Fares Ghandour says more aspiring entrepreneurs should be encouraged to "take the mental leap" to form start-ups. Reem Mohammed / The National
Fares Ghandour says more aspiring entrepreneurs should be encouraged to "take the mental leap" to form start-ups. Reem Mohammed / The National

Wamda's new programme aims to help pre-seed stage entrepreneurs



If you have a brilliant idea to help solve a pressing issue in the region but no business plan, connections or funding – Wamda X wants to hear from you.

Funded by venture capital company Wamda Group, Wamda X wants to tap into what it believes is an under-leveraged part of a start-up's life cycle in the Middle East and North Africa region: the pre-seed stage. This is when entrepreneurs are in search of a home base to develop their big idea, and who may otherwise ask friends and family to help bootstrap their trial period.

The programme is for anyone who clocks in at a day job while harbouring start-up ambitions, but has perhaps been too nervous to make the leap to full-time entrepreneurship.

“It’s start-ups de-risked,” said Fares Ghandour, partner at Wamda. “We want to disrupt and compete with family and friends’ investments” – referring to the earliest stage for a founder, when he or she is working out an idea and perhaps testing out a prototype and a business model.

Venture capital activity in Mena hit record levels last year, up 31 per cent, totalling $893 million compared to 2017, start-up community platform Magnitt said in a report this month. Mr Ghandour said, start-ups in the region could be even more active if there was a larger effort by funders to reduce barriers to entry rather than allowing pre-seed start-ups to work in isolation.

Wamda X is looking for ventures that will "go after large market failures that have cross-border applications". He names Mumzworld, Jamilon and Crowd Analyzer – all part of the Wamda Capital portfolio – as good examples of this mandate.

Mumzworld tapped into an enormous e-commerce market in the GCC of new mothers who had limited retail options in search of baby supplies; Jamilon brought a fragmented Arabic publishing industry on to a single distribution channel; and Crowd Analyzer, too, has built a social media monitoring company tapping into the lack of consumer insight for the Arabic-speaking world.

All three companies operate in Mena and offer a service where one did not previously exist – the sweet spot for successful ventures, Mr Ghandour said.  

Successful Wamda X applicants receive a $16,000 grant (Dh58,770) – or up to $25,000 if a team of two – that is divided into four monthly stipends and office space next door to Wamda's headquarters in the Dubai Design District. The first two months emphasises on building a team and mentorship from the founders of Yallacompare, Bayt and Namshi, among others.  

By the end of the four-month programme, Mr Ghandour said entrepreneurs should have the tools and processes in place to help them launch their businesses.

For Wamda Capital, it is a front-row seat to what aspiring entrepreneurs are puzzling over and the industries driving innovation. So far, Mr Ghandour said, applicants are largely from Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is useful data because Wamda X may launch future cohorts that are Kenya or Saudi Arabia-
specific.

The majority of the 300 applicants have been engineers from Egypt or Jordan, with a lot of interest in developing clean water and energy ventures. There has not been as much FinTech as Wamda X anticipated, but Mr Ghandour said that could be due to high upfront capital needed to be in the financial services space.

________

Read more:

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_________

At the end of the programme there is a buy-in option for companies, with Wamda X graduates receiving $100,000 in investment, in exchange for 10 per cent equity for Wamda. This will build a pipeline of early-stage ventures for the company to track and make further investments in future funding rounds.

In Mr Ghandour’s experience, all successful start-ups have two things in common: a mature founder, maybe with a few years of work experience; and a nagging drive to solve a problem. The combination of leadership and drive can’t be taught, he said, but “everything else you can learn on the job”.

Would-be start-up founders just “have to take the mental leap”, he said.

START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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Specs – Taycan 4S
Engine: Electric

Transmission: 2-speed auto

Power: 571bhp

Torque: 650Nm

Price: Dh431,800

Specs – Panamera
Engine: 3-litre V6 with 100kW electric motor

Transmission: 2-speed auto

Power: 455bhp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: from Dh431,800

RESULTS

Men – semi-finals

57kg – Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) beat Phuong Xuan Nguyen (VIE) 29-28; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Zakaria Eljamari (UAE) by points 30-27.

67kg – Mohammed Mardi (UAE) beat Huong The Nguyen (VIE) by points 30-27; Narin Wonglakhon (THA) v Mojtaba Taravati Aram (IRI) by points 29-28.

60kg – Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Amir Hosein Kaviani (IRI) 30-27; Long Doan Nguyen (VIE) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 29-28

63.5kg – Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Truong Cao Phat (VIE) 30-27; Nouredine Samir (UAE) beat Norapat Khundam (THA) RSC round 3.

71kg​​​​​​​ – Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ) beat Fawzi Baltagi (LBN) 30-27; Amine El Moatassime (UAE) beat Man Kongsib (THA) 29-28

81kg – Ilyass Hbibali (UAE) beat Alexandr Tsarikov (KAZ) 29-28; Khaled Tarraf (LBN) beat Mustafa Al Tekreeti (IRQ) 30-27

86kg​​​​​​​ – Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Mohammed Al Qahtani (KSA) RSC round 1; Emil Umayev (KAZ) beat Ahmad Bahman (UAE) TKO round

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

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Votes

Total votes: 1.8 million

Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes

Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes 

The biog

Siblings: five brothers and one sister

Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota

Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym

Favourite place: UAE

Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera

What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books

The specs

Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 400hp

Torque: 475Nm

Transmission: 9-speed automatic

Price: From Dh215,900

On sale: Now

65
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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

The%20specs
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Zombieland: Double Tap

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone

Four out of five stars 

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures

October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA

Stage 2 results

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18

Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02

Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04

4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates

5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation

General Classification

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19

2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12

3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16

4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17

5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19

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'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'

Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.

Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines: 

Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.

Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.

Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.

Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.

Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Results

5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Nadhra, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Dars, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Taghzel, Malin Holmberg, Ernst Oertel

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: M’Y Yaromoon, Khalifa Al Neyadi, Jesus Rosales

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m; Winner: Hakeem, Jim Crowley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
  • The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
  • The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
  • The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
  • The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
  • The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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