The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) and the Dubai-based venture capital firm VentureSouq have outlined their intention to launch a partnership that will lead to the deployment of capital to empower the value chain for early-stage, mission-driven global technologies.
The parties will collaborate to educate and nurture the next generation of early-stage technology companies that are looking to make a positive social, environmental or economic impact and advance one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The partnership will also bring together other investors and stakeholders who believe in the financial benefits of integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment decisions.
The efforts of the partnership will be focused on the deployment of seed and series A capital to start-ups in the MENA, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia regions with FinTech, FoodTech or ClimateTech solutions that demonstrate potential for significant scale and profitability.
This partnership comes in the wake of the completion of the second successful cohort of the Conscious Investor Fellowship (a regional educational program oriented towards corporate, institutional and family office investors), as well as the full deployment of an impact-focused investment vehicle, managed by VentureSouq, called the Conscious Collective.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Sonia Weymuller, Partner at VentureSouq, and Namir Hourani, Managing Director, GMIS Summit, during the Global Prosperity Conference at Dubai Exhibition Centre at EXPO 2020.
Hourani said: “Supporting start-ups and innovators is a core element in our ongoing drive to promote inclusivity, sustainability and impact at the GMIS Summit.
“In 2017, we launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity to encourage innovators to deploy their solutions towards solving real-world problems. The initiative was an eye-opener, highlighting the tremendous potential impact technology can have on our societies. This, coupled with the reality that investors are no longer ready to invest in companies that do not consider ESG factors within their core strategy, fuelled the decision towards partnering with VentureSouq to explore the opportunity of collaborating in the impact investment and education space together.”
Weymuller added: “The venture capital landscape is rapidly evolving. The next generation of investors understand it is high time to give their capital more purpose by supporting founders who are harnessing the power of technology to enable positive social, environmental and economic impact, at scale.
“The pandemic and its ramifications served to accelerate this broader movement towards conscious investing; we see the potential for technology to act as a multiplier for positive impact and for venture capital to magnify it. We want to provide regional stakeholders with the tools to make sound investment decisions to support ventures that reflect this ethos.”
The Global Prosperity Conference was held alongside the GMIS Week at EXPO’s Dubai Exhibition Centre, which gathered a cross-section of over 250 global leaders from the public and private sector. The GMIS Week included the two-day #GMIS2021 Summit on November 22-23, an Alternative & Renewable Energy Conference – The Green Chain Conference – on November 24, and country focused sessions in partnership with the United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy.
