This document provides an overview of entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It discusses how the many problems and large youth population in MENA make it uniquely suited for entrepreneurship. It describes the key components of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, including investors, incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces. The document highlights some of the growing startup hubs and most funded startups in MENA countries. It provides resources for staying informed about MENA entrepreneurship news and events. Finally, it includes a short quiz about statistics related to MENA startups.

1. “ ‫الصح‬ ‫أعمل‬ ”
‫جيف‬ -
A famous quote by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is,
“One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”
In the Middle East and Africa, there is no tighter box. We’ve got all kinds of structural, economic and political issues that hinder any advancements we may
wish for. However, there’s something happening in this region that is unmatched; the energy for entrepreneurship, for startups and the hub that’s growing
super fast. They’re inventing a way, and its taking the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) places!
In other words, these people are implementing the “translation” of this quote,”‫الصح‬ ‫!”أعمل‬

2. MENA AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIPNONO GHANNAM
🚀
In this talk about MENA and Entrepreneurship, I’m going to first introduce the MENA region, and what an entrepreneurship ecosystem looks like. Then how
the MENA’s own ecosystem looks like in terms of investors, accelerators, and the countries making headlines. The second section will be on tips for
staying in the loop about the topic including blogs to subscribe to, people to follow on Twitter and events to attend. Finally, the third section is a short quiz
to test some of your knowledge!
Picture Source: riseup.co, the ecosystem event that redefined the entrepreneurship landscape.

3. WHY ARE WE SPECIAL?
LOTS OF
PROBLEMS
LOTS OF
YOUNG PEOPLE
We are super special in the MENA region for entrepreneurship. We’ve got two things that are unmatched anywhere in the world: lots of problems, and lots
of young people! This means we’ve got so many things we can work on, and we have the young energy and drive to do that.

4. AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM
This is a typical entrepreneurship ecosystem from the point of view of a startup. Some of the players include:
• Angel investors, which typically invest in startups at the early stage
• Incubators, which provide support like mentorship and training to early stage startups as well
• Co-working spaces, which provide office space for any level startup to rent an area or meeting rooms. Some also create networking events to bridge
between the startups and ecosystem
• Accelerators are similar to incubators, except they are for more mature startups and also provide some investment to push the startup further
Other players in the ecosystem include crowdfunding, competitions, many other types of investors, support initiatives, etc.
Source: http://blog.gust.com/from-accelerators-to-venture-capital-what-is-best-for-your-startup/
For dictionary on common investment types, check http://www.investopedia.com/

5. We’ve seen now what makes us special, and what an entrepreneurship ecosystem looks like. So what happens when you put the two together? You have a
growing and bustling hub of entrepreneurs and ecosystem players that are making headlines all over the world. Don’t take my word for it, here’s only SOME
of the news snippets about us!

6. MENA INCUBATORS, ACCELERATORS AND
COWORKING SPACES
MENA’s incubators, accelerators and cowering spaces are everywhere across the region. Do you see anything familiar?
Sources:
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-venture-capital-middle-east-growth-uae-ramzy-ismail
• http://www.menascapes.com/menascapes.html
• https://www.cbinsights.com/research/uae-tech-startups-map/

7. MENA INVESTMENT LANDSCAPES
Similarly, we’ve got lots of investor types in the region as well. Some are companies investing and others are local investment arms. Do you see anything
familiar?
Sources:
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-venture-capital-middle-east-growth-uae-ramzy-ismail
• http://www.menabytes.com/mena-vcs-angels/
• http://www.menascapes.com/menascapes.html
• http://www.menapea.com/vcdirectory.php

8. WHO’S GETTING THE ATTENTION?
MAGNiTT is an online database and platform connecting the ecosystem in the MENA region. To celebrate 3,000 startups listed on the website, they
released a research on the founders of MENA’s top 100 funded startups on April 3, 2017.
You can also see that founders of startups in the region are also coming from all around the globe, North America (4%), Europe (11%) and South East Asia
(14%). The UAE is leading the way for the region, offering a ripe ecosystem that is home to 50% of the top funded startups.
Source: MENA’s Founders Report at https://www.magnitt.com/menafounders-report

9. WHO’S DOING WHAT?
MAGNiTTTOP100FUNDED
MENA’s top 100 funded startups are also across many industries, from e-commerce, technology, networking and many others.
For the second diagram,
With just over a year since its launch, MAGNiTT (a startup itself) reveals that there are more than 2,000 startups registered on its platform with 55% of the
startups stating that they are in the initial stages of their lifecycle- in either “exploration,” “development,” “testing” or “launch” stages. These startups are
also across many industries and the data is for the year 2016.
This slide for example outlines a common problem we face in entrepreneurship in the region: data! For this slide, I got two different diagrams on two
different types of startups and this doesn't cover the whole region’s ecosystem. We do have problems in MENA and data is one of them.
They say “data is the new oil”, and in this region we have plenty of it. Perhaps in the future, we’ll still be exporting oil, but that will be data!
Diagram Sources:
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/284540
• https://www.magnitt.com/menafounders-report

