BrazilAccenture enters partnership with UAE investor Global Ventures
Accenture has teamed up with the UAE’s Global Ventures in a strategic partnership aimed at driving further innovation across the Middle East.
Leading professional services firm Accenture has entered into a strategic partnership with Dubai-based venture capital outfit Global Ventures to help drive innovation in the Middle East. According to the firms, the deal will see Accenture clients benefit from the emerging technologies of Global Venture’s portfolio companies, while those companies in turn will gain access to Accenture’s international network and expertise in facilitating innovative solutions.
“We are delighted to join forces with a world-renowned company such as Accenture as its first venture capital partner in the MENA region,” commented Global Ventures general partner and founder Noor Sweid. “By combining our regional venture capital expertise and thought leadership with Accenture’s pioneering insights and global presence, we are confident we will grow the regional venture capital ecosystem together.”
In addition to mutual access, Accenture and Global Ventures will also team up on thought leadership and research projects, having already worked together on reports into the education technology and fintech sectors, with the partnership looking to uncover insights and trends in industries where innovation drives disruption and opportunities.
While this is Accenture’s first such collaboration in the region, the firm hinted at many more to come. “This synergy will enable Accenture to further drive innovation in the region’s venture capital space through supporting entrepreneurs with the company’s in-depth insights and research and providing unmatched industry expertise and counsel,” said Alexis Lecanuet, Accenture’s regional managing director for the Middle East.
“We look forward to working with Global Ventures’ portfolio of growth-stage startups and exploring potential collaboration.”
Global Ventures
Founded in 2018, and recently backed by global investment firm Capria Ventures in its second, primarily health-tech focused fund, Global Ventures’ portfolio now exceeds two dozen companies, targeted for their ambition to address real world issues through emerging technologies. One such company is Covid-star Proximie, an AI and augmented reality-powered platform which allows surgeons to virtually guide procedures from anywhere in the world.
“We’re looking for mission-driven founders who are solving real problems that are scalable around the world. We really look at what problem is the founder solving. Is it a small incremental problem, with an equally incremental solution, or is it something exponential? We like to work with founders who are creating solutions for hundreds of millions of people,” Sweid said recently, with fintech, edtech and agritech start-ups also on the Global Ventures’ radar.
Accenture’s bid to drive greater innovation in the region comes as the advisory drops its latest Middle East Innovation Maturity Index, which found that 14 percent of the companies surveyed have embedded and maintain an innovation framework and practices within their businesses, with these ‘Innovation Champions’ achieving 27 percent higher profitability and 42 percent greater employee productivity than companies with less extensive innovation governance structures in place.
