Hub71, Abu Dhabi's global technology ecosystem, launched its second Outliers programme as the capital continues to support start-up companies broadening their roles in the economy.
The new leg of Outliers — Hub71's annual programme that invites start-ups worldwide to solve actual challenges presented by participating organisations — will focus on Web3 to help companies future-proof their operations and give them an opportunity to gain up to Dh100,000 ($27,229.40) to fund their proofs of concepts.
Web3 is the emerging new concept of the World Wide Web, with blockchain, decentralisation, openness and greater user utility among its core components.
The challenges will be presented by top government and corporate entities, including Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism and Department of Health, real estate developer Aldar Properties, Thales French technology company Thales and Hub71-based used vehicles platform Cars24.
Abu Dhabi's continued recognition and support of start-ups is part of the UAE's goal of transforming the Emirates into an entrepreneurial nation by 2031, said Elodie Robin-Guillerm, head of growth and strategy at Hub71.
"In Abu Dhabi, the government has laid strong foundations to build an extensive technology ecosystem through effective partnerships and advanced infrastructure, supported by an open and flexible regulatory and business environment," she told The National in an interview.
"These elements have been essential to helping founders find a new home to grow and scale their companies globally by attract world-class start-ups to Abu Dhabi, while also helping local founders to scale and raise new funding."
Start-up ecosystems worldwide are consistently growing as they take on the challenges of developing solutions for a world that is becoming increasingly digital in key sectors such as retail, services, e-commerce and governments.
Globally, the value created by start-ups is about $3 trillion, which is almost at par with the gross domestic product of a G7 economy, according to advisory firm Startup Genome. Funding for these companies broke records in 2021 when it hit $621 billion, according to CB Insights.
Across the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey, start-ups raised record funding of more than $5bn in the first half of 2022, accounting for 70 per cent of the total investment raised in the full year 2021, data provider Magnitt reported last week.
Other global companies have programmes to support start-ups in region, including GrowthX Accelerator, a collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and Microsoft, and a recent partnership between Saudi venture fund STV and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.
Outliers 2022 will feature seven challenges, including, for the first time, a dedicated category for unicorns, or start-ups with a valuation of $1bn. Cars24, which is valued at around $1.84bn, will be participating in this segment.
The rapid shift towards digital transformation and the adoption of emerging technologies leave more potential for start-ups to succeed, and Abu Dhabi is taking notice of this, Ms Robin-Guillerm said.
"There is much more potential to be unleashed," she said, adding that giving start-ups market access to develop their concepts creates "opportunities for [start-up] founders to make an impact in sectors of strategic importance in Abu Dhabi".
Earlier this month, Hub71 announced partnership with Emirates Post Group to provide start-ups with opportunities to collaborate with the latter with the aim of boosting the logistics sector using next-generation technology.
In June, Hub71 teamed up with AIQ, a joint venture between Adnoc and Group 42, to explore new artificial intelligence solutions for the oil and gas industry.
Hub71's cross-border programme is looking at seven countries across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and the US, Ms Robin-Guillerm said.
Longer-term, we aim to build unicorns, nurtured and developed right from the UAE’s capital demonstrating that Abu Dhabi can export commercially viable companies with groundbreaking technologies that can make an impact globally
Elodie Robin-Guillerm,
head of growth and strategy at Hub71
"As a result, we are well positioned to support scale-ups from mature ecosystems such as France, the UK and Israel to choose Abu Dhabi and Hub71 as a launch pad for their international development, while also opening doors for start-ups from emerging ecosystems to set up in Abu Dhabi and grow and scale," she said.
"Longer-term, we aim to build unicorns, nurtured and developed right from the UAE’s capital demonstrating that Abu Dhabi can export commercially viable companies with groundbreaking technologies that can make an impact globally."
Hub71 is a flagship initiative of the $13.6bn Ghadan 21 economic stimulus programme. It was founded by the Abu Dhabi government, Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Microsoft and Japan's SoftBank Group in 2019.
Since its establishment, Hub71 is home to about 130 start-ups, who have so far raised Dh1.5bn through the tech ecosystem’s corporate partners, and have been responsible for creating about 1,000 new jobs. They operate in 20 sectors, including finance, health care and education.
Match info
Manchester United 1
Fred (18')
Wolves 1
Moutinho (53')
Squads
Australia: Finch (c), Agar, Behrendorff, Carey, Coulter-Nile, Lynn, McDermott, Maxwell, Short, Stanlake, Stoinis, Tye, Zampa
India: Kohli (c), Khaleel, Bumrah, Chahal, Dhawan, Shreyas, Karthik, Kuldeep, Bhuvneshwar, Pandey, Krunal, Pant, Rahul, Sundar, Umesh
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
How they line up for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4 Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5 Kevin Magnussen, Haas
6 Romain Grosjean, Haas
7 Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
*8 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
9 Carlos Sainz, Renault
10 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
11 Fernando Alonso, McLaren
12 Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren
13 Sergio Perez, Force India
14 Lance Stroll, Williams
15 Esteban Ocon, Force India
16 Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso
17 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
18 Charles Leclerc, Sauber
19 Sergey Sirotkin, Williams
20 Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso
* Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth but had a three-place grid penalty for speeding in red flag conditions during practice
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae
