<strong>Venture</strong> <strong>Capital</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Middle</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>North</strong> <strong>Africa</strong> Report»»Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO): A Government entity established <strong>in</strong> 2003 tofacilitate enterprise modernization, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> promotion of efficiency <strong>and</strong> capacity build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> targetenterprises. JEDCO’s objective is to enable Jordanian bus<strong>in</strong>esses to maximize <strong>the</strong> benefits of economic<strong>and</strong> trade agreements signed by <strong>the</strong> Government, confront <strong>the</strong> challenges of globalization <strong>and</strong> penetratenon-traditional markets.»»Amman Tech Tuesdays: A local platform that br<strong>in</strong>gs eng<strong>in</strong>eers, bus<strong>in</strong>ess people, experts, <strong>in</strong>vestors,marketers, entrepreneurs, students <strong>and</strong> regular enthusiasts from <strong>the</strong> technology <strong>com</strong>munity toge<strong>the</strong>r on<strong>the</strong> first Tuesday of every month <strong>in</strong> a casual but structured sett<strong>in</strong>g. The ma<strong>in</strong> goal beh<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> program isto organically fortify <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terweave tech-ties <strong>in</strong> Amman to fur<strong>the</strong>r Jordan’s position as <strong>the</strong> region’s ‘SiliconValley/Sahara’.»»iPARK:A technology Incubator aim<strong>in</strong>g to provide <strong>the</strong> needed catalyst to fuel <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurial processthat is pivotal to Jordan’s economic development.O<strong>the</strong>r SME <strong>and</strong> entrepreneurship support <strong>in</strong>itiatives <strong>in</strong> Jordan <strong>in</strong>clude: <strong>the</strong> Industrial Scientific Research <strong>and</strong> DevelopmentFund (ISRDF), K<strong>in</strong>g Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD), MeydanValue@Speed Accelerator, Agro-Industries Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Incubator (Jordan <strong>in</strong>novation Center), <strong>the</strong> National Consortium for Technology <strong>and</strong> Bus<strong>in</strong>essIncubation (NACTBI) <strong>and</strong> Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC).12
<strong>Venture</strong> <strong>Capital</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Middle</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>North</strong> <strong>Africa</strong> Report8vc <strong>in</strong> north africaEgyptTarek Asaad, Ideavelopers, with <strong>in</strong>put from Ghazi Ben Othman, Malaz <strong>Capital</strong>Entrepreneurship: Egypt is <strong>the</strong> <strong>Middle</strong> <strong>East</strong>’s most populous country <strong>and</strong> a traditional centre of education <strong>and</strong> contentcreation <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> region. Egyptian Universities graduate over 14,000 eng<strong>in</strong>eers per year out of a total of 330,000graduates. This large pool of young educated talent is <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> driv<strong>in</strong>g force beh<strong>in</strong>d Egypt’s healthy entrepreneurialenvironment.A number of promis<strong>in</strong>g start-ups have been founded <strong>in</strong> Egypt <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> past two years. These <strong>in</strong>clude ’me too‘ <strong>com</strong>paniesreplicat<strong>in</strong>g successful models <strong>in</strong> advanced economies <strong>and</strong> local plays that are built on local technology or bus<strong>in</strong>essmodel <strong>in</strong>novations. In particular <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternet <strong>and</strong> mobile sectors have seen <strong>the</strong> emergence of many start-ups.With 14 million <strong>and</strong> 60 million Egyptian users of <strong>in</strong>ternet <strong>and</strong> mobile respectively, <strong>and</strong> with quick uptake of broadb<strong>and</strong>connectivity on both wired <strong>and</strong> mobile networks, Egyptian start-ups have <strong>the</strong> advantage of a large platform toleverage. Innovations <strong>in</strong> mobile us<strong>in</strong>g technologies such as location-based services have allowed many <strong>com</strong>panies tooffer new services to <strong>the</strong> local market <strong>and</strong> to disrupt exist<strong>in</strong>g established segments.An emerg<strong>in</strong>g trend <strong>in</strong> Egypt has been <strong>the</strong> creation of cross-border start-ups that operate <strong>in</strong> a large established targetmarket, namely <strong>the</strong> US, as well as <strong>in</strong> Egypt. Typically, <strong>the</strong> client-fac<strong>in</strong>g organization is located <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> target marketcountry <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Egyptian organization focuses on technology development <strong>and</strong> operations.Although most start-up <strong>com</strong>panies are based <strong>in</strong> Cairo, <strong>the</strong> economic hub of <strong>the</strong> country, Alex<strong>and</strong>ria has seen a fairshare of technology start-up <strong>com</strong>panies. Built on <strong>the</strong> strength of <strong>the</strong> renowned Faculty of Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>the</strong> Alex<strong>and</strong>riaUniversity, <strong>the</strong>se start-ups have not only been able to succeed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Egyptian market but also to <strong>com</strong>pete<strong>in</strong>ternationally, with one creat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> globally best-sell<strong>in</strong>g paid wea<strong>the</strong>r application for <strong>the</strong> iPad.On <strong>the</strong> governmental front, <strong>the</strong> creation of <strong>the</strong> M<strong>in</strong>istry of Communication <strong>and</strong> Information Technology (MCIT) hassponsored many programs support<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> growth of <strong>com</strong>panies <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> sector. The MCIT has clearly changed focus<strong>in</strong> 2010 from attract<strong>in</strong>g FDI to <strong>the</strong> burgeon<strong>in</strong>g offshore bus<strong>in</strong>ess process outsourc<strong>in</strong>g (BPO) sector, which has beenimmensely successful <strong>in</strong> Egypt <strong>and</strong> has helped <strong>the</strong> country generate over USD1 billion <strong>in</strong> 2010 focus<strong>in</strong>g on entrepreneurship<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>novation.The Technology Incubation Program (TIP) was established by <strong>the</strong> MCIT to support technology start-ups by provid<strong>in</strong>gpremises, bus<strong>in</strong>ess services <strong>and</strong> strategic advice. S<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>in</strong>ception, <strong>the</strong> TIP program has supported 27 <strong>com</strong>paniescover<strong>in</strong>g different areas of technology <strong>and</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess model <strong>in</strong>novations.More recently, <strong>the</strong> MCIT has established <strong>the</strong> Technology Innovation <strong>and</strong> Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) which willdrive <strong>the</strong> M<strong>in</strong>istry’s efforts <strong>in</strong> this area go<strong>in</strong>g forward. TIEC has announced several <strong>in</strong>itiatives to support technologyentrepreneurship <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g a partnership to establish Plug And Play, a Silicon Valley <strong>in</strong>cubator, <strong>in</strong> Egypt.<strong>Venture</strong> <strong>Capital</strong> <strong>and</strong> Angel Investments: VC <strong>in</strong>vestment is a relatively new concept to Egypt with only a small numberof active players. Egypt’s largest <strong>and</strong> oldest venture capital firm is Ideavelopers, <strong>the</strong> VC arm of EFG-Hermes. Ideavelopersmanages an Egypt-focused USD50 million fund, sponsored by Government-owned organizations such asTele<strong>com</strong> Egypt, Egypt Post <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r banks <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>surance <strong>com</strong>panies13
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