Bahrain tops London and Silicon Valley for percentage of female startup founders

Agencies
June 18, 2019

Bahrain, Jun 18: Bahrain is one of the top 10 startup ecosystems with the largest share of female founders, according to the 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER), launched at the recent TNW conference in Amsterdam.

Described as 'the world's most comprehensive and widely-read research on startups', the report is produced by Startup Genome in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.

India enjoys a thriving international partnership with Bahrain in many sectors. As for FinTech, the Bahrain Economic Development Board recently signed an MOU with the Government of Maharashtra, for cooperation on the promotion of FinTech in their respective markets.

Indian Companies such as Rsquare Technologies and Innosoft, are currently residing at Bahrain FinTech Bay (BFB). BFB is rapidly gaining international recognition as a FinTech leader, with a number of key companies like Visa partnering with the organisation. Bahrain also continues to be the region's leading financial services hub, through its forward-thinking regulation including the regulatory sandbox, crypto-assets, and open banking.

With 18 per cent of its start-ups founded by women, Bahrain topped even internationally recognised startup hubs such as Silicon Valley (16 per cent) and London (15 per cent). The report also lauded Bahrain as:

* one of the top 10 ecosystems to watch in FinTech in Europe and the Middle East

* A top 15 Global Ecosystem for affordability of qualified talent.

"This report draws on the views of the people who know best - entrepreneurs and founders. In a very short time Bahrain has emerged as a leading ecosystem with particular strength in FinTech. With both female founders and women taking leadership roles throughout the ecosystem, Bahrain is a dynamic and diverse market at the head of new trends that are shaping the way society and business operates", said H.E. Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board.

"Over the past decade, Bahrain's startup ecosystem has made significant progress where start-ups can access a global network of partners to scale up and capture opportunities in Bahrain and the region", said Dr Ebrahim Mohammed Janahi, Chief Executive of Tamkeen (Bahrain's Labour Fund).

Dr Janahi pointed out one of Bahrain's key competitive advantages in the region, which lies in its firm belief in the importance of women as an active player in shaping Bahrain's economic future.

"In line with these national objectives, Tamkeen has launched a number of ad-hoc programmes to foster the development of female-owned businesses in addition to Tamkeen's flagship programmes supporting individuals and enterprises." he added.

According to Dr. Janahi, more than 59 per cent of women have been served as part of Tamkeen's micro finance support, while more than 50 per cent were served within the business development program, which offers a co-financing service to cover 50 per cent of business equipment.

The Kingdom has a long history of women in senior leadership positions. Currently, a group of female leaders in FinTech is helping to steer the country's FinTech strategy.

Leading female Bahraini startup founders include Hala Sulaiman and Ameera AlQubaiti, Co-founders of Alrawi, a successful audiobook startup and Pitch@Palace Global 3.0 People's Choice 2018 Winner.

Furthermore, Bahrain's Al Waha Fund of Funds, a $100 million fund set up by the Bahrain Development Bank, has an all-female leadership.

The report also recognised Bahrain as a Top 15 Global Ecosystem for affordable talent. Bahrain boasts one of the most skilled and entrepreneurial workforces in the region, over 60 per cent of which work in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services' AWS Educate training scheme is providing Bahrainis with the necessary skills for cloud-based jobs. Interestingly, it's estimated that more than 60 per cent of computer science students at the University of Bahrain in 2018 were women.

Bahrain's tax regime - the most liberal in the Gulf - and wage subsidies for new employers emerged as real differentiators among the key draws highlighted in the report. The report reflects the views of more than 10,000 founders and draws on data from over one million companies. It ranks the highest-performing startup ecosystems, cities and regions by assessing performance against the following factors:

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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News Network
November 3,2024

Mangaluru, Nov 3: A quiet morning turned perilous for a farmer in Elathur, near Kinnigoli on the outskirts of the city, as a leopard attacked him while he was cutting grass. 

Ligori, a resident of Kalkare, was startled by the sudden assault and suffered injuries to his face but managed to escape and reach safety. He was promptly taken to the hospital for medical care.

Residents in Elathur have been on edge for over a week following reports of leopard sightings in the area. Today’s incident has heightened concerns among the local farming community, who now fear for their safety.

With a significant population of farmers in the region, villagers are demanding immediate action from the forest department to capture the leopard and ensure their safety. 

The community awaits a response, hoping for swift intervention to prevent further attacks.

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