What are investors looking for when they assess a small or medium-sized enterprise, and what can entrepreneurs do to become more investment-ready? These questions took centre stage during the Investors Spotlight at the Fourth Arab SMEs Summit in Baghdad.
The session brought the investor perspective directly into the conversation on SME growth, giving entrepreneurs insights into how investors assess businesses, identify promising opportunities and make investment decisions. It also provided a space to examine the factors that can help businesses move from a strong idea or early-stage venture towards sustainable growth and expansion.
Access to finance is one of the practical issues at the heart of the Arab SMEs Summit, which brings together policymakers, entrepreneurs, SMEs, investors, financial institutions and development partners. The Summit seeks to highlight concrete opportunities and practical challenges facing SMEs while ensuring that entrepreneurs and investors have a voice alongside policymakers.
Against this backdrop, the Investors Spotlight explored what makes a business attractive to potential investors and how entrepreneurs can better position their companies for investment. The discussion focused attention not only on securing finance, but also on building businesses with the foundations, strategies and growth potential needed to attract and effectively use investment.
The session featured Badr El Din Ibrahim from the Ebdaa Microfinance Bahrain, Mohamed Al-Hakim, an Iraqi serial entrepreneur and investor, Bilal Rabah Sugheyer from the International Finance Corporation, and Bilal Al-Hamadani from the Iraq Development Fund.
