Global Ventures General Partner Noor Sweid On Preparing Their Portfolio Of Startups For Growth In 2022 Global Ventures, a Dubai-based venture capital firm, recently held its Annual General Meeting 2021 to bring together its portfolio founders and investors and nurture a community of growth and knowledge-sharing.
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Global Ventures, a Dubai-based venture capital firm, recently held its Annual General Meeting 2021 to bring together its portfolio founders and investors and nurture a community of growth and knowledge-sharing.
Noor Sweid, General Partner, Global Ventures, explained the goal of the event, "It's an event where we have the opportunity to bring the founders and investors, so that the investors can discover what the founders are doing and meet them in person." She adds, "[They get to know] that these are some incredible and inspiring people, really building companies that are growing very quickly and changing the world, one bit at a time. It's also an opportunity for the founders to get to know each other and build a community amongst themselves."
On the sidelines of the event, we asked entrepreneurs on the biggest positive impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on to their businesses.
In this video, Mostafa Ashour, co-founder and CEO of NowPay, a financial wellness platform, noted how his team utilized the nationwide lockdown mandates to prep and develop its products for the post COVID-19 era, which has paid off, and allowed them to grow the number of transactions. Ayman Sharayha, co-founder and COO of Altibbi, a digital health platform, noticed how the perception on telemedicine shifted positively.
Shafiq Khartabil, co-founder and CEO of Ogram, Emilian Popa, CEO and founder of Ilara Health, and Asim Janjua, co-founder of Mamo, also shared their insights.
Next up, we asked entrepreneurs on the crucial factors that entrepreneurs should keep in mind while fundraising for their enterprise in 2021.
"Recognizing what your company does, what your business is, and the value that you can create, in such a difficult time, is really important," said Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, founder and CEO, Proximie, a healthtech platform which raised US$ 38 million in a Series B funding round. This observation was also echoed by Dr Ryan Lefers, co-founder and CEO, Red Sea Farms, an agtech platform which raised $16m in its pre-series A investment round, "One thing that really helped us is understanding the impact of what's happening in the world around us, [and relate that] on our business proposition and what we can offer."
Hosam Arab, co-founder and COO of Tabby, Mossab Hussain, co-founder and Chief Security Officer of spiderSilk, and Sultan Asmi, co-founder and CEO of Zid also explained their fundraising journey.
In addition, as 2021 comes to an end, we asked entrepreneurs on the vital lessons they're taking forward as they lead their companies in 2022.
Dana Baki, co-founder and COO of MUNCH:ON, offered her perspective, "One of the biggest things we've learned is that the dynamics in every industry have changed. What's really important is ensuring that we're creating win-win scenarios and value-added dynamics with all stakeholders in the value chain of any business." Meanwhile, Omair Ansari, CEO of Abhi, reminded fellow entrepreneurs: "The idea of remote world is here to stay, so how do you plan your business around that? Both from an operational standpoint, and even from expansion standpoint, and talent acquisition as well. From your strategy, you need to understand that the world has changed, and you need to be able to address those changes." Mishaal Al Gargawi, co-founder and CEO of Axis, and Mahmoud Talaat, co-founder and CEO of Cartona, also shared their reflections.
For more actionable tips and insights, check out the rest of the videos!
