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Investment in digital transformation is a top priority for asset management says new survey
29 Sep 2019Digital transformation is a top priority for asset managers, according to a new report published by banking software company Temenos investigating the views and intentions of the asset management industry over the coming 12 months.
Significant constraints imposed by legacy technology systems however were cited by 54 per cent of respondents globally as a major problem holding them back.
The report entitled: “Digital transformation in fund administration: The road ahead”, delves into responses from over 150 asset managers, fund administrators and custodians across Europe, the United States and Asia.
The global asset management industry is experiencing fundamental shifts that will shape its future.
The report shows that digital transformation is set to play a large part in this future.
The survey found that investment in new technology and digital transformation is the number one focus in asset management, with 38 per cent of respondents saying it will be their firm’s biggest focus over the next 12 months.
Digital transformation is followed by a focus on investment in product development (19 per cent), operational efficiency (16 per cent) and distribution (12 per cent).
An overwhelming majority of respondents, more than 90 per cent of those surveyed, also said that investment in operational systems is now essential for asset managers to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
29 per cent of respondents cited data analytics as the highest priority for investment.
Despite the imperative to digitally transform, nearly a quarter of respondents (23 per cent) said asset servicers, such as fund administrators and custodians, are not currently keeping pace with the changing requirements of asset managers.
54 per cent of respondents globally cite legacy technology as a major problem holding asset management firms back from delivering high quality services through digital channels. In the US, this problem is even more exacerbated, with 60 per cent of respondents saying that legacy systems remained a major problem.
The survey also highlighted that outsourcing of functions to asset servicers is set to narrow, with over two-thirds of those surveyed (68 per cent) saying it was important to have one strategic service provider who can support all outsourcing requirements.
Many respondent firms are already moving in this direction, with more than half (55 per cent) saying that they have a single provider in place or will do so within three years.
source: institutionalassetmanager
The Swiss subsidiary of Arab Bank, a banking giant in the Middle East, is starting to provide trade and storage services for BTC and ETH.
Thanks to this initiative, large-capital clients serviced by Arab Bank Switzerland, including business leaders and family entrepreneurs, can now access digital assets.
“We strongly believe that the blockchain will dramatically change the financial industry, and we intend to be one of the first banks to offer digital asset services for customers in a safe and regulated environment,” said Arab Robin CEO Serge Robin .
Regarding custodial services, the bank has partnered with Taurus Group, which has integrated its cold storage solution called TAURUS-PROTECT with the bank’s infrastructure.
Taurus notes that the solution uses the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2, Certified Equipment Security Modules (HSM) Level 3, and “some of the safest hardware in the world”
“We now have a fully regulated and scalable infrastructure that we will use to provide our clients with institutional-grade digital asset services in addition to our traditional asset and credit management solutions,” said Rani Jabban, a member Board of Arab Bank Switzerland.
In February this year, the Swiss bank Julius Baer and SEBA, with the participation of the cryptocurrency company SEBA Crypto AG, began offering digital asset services.
source: omnia
The contribution of Oman’s aviation industry, as an enabler of the nation’s pivotal tourism and logistics sectors, is projected to surge in value terms to RO 1.4 billion by the year 2040, up from RO 170 million in 2016, according to the head of Oman Airports.
Shaikh Aimen al Hosni (pictured), CEO, said the company — part of Oman Aviation Group — continues to leverage investments made by the Omani government in the development of modern airports and other associated infrastructure to add value to the national economy.
Apart from the accent on efforts to drive tourist inflows, Oman Airports is focused on the development of Airport Cities, Airport Free Zones, Airfreight Services, Premium Airport Services, and Cargo Handling distributed across three key pillars: Tourism, Aviation, and Logistics, he said.
Al Hosni made the comments in a presentation on the ‘Role of Airports in Driving Inbound Tourism’, which he delivered during a seminar hosted by the Modern College of Business and Science at the Muscat InterContinental Hotel yesterday.
Oman Airports currently oversees a portfolio of seven airports in the Sultanate, comprising the international airports in Muscat and Salalah, regional airports in Suhar and Duqm, and the three airports of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in Marmul, Qarn Alam and Fahud.
These seven airports handled a total of 17.2 million passengers last year, up from 6.2 million in 2010, representing a three-fold jump over the period. The tally is projected to cross 18 million passengers in 2018, he said.
Muscat International Airport, a landmark in its own right, will be expanded in a further three phases to reach an optimum capacity of 100 million passengers in the future, he said.
