- 18 hours ago
As technology ecosystems across MENA continue to evolve, the next phase of growth may depend less on isolated national champions and more on stronger cross-border connections. This session brings together innovation leaders and investors to discuss how new regional corridors for capital, talent, research, and entrepreneurship can be built. The conversation will explore practical pathways for collaboration, scaling startups across borders, and strengthening MENA's position as an increasingly interconnected innovation region.
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00:04This is Kristin doing a microphone check. You can hear me. Good afternoon. Hi. My name is Kristin
00:10Davis. It's an absolute pleasure to welcome you here to this session, investing beyond borders,
00:15building new innovation corridors across the MENA region. Now, as technology ecosystems across the
00:22region continue to evolve, we're seeing that the next phase of growth isn't just about national
00:28champions. It's about building strong cross-border collaborations and connections, and today we have
00:34a fantastic panel of innovation leaders and investors to discuss how we can do this, how we
00:40can create these regional corridors for capital, for talent, R&D, and entrepreneurship. We're going
00:46to be exploring practical pathways and looking at how we can scale startups across borders and also
00:53strengthen the MENA region's position as a truly interconnected hub for innovation.
01:00So let me introduce you to my panelists. It's an absolute pleasure. We have with us here Mr.
01:05Draubin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority. Welcome. Israel Innovation Authority, that's
01:11the government agency responsible for Israeli high-tech ecosystems. You invest over 700 million
01:18US dollars annually. Draw, you have been leading Israel's innovation strategy now for the last
01:24five years and have decades of experience in both strategic consulting, venture capital, and
01:30investment. Welcome.
01:33Now? Oh, now it's working. Welcome. Thank you, Kristen. Great to be here.
01:37Thank you. Next to you we have Gita. Gita Zinba. Welcome. Co-founding partner of Calis Ventures,
01:43which is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Casablanca. And you're also the managing
01:48partner of Open Venture Africa. And Gita, you bring to our panel deep expertise in startup corporate
01:55dynamics and development of venture ecosystems across Francophone, Africa, and MENA. Welcome.
02:02And find the way over there. We're very far away. Dr. Tajud himself. Welcome. Chairman of the KK
02:11investment group, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with operations across multiple international markets.
02:18And you lead large-scale strategic projects in energy, infrastructure, cross-border connectivity
02:24with a portfolio exceeding 40 billion US dollars. You focus on building these economic corridors,
02:31connecting countries through energy, technology, and sustainable development. So we have met our panel.
02:37I want to, before we dive into the questions with them, I want to understand a little bit about you
02:43and meet you as well, our audience, okay, so that we know who we're talking to. How many of you
02:48in the
02:48audience raise your hand if you have indeed ever tried to scale a startup or maybe a corporate program
02:54across borders and corporate ventures across borders? How many of you have had experience doing this
03:01or are doing this right now? Yes, we've got a cluster of people over here. This is a key topic.
03:07Our subject is investing beyond the borders to create innovation corridors. But we know that
03:14innovation requires more than great ideas, talent, investment. Tajuddin, can you tell us why you're
03:21focusing on energy, cross-border energy initiatives, which is key to all of this?
03:26First, good afternoon. And it's a big honor to be with you here today. Before that, if you'll allow me.
03:34That's okay now? Yeah. Okay, so a big honor to be with all of you here. So, and before that,
03:41just allow me to talk about MENA region in numbers, okay? So MENA region, we are talking here
03:47about 500 million people, more than $5 trillion GDP. Talking about 70% of MENA region, young, educated,
04:01and plus, if we'll start with people, okay? And second is the largest area with a huge resource,
04:10with a huge energy resource. So, and I will give a small model, okay? Just to give it very simple
04:19for
04:20our friends here. And if you will look now for that MENA region, it's 20 countries, okay? And we will
04:26look for UAE from where I come, okay? As private sector for sure. It was, 50 years ago, it was
04:32seven
04:32emirates. Seven different targets, seven different everything. Okay. So first, what they did, United.
