DUBAI — Abdul-Aziz Abdulla Al Ghurair, director and CEO of Mashreqbank, has been appointed as Chairman of The Arab Business Angels Network (ABAN), the organisation conceived by the Young Arab Leaders (YAL) at last year's Clinton Global Initiative.
Sameer Al Ansari, CEO of Dubai International Capital, the founding company of ABAN and lead Angel investor, said: "We are grateful to Abdul-Aziz Al Ghurair, an entrepreneur of extraordinary stature, for agreeing to serve as chairman of ABAN. His experience and success will add enormous value and experience to our initiatives aimed at building private investor (Angel) networks throughout the Arab world."
Lisa LaBonte, CEO of ABAN, adds: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by his example."
ABAN's mission is to build a community of active Angel Investors in the MENA region. It also aims to empower Arab entrepreneurship and new business creation by allowing the flow of capital into high potential ventures. The official launch of the network will take place on September 7. YAL participation in ABAN is critical, explained La Bonte speaking to Khaleej Times earlier this month, because, as captains of industry "they are able to understand the importance of growing business in the region". Some members will be angel investors themselves.
The first initiative undertaken by ABAN was the Arab Business Challenge, a competition designed to find the leading young entrepreneurs across MENA. ABAN has received over 1000 submissions from 15 countries when the competition was launched earlier this year.
Of the 20 teams that made it through to the semi-final, five finalists were selected on Monday. The final two teams, who stand to win a total of up to $2 million investment capital from the DIC, will be announced at ABAN's official launch in September.
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