As an important enabler of the tourism and logistics sectors, Oman Airport is also looking to attract new airlines to the Sultanate, said Al Hosni.
Besides national carrier Oman Air, as many as 35 carriers from around the world currently fly through airports in the Sultanate, with the number growing incrementally at the rate of 2-3 airlines annually.
The goal now is to attract airlines from Asia, Africa and parts of Europe to ensure adequate connectivity with promising tourism markets, he said.
Oman’s strategic location in the Middle East, according to the CEO, effectively brings within its reach 34 per cent of the world’s population within a four-hour flying time, rising to 86 per cent within eight hours.
By capitalising on this potential, the Sultanate can serve as a hub for aviation, he noted.
source: omanobserver
Many countries in the region have launched their own funds in order to fund certain industries or types of companies such as startups.
Saudi Arabia has its world-famous Public Investment Fund (PIF), Bahrain launched two $100 million funds in order to spur innovation and entrepreneurship, Jordan launched a similar fund and Egypt has announced that it will launch a fund as well.
In short, there is no shortage of government funds in the region to stimulate the economy and make strategic investments. Often, these investments are in areas that have the highest impact on the economy, which is most likely to be technology or technology-enabled startups and corporations.
On 20th January, 2019, Kuwait was the latest country to announce a government fund, amounting to $200 million, one of the largest in the region. Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah stated, the fund was set up to invest in technology companies, which is necessary when moving toward a more digital economy.
source: sme10x
تختلف الأهداف والغايات من عملية التحول الرقمي من دولة الى أخرى الامر الذي يؤدي الى اختلاف في مسارات التحول ونتائجه، وينجم هذا الاختلاف عن ضرورات موضوعية تفرضها الحالة الاقتصادية لكل دولة، ففي حين تأتي عملية التحول الرقمي في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي في سياق سياسة تنويع النشاط الاقتصادي والكف عن الاعتماد على الثروات الطبيعية كمورد شبه وحيد للثروة، فإن التحول الرقمي في الدول غير النفطية يأتي كضرورة للإحداث عملية التنمية المستدامة اللازمة لرفع المستويات المعيشية وامتصاص البطالة وجذب الاستثمارات الاجنبية، وان كانت عملية التحول الرقمي تتم عبر استراتيجية عامة توضع عبر الأجهزة الحكومية، فإن متطلبات السوق هي العنصر الأساسي الذي يفرض شكل ومسار التحول الرقمي الذي قد يسبق رؤية واجراءات الحكومة لعملية التحول الرقمي ليأخذ دوراً ريادياً في هذه العملية، وهي حالة المغرب حينما التقط القطاع الخاص زمام المبادرة مبكرا حيث عرفت الشركات الرقمية الناشئة في المغرب نجاحات كبيرة على المستوى القارة الافريقية، ومن امثلة ذلك ما حققته شركة buzzfeed بالعربي للمحتوى الترفيهي و "شييبلي" المتخصصة في أغراض النقل قليل التكلفة و تطبيق "دابادوك" الذي يقوم بالربط بين الأطباء والمرض بغرض حجز المواعيد الطبية، وشركة ميدتراكس Medtrucks المتخصصة في العيادة الطبية المتنقلة، بالإضافة الى منصات البيع الالكتروني المتنوعة والتي كان اخرها منصة بيع الاعمال الفنية eldon& choukr.
ساهمت الشركات الرقمية و منصات البيع الالكتروني وتطور وسائل الدفع الرقمية في رفع تصنيف المغرب في مؤشر التجارة الالكترونية الصادر عن الأمم المتحدة لتحتل المرتبة 81 عالمياً والخامسة افريقيا حيث سجلت التجارة الإلكترونية بالمغرب نمو مطردا، فبعد أن كانت مجمل المعاملات التجارية لا تتخطى حدود الـ 120 مليون دولاراً في عام 2014 وصلت في عام 2017 إلى أكثر من 200 مليون دولاراً بنسبة نمو تصل الى أكثر من 60% لتحقق قفزة جديدة في عام 2018 حيث بلغت حجم المعاملات التجارية الالكترونية حوالي ال300 مليون دولار بمعدل نمو يصل الى 50% عن عام 2017 وفقاً للبيانات الرسمية الصادرة عن وزارة الصناعة والاستثمار والتجارة والاقتصاد الرقمي المغربية التي تفيد أيضاً بان 12% من المغاربة قد قاموا بعمليات شراء عبر الانترنت خلال السنة نفسها، ومرد هذا النمو، بالإضافة الى توسع منصات البيع الالكتروني والتشجيع والتسهيلات الحكومية للتجارة الالكترونية، هو ارتفاع نسبة المشتركين بخدمة الانترنت في المغرب حيث تجاوز عدد المشتركين المغاربة في خدمة الانترنت ال 22 مليون مشترك بنسبة 61% من اجمالي عدد سكان وبمعدل نمو 30% عن عام 2016.
