72 countries celebrated the World Business Angel Investors Week

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 2 November 2021 – WBAW China: The World Business Angel Investors Week (WBAW) 2021 has successfully concluded on 24 October 2021. The Week is a global platform from which to campaign for solutions to critical issues of early-stage equity and capital markets, startup economies, and other worldwide concerns at the United Nations, the European Union, the ASEAN Economic Community, the OECD, and in G20 countries, and regional and local economies. It is celebrated every third week of October, under a global theme. The Week is coordinated globally by the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) – an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). 

This year’s global theme is Business Diplomacy for International Entrepreneurship. The event took place over 18-24 October 2021 and hosted more than 80,000 entrepreneurs, startups, investors, innovators, policy makers, and thought leaders from around the world. Baybars Altuntas, Global Chair of the Week and Executive Chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, kicked off the Week with a Grand Opening Ceremony hosting a long list of honorary speakers including H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia (2015-2020) and ministers from Costa Rica, Canada, North Macedonia, Monaco, Mexico, Jamaica, Thailand, and UAE, regional leaders of angel investors, as well as continental chairs of the Week including Derik Kim, Continental Chair Asia.

Mariana Kou, WBAW Country Chair China, highlighted during the 21 October 2021 session for China that innovation and technology advancement were key to social and economic development and encouraged all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to collaborate and contribute to the startup economy in China, Asia, and globally. Raymond Wong, head of at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, gave a keynote speech sharing the role of Hong Kong in China’s entrepreneurial journey. Keynote speaker Emily Lam-Ho, founder of 8Shades, co-founder of EcoDrive, and managing partner of Empact28 shared how she worked towards building a greener world with an impact investing platform, a NGO, and a startup venture. A roundtable moderated by Roland Yau, managing partner of CoCoon Ignite Ventures invited Lavine Hemlani, founder of Xccelerate, Theodore Ma, founder of MPower, and Lara Wang, co-founder of Link Resources Asia to speak about their views and expectations on the future of work. The WBAW China session concluded with a fireside chat on the East and West venture capital landscape, hosted by Anson Bailey, head of consumer and retail of ASPAC and head of technology of Hong Kong with speaker Kent Ho, founder and general partner of S28 Capital, member of board of directors, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, and Honorary Trustee of Peking University.

Re-live all sessions at www.angelsweek.org

World Business Angels Investment Forum

As an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is committed to collaborating globally to empower the economic development of the world by fostering innovative financial instruments for startups, scaleups, innovators, entrepreneurs, and SMEs and to promoting gender equality and women’s participation in all sectors of the world economy. WBAF invites you to join our global efforts to ease access to finance, promote financial inclusion, and create more jobs and social justice.

Strategic Partners of the World Business Angels Investment Forum

Strategic Partners are some of the world’s top industry leaders representing diverse regions and industries; they are committed to the idea that interaction between multiple stakeholders can be a positive force in creating change. They work in close cooperation with the Forum to help shape regional and global agendas in the global and regional investment markets. Through this cooperation, Strategic Partners contribute to the global knowledge base and benefit from it as they determine the agenda of Forum meetings and develop the focus of Forum initiatives. WBAF has signed strategic collaborative agreements with global and regional institutions to empower the economic development of the world.

• International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group (IFC)
• London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)
• World Association of International Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA)
• International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP)
• The Middle East Business Angels Network (MBAN)
• The African Trade Association for Business Angels (ABAN)
• The World Free & Special Economic Zones Federation (FEMOZA)
• The Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Mediterranean (ASCAME)
• International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
• Junior Chamber International (JCI)

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