Opportunities For Entrepreneurs in Bahrain by Dr. Simon Galpin (Managing Director, Bahrain Economic Development Board) and Dharmi Magdani (Country Director - India, Bahrain Economic Development Board).

1. 2018
Invest in Bahrain

2. Introduction
to Bahrain

3. Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Iraq
Jordan
Yemen
Oman
UAE
Kuwait
BAHRAIN
770 km²Area
Population
Languages
1.5 million (50% expats)
English & Arabic
Real GDP
Growth
3.9% (2017)
A Quick Overview
FDI Inflows USD$ 733 million (2017)
Bahrain lies at the heart of the Arabian Gulf, with
fast and efficient access to every market in the
Middle East by air, sea and road
Source: Information and eGovernment Authority

4. Logistics
Short times to markets and high
quality customer service
Financial Services
Home to over 400
financial institutions
Manufacturing
The fastest, cheapest & most efficient
gateway to the region’s largest market
Tourism, Real Estate,
Education & Health
12.7 million visitors in 2017
Diverse Investment Opportunities
ICT
Booming start-ups scene and
home to the region’s AWS
data center HQ

5. Place
Access to
Growing Market
Skilled Talent
& High Quality
of Life
Cost Effective
Business
Environment
A Track Record
of Innovation
People Price Pioneer
Bahrain’s Strengths

6. Place
Access to a
growing market

7. 7
Easy Access to the US$1.5 trillion Market
440
million
36
million
MENA Consumers GCC Consumers
King Fahad Causeway
30 mins
1,000+
20,000+
from Bahrain to Eastern Province of KSA
trucks crossing on a daily basis
passengers crossing on a daily basis
Planned King Hamad Causeway
Bi-Modal causeway connecting Bahrain to the GCC
via road and railway network
Khobar Riyadh Kuwait UAE Muscat
8 hrs
45 mins
4 hrs
45 mins
4 hrs
45 mins
30 mins
35 mins
12h 45m
1h 30m
US$2
trillion
GCC market
by 2020
Saudi Arabia
Riyadh
Muscat
Abu Dhabi
Kuwait
Khobar
Bahrain
Dubai

8. Strong Bilateral Relationships
Established Globally
Free Trade
Agreements
Investment Protection &
Promotion Agreement
34countries
Free Trade Agreements
22countries
Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreement
41
countries
KSA UAE KUWAIT OMAN
USA SINGAPORE EFTA
Greater Arab Free Trade Area*
*GAFTA members: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates
and Yemen

9. People
Skilled Talent
& High Quality
of Life

10. Skilled Local Workforce
Bahrainis employed in highly skilled sectors
65%
Bahrain
workforce
in Financial
Services
Over a third
are women
Source: Global Human Capital Report 2017, LMRA
Training and Incentives
Offered by Tamkeen for Bahraini Employees
Up to 70%
of salary costs for
2 years
Up to 100%
of training costs
¹ First two years, subject to Bahraini employment

11. Highly Educated & Bilingual Local Workforce
Bahrain
Highest high school education
attainment in the GCC*
KSA UAE Kuwait
85%
79%
56%
21%
*Age group 15 – 24
15 higher education institutions
78 vocational training institutions
74 Private Schools

12. Bahrain is ranked as the top
expat destination out of 65 countries
InterNations Expat Insider Survey 2017

13. Rich Culinary Experience Beach Lifestyle High Quality Schools
Diverse Retail Offerings Unique Identity Expanding Calendar of Events
High Quality of Life

14. Price
Lower cost of
Doing Business

15. 15
lower than UAE33% lower than KSA15%
Lowest Operating Costs in the Region
Bahrain UAE
US$ 829,930
US$ 1,246,106
KSAAssumptions: 5,000m² land, 3,000m² built up area, 3 employees in the set-up phase, 16 employees in the
operating phase.; UAE: JAZA; KSA: KAEC
Average operating costs
per year (USD)
Bahrain UAE KSA
Annual license renewal fees 133 1,496 1,335
Land rental 13,265 35,020 27,074
Manpower 648,850 811,300 746,500
Visa cost 8,528 9,072 33,920
Utility cost 150,983 365,742 149,325
Blue collar accommodation 8,171 23,476 15,999
Total Cost 829,930 1,246,106 974,153
US$ 974,153
Source: KPMG Cost of Doing Business Report (Manufacturing 2017)

