The world’s leading regulated crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube has announced they are planning to expand in the MENA region. Crowdcube has formed a JV partnership known as Crowdcube MENA. Sixty percent of the GCC is less than 30 years old, and 66.8 percent of MENA + Africa is less than 30 years old. All these young people are bursting with ideas and passion, and they don’t want to wait for governments and companies to use old fashioned ways to create jobs and support businesses. Crowdcube MENA is a catalyst for harnessing the financial and human capital in the region to promote social and economic development at an accelerated pace.
“The GCC clearly represents a core part of the MENA region, and over recent years various regimes allowing for sole foreign ownership and a combination of local/foreign ownership have been established, and these will be comprehensively analysed for the most effective way to successfully establish and grow Crowdcube MENA,” said Omar Rana, Co-founder of Crowdcube MENA.
Entrepreneurs in the region continue to be challenged by the lack of finance options available to them and are frustrated regarding the regulations surrounding the issuing of shares/securities to potential crowd investors, which remain outdated.
“Crowdcube MENA believes the region presents unique challenges. However, given the success of Crowdcube, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (previously FSA) in the UK, we believe we can leverage this experience of working under a Tier 1 global regulator to implement a successful business model to service the MENA region,” explained Rana.
Apart from entrepreneurs and investors, Crowdcube MENA will also seek to work closely with governments in their drive to promote local economic development. Crowdcube MENA’s due diligence has highlighted a regional focus on working with a platform that has established global credentials.
Crowdcube MENA has engaged the services of leading global law firm Taylor Wessing, to assist with assessing jurisdictions within the MENA region.
Crowdcube MENA believes that the successful implementation of a crowdfunding platform in the MENA region requires the following:
Compliance and Regulatory Regime: The core crowdfunding business model is based on strong compliance and oversight by a regulatory regime similar to Crowdcube’s current regime with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.
Time Tested Technology Platform: A tested technology infrastructure which has been operational for a long time and which has successfully delivered value to both investors & entrepreneurs.
Experience and Credibility: The experience of successfully raising funding as evidenced by the over 10 million pounds of transactions completed through the Crowdcube platform in the UK.
Crowdcube MENA is led by a group of experienced Bankers, Entrepreneurs and Asset Managers with experience in U.S.A., Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