اما عن الدور الحكومي في عملية التحول الرقمي فيبرز بعدة اتجاهات لعل أهمها الدعم المالي للشركات الناشئة في قطاع التكنولوجيا الحديثة عبر تخصيص صندوق مالي "صندوق المغرب الرقمي" الذي رصد 100 مليون دورهم لدعم الشركات الناشئة، وذلك في اطار استراتيجية "المغرب الرقمي 2020" التي اطلقتها الحكومة المغربية لغرض احداث التحول الرقمي، والتي يمكن تلخيصها أهدافها بما يآتي:
- إثراء صافي الناتج المحلي ب27 مليار درهم.
- خلق 26 ألف فرصة عمل جديدة في النشاط الرقمي.
- تعزيز القدرة التنافسية للمقاولة المغربية.
- المساهمة في تشجيع نشاط المقاولات في مجال الاقتصاد الرقمي.
- المساهمة في تنشيط سوق العمل.
- تشجيع نشر الأدوات الرقمية.
اما على صعيد الخدمات الحكومية الرقمية وفي سياق الاستراتيجية الموضوعة للتحول الرقمي عملت الحكومة المغربية على رقمنة عدد مهم من الخدمات والإجراءات الحكومية كالتصريح الضريبي الإلكتروني للشركات الكبرى والمتوسطة، ومنح ترخيص البناء، ورقمنة الأعمال الجمركية المتعلقة بالاستيراد والتصدير.
رغم تواضع الأرقام السابقة بما يخص التحول الرقمي في المغرب بالمقارنة مع الدول الغربية المتطورة ودول الخليج كالإمارات والسعودية إلا انه يجب الاخذ بالحسبان عامل حجم السوق والامكانيات المادية بالإضافة الى وتيرة النمو المتسارعة حيث يمكن القول ان المغرب يسير بخطوات سريعة في عملية التحول الرقمي يقودها رواد اعمال من الفئات الشابة، وعليه فان الأفق يبقى مفتوحا لتحقيق المزيد من التقدم على هذا الصعيد لا سيما مع ارتفاع الاستثمار الأجنبي المباشر في المغرب وخصوصاً في قطاع التقانة وصناعة السيارات والطاقة البديلة التي تحتل فيها المغرب مكانة ريادية في منطقة الشرق الاوسط الأمر الذي يحتم القيام بالمزيد من الإجراءات لإنجاز عملية التحول الرقمي ويدفع باتجاه زيادة الاستثمار في القطاع الرقمي.
There's a misconception that keeps those with dreams of owning their own business from following their dreams.
It's a misconception that's not only false but dangerous to the small business community.
It's not true that every entrepreneur sits in a rundown apartment somewhere in Silicon Valley, eats boxes of cheap mac-and-cheese and stays up all night building the next big startup.
Most entrepreneurs aren't living in poverty hoping to someday sign the papers for millions of dollars in funding only to see their dreams become the next worldwide craze.
The real landscape of entrepreneurship is much different and more mainstream than the model seen in the movies. According a Kauffman Foundation study, entrepreneurs are more likely to be between the ages of 45-54 and of minority descent. They may be starting businesses as second careers, but even those entrepreneurs don't fit the stereotype.
Another misconception is the notion that businesses have to start with a "bang," which translates to lots of time, quitting your day job, sacrificing family time and taking a big personal and financial risk on a dream that may not succeed and could burden you with large amounts of debt.
In fact, many business owners start their businesses as side ventures. They don't quit their day jobs, but instead use the skills they've learned to start that side business.
They aren't expecting these businesses to pay the bills, but they don't limit themselves on growth either. Starting small keeps the startup costs low. If it does fail, they have lost very little. How do you start a side business? Here are a few tips.
Make It Scaleable
So you love to cook? You could start a restaurant that will take a full-time commitment and a lot of money – or you could start a weekend catering business or a mobile food truck.
A business where you provide small services on your own schedule can grow as much or as little as your time allows. Look for those opportunities while you're starting out.
Limit the Formal Marketing
You want to gain business, but investing in large marketing efforts could have two negative effects: You could waste a lot of money on a campaign that produced very little business or it could produce so much business that you don't have the time to handle all of the orders.
