MENA Investors’ Forecasts for 2018: Allen Taylor, MD, Endeavor Catalyst

By Tamara Pupic | Dec 19, 2017
Endeavor UAE

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We picked the brains of investors looking at the Arab world for their expectations of the MENA entrepreneurial landscape in 2018, and their thoughts on sectors that we should keep an eye on next year. Here’s what Allen Taylor, Managing Director, Endeavor Catalyst, told us.

“I think Egypt is still very much “underfunded” based on the level of entrepreneurial talent, demographics, market size, and so on. On the heels of the successful consumer-focused tech businesses, such as Souq.com, Careem, Anghami and Propertyfinder, I believe that there will very likely be a group of very big enterprise software, or “B2B’, businesses built in the region. Education technology —and the overall distribution of knowledge (e.g. books, publishing, school systems)— are other areas that are ripe for disruption.”

Related: MENA Investors’ Forecasts for 2018: twofour54’s Asma Al Qaseer and Dana Horska

We picked the brains of investors looking at the Arab world for their expectations of the MENA entrepreneurial landscape in 2018, and their thoughts on sectors that we should keep an eye on next year. Here’s what Allen Taylor, Managing Director, Endeavor Catalyst, told us.

“I think Egypt is still very much “underfunded” based on the level of entrepreneurial talent, demographics, market size, and so on. On the heels of the successful consumer-focused tech businesses, such as Souq.com, Careem, Anghami and Propertyfinder, I believe that there will very likely be a group of very big enterprise software, or “B2B’, businesses built in the region. Education technology —and the overall distribution of knowledge (e.g. books, publishing, school systems)— are other areas that are ripe for disruption.”

Related: MENA Investors’ Forecasts for 2018: twofour54’s Asma Al Qaseer and Dana Horska

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