04:43After they are United, already they have one grid, one infrastructure, one foreign, one budget. So,
04:49this is from where we have to start in MENA region, you know, to have the same target. In 50
04:54years now,
04:56UAE is one of top three countries worldwide for AI, energy, investment, whatever, what you will ask,
05:03they are one of top three or one top five. If we will take this model, and can we just
05:08extend it,
05:09not to all MENA region to be too difficult, but let us just to try to have it in MENA
05:13region. So,
05:14I think we will have very big result. And it's because of that, I think I need two hours just
05:21to
05:21explain what you are doing. So, I will try to do it in one minute. So, the first, let us,
05:26this is the
05:26first stone, or the first block, or the first stage for us. It was how to connect the countries
05:33together. This is why now we are working on the very big project, this interconnection electricity
05:37substitute cable from Egypt to Italy, three gigawatts. It's a very big project. So, it will be the first
05:43project crossing the Mediterranean Sea. We are talking about energy. And imagine that if you can continue
05:49to everywhere. And this is already in this project, and about our initiative, about the global
05:54interconnection. So, talking about how to have all the world, okay, to be one cable. Like now,
06:0125 years ago only, who here can just tell me, it was like a dream to think the internet cable
06:09is one
06:09cable worldwide. So, and now ask how many of us here can believe that in five years or 10 years,
06:15okay, we will have one cable, electricity cable worldwide, you know. So, this will give everything
06:21to be cheaper, and give a lot of, and one of many things, the 60% of these people here
06:28in MENA region
06:28are educated and young, 30 to 35 years old. And the half of this five trillion with the GDP of
06:36MENA is
06:36only GCC. And GCC is 10% of these 500 million people. So, imagine that. So,
06:44you're seeing the energy infrastructure across the region as the key to then unlocking and scaling the
06:50investment. This is the foundation. And for the CEO of Nvidia, for example, I'm respectful for him
06:58because I'm not here to give to him any advice. So, but I heard him one time, and I think
07:05in Davos,
07:06so when he was talking about AI, he said AI is five stages. So, energy, the chips, applications,
07:16and the two others. Okay. But just, I don't want to correct this because this is a CEO of Nvidia.
07:23So, just, I can tell him very, very, very easily and simply, the energy is a foundation. It's not
07:28one of the five stages. It's a foundation. Okay. Foundations are not just for AI, in fact,
07:33I think. For everything. No energy, no AI, no development, not anything. So, I want to,
07:38I want to now take that we've established that we have energy as a foundation. But when we're talking
07:42about MENA, in fact, we often, it's discussed as a singular block, this large group of countries.
07:49But in reality, it's a patchwork of a highly diverse regulatory frameworks, capital densities,
07:56consumer behaviors, cultures and traditions, even. So, Drew, I've come to you, based on your
08:01experience, what is it that's truly specific to building MENA partnerships? And here, in this
08:08region, compared to, say, across Europe or Silicon Valley, how would you describe it?
08:12Yes. I think that our region is in maybe an historic turn point. We all in the region share
08:23the same challenges of climate change, of food scarcity, water, the need for energy, as was
08:33said, as a foundation for all the economical development and particularly AI. So, in the region,
08:40all these 20 countries share the same challenges. But for the first time ever, I think that there
08:49is a real willingness to work together. So, the relations between Israel and the UAE and Morocco
08:58just started in 2020. They are very young. But already, with the UAE, it's more than $3 billion
09:05of trade every year because of the synergies between the economies. With Morocco, I think
09:11it's much less, but with a lot of potential. So, this combination of the fact that we are
09:18all facing the same challenges in the region, together with the fact that for the first time,
09:24many countries in the region are willing to work together and not just try to develop their
09:30own ecosystems, which I believe is creating an historic turning point. Israel, as you know, is a
09:39global innovation hub with thousands of tech companies across many sectors. Many of them are the one
09:49that I've mentioned when I listed the challenges. Water tech and food tech and agri tech and health tech and
09:56AI
09:57enablers. You've talked about the energy base. Well, in Israel, a lot of the infrastructure, the chips, the data
10:05center facility is being developed in Israel. So, this is a great synergy. So, I believe there is an amazing
10:14opportunity here, an amazing potential for the benefit of all the people of the region to work together,
10:22to integrate, and to create a powerhouse for innovation globally.
10:29Thank you, Draw, for giving us your perspective there on what makes this region and collaborating across the
10:34borders different. Gita, a similar question to you, and please feel free to riff off of what Draw has just
10:41said, but when
10:42we're building corridors in the region, innovation corridors, what is the point that most investors
10:49maybe and founders overlook, maybe if they're coming from Europe or they're coming from Silicon
10:54Valley or the US, that they overlook that you see as being specific?
