1. AIWF June 2012 The Entrepreneurial and Investments Projects Development Company Salwa Katkhuda- Investment Manager Oasis500: Accelerating Tech Start-ups in The Middle East

2. AIWF June 2012 Oasis 500 – Overview Oasis 500 invests in early stage companies and transforms them into viable businesses by addressing the following gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: Seed and Angel Investment Funding Help and Know-how Societal and Environmental Support Oasis 500 is focused on investing in the areas of ICT, mobile, and digital media Oasis 500 aims to train over 3,000 companies and invest in 500 companies in its first 5 years

3. AIWF June 2012 Training Boot Camp Train entrepreneurs on behavioral competencies, business management, business planning and venture fund- raising Designed to educate, stress test, and select Startup Funding & Acceleration/Incubation Selected entrepreneurs will be given a first round of funding (JD 22K), with a possible follow-on investment (JD 50K) Funded companies will be incubated at Oasis 500 for 4-8 months Mentorship Incubated companies mentored by local and international industry experts (e.g. Silicon Valley) Angel Network Oasis 500 operates an angel network to attract investors to well-prepared opportunities OASIS 500 may co-invest in some of these deals (JD 100K-200K) Oasis 500 operates 4 major activities to address the missing gaps in the ecosystem Oasis 500 – What We Do? 3 1342

4. AIWF June 2012 Sample size (126 entrepreneurs, 35% women, 65% men) The ecosystem does not appear to have a bias towards or against female entrepreneurs The real problem with female entrepreneurship goes back to the problem of women in the workforce in general – Jordan has one of the highest female literacy rates in the region (82%), yet females represent only 11% of the workforce. The technology sector is one of the only sectors in the economy that supports the involvement of women in the workforce and provides them with high value jobs Oasis 500 – Gender Strategy Findings

5. AIWF June 2012 Challenges Faced by Women Limited access to a proper transit system Long working hours Culture of women being outside the home Working with men Access to proper training and education to match employment opportunities

6. AIWF June 2012 Solutions Made Possible by Technology The Internet has transformed women's opportunities More flexible work options, freelance, home- based work Ability to work remotely Being your own boss with low capital needs Lucrative growth industry Online resources available for free/low cost

7. AIWF June 2012 Oasis 500 – Tadreesna Case Study The first Arabic online tutoring school for students founded by a Jordanian woman- Nora Al Saad Nora hired 20 freelance online tutors, 10 of which were unemployed qualified teachers, from 5 Arab countries In 3 months she has enrolled 186 students

8. AIWF June 2012 First Bazaar Case Study A one stop e-commerce shop where local designers can display and sell their unique hand made goods - founded by Linda Hallaq Linda helps more than 1,000 women designers in the MENA region sell their goods online from home

9. AIWF June 2012 Oasis 500 - Statistics Out of the 500 trained entrepreneurs (March 2012), 123 are women (25%) 18/52 companies were founded/co-founded by women (35%) 150 total mentors, 30 are women (20%) The number of women employed by Oasis 500 startups since Sept 2010 is 48. Women led startups at Oasis 500 have managed to attract USD 1million in follow on funding in less than 1 year. Oasis 500 team, 8/11 are women

10. AIWF June 2012 Oasis 500 – How Oasis 500 Encourages Entrepreneurship According to Oasis 500 research: The training boot camp: – Equips entrepreneurs with basic knowledge to start their own business – Allows entrepreneurs to objectively evaluate the business opportunity – Gives entrepreneurs the confidence to start their own business Exposure to Oasis 500’s previous success stories The supportive ecosystem: – The incubation, mentorship, coaching, connections, and introduction to investors minimizes risk and costly mistakes

11. AIWF June 2012 Oasis 500 – What More Could be Done to Encourage Women Entrepreneurship According to Oasis 500 research: Reach out to more women, through targeted marketing, to enroll more women in the training boot camp Expose women entrepreneurs to more women success stories Increase the number of women mentors in the network Introduce entrepreneurship as a viable path for women at school and university levels, promoting being your own boss

12. AIWF June 2012 Do you have any questions? Would you like to get involved? Salwa@oasis500.com