Expatriate Entrepreneur

1
Expatriate Entrepreneur

• Presented to TIE
• 15th January 2005

2
Who is the typical Expatriate Entrepreneur (EE)

• Middle age (35) year old
• Worked and gained experience in a multinational
  or large organisation
• Fairly competent in his/her area of expertise
• Looking to make his fortune by taking a risk and
  starting own business
• In the order that we have seen them, most come
  from
• Sub continent (India, Pakistan)
• Levant (Jordan/Palestine, Lebanon)
• Egypt
• European (British, German)

3
Why did they come to UAE

• Most have visited the UAE before
• Most have a link through previous assignments,
  friends, relatives
• They believe the opportunity is better in UAE
  than their home country
• The attraction of earning tax free income
• Ability to set up operation in the free zone
  without having to partner with local although
  they might choose to do so

4
What type of operation they are starting

• Very few are starting a unique services business
• Very few are building Intellectual Capital in UAE
• Mostly building a service delivery or sale and
  marketing operation to target the UAE or GCC
  market
• Most bring some type of relationship with a
  global player e.g. agency, reseller, affiliation
• Most believe they are filling in a gap for a
  service or a product that exist elswhere
• Some believe they can use Dubai as a launch pad
  for new global service that they found hard to
  sell elswhere

5
What do they want and/or need

• They usually mostly ask for money
• They are always very optimistic about the
  opportunity thinking that because there is a lot
  of money they can generate a lot of revenue
• Realistically most really need additional support
  and services such as
• Contact network in the region to sell and enter
  into markets
• Financial support
• Marketing support
• Other general management support
• Almost always they need dose of reality to adjust
  their business plans to better reflect GCC
  business environment

6
What are the risks unique to them

• From a investor perspective they present
  additional risks to the local entrepreneur.
  These unique risks include
• Stability it is not their home country, they can
  leave anytime for family or other reasons
• Knowledge of the business environment their
  ability to adapt and operate within the local
  business environment
• Contact base in the region the region is very
  relationship based and it takes a while to build
  such relationships new arrivals might not have
  such network
• Their business is mostly trading no real assets
  for the investor to hold on to
• Managing their expectations as to valuation and
  the realistic size of the opportunity
• Most of them register their organisation in the
  free zones (FZ) such as Dubai Media or Internet
  cities, the legal system and dispute resolution
  is not clear for FZ companies

7
Where does the funding industry fall short

• PE and VC organisations in the region today have
  very little capability to support early stage
  organisations with the services discussed
  previously
• No government support for the EE
• No corporates that operate VC/PE organisations
  that can act as an incubator for EE who are
  trying to start a venture in their industry

8
Value they add to the economy

• Skills and expertise
• Strong contacts and relationships with the OECD
  countries
• Strong contacts and relationships with their home
  countries
• Expand the local economy, they are consumers of
  goods and services when they relocate here to
  serve the region
• Keep the country in line with global trends by
  brining in those trends in the region through UAE
• Enhance UAEs position on the global map

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Who is Injazat?

• Injazat Technology Fund E.C. is a US 50 million
  Venture Capital Fund operating in compliance with
  Shari'a principles and targeting technology
  companies within the MENA region under the motto
• "From the region For the region".
• Islamic Corporation for the Development of the
  Private Sector (ICD)
• Gulf Finance House
• Dubai Islamic Bank
• Saudi Economics Development Company (SEDCO)
• Iran Foreign Investment Corporation (IFIC