10:58Thank you. Do you hear me well? Yes. Thank you, Kristen, for asking the question. There are many things that
11:07investors and entrepreneurs overlook when they want to expand in the region, more specifically in
11:11North Africa and Africa in general, because it's exactly where we are more anchored as
11:16Calis and as myself also being involved with startups that have been helping grow from
11:22Morocco to Senegal, from Egypt to Morocco, from Tunisia to Morocco. So, these are corridors
11:28that I've been seeing, concretely speaking, from underground. And there are three things that
11:33struck me every time within the region. First is sometimes the lack of data. So, the lack of data made
11:41it
11:41harder for entrepreneurs to defend scalability within the region when they want to talk with their
11:50investors at the Series A saying, we see a potential in Morocco in mobility, for example. Okay, prove it then.
11:57Give me the figures. Then they need to come underground, talk to people to find the data
12:01underground. And that's the case for other markets, not just Morocco. So, the lack of data
12:07sometimes make it harder for startups to expand within the region. That's the first one.
12:12Second one would be the distribution networks that are very different in the region versus in Silicon Valley
12:21or in Europe, for example. The majority of indie industries are led by, you know, they are like represented by
12:29very fragmented players. So, it's hard, fragmented plus informal. So, it's not always easy to bring the way of
12:39distributing or the go-to-market that we might be used to in Europe and in other places to the
12:46rest of the continent
12:48or the region. And the last one, which is I think we can all align on, which is the trust
12:54infrastructure.
12:55So, trust infrastructure is very, very important. I mean, it's important in every business relationship,
13:00but I think it's more important when it comes to the region. These are relationships that need to be built
13:06over time.
13:08It might take like one year, 18 months to be able to at least have a first formal discussion about
13:15the business.
13:16We need to first connect, like personally, meet the person, see the person again, before being able to trust
13:23and build partnerships with that startup. So, I think these three elements are the main things that sometimes
13:31entrepreneurs and investors overlook when they want to expand in the region.
13:35Very interesting, I think, especially given the relationship between trust and relationships,
13:42but then the need for data as well, which is kind of the oil needed there.
13:46Now, every government out there has a national vision, a national strategy, but we know that creating international alliances,
13:54this is what is actually essential in us to be able to create new technologies to facilitate startups.
14:01And this kind of scaling, the scaling that, Ajedin, you were talking about.
14:05But the three of you have experience in when it comes to navigating conversations here with public partnerships,
14:13regulators, and that sort of tension, the natural tension that is between the national goals
14:20and the goals for these international partnerships.
14:23Can you share some of the examples that you have of this tension and where you've had to address this
14:31and use this to overcome and indeed build these partnerships so that you can bring growth?
14:37Drol, would you like to?
14:38Yes.
14:40Well, as you know, Israel is a very small country.
14:44Out of the 500 million, we are only 10, so really tiny.
14:50So, first of all, for Israeli entrepreneur, from day one, he or she know that they will not be able
14:59to scale in the local market.
15:01They have to think global.
15:03They have to think about the American market, the European market, and now they can also think about the MENA
15:09market.
15:10Also, us as a government agency, as you said, we have our national strategies, but we understand that there is
15:17no single innovation hub that can stand alone.
15:21It has to be tied to the global ecosystem.
15:26And what do an entrepreneur or a tech venture need?
15:29They need, first of all, great science, right?
15:32So, who says that all science that they can find is only in Israel?
15:36Why not in Morocco?
15:37Why not in the Emirates or in other places?
15:39They need places like regulatory sandboxes to check their inventions.
15:46Governments can provide it.
15:48They need customers.
15:51So, why not to sell into countries in the region?
15:53Why only the American market or the European market?
15:56And above all, they need money.
15:58All along the way, from the moment that they have the idea until they sell for tens of millions of
16:06dollars and investment, investors and capital go through borders very quickly.
16:12So, why not to match make great startups that are born in any ecosystem with investors from other ecosystems?
16:21And that would be, I think, the easiest thing to create this integration that we are talking about.
16:27At the end of the day, investors all the time look for the best ventures they can find, regardless of
16:33where they are situated.
16:35And the same goes for the inventors or the entrepreneurs.
16:39They want the best investors possible.
16:41And this is, I think, something that already started.
16:45As I mentioned already, there is a very large trade between the countries here on the stage.
16:50And there is also a lot of, many delegations are going of investors, of startups going to meet investors.
16:59And this is exactly the bridges that we need to build in the region.
17:03And once there are investments and there are joint companies, then the rest will be just scaling up very rapidly.
17:10Sure, indeed.
17:11The relationships there, as we've mentioned, are important.
17:14But before we can get to all of that, we do need to go through and navigate the conversations with
17:20the public partners and the regulators.
17:22Tajuddin, I'm coming to you because this is something I'm imagining in your projects you've had plenty of experience with.