10. STAY IN THE LOOP"
How can you stay connected to MENA’s entrepreneurship ecosystem? It’s really easy! It’s also very important for all of us to stay informed about it and
perhaps later start contributing to it.
Picture Source: Dubai Internet City. http://greenhouse.ae/dubai-internet-city/

11. NEWS & BLOGS
Here are some of the best news websites and blogs that you can follow or subscribe to:
• wamda.com
• ArabNet.com
• MENAbytes.com
• Entrepreneur Middle East : https://www.entrepreneur.com/edition/me?
• StepFeed.com
• RiseUp.co ’s Newsletter
• magnitt.com
• EgyptInnovate.com

12. FOLLOW ON TWITTER
Here are some accounts that you can follow on Twitter. They’re only part of the hundreds of people you can follow!
Ideas for even more MENA entrepreneurship on Twitter:
• https://beopen.me/2015/03/26/top-entrepreneurs-and-vcs-to-follow-on-twitter-in-the-middle-east/
• https://www.wamda.com/2012/01/the-100-most-influential-arabs-on-twitter
• https://www.payfort.com/blog/2015/02/16/100-best-twitter-handles-arab-world-list-arab-entrepreneur/
• https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/the-mena-entrepreneurs-and-vcs-to-follow-on-twitter/

13. EVENTS
Events! Want to meet awesome people in person? Anywhere around the region? You will find a MENA entrepreneurship event nearby. All these events
focus on diverse topics from tech, gaming, design, music, creative, innovation, artificial intelligence, digital media, e-commerce, fintech, and plenty plenty
more.
Start exploring your region.

14. QUIZ! 🎟
Now for the fun part, a quiz! We hear about those in the news a lot but how much do you know about MENA’s entrepreneurship when it actually affects you
directly?
Picture Source: PepsiCo and Partners Highlight the Importance of Social Entrepreneurship in Creating Shared Valued in the MENA Region. https://
i1.wp.com/mid-east.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Speakers-at-AMWAJ-the-international-sustainability-and-entrepreneurship-forum-in-Jordan.jpg

15. WHAT % OF STARTUPS ARE FOUNDED / LED BY
WOMEN IN MENA?
25%!
Source: https://www.magnitt.com/different-story-middle-east-entrepreneurs-building-arab-tech-economy

16. WHAT % OF STARTUPS ARE FOUNDED BY
WOMEN IN USA?
17%!
Are you surprised? Of course the USA has a much larger number of startups. However, in percentages, we’re more diverse and let’s stay that way!
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/19/in-2017-only-17-of-startups-have-a-female-founder/

17. HOW MUCH WAS INVESTED IN MENA STARTUPS
SINCE 2012?
$12 BILLION!
Since 2012, Middle East and North Africa venture capitalists have invested about US$12 billion in 523 deals, according to CB Insights.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/298336

18. NOON GIVEN $1 BILLION!
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT GIVEN TO A
MENA STARTUP?
noon.com is planned to be one of the biggest commerce platforms in the region. It started with an initial $1 billion investment split equally between Saudi
Arabia's Public Investment Fund and private investors from the Gulf led by Mohamed Alabaar. He is chairman of Emaar Properties, the developer behind
the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/13/technology/saudi-arabia-dubai-online-shopping-noon/index.html

19. WHO IS THIS?
RONALDO MOUCHAWAR, CEO AND FOUNDER
OF SOUQ.COM (ACQUIRED BY AMAZON.COM)

20. WHO ARE THESE?
MAGNUS OLSSON AND MUDASSAR SHEIKHA,
FOUNDERS OF CAREEM

21. “‫بيأخر‬ ‫وال‬ ‫بيقدم‬ ‫ال‬ ‫الناس‬ ‫كالم‬ ”
‫آلون‬ -
We’re coming to the end of the talk! I hope by now you know that YOU are making a difference to the eocystem, and the ecosystem is making a difference
on you. Stay in the loop, stay informed, meet people and make sure that no matter what, you must contribute to this hub. It’s important.
A famous quote by Elon Musk is,
“If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”
This ecosystem is important and you must see what can be done to support. Forget everything that brings you down, because in the end, “” ‫بيقدم‬ ‫ال‬ ‫الناس‬ ‫كالم‬
‫بيأخر‬ ‫
.“وال‬
SUPPORT MENA AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP!