Manama: As part of its strategic initiatives, Tenmou, Bahrain’s first ‘Business Angels’, announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain is gearing up to celebrate the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), which will take place from 14 – 20 November 2016.
Organised by Tenmou, the events will be held in strategic partnership with Tamkeen and sponsorship with Alba. This year, Microsoft have come on board as the IT sponsors and Coca Cola Bottling Company as marketing experts to help mentor Start-up Weekend Bahrain participants.
The highlights of the GEW will include a series of flagship global events such as the Start-up Weekend, the Global Start-up Battle, the Creative Business Cup, Future Agro Challenge and Get in the Ring. The events will focus primarily on mentorship, funding of new and existing projects and scaling up for the existing entrepreneurs. More than 1,000 potential and existing entrepreneurs are expected to attend.
“As an organisation dedicated to fostering and supporting Bahrain’s entrepreneurship, we are confident that the GEW provides the right platform to bring together the country’s ecosystem and the potential entrepreneurs to participate actively. We are pleased to partner with Tamkeen and Alba this year who will help us to further our strategy not only to strengthen a robust start-up ecosystem but also to build a strong ecosystem of angel investors in the MENA region,” Hasan Haider, CEO of Tenmou said.
“Every year we see a number of new participants taking part in the activities for both GEW and Start-up Weekend. At Tenmou, our strategy is to help our small business community in Bahrain to continue to prosper and deliver economic and social returns to our country. We are confident, that the activities lined up for this year will provide a great opportunity for raising entrepreneurial awareness and bringing together of the Bahraini ecosystem from across the government, private sector, SME supports organisations and the entrepreneurs themselves.”
This year, Bahrain will be joining 20,000 start-ups from more than 160 countries around the world and endorse its commitment to bolster entrepreneurial ecosystems to help start and scale new firms across the globe. This year’s event partners include Tenmou, Tamkeen, Zain Bahrain, Suhail Al Gosaibi, 4SPOTS, Rowad and Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society. Two of last year’s finalists of Startup Weekend Bahrain 2015, first runner up ‘The Hive’ have continued with their operations and second runner up ‘Pick-A-Dive’ recently registered as a company in Bahrain.
GEW has been identified as the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship aimed at bringing ideas to life, driving economic growth and expanding human welfare. Founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (USA), Global Entrepreneurship Week provides a platform that creates one global entrepreneurial ecosystem. It aims to inspire the next generation of future potential entrepreneurs and business leaders by engaging, connecting, mentoring, building and developing their confidence and ambitions through a series of activities hosted by partner organisations.
Launched in 2011, Tenmou aims to support entrepreneurs with valuable business assistance, including financial investment, mentorship, advice and guidance. Tenmou recognizes that for many entrepreneurs, mentorship programmes can be as valuable as financial investments. Each project receives practical advice and training from the company’s board members, who bring with them a wealth of business experience. These training sessions expose the entrepreneurs to real business situations and are conducted in the form of workshops, on a regular basis.
Established with a start-up capital of BD1 million (US$2.7 million),Tenmou invests an average of BD20,000 – 30,000 for a stake of on average 20% – 30% in each project that meets its criteria, and will provide a three-month mentorship period, including support services, at no cost to the entrepreneurs.