17:28Yeah, sure.
17:29I will.
17:30I will.
17:31Okay?
17:33Try again.
17:34I'm okay, I'm fine?
17:35Okay.
17:35So, I will go back to a similar model, but I will make it bigger, to talk about Europe.
17:42Okay?
17:43Europe 75 years ago, 70 years ago, nobody talking to each other, fighting, war, whatever you can imagine what's going
17:51on here.
17:52And in this only 75 years, if you will come now to Europe, what can we see?
17:58So, one target, one budget, one infrastructure, one grid, one, one, one.
18:03Okay?
18:03They have already the foundation.
18:05But the problem where?
18:07The problem, the main income to the main region is to sell oil and energy, whatever.
18:15And the main outcome from Europe is to buy the energy and to buy oil.
18:21Oil and all the oil products.
18:23I mean, here, I'm talking about energy.
18:24Okay?
18:25And when we start this project, it's just to connect Africa, Middle East, with Europe.
18:31Okay?
18:32It's not just electricity cable.
18:35Okay?
18:35It's just because we were focusing on where the main income, where the main outcome.
18:41Okay?
18:41Okay?
18:42And have it together.
18:43And imagine that.
18:45We started already this cable.
18:46But if all the other companies, investors, governments, they will continue the more than 250 items more to connect the
18:56Europe and the first main region to be connected.
18:58Okay?
18:59After that, to Europe.
19:00Then we can add this $5 trillion GDP off the main region to $18 trillion.
19:06Okay?
19:07Okay?
19:07In the GDP in Europe.
19:10So, now, already we are talking about 1 billion people.
19:131 billion people.
19:14Talking about no need already from our countries anyone to leave to Europe and by law or not by law
19:21or he will come swimming or I don't know to come here.
19:24So, it's a big problem in Europe.
19:26I think that.
19:26Okay?
19:27And not for Europe just to come and for any problem somewhere in the MENA region.
19:32So, this is a barrel.
19:33It will come at $100, $120.
19:35Because I can share with you one, like towards one of the very high level in the new US administrations.
19:44And one meeting it was in US.
19:45He said Taj is already not energy security.
19:49We are talking about nation security.
19:52So, and it's really nation security.
19:55So, it's not always just focusing on what the project may be connecting with a cable.
20:01But all of the value that can actually come with that.
20:04Exactly.
20:05And the more important thing is we have to sit and talk to each other in the Abraham Accord.
20:10Okay?
20:10Yes.
20:11It's just we look for the main, let us to see, the main goal.
20:16Okay?
20:17Or not the main goal.
20:18The main gift we received.
20:19Okay?
20:20600 companies from Israel and UAE now are working.
20:23600 companies are working there.
20:26More than seven flights daily only from Abu Dhabi.
20:30Okay?
20:30And before nobody knows what's going on in this country.
20:35And from that country nobody knows what's going on in Abu Dhabi.
20:37Okay, I'm going to come to Gita next and ask her because I would love to hear her opinion on
20:42this as well.
20:43Just a joke.
20:45I don't think there is an Israeli that hasn't visited Dubai or Abu Dhabi by now since today because of
20:50all these flights.
20:51Yeah.
20:52So, Agita, I am going to come to you because of the same question, okay, just rapidly on here because
20:57you have experience as well in navigating the conversations between the start-up, the innovation ecosystem, the public partners and
21:06the regulators.
21:07How can you share some examples of the success that you've seen and what's the foundations of this success?
21:14Do you hear me?
21:16Yes.
21:18So, historically Morocco has always been positioned as an open country to collaboration, to be open to other countries, to
21:28other start-ups, other companies to come and expand locally.
21:31So, and it has always wanted to be and is also positioned as a hub in the region, thanks to
21:40first the fact that we are close to Europe.
21:44So, and we do speak French locally, so it makes it easier for European countries that want to expand in
21:50Africa to start with Morocco.
21:54We are also an Arab-speaking country, so Arabic is our first language as well, so it makes it as
22:00well easier for Middle East companies to come and expand in Francophone regions through Morocco.
22:07And which means that a start-up that comes to Morocco can first day talk to a French corporate based
22:17in Morocco, expand in Dakar and also plan, you know, partnerships in the UAE.
22:23So, it's really a powerful element, this cultural mix city that we have, and it's the first asset that we
22:31built on top of it, many other things.
22:34So, first is opening borders to foreign investors, VC investors to come and invest in Morocco.
22:43And this was done specifically with the recent selection of nine VC funds by the Fund Mohamed VI, which is
22:50the sovereign fund.
