Cairo – Mubasher: Bahrain is seeking to be the innovative hub for startups in the GCC region, Mohamed Hejres, senior manager of investors relations and government affairs at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), said.

To this end, Bahrain's government is currently working on a raft of policies to prop up startups and help them build ecosystem, Hejres added, during his presentation in the 2018 RiseUp Summit.

The EDB has the vision and willingness to work on boosting startups' business in the Kingdom in line with the vision declared by HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, he noted.

The RiseUp Summit is the MENA region’s largest innovation and entrepreneurship summit, which took place in the American University in Cairo (AUC) from 7-9 December.

Hejres also added that the EDB founded “Team Bahrain”, a private-public partnership aims to create bespoke solutions for investors and entrepreneurs looking to base their activities in the Kingdom by easing the bureaucratic procedures, developing policies and facilitating interaction between government, businesses, and individuals.

Bahrain is digitalising its economy, making all transactions and services available through the internet, Hejres noted.

Pakiza Abdularahman, manager at the EDB’s community-led Initiative Startup Bahrain, said that the GCC nation has a strong ecosystem for startups.

Founded in 2016, Startup Bahrain focuses on digital innovation startups and provides them with an access to corporates, investors, accelerators, incubators, educational institutions, and the Bahraini government.

Startup Bahrain has recently helped in launching the $100 million Al Waha Fund of Funds by the Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) in an effort to invest in venture capital funds with a presence in the Kingdom and inject more capital into our booming local ecosystem, Abdularahman added.

When asked by Mubasher about the sectors supported by the EDB, Pakiza said that startups, mainly from Middle East, come to Bahrain with the aim of growing into Asian markets. Most of them work in application development, retail, food and beverages industry, and tourism.

We encourage digital innovation startups that develop cloud-based applications and services, as well as gaming developers and publishers to come and invest in Bahrain, she noted.

Moreover, Bahrain launched the fintech regulatory sandbox last year, since then we have attracted 14 overseas companies operating in fintech innovative solutions, Abdularahman added.

© Mubasher 2018