Instead, focus on word-of-mouth advertising and let the business grow debt free.
Compartmentalize
If you're going to keep your day job, try not to mix the two businesses.
The job that pays the bills and offers health insurance and a retirement package deserves the bulk of your time and energy, even if you've lost some of the passion for that position.
After work, when you get back home, concentrate on your side business.
Don't Expect It to Be Easy
Before starting your side business, consider your expectations. If it's going to be a part-time effort, expecting to rival your full-time competitors in the first few years is unrealistic.
You don't have to be the biggest to find fulfillment. Expecting to do something you enjoy while making a little extra money is a healthy and appropriate goal.
The Bottom Line
If you dream of starting a business, don't fall for the misconception that you have to quit your job and put all of your time and money into your idea.
Instead, start small and see where the business takes you. Launching a business for the enjoyment of doing what you love is just as noble as being a Silicon Valley entrepreneur starting a dotcom.
source: investopedia
Brands have embraced automation to help them carry out a spectrum of everyday tasks.
According to a recent survey published by Social Media Today, 75 percent of marketing teams use some form of an automation tool. However, with growing popularity, there are growing concerns.
The same survey reports that 61 percent of marketers are concerned about the lack of personalization due to automation. Likewise, a global study by PWC found that as technology advances, most consumers want brands to use technology as a tool for increasing personalized support.
Put simply, customers want more human interaction, not less.
That's why it’s vital that today’s businesses find the right balance between automation and personalization. Companies that go overboard on automation can come across as detached and generic. On the other hand, those that get too personal with customers can come off as intrusive and creepy. Brands need to get it right to maintain a trusting relationship with their customers.
Here are ways marketers can successfully balance automation and personalization.
Offer Timely, Valuable Content
Email campaigns are an effective, low-cost way to leverage automation and personalization, but marketers need to be careful not to clog consumer inboxes. Instead, they should focus on offering relevant and valuable content that doesn’t involve using intrusive data.
Most consumers are familiar with receiving personalized content based on an action, such as an online purchase, that features a related product or service.
Using transactional data to send automated, personalized emails can be less intrusive since it’s a natural, and at this point expected, component of the relationship.
Marketers can also use geographical data, such as a customer’s zip code or address, to deliver personalized content, like creating a segmented list of customers and offering them discounts to nearby events. Although consumers dislike when brands bombard them with irrelevant, generic messaging, they also don’t like overly personal messages that infringe on their privacy.
Respect Consumer Privacy
Research shows that 81 percent of consumers want brands to get to know them and understand when to approach them, but not at the expense of their privacy.
There is a fine line between highly relevant content and tactics that take marketing personalization too far.
For example, sending mass emails to consumers with the same promotions or offers isn’t an effective strategy. Consumer interests vary significantly.
Marketers should pay attention to their target audience and consider whether the interaction will make them feel special or unsettled.
Customer data can be used effectively, but content that’s too personalized can disturb customers, thus putting them off the brand.
Enhance the Customer Experience
It’s crucial that marketers use technology to improve the consumer experience, rather than eliminate the human touch. For instance, British grocery chain Sainsbury’s delivered an exceptional customer experience with its “This Time It’s Ultra Personalized!” campaign.
The store used smartphone location data to provide personalized offers to customers through their mobile devices as they walked around the store.
Not only did the campaign promote in-store offers, but it helped the company gain insights about how people navigated the aisles. As a result, Sainsbury’s was able to make better merchandising decisions and improve its in-store customer experience. Marketers must remember that relationships are crucial in business and that automation tools provide additional support.
Combine Automation and Human Touch
There are many ways marketers can mix automation and personalization, such as inserting tags to add customers’s names in emails to make them feel like the message addresses them individually.
Going a step further, marketers can encourage team members to interact with potential customers by making calls, sending emails or requesting a connection on social media.
For example, if a visitor downloads content from the brand’s website, it’s a good idea to have someone on the team reach out personally, immediately.
According to an oft-cited Lead Response Management Study, waiting more than 10 minutes to follow up decreased the odds of securing a lead by as much as 400 percent.
If automation and personalization are going to be effective, it's important to find a way to balance the two.
Overdoing automation can make brand messages seem robotic and irrelevant. Likewise, getting too personal can overwhelm consumers.
A successful relationship between consumers and brands ultimately relies on the right blend.
source: entrepreneu
Looking ahead to the new year, innovation leaders should take note of these hype-worthy tech trends.
