And what this means for Angels
EBAN has a long track record of supporting cross border investment and has always had strong ties to the MENA region. So when we saw the opportunity to combine these two callings with our core mission, being the voice of business angels in Europe, through “THE NEXT SOCIETY” we jumped on it!
THE NEXT SOCIETY supports South Mediterranean innovators (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia) who develop local solutions with a global reach or which allow to skip a generation in terms of use or technology. This initiative is co-funded by the EU up to 90% for a global amount of EUR 7.8 million budget.
Countries from the MENA region have a growing entrepreneurship environment, but are facing challenges related to resource management (energy, rapid urban development), food independence and value creation (industrial, social and territorial). However, where others see obstacles, entrepreneurs and investors have traditionally seen opportunities. Through our participation in this project we are improving entrepreneurs’ and startups’ readiness for investment.
The next step is to allow entrepreneurs from the MENA region to expand to Europe successfully and get further investments from European angels. This is why, some of the best startups we could find in the MENA region will join us in events all over Europe (from Cork, Ireland, during our EBAN Cork Annual Congress on May 18-19 to Athens, Greece, during the Hellenic International Business Angel Summit on June 23-24).
We strongly believe that bringing these companies in the spotlight will benefit business angels greatly; The fact that these companies are accompanied by their local lead investor will facilitate European angels in their choice to invest in some of the best startups from an up and coming region with exceptional potential for growth. Therefore, we are confident that after these we shall see many cross-border investment collaborations between our members based in MENA and those in Europe.
About THE NEXT SOCIETY
THE NEXT SOCIETY is an open community of changemakers engaged in innovation and economic development. It gathers entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, NGOs, public and private innovation, research and economic development hubs from Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
THE NEXT SOCIETY already gathers a large network of over 300 business & innovation, research and investment organisations, 2,500 international SMEs and entrepreneurs from 30 countries.
THE NEXT SOCIETY is launching a four year action plan (2017-2020), co-funded by the EU up to 90% for a global amount of EUR 7.8 million budget.
THE NEXT SOCIETY partners’ community
Agence de Promotion de l’Industrie et de l’Innovation (APII) | Agence régionale pour l’innovation et l’internationalisation des Entreprises en Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (ARII – PACA) | Agence wallonne à l’exportation et aux investissements étrangers (AWEX) | Agencia per a la Competitivitat de l’Empresa – ACCIÓ |ANIMA Investment Network | Association of European chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBRES) | Berytech Foundation | BigBooster | Centro Este ro per l’Internazionalizzazione (CEIPIEMONTE) | Confédération des Entreprise Citoyennes de Tunisie (CONECT) | European Business and Innovation Centre network (EBN) | Forum Euroméditerranéen des instituts de sciences économiques (FEMISE) | France Clusters | Higher Council for Innovation and Excellence (HCIE) | IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) | International Network for Small and Medium sized Entreprises (INSME) | Kedge Business School | The Mowgli Foundation | PICTI.Start – up | Association Marocaine pour la Recherche et le Développement (R&D Maroc) | Royal Scientific Society (RSS) | Start up Maroc | The European Trade Association for Business Angels (EBAN)