a think tank based out of beirut that is working on a 20 year plan for lebanon’s startup ecosystem); speed lebanon (a community accelerator); lfe (ngo); and arabnet (a large regional digital and tech conference) .
there’s also the bader young entrepreneurs program run by fadi bizri (pictured above). and altcity, the co - working and startup hub started by david munir nabti has also made waves as an enthusiastic supporter of the scene .
lebanon is also host to many startup events. these include berytech’s yallastartup weekend; bader’s networking 961 event; and the mixnmentor events put on by wamda platform, which also has an accelerator, combined with consulting and research arms). the mit enterprise forum also organises a huge event for their award ceremony .
so the building blocks are all there. beirut is using its culture of freedom, its diversity, its low - cost high fun living standards and its location to its advantage in the arab region .
hopefully its politicians will begin to realise that its emerging internet startups need and require decent internet access. (and, that i’ll sail through immigration next time) .
note: items marked with (*) link to content on our global website .
one of mena’s top priorities in the coming years is job creation for a youthful population whose size and energy could either catapult economic activity at home, or be lost to better opportunities abroad .
while capitalizing on the potential talent of the youth generation is no small task, it may prove an essential move for countries in mena if they are to retain said talent for the benefit of the economy. according to the world economic forum, 75 million jobs must be created by 2020—but how can the region, in just nine years, create 40 per cent more jobs than are currently ?
the middle east and north africa (mena) has one of the world’s youngest workforces, with more than half of its population under 25. this situation poses both enormous opportunities and challenges; a large, motivated generation of young working people can propel grown and prosperity for entire countries, as was seen in the west post - world war ii and is currently happening in china. the challenge comes in providing enough jobs and opportunities to keep the youth engaged and, most importantly, to prevent loss of talent due to emigration. experts from the world economic forum, young global leaders, and booz & company say that one way to tackle this seemingly mammoth task is by nurturing start - ups. these experts have outlined concrete recommendations to accelerate entrepreneurship within the region: 10 imperatives (detailed below) that all stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can follow .
“we believe that the key to accelerating job creation will be fostering a business environment in which entrepreneurs can easily start new companies, spread innovation and spur economic activity in general, ” said joe saddi, chairman of the board of booz & company. “to do so, policymakers and business leaders must first identify what motivates people to start businesses; they must understand the elements of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem, and which of those elements are lacking or immature in the mena region. ”
saddi continues to say that those elements which could be lacking include entrepreneurial culture, regulatory framework, infrastructure, equity investors, financing for small and medium - sized enterprises and formal education about entrepreneurship. an entrepreneur, within this article, is a person or company who starts or owns a new business .
“there are myriad benefits to fostering a start - up friendly environment, ” said habib haddad, ceo wamda. “not only do start - ups employ their owners, but the spillover benefits for the larger economy can be significant. as start - ups mature into small and medium - sized enterprises (smes), they become significant contributors to employment and gross domestic product (gdp). ”
an initial glance at entrepreneurial activity in mena suggests that it is robust; arab countries average out at 13 per cent of the region’s working population engaged in entrepreneurial activity, which is considerably higher than (more than doubly so in some cases) the usa (8 per cent), uk (6 per cent) or japan (3 per cent) .
however, the statistics are deceptive; such high percentages are driven by necessity as low - end merchants seek to satisfy their basic needs. this type of entrepreneur deserves government support, but governments must focus their efforts on those high - value entrepreneurs who are truly innovative, or who are able to recognise and seize an opportunity in the market. this type of startup activity has positive spillover on job growth and economy development, and is worth encouraging; indeed, some governments have established targeted initiatives (qatar’s science and technology park, oman’s sanad programme and tunisia’s centre des jeunes dirigeants d’enterprise) to do just that .
“governments in the region must start thinking creatively and active decisively about spurring job creation, ” said soraya salti, senior vice - president, middle east and north africa, injaz. “encouraging entrepreneurship is one way to go—start - ups attract bright, innovative young people, whose determination for success drives economic activity, creates jobs and opens up new opportunities for others. ”
there are 10 imperatives that all stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including but not limited to governments, ngos, companies and entrepreneurs themselves, should follow to influence and improve the overall atmosphere and create an entrepreneurial culture .
offer a helping hand. established entrepreneurs should give time, advice and seed funding to aspiring entrepreneurs
. a successful predecessor is often the biggest source of inspiration to the next generation of business owners. established entrepreneurs can become involved in a number of ways, including counselling and collaborating with ngos to create conferences and programmes that aspiring entrepreneurs can benefit from. to encourage start - ups, linda rottenberg and peter kellner established endeavour, a non - profit organisation, in 1997, which is active in more than 10 emerging countries with further plans to expand in the coming years .
