As the lack of access to finance remains the main obstacle for innovative companies in the MENA region, THE NEXT SOCIETY, through EBAN and BANC, introduced the 1st Investment Academy, a special 16-hour coaching event on “Preparing for due Diligence” on October 3rd-4th 2019 in Barcelona. The event took place on the premises of Foment del Treball in central Barcelona.
A follow-up to the Innovators Academy
This coaching session was designed as a follow-up to the Innovators Academy held in Tunis in April. While this first event aimed to get the entrepreneurs of the second TNS promotion up to speed with the fundamentals of business plan and pitching, helping them improve their intellectual property strategy in the presence of investors, business angels and financing experts, the Investment Academy was conceived as the next step in the ladder for the participants, helping them improve market penetration, their sales strategy, financial business plan and pitching skills, with the ultimate goal of convincing an investor to sign a deal during a Power Meeting!
Extra support with BSOs
Given the central role that Business Support Organizations play in an entrepreneur’s journey, at least one BSO per country was invited to accompany entrepreneurs both to work on investment readiness and to share the way networks of BAs and VCs are structured in their respective countries. During the event, the BSOs attended the same session as the start-ups, both contributing to the discussion and learning more about the challenges and the solutions to issues encountered by the entrepreneurs they support.
Experienced coaches with a local flavor
Over the two-day event, the participants attended workshops by experienced Business Angels and financial managers such as Albert Colomer and Alex d’Espona of BANC. Moreover, they were able to attend presentations on various local and regional structures in Catalonia and Spain, aimed at both local and international entrepreneurs. Follow-up meetings and visits were set up during the event, which showed the value of coming together to talk about different issues involved in entrepreneurship and finding partners and solutions in an international atmosphere!
This coaching session has been the occasion to further discuss access to finance strategies at national and regional levels and exchange good practices and expertise between the participants!
You can find the booklet of the event, including the bios of coaches as well as the descriptions of participating start-ups and BSOs here.
What’s next for EBAN in THE NEXT SOCIETY?
The next step in the THE NEXT SOCIETY timeline for EBAN is two power meetings within 5 days of each other. Stay tuned for more details and JOIN THE NEXT SOCIETY!
Press release: 19 Start-ups and 6 BSOs at the TNS Investment Academy in Barcelona