22:52And out of the nine funds, which is like a total of $150 million, so out of the nine funds,
22:58six are international funds and three are locals.
23:01Only three are locals, so six international funds, which means that we accept that we want to have this know
23:08-how come from foreign investors that will bring co-investment opportunities,
23:14that will bring expansion for their portfolio companies abroad in Morocco.
23:18So, many positive things that will come out of this co-investments with these foreign investors.
23:26And one of the, you wanted me to give an example of an expansion that is recently being launched in
23:33Morocco, for example, starting from Egypt, which is Monifelo.
23:37It's a pre-series C company based in Egypt, 8.5 million users.
23:43And as part of the expansion that they shared with their investors, Morocco was in the plan.
23:49So now that Morocco is in the plan, how can we enter the market?
23:52So first is through finding the right partners.
23:57So license partners, because it's a FinTech, so they need a license partner, a distribution partner, because they don't know
24:03the B2C market.
24:05They don't know the local users, so they need to partner with the local players.
24:08So they partnered with Wafa Cash, which is a local, one of the biggest payment players locally.
24:14And so through this, now that they have partnered with Wafa, the main investor in Wafa Cash, which is Almada,
24:23VC invested in their startup.
24:25So you have local investors that you need to bring with you on the table.
24:32You have also finding the right partners locally, but also working hands in hands with the government.
24:38Because as you said, sometimes regulation is not adapted.
24:42But what I've seen in Morocco is that sometimes, even if the regulation is in the gray zone, we should
24:48just show that the solution have worked abroad.
24:51And then start discussing early on with the regulator, just like Revolut is doing now.
24:57So Revolut is expanding in Morocco.
24:59Fantastic.
25:00And thank you very much for that example.
25:01In fact, I want us to end on examples.
25:04We just have four minutes left.
25:05So I'm going to come very quickly to Tajuddin and then draw.
25:09Because you've just given us an example of how capital can move around.
25:13Okay.
25:14But founders, corporates, investors often face very broad challenges and complexities in scale and mobility in the region.
25:22So what specific infrastructure examples?
25:26So Gita's just given us venture capital and investment here.
25:30Data portability, talent mobility, regional hubs.
25:32What research centers, what example are you seeing that is truly making a difference?
25:38Tajuddin, come very quickly to you first for one example, please.
25:42If you'll allow me to talk about another phase for this, to answer you these questions.
25:49And this is what I want to add to everyone here.
25:51And I will use this panel to talk about this.
25:54Countries like UAE, okay, are working not like, not for UAE people, are working for all of us, for the
26:038 billion people.
26:06Protect UAE is not only should be by UAE.
26:10It should be by all of us, okay?
26:13When we are talking about this very small country, one of the top three countries in AI, which is the
26:19future.
26:20And I can ask anyone here, who believe with me is that AI is the future?
26:24So everyone, he will raise his hand up, you know?
26:26So this kind of country should be the first foundation to the MENA region before funds, before money, before companies,
26:36before anything, to protect the foundation.
26:40Then we can continue to build.
26:43Okay. So we have venture capital and the collective spirits to build upon.
26:48In the two and a half minutes we have left.
26:51So, Christine, I'm going to thank you for the contribution that you did for the regional cooperation.
26:57Because you asked us to come earlier to the green room, Gita and I had a conversation.
27:02And Gita told me about this city that was built just to pilot innovation.
27:07What's the name?
27:09Ben Greer.
27:10Okay. And we have plenty of startups that are looking for pilot sites.
27:14And because of this dialogue, we are going to work together, right?
27:18You're more than welcome.
27:20And this is exactly the type of things that should happen.
27:23It's very difficult for startups to find the first place to pilot the technology and to show that it works.
27:31And on the other hand, the receiving party is getting the cutting edge technology that can make the local economy
27:38more sophisticated, more developed.
27:40So everyone benefits.
27:41And this is exactly what we are going to do, right?
27:45Fantastic. I love this.
27:47I want to thank all three of you for sharing your insights, sharing your experience on the region.
27:53We have three fantastic experts and perspectives, but also we've looked at the challenges, but also some of the keys
27:59that can unlock this.
28:01And for me, I think this is what this panel represents is very much what this is.
28:05This is about how can we create the relationships?
28:07How can we create the understanding and the value?
28:11But then also why events like this and VivaTech and discussions like this are so important also because this is
28:17where the magic happens.
28:18Thank you very much, Tajuddin, Gita, and Dor.
28:22It's been an absolute pleasure.
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