change behaviours and evolve the culture. discuss entrepreneurship every day, and generate hype around a handful of success stories
. public figures have the power to promote and even glamourize entrepreneurship, and can use their status to alter popular opinion about the value of launching a start - up. this is especially important in the middle east, where it is more acceptable to maintain a steady government job than to venture into entrepreneurism. those who might be reluctant to explore this path can be persuaded if they are made aware of the benefits to both individual and country that come with being an entrepreneur. the private sector should also play a part by becoming more public in its activities; ngos should invite the media to conferences and forums, and individuals should grant more interviews to further broadcast their successes .
bring entrepreneurship to the classroom. everyone in high school and university should learn entrepreneurial principles
. ministries of education across mena should collaborate with the arab league educational, cultural and scientific organisation (alesco) in a regional joint effort to promote curricula that include entrepreneurship. educating teachers is the first step, so that they are able to pass on their knowledge to their students and encourage the idea of entrepreneurship at an early stage. universities can then create more specific goals to provide students with the desire, skills and knowledge to start a company. for example, they can establish degrees and courses in entrepreneurship that cover the subjects core to creating a successful business (such as business planning and risk management), with coursework consisting of specialised seminars in which students create business plans to be presented to angel investors or venture capitalists. beyond the classroom, universities can offer support to entrepreneur clubs .
bring entrepreneurship to the office. companies should encourage employees to unleash their own talent
. corporate entrepreneurship must ultimately rely on the individual employees for entrepreneurial inspiration, but corporations can help unlock that potential. companies can tap into this by creating an internal process to assess and fund entrepreneurial ideas generated by employees, as well as offering time to work on them—either during the day or as paid leave, with the offer of further support once the start - up is created. saudi aramco, for example, has set up an entrepreneurship centre to provide networking, regulatory facilitation, funding, mentoring and education to saudi start - ups .
. while the norm is to emulate the success that silicon valley has become, governments, ngos and private groups should realise that the inspiration - spawning hub evolved from a series of intertwining factors—and a healthy dose of luck—that cannot be recreated. instead, members of the entrepreneurship ecosystem should focus on the mena - specific advantages, which may not lie in it but in natural resources (oil and gas, fruits, vegetables, water or fish), strategic position (such as a hub between trade regions, point of access from one region to another, or proximity to a religious or tourist attraction), climate (which could support the cultivation of specific plants, such as coffee or mangos, or be good for tourist activities, such as surfing, snorkelling and diving) or human resources (such as date farming expertise in saudi arabia and hospitality training in egypt) .
. immigration and naturalisation laws hinder the free flow of talent and expertise into the region, which puts local entrepreneurs at a disadvantage and discourages foreign entrepreneurs from setting up shop. streamlined immigration rules should give start - ups access to the expertise that they need. governments should also review rules that restrict real estate, business and stock ownership by foreigners since these also discourage foreign participation in local ventures .
. good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, any time—not just from the entrepreneurial stereotype of a young, brilliant kid with a hot it idea, which is enforced by the success of the founders of google and facebook, as well as yamli and woopra. likewise, not all start - ups need to be it - related to be a success. governments and ngos should encourage entrepreneurial initiatives that leverage a country’s best resources, without fixating on the it industry; they would be wise to create non - technology incubators that provide mentoring, financial assistant and support to entrepreneurs in various fields. likewise, venture capital firms should establish funds aimed at non - technology industries, such as consumer goods, retail and education .
. the middle east has been losing talent for years as regional talent seeks opportunities abroad, where stable governments and more developed legal and economic systems exist. however, these individuals tend to retain strong familial and emotional ties to their homeland. mena governments and ngos would be wise to tap this enormous network of business expertise for advice and insight. the lebanese business council is an example of a global business organisation and association (boa) that hosts networking events for lebanese communities across the globe .
. governments should centralise, streamline and shorten the administrative steps necessary to set up a business (and lower the legal costs). they can change rules to make it easier for start - ups to get funding, and lend their support to forums where entrepreneurs and investors meet. subsidized management training has proved successful in singapore, with the economy growing by 14. 7 per cent in 2010; mena’s governments can look to singapore’s successor inspiration .
expand the venture capital model. vcs need to go beyond funding and provide a support structure for entrepreneurs
. venture capital firms must proactively seek out likely start - ups rather than waiting for entrepreneurs to come to them. entrepreneurial networks can help to source promising ideas, but there are other creative ways to search for the next big thing—vcs could also seek out young companies that have been denied bank loans, for example. once vc firms have invested in a start - up, they need to take a more active role—for instance, by assign a team of industry experts to mentor entrepreneurs, or providing help with tactical decisions and long - term planning .
ahmed youssef, partner at booz & company concluded; “creating an entrepreneurial culture will take time, especially in a region where entrepreneurial aspirations are not well understood or, necessarily, respected. everyone with a vested interested in job creation and economic growth must make a concerted, coordinated effort to develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem, as success will depend upon everyone taking ownership, taking action on their own, and cajoling others to act. ”
mena is in dire need of a fully - fledged entrepreneurial ecosystem to provide the necessary jobs for its rapidly growing working - age populations, and in order for its society to fully benefit from talent and ideas of people of all ages and backgrounds. the recommendation is for stakeholders to act now to lay the groundwork for the mena region’s youth, so that their full capacity is harnessed to the benefit of their countries .
