Why Angels must exist
By Annemarie Robson
International Editor _ Middle East Business News and Magazine
Angel investors will descend on Istanbul in February 2018 for the World Business Angels Investment Forum, and Middle East Business magazine is proud to be a media partner.
WBAF is committed to collaborate globally to empower the economic development of the world by fostering innovative financial instruments for SMEs, innovators and startups. Their global efforts can ease access to finance allowing the creation of more jobs and social justice for the world economy.
Baybars Altuntas, Chairman of the WBAF, provides us with an insight into why this conference is so important;
‘You may ask what is ‘the best finance’? The best finance is a miracle that happens when one is able to combine money, know-how, mentorship and networking. This is perhaps better termed smart finance. Consider the various sources of finance available to entrepreneurs: Beyond basic bootstrapping, there are corporate ventures, angel investors, crowd funding platforms, accelerators, VCs, banks, public grants, co-investment funds, business plan competitions, technology transfer offices, family offices, private equity investors and stock exchanges.
With the notable exception of angel investors, all these sources provide only money, nothing more. The only true sources of smart finance are angel investors, who are able to influence a country’s economic development by providing more than just money to entrepreneurs and SMEs. They contribute their own know-how, provide mentorship, and share their own networks in contributing to the businesses they invest in. They are thus the main drivers of innovation and the natural leaders of the world’s early-stage investment markets’.
As a global organisation, the WBAF is bringing together key players of the equity market to discuss the benefits of and the challenges to the angel investment community’s achieving successful growth for their businesses and to discuss what more can be done to connect the early-stage market ecosystem.
Only angel investors have the know-how and the networks to put start-ups and scale-ups into the capital markets. At WBAF 2018, the conference will focus on how family offices and wealth management institutions can foster open innovation and deliver more business value by forming partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses and SMEs.
Building on the success of the 2017 forum, this year’s forum will focus on the theme ‘Unlocking the Potential for Innovation: Angel Investors Partnering with Family Offices and Wealth Management Institutions’. The discussions will explore how family offices and wealth management institutions can foster open innovation and deliver more business value through partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses and SMEs.
Family offices and wealth management institutions are booming globally
Internationally recognised reports indicate that there are more than 10,000 single-family offices in operation throughout the world, at least half of which have been established in the past 15 years. A family should normally be worth between $100 million and $500 million for a single-family office to be financially viable. Multi-family offices, by contrast, offer affordable services for ultra-high net worth families with assets of approximately $50 million. In North America alone, the next three decades will see nearly $30 trillion in assets transferred from baby boomers to their heirs.
For the first time ever, as the biggest annual gathering of the world early stage equity and investment markets, will have five important summits running concurrently: the WBAF Annual Conference 2018 for angel investors, the Take Invest Summit 2018 for start-ups and scale-ups, the FinTech Summit 2018 for finance executives, the Impact Investment Summit 2018 for impact investors, and the     CEO-Preneurship Summit 2018 for CEOs of global $100-million-dollar-plus companies. Each will address the main challenges and opportunities of the world economy in 2018.
Mr. Altuntas sums up the potential benefits for delegates perfectly;
‘As a global organisation, the WBAF is bringing together key players of the equity markets to discuss the benefits and challenges of achieving successful growth for businesses and to explore additional possibilities for empowering the world economy. In the wake of the global economic crisis, it was far from easy to reach out for any kind of finance, smart or otherwise. The WBAF focuses on developing innovative financial instruments for entrepreneurs and SMEs as a part of its global agenda.
To focus on the ‘smart’ factor in innovation in the context of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the WBAF directs its attention to developing smart investors, smart finance, smart exits, and smart entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs’.
By working together across borders, with a common vision, and with these smart dynamics in mind, the WBAF is well placed to bring about positive change in the global economy.
Visit their official website:
ONLINE VERSION:
If interested in attending, register for the event:
http://www.wbaf2018.istanbul/buy-ticket
Listen to more about the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=yMo1rkCpxvo
