Startup Bahrain Week begins today

To be held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB), the Kingdom will host ‘StartUp Bahrain Week’ today until March 8, 2019, in co-operation with Tamkeen as a strategic partner.

StartUp Bahrain Week is a community-led initiative that brings together the region’s most exciting start-up events and connects some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds, with more than 2,500 delegates from around the world expected to participate. The week’s activities will include five events, four competitions and more than 30 speakers from Bahrain and the region.

 Pakiza Abdulrahman, event manager, told Tribune, “The StartUp Bahrain Week, is an annual festival that aims to bring together, investors, tech startups and top speakers from around the world along with startups from the region and join their experiences with the Bahrain community. “The StartUp Bahrain Week, this year, is much bigger than compared to the previous year in terms of the number of speakers, competitions, workshops and initiatives that are taking place at different venues across the Kingdom.

“The start-ups will speak of the workshops done by AWS, Tamkeen and Savour Ventures all the way from Kuwait scouting for food tech concepts. “Moreover, this year we have the MENA challenge which is sponsored by AWS, where the team at unbound has been scouting for the best startups around to bring them to Bahrain and exhibit and pitch on stage for top prizes.”

“This year we will have an investor’s lounge where angel investors, venture capitalists and family officers will network and will connect with start-ups.

“Moreover, the main highlight for this year will be the welcoming of 104 international start-ups to come together for a start-up ecosystem tour. Over 100 companies, which are at different stages will come to Bahrain, to explore the startup ecosystem to meet with EDB sector teams, Tamkeen, accelerators and regulators to find out why Bahrain is positioned for the best choice for their business in the region.”

“Lastly, we have collaborated with various organisations to host workshops and provide hands-on training, where we have startups from around the world coming in to participate. “The Department of Trade from the UK has brought in seven scale-ups to come and expand to Bahrain and be a part of the annual exposure,” Ms Abdulrahman added.