The Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan (int@j) in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Economy & Entrepreneurship (MODEE), has officially started the preparation of establishing a dedicated area within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) ICT Forum 2022, under the name ‘Startup Village’.
Under the Royal Patronage of King Abdullah the second, the ninth edition of Middle East and North Africa ICT Forum will be held on November 16-17, 2022 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center in the Dead Sea.
int@j stated that the Startup Village will be divided into four sections, the first: to exhibit the products and innovative solutions of startups, the second to hold workshops and educational sessions with the entrepreneurs, and the third to hold discussions and fireside chats with representatives of the various global and regional entrepreneurship ecosystems, and the last will be “Investor Lounge” dedicated as a one to one meeting point between investors and startups.
int@j revealed that more than 67 representatives of 50 investment funds from the Middle East region will be participating in sessions and dialogues at the forum and at the ‘Startup Village’ in particular. The participating investment funds will be from different countries including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey and many others, alongside with the Chinese Investment Fund operating in the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition, int@j highlighted that a competition for startups will be taking place in parallel, where startups will be pitching their products or services to the public and a voting session will be taking place. The results of the voting will be announced during the closing session by the end of the forum on the second day, Nov 17th, 2022.
In addition to more than 80 senior officials, professionals and experts from 28 different countries around the world who will be speaking at the Forum, more than 35 speakers will be participating in numerous sessions held by the forum within the ‘Startup Village’.
int@j established a subsection within the MENAICT Forum’s website that startups can register in the “Startup Village” and attend the forum; https://www.menaictforum.com/
The Middle East and North Africa region has recorded more than 300 investments in startups during the first half of this year, with a volume of $1.8 billion, whereas, startups operating in the financial technology sector accounted for the largest share of those investments followed by the e-commerce sector, while the rest of the investments were distributed among other various sectors.