World Business Angels Investment Forum

CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS

Baybars Altuntas

13th February 2017, Istanbul

9am – 9.10am

  • Her Excellency, the Minister of Trade and Industries of the Republic of Kosovo
  • The presidents ofEBAN, ABAN, MBAN, and JCI,
  • Distinguished Guests and Speakers
  • Delegates to the World Business Angels Investment Forum
  • Members of the Media

On behalf of WBAF, I am pleased to welcome you all to this year’s meeting of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.Andwelcome to Istanbul!

Ladies & Gentlemen

Today in Istanbul, we have over 400 angel investors, angel network managers, policymakers, academics, high-growth business owners, presidents of international associations, and stock exchange executives — from54 countries, as a matter of fact.

What is behind this meeting?

We are hereto address important challenges: We all know that access to finance for start-ups and entrepreneurs is a criticalissuein the 21st century. But today we also face another important challenge: Easing access to finance for angel investors for their second or third or further rounds of investment.

Last year, 320 thousand business angels invested 6.7 billion EUROin Europeand 26 billion dollars in the US. The total investment in the world is expected to be 50 billion dollars in the comingyears. If we want to increase the efficiency of these investments — along withmarket size —we have to leverage the investment capability of these angels.

Why is that so important?

The reason is simple: only angel investors have the know-how and the networks to put start-ups and scale-ups into the capital markets. If we can create an innovative financial plan for early exits, this will mean more jobs and social justice in a shorter period of time.

So, at this year’s forum, we’re focusing on how corporate businesses can foster open innovation and deliver more business value by formingpartnerships— partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.

As the global leaders of early-stage investment markets (stock exchange executives, experts, policymakers, academics, active members of early-stage investment markets, and WBAF delegates)—we are allcomingtogether to create newways for angel investors to access finance.

Today we are here to shape the global agenda of the early-stage equity markets of the world.

G20 Countries

The 50 billion dollar market forangel investment promises a 150 billion dollar exit in the next 5 to 7 years. As you know, most of the early-stage equity markets today are inG20 countries. So, cooperation with G20 administrations is very important if angels are going tomeetthechallenge. I was in Wiesbadenrecently to attend G20 meetings on access to finance. I am happy to announce that WBAF is co-operating with the Germany team this year. The aim is to raise awareness about the needs of angel investors. One of our first events will be an investment forum for young entrepreneurs, and we’ll beorganising thatin cooperation with the G20’s Child & Youth Finance International on the 3rd of May in Berlin.

Our innovative solution

WBAF shinesa spotlight on the importance of corporate ventures to accelerate the angel investment market. Let me give you an example of what corporate ventures are doing to create innovation:

  • they are setting asidea certain amount of their company’sbudget to set up R&D departments, and
  • they are creating employeeteamsthat will focus oninnovation,and
  • by doing this, they are trying to converttheir employees to entrepreneurs whocreate innovation.

But WBAF is proposing another path: Instead of wasting time and energy trying to convert employees to “intrapreneurs”, we’re saying: why not to bring in entrepreneurs from outside the company — entrepreneurs who have already raised angel money. These entrepreneurs bring with them not only their know-how (including how to raise angel money), they also bring their network and an ability to mentor.The result is much better innovation in a shorter period of time because.

Such a new roadmap will open theway forearly exits. If international companies follow this road, itcancreate further rounds of investment in the country.

Two world-famous names as keynote speakers

To explainhow this innovative roadmapcan work, we have invited two world-famous names as keynote speakers.

Alastair Lukies, the UK Prime Minister's Business Ambassador for FinTech at UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) asks the question:Is This FinTech’s Tipping Point? And the speech of Paul Doany, CEO of Turk Telecom, will talk about empowering the world’s economies through partnerships between corporate ventures and angel investors.

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for accepting our invitation.

FinTech

To keep the investment momentum, we haveincluded in this year’s programme a special forumthat focuses directly on investment. So investors who are attending today will have a great opportunity to actually invest in some of Turkey’sbest FinTech start-ups and scale-ups. All the teams will be in theLausanne Hall this afternoon to present their business models.

This year we also decided to highlight theFinTech industry. Yesterday,a special WBAF masterclass on FinTech was hosted by Paolo Sironi of IBM Watson Financial Services, and who is, by the way, a global thought leader on FinTech.

Thank you, Mr Sironi.

