“The UAE offers great opportunities in a new unsaturated market to all passionate startups and invites them to set-up and launch their innovations in the country.”
As part of our series of posts about the leading examples of innovation and entrepreneurship, we would like to introduce the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF) initiative.
Introduction
The MBRIF is a federal government backed initiative by the UAE Ministry of Finance which seeks to identify and nurture high potential local and international innovators, to enhance the growth potential of their businesses and shape the future of the UAE’s economy.
Currently, the MBRIF consists of two programs, including:
- The Guarantee Scheme (launched in 2016)
- A program built to bridge the financing gap for innovative companies. The Guarantee Scheme enables innovators access to an affordable and flexible debt financing solution, allowing innovators to accelerate their growth without having to dilute their equity. The scheme is suitable for companies which are already based in the UAE or willing to create a significant presence as part of their growth strategy.
- The Accelerator (launched in 2018)
- A program designed to provide innovative companies with access to world-class startup growth services and leadership (or founder) coaching to accelerate their business. The Accelerator supports innovators by delivering tangible results through a combination of bespoke services tailored to their most pressing needs. In addition, the accelerator also provides access to an ecosystem of global experts and partners, industry and market insights, and other key resources to accelerate the growth of their business at no cost to the innovator.
The MBRIF focuses on seven sectors of the UAE National Innovation Strategy, including Technology, Education, Water, Transport, Clean Energy, Health and Space.
Key accomplishments
Since its launch in November 2016, the Guarantee Scheme has helped finance 4 innovative companies from sectors such as technology, education, construction and agriculture. Those companies are at different growth stages, from seed to mature.
The financial support has helped these companies establish or strengthen a significant presence in the UAE, scale their businesses locally and regionally, invest in R&D, hire technology talent (create jobs) and further enhance innovative solutions with the help of affordable and non-dilutive (no equity) capital.
The Accelerator program was launched in December 2018 and has already supported the growth of 39 innovative businesses, including 11 new members accepted in January 2020, across all seven priority sectors. The program helped its members crystalize their business strategy, understand target customers, identify key partners, introduced them to key market players, and provided the insights they needed to enter the UAE market or grow within it.
Supported by the program’s ecosystem of experts, several members have scaled operations, secured first clients or first UAE contract, expanded footprint and revenue, while others, have received funding and won prestigious industry recognition.
The Accelerator program team does not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach; therefore, the program focuses on creating customized action plans for each member, which are tailored to each member’s most pressing needs. Since joining the program, first cohort members have raised a total of $14 million in funding.
Results of service satisfaction surveys among the Accelerator program members revealed 98% satisfaction rate, which further solidifies the uniqueness of the program and the services it provides.
The MBRIF team has been committed to the success of its members and continues to look for innovative high growth businesses who are attracted to the entrepreneurial mindset and growth opportunities in the UAE.
Outlook for entrepreneurship in the UAE
The Government of UAE has always prioritized the entrepreneurship and innovation agenda. The country’s leadership has an ambition to create a culture of innovation, which is underpinned by various investment initiatives, including the MBRIF. In fact, the UAE’s annual investment in innovation equals USD 3.8 billion.
The nation is collaboratively working towards placing the country among the top 10 most innovative countries, noting that the UAE is already ranked first in the region as measured by the Global Innovation Index (GII). The UAE is also home to several economic zones that allow 100% foreign ownership and offer favorable regulations with no corporate or income tax. In addition, since 2019, the government started offering 5-year extended visas for entrepreneurs and their families. When combined together, these initiatives have helped further improve the ease of doing business in the UAE, which according to the World Bank, is already a leading country in the Middle East.
In 2019, as a result of the UAE’s Innovation Agenda, the country moved up two places in the GII and ranked as the 36th most innovative country globally. The UAE’s Innovation Agenda identified four tracks to enable the innovation in the country: form supportive environments and laws, institutionalize innovative practices, encourage private companies to establish innovation and research centers, and enable personal innovation by focusing on STEM capabilities. Moreover, the Innovation Agenda identified seven key sectors: water, education, clean energy, technology, transportation, health and space that are also among the fast-growing sectors in the UAE and show positive signs for investment.
The UAE leads the region in adoption of smart technologies, with AI expected to make a significant impact to the tune of 14% of GDP by 2030. In recent years, Dubai alone attracted USD 21.6 billion worth of foreign direct investment in high-end technology transfers. These investments came mostly from the EU and US, highlighting the nation’s strong commitment towards development and implementation of AI technologies.
One of the UAE’s fastest growing sectors is the space industry, with space-related investments already reaching more than USD 5.4 billion. In addition, government entities such as the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center are actively pursuing local and global space industry startups to grow through unique the partnerships and investments.
With growing strategic partnerships and government spending as well as initiatives focusing on liberalization of policies to attract FDIs, the local healthcare market will also witness a significant growth of about CAGR 8.5% during 2018 – 2023. The UAE has also committed to finding innovative solutions to minimize the impact of climate change. In order to meet the growing energy demand and reduce its carbon footprint, the government committed to invest about USD $163.3 billion over the next 30 years to develop the nation’s clean energy market. Indeed, with increasing amount of investment in these sectors, new businesses have a higher probability of success within the UAE’s growth wave.
Moreover, SMEs are among the UAE’s key target sectors with great growth potential. According to the Ministry of Economy, SMEs represent more than 94% of the total number of companies operating in the country and provide more than 86% of the private sector jobs. That is why the UAE is continuously striving to create the most optimal conditions to attract new businesses.
The UAE offers great opportunities in a new unsaturated market to all passionate startups and invites them to set-up and launch their innovations in the country. With many government initiatives established to foster the innovation, economic competitiveness and diversification, we are confident that this will further solidify the foundation for entrepreneurs to launch and excel their businesses in the UAE and beyond.
Advice for entrepreneurs
Raising funds
Entrepreneurs should be aware that cash flow management is of paramount importance in any business. Growth does not necessarily convert into cash flow, and hence entrepreneurs must pay careful attention to the amount and timing of cash flows, which play an integral role in preparing a reliable business plan. If cash flow is not effectively managed, the company may end up underestimating the amount required in their funding round and may have to subsequently raise an impromptu round in order to cover the actual cash flow shortfall in the future.
At the MBRIF, we believe that this can be achieved by keeping entrepreneur on top of the cash flow management. This means frequently monitoring cash inflows and outflows with the help of a qualified finance personnel. As someone very rightly said – “Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, and cash is reality.”
Applying to the Accelerator
Entrepreneurs have a lot of passion for what they do, which is why they often tend to fall in love with their ideas. While this is a great attitude to have, the MBRIF team believe that entrepreneurs should focus more on the problem they are trying to solve.
This is important for many reasons. The MBRIF’s have found experience shows that innovators become more open to discovering and learning from their customers, thus becoming more focused on testing how their innovation is playing out with customers rather than focusing only on executing their idea; this means that the value and impact is much bigger for customers.
Entrepreneurs should ask themselves, ‘what is the problem worth solving?’ and be open to evolving their idea and innovation to put customers first, as that is where they will find the most value and what will bring them the most success.
With that said, entrepreneurs interested in to applying to the MBRIF’s Accelerator program should clearly articulate in their application the problem they are trying to solve, explain how they have identified target customers, how product or service solves that problem for their customer segment as well as the size of the opportunity. The MBRIF is also looking for what has been done to test and prove the model, as showing the evidence paints a clearer picture and helps determine whether the Accelerator program is the right fit for the entrepreneur.
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To apply to the Accelerator Program, please click here
To apply for financing to the Guarantee Scheme , please click here