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donors should reevaluate how best to encourage entrepreneurship in the middle east and north africa .
the arab uprisings have unleashed a new entrepreneurial spirit in the region, particularly among younger entrepreneurs who feel emboldened to launch new small - and medium - sized enterprises (smes). the international donor community has long supported smes as they create jobs, greater domestic income (especially among lower - income groups), economic growth, and social stability in emerging markets. yet, donor activities have sometimes been misguided—however well - intentioned—and the current environment provides an opportunity to reevaluate the best ways to encourage entrepreneurship .
many multilateral programs and international ngos in the region focus disproportionately on female participation in smes. for example, the development assistance committee within the oecd designated over 4. 6 billion us dollars towards women’s economic and productive sectors between 2007 and 2008 .
the limited involvement of women in smes in the region cannot be doubted; the sme sector is characterized by low rates of female ownership and few female workers—in stark contrast to the participation of women in the informal sector. in the middle east and north africa, smes comprise the most substantive part the economy: there are 12 million smes, which make up 95 percent of the private sector. even so, only about 300, 000 of those are women - owned “formal” smes. in egypt, these enterprises account for about 75 percent of total employment and 80 percent of the gross domestic product—yet women own less than two percent. even with that disparity, it is important to remember that this trend is not unique to the middle east; globally, women own only one - third of smes in emerging market economies (between eight and ten million) .
to address this disparity, many programs try to level the playing field through microcredit loans to women. although well intentioned, this focus on unequal access to credit ignores the real difficulties of doing business in the middle east. women’s rights activists in the region often stress this and argue that the core obstacle to doing business in the middle east is the failure of governments to create regulatory environments that facilitate access to institutional capital and knowledge and that are conducive to entrepreneurship for everyone, regardless of gender.
seeqnce is a startup accelerator based in beirut , lebanon . it was founded in 2010 by samer karam , who remains its chairman and general manager , transforming it over the years into a key pillar in lebanon 's startup ecosystem . in july 2011 , seeqnce launched its state-of-the-art space in the heart of beirut ( hamra ) . in 2012 , it successfully launched lebanon 's 1st startup accelerator program , with 436 entrepreneurs from 30 countries . on august 24 , 2012 , seeqnce announced its investment in 8 startups . startup accelerators design programs through which entrepreneurs can apply with or without an idea ; go through a selection process and eventually the best ones are accelerated for a defined period of time . the accelerated startups are provided with cash investments , in return for equity , along with unique services such as mentoring , access to facilities as well as exposure to investors for their startup upon completing the program . all these high added value services increase the valuation of the startup rapidly . 
seeqnce is a startup accelerator based in beirut, lebanon. it was founded in 2010 by samer karam, who remains its chairman and general manager, transforming it over the years into a key pillar in lebanon's startup ecosystem. in july 2011, seeqnce launched its state-of-the-art space in the heart of beirut (hamra). in 2012, it successfully launched lebanon's 1st startup accelerator program, with 436 entrepreneurs from 30 countries. on august 24, 2012, seeqnce announced its investment in 8 startups. startup accelerators design programs through which entrepreneurs can apply with or without an idea; go through a selection process and eventually the best ones are accelerated for a defined period of time. the accelerated startups are provided with cash investments, in return for equity, along with unique services such as mentoring, access to facilities as well as exposure to investors for their startup upon completing the program. all these high added value services increase the valuation of the startup rapidly.
seeqnce is a startup accelerator based in beirut, lebanon. it was founded in 2010 by samer karam, who remains its chairman and general manager, transforming it over the years into a key pillar in lebanon's startup ecosystem. in july 2011, seeqnce launched its state-of-the-art space in the heart of beirut (hamra). in 2012, it successfully launched lebanon's 1st startup accelerator program, with 436 entrepreneurs from 30 countries. on august 24, 2012, seeqnce announced its investment in 8 startups. startup accelerators design programs through which entrepreneurs can apply with or without an idea; go through a selection process and eventually the best ones are accelerated for a defined period of time. the accelerated startups are provided with cash investments, in return for equity, along with unique services such as mentoring, access to facilities as well as exposure to investors for their startup upon completing the program. all these high added value services increase the valuation of the startup rapidly.