AIWF June 2012 The Entrepreneurial and Investments Projects Development Company Salwa Katkhuda-...
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AIWF June 2012
The Entrepreneurial and Investments Projects Development Company
Salwa Katkhuda- Investment Manager
Oasis500: Accelerating Tech Start-ups in
The Middle East
AIWF June 2012
Oasis 500 – Overview• Oasis 500 invests in early stage companies and transforms them into
viable businesses by addressing the following gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: • Seed and Angel Investment Funding• Help and Know-how• Societal and Environmental Support
• Oasis 500 is focused on investing in the areas of ICT, mobile, and digital media
• Oasis 500 aims to train over 3,000 companies and invest in 500 companies in its first 5 years
AIWF June 2012
Training Boot Camp Train entrepreneurs on behavioral competencies, business management, business planning and venture fund-raisingDesigned to educate, stress test, and select
Startup Funding & Acceleration/Incubation
Selected entrepreneurs will be given a first round of funding (JD 22K), with a possible follow-on investment (JD 50K)Funded companies will be incubated at Oasis 500 for 4-8 months
Mentorship Incubated companies mentored by local and international industry experts (e.g. Silicon Valley)
Angel Network Oasis 500 operates an angel network to attract investors to well-prepared opportunitiesOASIS 500 may co-invest in some of these deals (JD 100K-200K)
Oasis 500 operates 4 major activities to address the missing gaps in the ecosystem
Oasis 500 – What We Do?
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1
3 4
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AIWF June 2012
Sample size (126 entrepreneurs, 35% women, 65% men)
• The ecosystem does not appear to have a bias towards or against female entrepreneurs
• The real problem with female entrepreneurship goes back to the problem of women in the workforce in general
– Jordan has one of the highest female literacy rates in the region (82%), yet females represent only 11% of the workforce.
• The technology sector is one of the only sectors in the economy that supports the involvement of women in the workforce and provides them with high value jobs
Oasis 500 – Gender Strategy Findings
AIWF June 2012
Challenges Faced by Women
• Limited access to a proper transit system
• Long working hours
• Culture of women being outside the home
• Working with men
• Access to proper training and education to match employment opportunities
AIWF June 2012
Solutions Made Possible by TechnologyThe Internet has transformed women's opportunities
• More flexible work options, freelance, home-based work
• Ability to work remotely• Being your own boss with low capital needs• Lucrative growth industry• Online resources available for free/low cost
AIWF June 2012
Oasis 500 – Tadreesna Case Study• The first Arabic online tutoring school for students founded by a
Jordanian woman- Nora Al Saad• Nora hired 20 freelance online tutors, 10 of which were
unemployed qualified teachers, from 5 Arab countries• In 3 months she has enrolled 186 students
AIWF June 2012
First Bazaar Case Study
• A one stop e-commerce shop where local designers can display and sell their unique hand made goods - founded by Linda Hallaq
• Linda helps more than 1,000 women designers in the MENA region sell their goods online from home
AIWF June 2012
Oasis 500 - Statistics• Out of the 500 trained entrepreneurs (March 2012), 123 are women
(25%)• 18/52 companies were founded/co-founded by women (35%)• 150 total mentors, 30 are women (20%)• The number of women employed by Oasis 500 startups since Sept
2010 is 48.• Women led startups at Oasis 500 have managed to attract USD
1million in follow on funding in less than 1 year.• Oasis 500 team, 8/11 are women
AIWF June 2012
Oasis 500 – How Oasis 500 Encourages Entrepreneurship
According to Oasis 500 research:• The training boot camp:
– Equips entrepreneurs with basic knowledge to start their own business
– Allows entrepreneurs to objectively evaluate the business opportunity
– Gives entrepreneurs the confidence to start their own business
• Exposure to Oasis 500’s previous success stories
• The supportive ecosystem: – The incubation, mentorship, coaching, connections, and
introduction to investors minimizes risk and costly mistakes
AIWF June 2012
Oasis 500 – What More Could be Done to Encourage Women Entrepreneurship
According to Oasis 500 research:• Reach out to more women, through targeted marketing, to enroll
more women in the training boot camp
• Expose women entrepreneurs to more women success stories
• Increase the number of women mentors in the network
• Introduce entrepreneurship as a viable path for women at school and university levels, promoting being your own boss