São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Mango Ventures and Peppery Lab will organize on February 12 a Bootcamp to select a Brazil-based startup to participate in the global competition of the 2020 Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), an investment forum to have its 10th edition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from March 24-26. Registration deadline is January 31 and the startups may apply here.
The 2020 Annual Investment Meeting is hosting national competitions across 72 countries, including Brazil, to identify the best startups. The shortlisted companies will participate in the global competition in Dubai and the winners of each country will run for USD 50,000 prize.
On February 7, the AIM organization for Latin America will make public the startups selected to participate in the Arab Chamber Bootcamp to run on the 12th in the organization’s headquarters in São Paulo. “We’re selecting judges together with the Arab Chamber among executives, the Chamber’s members and experts in the Arab world. The startups will be assessed by innovation level, how scalable is their business model, if the technology is applicable, and other criteria,” explained Wellington Galassi (pictured), a partner at Mango Ventures Brazil, which works on developing projects and internationalizing startups. He talked to ANBA at the Arab Chamber headquarters last Tuesday (21).
The requirements to participate in the Bootcamp include having an even remotely viable product, having been legally registered, having quantitative evidence of the market demand, a business plan, and a passport for a representation that is valid for at least three months.
The selected startup will gain access to AIM event for the three days in Dubai, including flight tickets and accommodation, a stand at the event and the chance to participate in the global startup competition.
Partnership
According to Galassi, Mango Ventures created a project in partnership with the Arab Chamber and Peppery Lab, a curation platform for innovation, to promote events, relations to startups, and content management. Named Arab Tech Tour, the project intends to make Brazilian Arab-oriented startups international through a series of events schedules, such as AIM, the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum to run in April in São Paulo, and Gitex, a technology and innovation fair to run in October in Dubai. The project is responsible for selecting the judging panel for the AIM Bootcamp.
“Arab Tech Tour is an innovation and internationalization program for startups and innovative businesses in Brazil and the Arab countries that is just starting, it’s still to be launched officially. We’re planning this launch to occur during the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum,” said Galassi.
The goal of the project, the executive says, is annually selecting startups for a mentorship period, then going to a specific Arab country for business meetings. “And when they come back, the Arab Chamber, Mango and we will keep working on their business modeling so that they can generate business with the Arab countries,” he said.
The project is not just about Brazilian startups but also high-level executives. “It’s also for C-level executives to learn about opportunities in the Arab countries. Moreover, the program involves bringing Arab startups and investors to Brazil. It’s actually a program aimed at furthering Arab-Brazil bilateral relations,” he added.
Within this context, to start the program, the project decided to start with Dubai since it’s an environment that works with many innovative technologies.
Galassi explained that the internationalization is often mistaken with exporting or opening an international office. “But it covers much more than this. A company can follow the best international practices, being globally competitive and have never exported. A Brazilian company can receive foreign investment and keep working only in Brazil. There are several possible scenarios. We need to demystify the misconception in internationalization,” he said.
To Gitex, the Arab Tech Tour project intends taking a delegation of around five startups plus come C-level executives for focused meetings. “This is not an exclusive program, it’s inclusive, aims at including the most market players possible, including the government,” said Galassi.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
