Meet-up 06: The Saudi VCPE Ecosystem: A Belgian Perspective

Osama Ashri

Former CEO of SVCPE Association

Moderated by Osama M. Ashiri, Founder of Saudi Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, the panel featured Dominique Mineur, Ambassador of Belgium to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who examined the similarity in the challenges faced by both countries when supporting SMEs, the positive impact of facilities and the tools provided to SMEs by both markets; Abdulla Al Tamimi, Founding Partner and CEO at Merak Capital who discussed what an attractive ecosystem for venture capitalists looks like from an entrepreneurial point of view; Abdulaziz Al Nashwan, General Manager of Equity Funding at Monshaat, who depicted the process of enhancing the access to funding that is provided to SMEs and the business challenges faced by investors; Thibaut Claes, Investment Manager at WING, who explained the integral role education plays in catalyzing the venture ecosystem, and what a successful break into the venture capital ecosystem entails; Hubert Simens, International Finance Advisor, CBEC and Greentech advisor who focused on the support provided to Belgian SMEs during the innovation and maturity phases of its evolution from a nascent to an established market.

Abdulaziz AlNashwan

GM of Equity Funding at Monshaat

Abdulaziz Al Nashwan, General Manager of Equity Funding at Monshaatexplainedthe challenges faced by venture capitalists Saudi and solutions to overcoming them: “One of the key challenges for the industry that we saw a couple of years back, basically the VC industry did not exist. It's very nascent, so we came up with the initiative to support the creation of fund managers and thenwe can attract fund managers to come and set up.

Abdullah Al Tamimi

Founding Partner & CEO at Merak Capital

Abdulla Al Tamimi, Founding Partner and CEO at Merak Capital,explained thatthe challenge in nascent markets is “not the lack of opportunities but the lack of the right resources”available to capitalize on the market’s extant opportunities.He added that Saudi Arabia’s economic size will make it an anchor economy for in the entire region’s VCPE growth.

H.E. Dominique Mineur

Ambassador of Belgium to the KSA

Dominique Mineur, Ambassador of Belgium to the Kingdom of Saudi ArabiasaidSMEs are crucial to developing economies, stating: “Belgium has a structure of about 90 percent of SMEs... SMEs are the backbone of our economy and essential players in economic growth.” She continued to highlight how venture capitalists address the various challenges faced by SMEs: “Support is provided at various stages of the growth to help funding premises, building a facility, finding investors or funding, developing products and exporting abroad.”

Thibaut Claes

Investment Manager at WING

Thibaut Claes, Investment Manager at WINGoutlinedwhat a promising venture capital ecosystem looks like: “In order to have a successful VC ecosystem, you need to have an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is fruitful, and for that, you need well-educated people from universities.”He also discussed the significance of a having a hero sector which, for Belgium is the biotech sector: “Belgium represents less than two percent of the people in Europe, but raised 10 percent of all the funds raised in 2020. We see that the biotech ecosystems are really attractive for venture capitalists because of education,”he said.

Hubert Siemes

Int’l Finance Advisor, CBEC & Greentech Advisor

Hubert Simens, International Finance Advisor, CBEC, and Greentech Advisorhighlightedthe challenges met by Belgian SMEs: “80 percent of the business population are working in SMEs. But SMEs in Belgium, are as a fish in the water. The challenge for them is finding growth [beyond their local market], from Belgium to Europe and then to the rest of the world. We use two ways of supporting them to innovate and mature, that’s through support with a cluster at the regional level and [...] through regulation that could give them a better framework to the installation of venture capitalists.”

Number of Funds Invested

Committed Capital (SAR Billion)

Virtual

English

In this meetup we took a deep dive into the structure of Saudi Arabia’s venture capital and private equity sectors and offered reasons for Belgian SMEs and investors to enter the market.

Panelists

Osama Ashri

Former CEO of SVCPE Association

Abdulaziz AlNashwan

GM of Equity Funding at Monshaat

Abdullah Al Tamimi

Founding Partner & CEO at Merak Capital

H.E. Dominique Mineur

Ambassador of Belgium to the KSA

Thibaut Claes

Investment Manager at WING

Hubert Siemes

Int’l Finance Advisor, CBEC & Greentech Advisor

Want to watch the full meet-up?

Number of Funds Invested

Committed Capital (SAR Billion)

Meet-up 06: The Saudi VCPE Ecosystem: A Belgian Perspective

Virtual

English

​​​​​​​​​​​In this meetup we took a deep dive into the structure of Saudi Arabia’s venture capital and private equity sectors and offered reasons for Belgian SMEs and investors to enter the market.

Panelists

Osama Ashri

Former CEO of SVCPE Association​

Osama Ashri

Osama Ashri

Abdulaziz AlNashwan

GM of Equity Funding at Monshaat​​​​​

Abdulaziz AlNashwan

Abdulaziz AlNashwan

Abdullah Al Tamimi

​​Founding Partner & CEO at Merak Capital​

Abdullah Al Tamimi

Abdullah Al Tamimi

H.E. Dominique Mineur

​​Ambassador of Belgium to the KSA​

H.E. Dominique Mineur

H.E. Dominique Mineur

Thibaut Claes

​​​Investment Manager at WING​​

Thibaut Claes

Thibaut Claes

Hubert Siemes

Int’l Finance Advisor, CBEC & Greentech Advisor​​​​

Hubert Siemes

Hubert Siemes

Want to watch the full meet-up?

Reporting a Violation

In this meetup we took a deep dive into the structure of Saudi Arabia’s venture capital and private equity sectors and offered reasons for Belgian SMEs and investors to enter the market.

Former CEO of SVCPE Association

GM of Equity Funding at Monshaat

Founding Partner & CEO at Merak Capital

Ambassador of Belgium to the KSA

Investment Manager at WING

Int’l Finance Advisor, CBEC & Greentech Advisor