Gartner's Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies report, released on Thursday, detailed which future tech trends are more than hype.
The report found that these technologies show great promise in producing significant competitive advantage for companies over the next five to 10 years.
Deciding which emerging technology to use in your company isn't easy and vary by company, said Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner.
"Each of these emerging technologies are advancing at different rates, but within each are a number of generic use cases," Burke said.
"Technology leaders in organizations need to look at the technology and identify if it is mature enough to deploy in their specific use case."
It all comes down to what your business needs.
If a business has a specific use case for the technology that aligns with a generic use case, then the business has found the technology worth investing in, Burke added.
Here are the five emerging technologies, along with examples of each:
1. Sensing and mobility
"Sensing and mobility sound like two very different things, but they are actually very closely related, in that it is sensing that is enabling mobility" Burke said.
Organizations considering sensing and mobility technologies should check their personal use cases to see if there is a need for 3D-sensing cameras, AR cloud, light-cargo delivery drones, flying autonomous vehicles, and autonomous driving—all of which are emerging under this trend, the report found.
2. Augmented human
Emerging technologies in the augmented human realm include biochips, personification, augmented intelligence, emotion AI, immersive workspaces, and biotech, the report found.
"When we talk about augmented humans we are talking about providing people with immersive experiences," said Burke. Whether this is through immersive workspaces, which allows you to work virtually from anywhere, or physical experiences like prosthetic limbs, he added.
3. Postclassical compute and communications
Classical core computing and communication technologies have been going on for the last 30 years, predicted under Moore's Law, Burke said.
However, "Post Classical communications and compute cover how the underlying technologies are being deployed in entirely different ways, which is really giving us a step-change in compute and communication power," Burke noted.
An example of this is low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, Burke added. "Satellites have completely changed how we are going to connect and commute globally, especially in underserved areas," he said.
Enterprises should consider postclassical compute and communications technologies if they have use cases for 5G, next-generation memory, LEO systems, and nanoscale 3D printing, according to the report.
4. Digital ecosystems
"We've had ecosystems since businesses started, but digital ecosystems are about how digital technologies are reducing friction in business ecosystems," Burke noted.
On top of becoming more digital and reducing friction, he said, these ecosystems are also becoming more decentralized, which will allow users to have control over their own data and reduce the power of internet giants.
Examples of digital ecosystem technologies include DigitalOps, knowledge graphs, synthetic data, decentralized web, and decentralized autonomous organizations, the report found.
5. Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics
"AI is a pervasive trend," said Burke; it not only pervades the enterprise, but also all of these trends.
The most significant emerging uses of AI include adaptive machine learning, edge AI, edge analytics, explainable AI, AI platform as a service (PaaS), transfer learning, generative adversarial networks, and graph analytics, according to the report.
"We are seeing significant advances in AI algorithms, where AI is being used, and how AI is being democratized, so that it's not just strictly in the realm of giant tech companies, but are now available to end user organizations," Burke added.
Additional analysis on emerging technologies will be presented duringGartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2019
source: Techrepublicechrepublic
African private businesses are optimistic about their prospects for growth over the next year and are investing in digital systems to support that growth, advisory and professional services multinational PwC Africa said on Tuesday.
PwC’s inaugural ‘Africa Private Business Survey’, which surveyed 200 unlisted, privately owned retail, manufacturing and industrial companies with a yearly turnover of more than R150-million between February and April, showed that 81% of businesses rated their profitability over the past three years as having been good or fairly good – directly comparable to private businesses surveyed in Europe (84%) and Middle East (63.6%).
However, African businesses stood out markedly from their European and Middle Eastern counterparts with regard to whether they were optimistic they would grow their revenue over the next year, with 83% of African businesses indicating that they expect to grow their revenue compared to 54% in Europe and 49.5% in the Middle East.
“Private businesses are aware of the long-term relevance of digitalisation and this helps to explain their optimism for future growth,” said PwC Africa private business leader Gert Allen.
When asked how relevant digitalisation and digital capabilities are to the long-term viability of the business, 81% of African companies said it was very relevant, which was in line with Europe and the Middle East.
The survey found that 25% of companies were set to invest more than 5% of their total expected investment into new digital technologies, mostly from their in-house resources or bank financing, with some considering private equity or venture capital.
While the emphasis falls on different digital technologies depending on the market, African businesses highlighted process automation, the Internet of Things and product and service enhancement using digital technologies as their key focus areas.
