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GVCA First Annual Conference
Bahrain - June 2005 — The Gulf Venture Capital Association
(GVCA), registered in Bahrain, will organize its first
annual conference on venture capital (VC) and private
equity (PE) in Bahrain on Nov. 15-17, 2005. The theme
of the conference will be “Building a Regional Venture
Capital and Private Equity Industry.”
The conference will address key issues related to building
a vibrant VC/PE industry in the region. The conference
will also include special structured interactive sessions
designed to address key challenges facing VC/PE in the
region. These sessions will allow GVCA members to participate
in shaping the future of the industry.
The conference will be preceded with a short course on
venture capital.
Please check events - conference for more information
on the conference
* * *
GVCA Partners with IBF
Conferences to bring its Members Online Educational Forums
Sign up to Sponsor and Get Access to a Growing
Investment Community
The Gulf Venture Capital Association is planning to host
monthly Web Executive Briefings on a variety of topics
in the venture capital/private equity arena. These will
range from Best Practices to growing a new venture capital
community to industry specific investing such as energy
or biotechnology.
Reach Your Target Audience
Let IBF Conferences and the Gulf Venture Capital Association
help your company share its message, connect with clients
and partners, and garner the exposure it deserves. For
over 15 years, IBF Conferences has successfully created,
developed, and executed over 200 events in the financial
services, technology, and healthcare industries. Sponsoring
provides the consummate mix of advertising, brand communications,
and business development.
IBF’s alumni and GVCA’s target audience consists of Venture
capitalists, corporate investors, institutional investors,
private equity investors, limited partners, angel investors,
investment bankers, CEOs and CFOs of emerging growth companies,
university & national laboratory technology transfer
officers, corporate executives in the biotech, medtech,
nanotech, pharmaceutical, clean technology industries,
and service providers.
How it works
The GVCA is anticipating 300-350 participants per webcast.
Participants will sign up to attend a live webcast with
our expert panel of speaker(s). The audience will be connected
through the web and either with streaming audio via their
pc or through audio via bridge calls. They will first
go live, and then will be archived (taped) for viewers
to watch at any time they choose. The webcast conference
will flow like a regular panel discussion or seminar.
Interactive Q&A will take place at the end of the
panel.
As a sponsor of an online forum, your event will have
a reach that extends beyond the one-day event.
Please check events-webcast for more information on sponsoring
this event.
* * *
Founding meeting of GVCA takes place
in Bahrain
The founding meeting of the Gulf Venture Capital Association
(GVCA) was held on April 7, 2004 at the Gulf Hotel in
the Kingdom of Bahrain.
More than one hundred participants attended the meeting
representing investment organizations and conglomerates
in the region. The event was sponsored by AMIANTIT, Saudi
Aramco, the National Commercial Bank, Gulf Investment
Corporation, A.K. Al-Bakri & Sons, Adwan Chemical
Industries Co., and Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo.
The GVCA is a non-profit professional society for Venture
Capital and Private Equity to serve its members in the
Gulf countries by promoting a risk-taking investment culture
and entrepreneurship.
The mission of the Association is to promote the Venture
Capital and Private Equity industry and improve the performance
and professional standards of member firms and individuals
in the region.
The Association will focus on several issues that are
needed to build this industry, such as investment and
business models, legal/fiscal policies and regulations
to promote this industry, management of fundraising and
structures, technology evaluation and valuation, incentive
management and contracts and control rights, among others.
In addition, the Association will introduce Corporate
Venture Capital as an important business growth mechanism
for corporations in the region. Also, GVCA will be a source
of information, news and studies on this industry in the
region.
Formation of the Gulf Venture Capital
Association
A Key Milestone for Economic Growth
A key milestone has been achieved in the development
of the region’s financial sector with the recent
establishment of the Gulf Venture Capital Association
(GVCA). Formed by a consortium of prominent institutions
and professionals from across the G.C.C., the GVCA is
a new independent trade and industry association committed
to supporting the growth of a strong venture capital and
private equity industry within the Arabian Gulf.
Through its formation, the GVCA’s aims to encourage
and enable appropriate laws and industry regulations,
develop human resources, promote a risk-taking investment
culture, provide industry statistics, and facilitate networking
events.
Mr. Abdullah Al-Subyani, the current President of the
GVCA, notes that “venture capital and private equity
have proven to be an integral part of a robust financial
sector. In fact, a healthy venture capital industry has
been shown to be a significant contributor towards economic
and business development, job creation and innovation.”
In recent years, the Arabian Gulf has witnessed a number
of significant trends, including the repatriation of capital
and talent back into the region, the deregulation of several
key industries, the liberalization of markets for trade
and investment, and an increased emphasis on promoting
the private sector to the forefront of the economy. Building
upon these trends, the GVCA is committed to playing a
key role in bringing together the region’s extended
community of investors and entrepreneurs to focus on building
venture capital into a major component of the region’s
financial and economic infrastructure.
GVCA is a regional association with widespread participation
from the across the Arabian Gulf. Some of the regional
institutions represented on the association’s Board
of Directors include Amwal, Alami Consulting, Arab Science
& Technology Foundation, Galfar, Injazat Technology
Fund, HSBC, Khazaen Venture Capital, Malaz Group, Nexia
International, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Economic Development
Company, Shuaa Capital, Stratum, The National Investor,
and Zawya.
Speaking after the first Board meeting recently held
in Dubai, Dr. Ousama Tabbara, the current Vice-President
of the GVCA, stated that “the association will launch
several regional programs in 2005, including a live video
conference series to promote learning and networking across
nine G.C.C. cities, as well as a number of training courses,
workshops, and road shows tailored to serve the needs
of the G.C.C.’s emerging venture capital industry.”
Marwan Tabbara, a member of the Board and current Treasurer
added by saying that “our 2005 plans also include
the organization of the first GVCA Annual Conference scheduled
for later this year in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”
The GVCA has launched its website at www.gulfvca.org
that includes additional information about the organization,
its committees and an online registration form for interested
members.
GVCA Formation Teams:
Since the founding meeting of GVCA on April 7, 2004,
dedicated and tireless people worked in several teams
to prepare for the formation of GVCA. Teams’ activities
included, among others, drafting the By-Laws, selection
of the first founding board members for 2005 and preparing
for the annual conference. These distinguished people
are: Abdullah Al-Alami, Abdullah Al-Subyani, Ahmed Al-Darweesh,
Ahmad Al-Sari, Ahmed Alumran, Fahad Al-Shirawi, Hamad
Al-Omar, Imad Ghandour, Ihsan Jawad, Jaya Ratnam, Khaled
Al-Turki, Mansour Al-Khuzam, Marwan Tabbara, Ousamah Tabbara
and Ramzi Abu Khadhra. |
The
growth of Venture Capital Investment is a key indicator
of the competitiveness and dynamism of an economh. Though
Venture Capital and Private Equity are growing at rapid
pace worldwide 
The
Gulf Venture Capital Association Will organise its first
annual conference in February 2006 Abdullah Al Subyani,
President of the organisation discusses the importance
of the event with GFI's David Beckett.. 
Getting
serious about Gulf venture capital 