16. 16
Manpower Costs
(USD per year)
Bahrain UAE KSA
CEO 170,000 210,000 200,000
Personal Assistant 30,000 40,000 40,000
Accountant 30,000 40,000 40,000
Supervisor 20,000 30,000 20,000
Total 250,000 320,000 300,000
Source: KPMG Cost of Doing Business Report (Manufacturing 2017)
lower than UAE lower than KSA22% 17%
Most Affordable Local Workforce in the Region

17. 17
Low Cost of Living
Average Annual
Cost of Living (USD)
Bahrain Dubai Abu Dhabi
Residential - 3 bedroom villa 33,000 55,440 48,120
Electricity & water 3,916 6,292 5,113
Domestic help remuneration 2,700 6,360 5,640
Education 11,636 21,595 15,321
Total 51,252 89,687 74,194
Source: KPMG Cost of Doing Business Report (Financial Services 2018)
lower than Dubai43% lower than Abu Dhabi31%
Bahrain Dubai
US$ 51,252
Abu Dhabi
US$ 89,687
US$ 74,194

18. corporation
taxes
NO
personal
income taxes
NO
wealth taxes or tax
on capital gains
NO
NO
‘Free zone’
restrictions
100%
Foreign ownership
allowed
(in most sectors)
An Open and Liberal Market

19. 19
We go into regions for the long term,
and we chose Bahrain because of the
process in place for creating the right
environment.
Teresa Carlson
Vice President. Worldwide Public Sector
Amazon Web Services

20. Pioneer
A Track Record
of Innovation

21. 21
Bahrain was the 1st in the region to
Start formal
education
Discover oil
Open an
international
airport
Start
a diversification
strategy
Establish a
banking sector
Introduce Islamic
banking regulations
Liberalize the
telecoms market
Adopt a
cloud-first policy
1919 1932 1932 1960
1961 2001 2004 2017
A Pioneer in the Region Since 1919

22. Opportunities

23. 23
Emerging opportunities in Bahrain
Physical
Infrastructure
Soft
Infrastructure
Startup
& Digital
Infrastructure
New Oil
Discovery

24. 24
Transportation Manufacturing Real Estate
Physical Infrastructure
Airport Infrastructure Development
Modernisation of the airport’s infrastructure and
cargo handling capacity
Increasing the airport’s capacity from 8 to 14
million passengers p.a.
Increasing cargo to 1 million metric tonnes p.a.
King Hamad Causeway
Connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in
addition to the existing King Fahad Causeway
Expected to result in an estimated 30%-50%
lower import costs
BAPCO Modernisation & Expansion
Modernisation and expansion of the BAPCO oil
refinery
Alba Line 6 Development
Development of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba)’s Line 6
Set to become the world’s largest single-site
smelter
Molten metal park currently under development
Bahrain Bay
Waterfront development which includes Four
Seasons Hotel, Wyndham Grand Manama
Hotel, The Avenues Mall.
Dilmunia Island
A residential and mixed use development with a
special emphasis on wellness and preventative
health
Approximate total Gross Floor Area of
1,800,000 square meters
US$32 billion of infrastructure investment in Bahrain over the next 5 years
US $1.1 bn 2019
US $4 bn 2022
US$ 3.5 bn 2019
US$61 bn 2021
US$ 1.8 bn 2020
US$ 2.5 bn 2020

25. 25
The Largest Oil & Gas Discovery in 8 decades
Khaleej Al
Bahrain Basin
How the discovery compares globally
Location Resources (barrels)
Technically
Recoverable
Jordan (Wadi Sirhan) 4 billion 100 million
Oman (Rub Al-Khali) 24 billion 1.2 billion
Egypt (Abu Gharadig) 47 billion 1.9 billion
Bahrain (Khalij Al Bahrain) 81.5 billion TBC
Libya (Tannezuft Shale) 104 billion 5.2 billion
UAE (Shilaif Formation) 367 billion 22 billion
Source: Higher Committee for Natural Resources and Economic Security, Google, US Energy Information Administration
80 billion 10-20 trillion
barrels of tight ‘oil in place’ cf3 of deep gas reserves
• Ready to connect facilities nearby
• Estimated time to develop the site: 5 years
• Supporting long-term downstream activities