“The differences in emphasis between Europe, the Middle East and Africa are partly owing to more developed markets having already invested in some digital technologies, but 55% of African businesses surveyed are willing to invest between 3% and more than 5% of their total investment in new and emerging technologies to support their future growth and competitiveness,” he said.
However, the impact of the lack of suitable skilled personnel on losses of turnover or unrealised turnover potential was also rated as significant, with 64% of businesses indicating an impact on turnover of 5% and more.
This is similar to the results from the Middle East (87%), but much higher than the proportion in European Union countries (49%) and Central and Eastern European countries (62%).
Additionally, the expectations of the roles skilled staff have to fulfil in private businesses include information technology future-proof skills, developing digital business or service models and designing a digital strategy.
Responding businesses highlighted potential internal barriers to digitalisation efforts as including cultural factors, albeit limited to older generations, and lack of relevant knowledge, as well as costs.
Further improving education to develop digital skills among the youth was seen as crucial to supporting African private business growth, said Allen.
“Accessing the right talent to realise the full benefits of digital technologies is important for businesses.
About 64% of African businesses indicated that they had the right skills in-house, but an overlapping 54% noted that they aimed to access these skills through service providers.
“Significantly, 18% of responding businesses said they would collaborate with start-up companies to access the skills,” said Allen.
PwC Africa associate director and member of the survey team Bernice de Witt highlighted that the survey revealed an appetite for digital change, including family-owned businesses.
“There is a logical fit to working together with technology start-ups, and we see this reflected in Europe and the Middle East,” confirmed Allen.
Meanwhile, PwC’s survey found that the composition of 80% of boards had also changed to become more diverse to make them suitable for advising or supervising companies undergoing digital change.
This shows that companies want to have people on their boards who understand the importance of and benefits that can be realised from digital technologies.
“The survey results indicate two things: Africa sees an opportunity to catch up in terms of digital technologies, but also businesses recognise the need to invest in these technologies to compete against rivals from within and beyond the continent.”
source: engineeringnews
In this member spotlight, see how Bahrain’s young startup ecosystem is coming to life in the Fintech sub-sector.
Bahrain took the spotlight in the startup world earlier this year when it hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019 in April.
The event gave the country a chance to show off its emerging startup economy to a much broader audience.
Bahrain is well known for being a world leader in getting its citizens connected to the internet.
The latest Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum ranked Bahrain third globally for the percentage of internet users by (98%), fifth globally in mobile broadband penetration rate (147.3%), and 10th globally for mobile penetration (158.4%). This naturally has helped encourage startup creation.
Another attractive aspect for startups is that Bahrain offers 0% corporate and personal tax, making it the most liberal tax regime in the Gulf.
These government efforts have attracted entrepreneurs from other countries, with more than a quarter of Bahraini founders moving to the country from somewhere else.
When it comes to specific startup sub-sectors, Fintech is on top and showing momentum.
This is partly due to Bahrain ranking first globally in Islamic finance regulation in the Global Islamic Finance Report.
Another factor is that the Bahrain government reduced capital startup requirements from $50,000 to $100 for some businesses and introduced a regulation-exempt “sandbox” for Fintech startups, meaning it would be easier for startups to experiment and grow quickly.
EDB Bahrain believes Fintech will continue to attract attention for the years to come, with an “increasing rise of challenger banks, digital-only banks, and non-traditional, algorithm-powered lenders” coming on to the startup scene. It expects Gulf-based FinTech startups “to attract $2 billion in private funding over the next 10 years, compared to $150 million over the previous decade.”
Other Bahrain startup ecosystem highlights from the 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report include:
- Top 15 Global Ecosystem for Affordable Talent.
- Average early-stage funding per startup totals $159,000.
- Ecosystem valued at $594 million.
- Output Growth Index of 9 out of 10, showing there is meaningful growth in total startup creation, calculated in an annualized growth rate.
Our local member in Bahrain is Tamkeen, a public authority established in August 2006 with the goal of supporting Bahrain’s private sector and playing a positive role in Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030. Tamkeen has two primary objectives: 1) foster the development and growth of enterprises and 2) provide support to enhance the productivity and training of the national workforce.
In fact, Tamkeen says it has created more than 330 different initiatives that have served more than 230,000 Bahraini individuals and businesses to date.
“One of Bahrain’s key competitive advantages in the region is its educated, economically active young population,” Dr. Ebrahim Mohammed Janahi, CEO at Tamkeen, told us. “We have redoubled our efforts to support globally recognized training solutions to broaden and deepen our pool of tech-savvy professionals.”
source: startupgenome
