This is the part of an ongoing series of guest articles about entrepreneurship. If you would like to contribute to this series, contact us at exec@yallastartup.org with your proposal.
هذا المقال تابع لسلسلة من المقالات المستمرة عن الريادة. إذا كنت ترغب في المساهمة الرجاء إرسال رسالة إلكترونية إلى
Advice by serial Entrepreneur Brian Balfour
Know Why You Are Raising
Its great to have grand dreams of being the next GroupOn, Zynga, or , but keep those dreams in check while raising your first capital. First time entrepreneurs are commonly unrealistic about three things. One, the fact that your idea is a good fit for Angel/VC money in the first place. Two, the amount of funding you need and the valuation you are asking for. Read the rest of this entry »
(This is cross posted from Sami Shalabi’s blog)
During my trips to the middle east I try to capture new thoughts about things I observe. My previous post on the topic covered my early observations. This summer I had the privilege of hanging out with some Jordanian entrepreneurs and listen to their heroic journeys. Here are my observations:
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This is the part of an ongoing series of guest articles about entrepreneurship. If you would like to contribute to this series, contact us at exec@yallastartup.org with your proposal.
هذا المقال تابع لسلسلة من المقالات المستمرة عن الريادة. إذا كنت ترغب في المساهمة الرجاء إرسال رسالة إلكترونية إلى exec@yallastartup.org
Now that I’m between startups, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to work on next. I like thinking in frameworks, which makes it easier to evaluate new opportunities and create my own theses around where technology and business is heading. My previous analysis on the Product vs Distribution Framework focused on the core traits a company needs to ultimately succeed. This post looks instead at the macro trends of the Internet itself.
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This is cross posted from Habib Haddad’s blog
When the Chinese internet giant QQ released Fanfou a few years ago many criticized it as an obvious clone to twitter. The same again happened with the launch of Watwet the Jordanian startup. After all, at first glance the sites do look a lot like twitter. Maktoob, the company behind the Arab internet success story was always described as the Yahoo of the Middle East because of the very similar services it provided. It didn’t come much of a surprise when Yahoo actually acquired the company in 2009.
But is localizing an existing product or business idea imitation or art, and does that limit innovation or actually requires it?
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(This is cross posted from Habib Haddad’s blog)
The Middle East and North Africa region is home to 350 Million Arabic native speakers, 65% of which are under the age of 30. While internet penetration is still low at 20% it’s growing at the fastest rate in the world, mobile penetration however is at 80% with about 220M users. The education and health are booming due to the fast population growth. This growth coupled with the wealth of some countries especially in the Gulf is creating significant opportunities that are yet to be explored.
However a large portion of the massive GCC sovereign wealth funds was historically invested in markets like USA, Europe and Asia, but the recent downturn has put pressure to finally look and foster opportunities in the MENA region itself. Governments all over the Arab world are also keen on accelerating entrepreneurship and have been shifting the mindset of their funds towards more early stage deals, hoping to create that ecosystem. The challenge here is that it’s not just a shift of mindset but also a shift in required skills; Investing in startups and SMEs in the MENA emerging market is far from similar to investing in a developed ecosystem where the returns and exits are more or less established.
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TechWadi, the leading networking association for Arab and Arab American technology professionals is coming to Beirut and will be hosting an event at AUB Olayan School of Business on Wednesday June 23.
Join us for an energizing discussion on accelerating entrepreneurship and venture capital in Lebanon and across the MENA region. The Forum will bring together distinguished investors, executives, entrepreneurs and policymakers, united in their vision to create a vibrant world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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This is the part of an ongoing series of guest articles about entrepreneurship. If you would like to contribute to this series, contact us at exec@yallastartup.org with your proposal.
هذا المقال تابع لسلسلة من المقالات المستمرة عن الريادة. إذا كنت ترغب في المساهمة الرجاء إرسال رسالة إلكترونية إلى exec@yallastartup.org
بقلم عماد المسعودي
صفحات كتاب محركو الاقتصاد اليمني الذي يتناول قصص نجاح أهم 100 رجل أعمال يمني، ذكرتني ببحث قمت به قبل عدة أشهر يتعلق بتحديد شخصيات ريادية شابة في الوطن العربي، فالتشابه بين قصة رجال الأعمال اليمنيين لا تختلف كثيراً عن قصة بقية رجال الأعمال الناجحين في بقية الدول العربية. هناك نسق واضح جداً، إليكم كيف تبدأ القصة:
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This is part of an ongoing series of expert articles about entrepreneurship. It answers the questions you have asked on YallaStartup answers. If you would like to contribute to this series, contact us at exec@yallastartup.org with your proposal.
Q1. In Arabic below:
ما الفرق بين “رأس المال” (المبلغ المسجل ضمن الوثائق القانونية لتأسيس الشركة) و”قيمة الشركة”، قبل مرحلة تمويلية معينة (لنقل مثلا التقدير الأولي Pre-money valuation)؟
حسب فهمي الشخصي ثمة فرق. لكني اليوم في اجتماع مع محام، علمت منه أن قيمة الشركات ذات المسؤولية المحدودة في المغرب، هي نفسها قيمة المبلغ الذي سجلت به كرأس مال. وهي قيمة لا تتغير بحجم المداخيل. فلو تم تأسيس شركة ذات مسؤولية محدودة وحدد لها مبلغ ألف دولار، فسيكون ذلك المبلغ هو قيمتها. ولو جاء مستثمر وأراد الدخول في تمويل الشركة، فإن تقييمه الوحيد الممكن سيكون هو ألف دولار. على الأقل هذا ما يعرفه المحامي الآن، وقد طلبت منه البحث أكثر في موضوع الاستثمارات.
أو ربما الأمر يختلف من دولة إلى أخرى، وهذا يقودني إلى السؤال الموالي
نظام الاستثمار المخاطر (Venture Capital) ظهر بداية في أمريكا، وتطور كثيرا هناك. في حين لم ينتقل هذا النموذج الاستثماري إلى كل الدول، ولا بنفس الشكل. ما هي الدول العربية التي تتوفر ترسانتها القانونية على أنظمة التمويل المخاطر القريبة من النظام الأمريكي؟ وهل تعرف تفاصيل معينة عن نظام (قانون) استثمار رؤوس الأموال المخاطرة في الشركات الناشئة في المغرب؟
Thank you for your question.
Founders/entrepreneurs in any jurisdiction must differentiate clearly between two terms that will be crucial in setting up their business and potential entertaining third party funding – namely capital and valuation.
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“Ask the Expert” is part of an ongoing series of Q&A sessions with industry experts where you, our readers, are given the opportunity to have your questions answered.
You been asking and we’ve been listening and now you’ve got it. It is with great pleasure that we have MENA legal expert, Aymen Almoayed, on deck to answer your legal questions. He is on the ground and has seen it all. Now it is up to you to ask him the hard questions.
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