26. Causeway
Reforms to
Improve Access
to KSA
OCT 2015 MAR 2016 OCT 2016
Trusts Law
Protected Cells
Company Law
Reduction of
Minimum Capital
Requirement
AUG 2017
APR 2017 JUN 2017
Limited
Investment
Partnership Law
Cloud First
Policy
Fintech
Regulatory
Sandbox
Crowdfunding
Regulations
COMING
SOON!!
Soft Infrastructure
Bankruptcy Law
Secure Transaction Law
Data Protection Law
EKYC….

27. 27
Policy Advocacy Initiatives
Transition to a
Digital Economy
Improve Business
Licensing Procedures
Improve SMEs
Ecosystem
➢ Bankruptcy law
➢ Access to government
procurement
➢ Secured transactions
law
➢ Enforcement of
contracts
➢ MVP Funding
➢ Export Development
➢ Industrial Startups (GE
Pilot program)
➢ Aluminum downstream
park
➢ BLZ II
➢ BIA Cargo village
➢ Industrial Land
Enhance Logistics
& Manufacturing
Ecosystem
Strengthen
Access to KSA
➢ Nationalization and
qualification
requirements (ARAMCO
IKTVA program)
➢ Cloud data storage
➢ Passporting funds and
linking information
➢ Pharma distribution to
KSA
➢ Cloud and data hosting law
➢ Data protection law
amendments
➢ Electronic transferable
records law
➢ Electronic transactions law
amendment
➢ Technology skills
development-Udacity
Connect Program
➢ Blockchain
➢ Cybersecurity
➢ Crowdfunding regulations
refinement
➢ Evolve into Sijilat 2.0
➢ Streamline current KYC
processes and introduce
digital KYC
➢ Maritime & Coastal Leisure
Activity Licensing
➢ Review foreign ownership
limitations of E-commerce
activities
➢ Streamline procedures for
attaining construction
permits
➢ Streamline procedures for
getting electricity
connection
➢ Liberalize tour operators

28. & Digital Infrastructure
A growing number of
Incubators & Accelerators
Access to High Net Worth
Individuals
Active community &
supportive government
Building an environment that supports the growth of start-ups and ancillary
businesses around a digital ecosystem
Bahrain's small size
makes it an ideal test bed

29. 29
Accelerators
& Incubators
Corporates Ecosystem Education Funding Government
Startups
Service
Providers
TM
The Ecosystem

30. 30
Initiatives
Funding
Minimum viable Products
Crowdfunding
High Net Worth Individuals
Angel Investors
VC’s – Fund of Funds
Private Equity – Mumtalakat
Talent & Training
Amazon Educate
UOB Women’s Training Udacity
– Courses
Amazon Web
Services
MENA’s first hyperscale Cloud
Region arrives in Bahrain in
early 2019
Fintech Bay
The leading FinTech Hub in the
Middle East
Fintech Week
Euromoney Conference
(19-21 Feb 2018)
Tech Week
MIT
AWS Summit
(24-28 Sept 2018)
StartUp Week
Unbound
GCC Game Conference
My Startup Bootcamp
(3-8 Mar 2018)
Events Virtual Community
Startupbahrain.com
@startupbahrain
Blockchain
Coming soon

31. 31
2017 Successes
Mena’s first hyperscale
Cloud Region arrives in
Bahrain in early 2019
Careem Mobile
Taxi Services
Launching region’s
first biometric
payment network
Self served personal
bank by GIB
Regional distribution
center & integrated
logistics solution
Mondelez Biscuit
Factory
Jewelry
manufacturing facility
Regional distribution
center

32. Bahrain Economic Development Board
A dynamic public agency, chaired by HRH the Crown Prince,
attracting and assisting companies to set up in Bahrain
Guidance
Advice and
information to
support the
decision making
process
Facilitation
Access to grants
and assistance
with company
registration
Aftercare
Ongoing support
for business
development and
expansion
Account Manager

33. Thank You!
Please contact us for more information
Dharmi.madgani@bahrainedb.com +91 98206 62626
www.bahrainedb.com investorenquiries@bahrainedb.com +973 1758 9999