'Now is best time to start a company,' says Beco Capital boss
There has never been a better time to start a company in the MENA region, according to the managing partner of investment firm Beco Capital, Alvaro Abella.
Speaking at the Arabian Business Startup Academy today, Abella said innovative services and platforms have resulted in lower costs compared to 20 or 30 years ago.
“We’re definitely convinced that there’s never been a better time to raise [capital] and launch a company than today. It’s probably the cheapest it’s been in the last 20, 30 years,” said Abella.
Ali Fakharany, founder of startup Arqam FC and analyst for Beco, also said today’s ecosystem makes it much easier to start a business.
“I think it’s the best time ever to start a company. You can get service space from AWS [Amazon Web Services] to get the website running for $10 a year. I think we’ve innovated on certain platforms so it’s much easier to start a business, that’s number 1. Number 2 is it’s much easier to bootstrap a business, so you don’t need that much capital to test your initial value proposition or your initial product market. So I definitely think that services such AWS [help],” said Fakharany, who started his Dubai-based business two years ago.
Abella, who started Beco Capital to provide growth capital and operational support for early stage technologies companies in the MENA region, went on to add that such services allow startups to get connected to the global network.
“Even on a licensing perspective, we’re seeing more and more cost-effective options across the region and here in Dubai. Services such as Astrolabs easily allow you to start with a spot in the tech centre for a minimum fee a month and you have more and more accelerators popping up in the region that allow you to really launch your business. I think these are all great options that entrepreneurs should consider when starting their business,” he said.
The Arabian Business Startup Academy took place in Grosvenor’s House, Dubai Marina, where a number of speakers including Wamda Capital’s Khaled Talhouni and Beehive’s Craig Moore.
Source: Arabian Business