StartAD, the Abu Dhabi-based global accelerator at NYU Abu Dhabi and powered by its partner Tamkeen, is launching the second edition of the Conscious Investor Fellowship (CIF), to train and mentor investors.
The global accelerator is initiating the program by joining with VentureSouq, Wa’ed Ventures, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the US Mission to the UAE.
The eight-week pan-regional fellowship will mentor and train twenty fellows including GCC-based family office funds, venture capitalists, corporate and government investors on investing in impact-driven technology startups.
StartAD also invites GCC residents with an interest in startup investments to pre-register for the seventh Annual Angel Rising Investor Education Symposium, scheduled to take place in March 2022, where global and local thought leaders discuss what it takes to become active stakeholders in mission-driven, technology-enabled companies.
Ramesh Jagannathan MD – StartAD
“According to the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2021, the value of sustainability-themed investment products in global capital markets amounted to $3.2 trillion in 2020, up more than 80 percent from 2019. The Conscious Investor Fellowship brings together these changemakers and equips them with the practical knowledge, tools, and network to fuel positive social change by investing in technologies that address pressing global challenges of poverty, inequality, health, and climate change.”
Ms. Sonia Weymuller, Founding Partner at VentureSouq, said, “Conscious investing has experienced notable momentum worldwide over the last decade and, while this is starting to garner the attention of major VCs internationally, the space is still at its nascent stages in MENA. Since its inception, the mission of the CIF program was very clear, to nurture the next generation of impactful stakeholders coming out of this region.”
The first edition of CIF witnessed strong female participation, with 57 percent of the fellows being women. Over 21 collaborations were facilitated between investors and startups, while nine fellows and one sponsor have already joined VentureSouq’s Conscious Collective Fund.
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