1,000 investor-entrepreneur touch points registered at Riyadh event

AMMAN — Endeavour Jordan, in collaboration with Endeavour Saudi, has concluded the largest edition of the region’s flagship investor networking event “DealMakers” with an outstanding record of over 1,000 established touch points between investors and entrepreneurs, according to an Endeavour Jordan statement.

DealMakers 2020 was held for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, with support from Endeavour offices around the world, reaffirming the global network’s prime mission of supporting its high-impact entrepreneurs to scale their businesses across borders. 

Sponsored by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the Saudi Venture Capital Company and the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund in partnership with Monshaat and the World Bank Group, DealMakers 2020 convened 500 investors, entrepreneurs and key ecosystem enablers of 32 nationalities from 25 countries around the world, according to the statement.

Welcoming the guests, Endeavour Jordan's Managing Director Reem Goussous said: “The rapid change Saudi Arabia has recently undergone has cemented it — not just as an economic nucleus, but also as a regional hub for digital innovation and entrepreneurship — and hence our decision to hold this edition of DealMakers in Riyadh.”

“As the largest market in MENA, Saudi Arabia has long been a focal point for entrepreneurs,” Goussous added. 

The curated agenda of DealMakers 2020 commenced with a keynote talk featuring Endeavour Entrepreneur Fajrin Rasyid, co-founder of Indonesian e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Fadi Ghandour on MENA as an emerging entrepreneurial hub. 

The sessions were followed by two roundtables: One for venture capitals and limited partners shedding light on the fast-emerging business, investment and funding opportunities in Saudi Arabia, and another for angel investors titled “Smart Capital Goes Global: Global Trends in Angel Investing and Venture Capital”, according to the statement.

Running in parallel were three workshops for registered entrepreneurs focusing on scaling beyond borders. The first was on setting good governance practices, facilitated by Endeavour Bulgaria Chairman Vassil Terziev, the second was on corporate culture with Founding Director of Yarnu Rana Nejem and the third on understanding legal implications and liabilities when scaling beyond borders with Lee McMahon, co-founder at Clara.

The event culminated in the one-on-one speed networking sessions, during which entrepreneurs sat with investors for 10 minutes each over the course of two hours to pitch their businesses, the statement noted.

Present was a line-up of over 130 investors representing 83 venture capital and private equity funds and 48 angel investors, as well as 114 entrepreneurs from 93 startups. Besides Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the participating countries were Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the US.

Endeavour’s mission is to catalyse sustainable, long-term economic growth and support the creation of employment opportunities in the local market by accelerating high-impact entrepreneurial companies that have a positive and tangible impact on society. Endeavour offers entrepreneurs support through its global network, access to a mentorship network, as well as other tools that are essential to achieving entrepreneurial success, according to the statement.

Endeavour launched its operations in Jordan in 2009, and is leading the way in supporting high-impact entrepreneurship. Today, Endeavour Jordan supports 38 Endeavour Entrepreneurs representing 25 companies from eight different industries.