Global agenda to be shaped in 18 panel discussions

We are fortunate to have a wide range of participants with us today, including the UK’s best angel investor, Singapore’s super innovators, UNIDO Executives,and the Trade and Industries Minister of Kosovo.These colleagues will lead discussions on developing innovative financial and non-financial instruments to fuel the early and post-early stage investment markets.

Two important reports will be released to the public

Two important reports of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) will be released today.

The WBAF South East Europe Regional Report provides insights into issues and challenges in the region. Contributors to the report include the South East Europe Research Centre, the International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, and HeBAN.Many thanks go to Professor Ketikidis and his team.

The WBAF Country Report: Turkey provides insights into issues and challenges in Turkey. Contributors to the report include the Turkish Trade Association for Business Angels (TBAA) and the Treasury Department of the Republic of Turkey.

Exciting new partnerships to be signed in Istanbul

The World Business Angel Investment Forum 2017 marks the beginning of a new era forthe organisations that are about to sign partnership agreements with the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF):

  • the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG),
  • the World Association of International Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA),
  • the European Trade Association for Business Angels (EBAN),
  • the African Trade Association for Business Angels (ABAN),
  • and the Middle East Trade Association for Business Angels (MBAN),

These MOUs are all aimed at supporting and empowering business angels and early- and post-early stage investment markets around the world.

WBAF Academy courses

Tomorrowyou’llhave an opportunity to attend one of four WBAF Academy courses at the ITU ARI Teknokent, all taught by WBAF Academy faculty members.

Global Opening Ceremony of Magnet

I also want to invite you to the opening ceremony of the biggest scale-up centre of South East Europe — at 9am at Istanbul Technical University. This centre isa milestone for the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. I would like thank Professor Mehmet Karaca, President of Istanbul Technical University, and Kenan Colpan, Chief Executive Officer of the ITU Technopark, for their strong belief in the power of entrepreneurs.

World Excellence Awards and VIP Gala Dinner

When it comes to Excellence Awards, the World Business Angels Investment Forum looks beyond borders. From business angels to policymakers to academics, these Awards recognise those who stand out in imagining, discussing, and shaping the future of an entrepreneurial world.

The World Excellence Awards will be presented tonight in this room, along with the VIP reception and Gala Dinner.

Sponsors

Our comingtogether today in Istanbul has been made possiblethanks to the generous contributions of our sponsors and partners. I would like to express our deep appreciation to the following institutions for their generous support and for their commitment to a powerful angel investment ecosystem.First of all, we thank our sponsors:

  • the London Stock Exchange Group,
  • Istanbul Technical University’s ARI Teknokent
  • the TEB Angel Investment Platform,
  • Calik Holding
  • Intel
  • Samsung
  • FinTech Istanbul powered by Interbank Card Center
  • Fineksus and
  • Nexchange

Our strategic partners have also made a great contribution to the success of this event. These include

  • UNIDO,
  • the Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency,
  • GBAN, EBAN, ABAN, MBAN, and TBAA

and many thanks to our great media partners: Anadolu Ajans, Bloomberg HT, Dunya Daily, and Para Weekly —

and many thanks as well to our Forum’s official airline: Turkish Airlines.

It is really rewarding to see that governments around the world have understood the importance of angel investment for boosting their economies. During the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in 2010,President Obama’s response to my proposaltomake public grants available toentrepreneurs was encouraging. In a special meeting with me, he agreed with and supported my position on the importance of angel investors — and about converting public money to ‘smart money’: cash that is invested by parties who are experienced, well-informed, and well connected.

Many governments, particularly in Europe, offer attractive tax incentives for angel investors. The UK and Turkey, for example, have already passed angel investment codes to support such a system. A number of Middle East countries, particularly in the GCC,have discovered the angel investment system and are keen to engage with it — for one thing,it is 100% compatible with Islamic investment principles. In fact, the Islamic Development Bank proposedangel investment for consideration at its annual conference in Jakarta, in May 2016.

The World Business Angels Investment Forum invites all governments and policymakers to take advantage of the know-how, mentorship, and the networks of qualified angel investors, and to convert public money to smart money by establishing close collaboration between public institutions and private resources such as business angel networks, corporate ventures and VCs.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

As the Chair of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, I invite you to join our global efforts to ease access to smart finance, which will create more jobs and more social justice worldwide. Your efforts to convert the world economy to a smart economy in cooperation with the World Business Angels Investment Forum arevery important.

By working together across borders, with a common vision, and with these smart dynamics in mind, we are well placed to create positive change in the global economy.

I’m pleased you have joined us today, andI am sure you will find WBAF 2017 a rewarding experience!

Thank you.

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