Doha: The startup ecosystem in Qatar is growing rapidly. Officials and experts highlighted the efforts being taken by concerned authorities in order to promote and nurture startups and how entrepreneurs are being provided resources and opportunities to accomplish and achieve their goals, during a panel session on ‘Nurturing the startup ecosystem in Qatar’.
Forbes Middle East, in association with Dukhan Bank, QFC and TASMU, hosted its inaugural event entitled ‘Digital Qatar Symposium & Awards 2021’ with the theme ‘Leveraging Digital Innovation for Continued Excellence’ which discussed insights about the digital uplifts being taken by Qatar.
Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan, Executive Director of Finance at Qatar Development Bank (QDB) shed light on the financial schemes available at QDB. He said, “We started by offering an SME equity platform where we invested in startups. We are trying to engage with private sector, venture capital funds and other capacity building partners.”
Speaking about the mentorship programs for investors he said, “We are planning to start an angel investment program in collaboration with QSTP to offer some mentorship and training for investors about how to choose startups.”
Hayfa Al Abdulla, Innovation Director at Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) noted that any partnership whether with industry or government players with the startups is noteworthy. “Starting from defining the problems and challenges that the industry is facing to provide solutions and allowing the startups to pilot their ideas and solutions within the industry ecosystem is essential. We are aiming for the industry to become a leader when they mentor people and run accelerator and we aspire to see these things in the future.”
Responding to query about services for investors that QSTP offers she said, “We have two key programs to support young startups in QSTP - the incubation center and the technology venture fund. The incubation center is where we give room for young startups to test their ideas. At this stage we focus on choosing the right team and give them the opportunities to try their ideas and reach out to people.”
Hamad Mubarak Al Hajri, Co-Founder & CEO of Snoonu addressed what does it take for a startup in Qatar to succeed highlighting that ‘Growth’ is the one word of success for startups. “We need to focus on growth and revenue, reduce the operational negative operational margin and make sure you are profitable in the operations margin,” he said.
Ashraf Abuissa, Chairman of Abuissa Holding discussed the future outlook of the innovation and startup ecosystems of Qatar noting that we have the platform and the market in Qatar to be more active innovation business.
