In Pursuit of The Greater Cause
The year was 2008. I moved back to Dubai having worked in London for 3 years at a corporate VC firm where I learnt about venture capital and early stage technology investing. I was fortunate in that I had a phenomenal manager at the time who took me under his wing, gave me his time and attention and coached me on the industry. I was lucky. I found a path to something I love early in my career. After spending almost 9 years studying and working in the UK, I decided that it was time to come back to Dubai having grown up in the UAE for most of my childhood. Despite the timing being on the cusp of the global financial crisis, I applied for jobs in the financial services sector and received 3 job offers, one of them being to join the Arab Business Angel Network, which was at its essence an angel network with a seed fund to invest into regional startups. It was the lowest paying offer, but one that was in the industry that I love where I could make a real impact.
The ecosystem was non-existent back then. ABAN was run by Walid Hanna at the time, and myself and Khaled Talhouni started out there before moving onto other things. Fast forward to today, each of us have gone on to start our own VC firms and continue to build out the ecosystem in our own respective ways. Walid Hanna started MEVP, Khaled Talhouni went to Wamda and now Nuwa, and myself with BECO. 12 years later, we have collectively raised and invested more than $450m in the region. I would not have imagined this happening if you had asked me in 2008. Today, if you ask me what the region will look like in 10 years, I couldn’t tell you either. You see, life is but a sequence of beautiful moments that culminate into being; a journey of growth and self-realization, with each moment bringing with it key learning that you can take to another moment, and so on. Nobody can predict the future, so focus on living in the present — this pandemic has at least taught me that.
Today I have decided to embark on another journey and will be spinning out of BECO. Like most entrepreneurial endeavors, BECO has been a vehicle of self-exploration for me. One that I am eternally grateful for and one that I find beautiful in itself. I had the pleasure and privilege of working with my cousin and partner Dany Farha. It is not every day that you get to work with your role model, let alone family and build a successful business together. Dany taught me a lot and gave me wisdom from many experiences together that has transformed me for the better both personally and professionally. What started off as just the two of us 9 years ago, has now grown into a large and incredible team (not to mention, the many amazing ex-colleagues I got to know over the years), ca. $200m invested, 35 incredible founders backed, and another partner added to the firm in Yousef Hammad. Yousef is possibly one of the biggest drivers of growth for me over the past 3 years. He has pushed me to become a better person, investor and leader, and helped me realize my true potential. He is a big proponent of my next pursuit and I owe him a lot for that. Although I am spinning out of BECO, the firm and its people will always be a part of me. As with most realizations and life journeys, you always hold the most meaningful moments and people closest to your heart.
Covid-19 was a silver lining for me. It gave me freedom to explore and sit with my thoughts and feelings. It exposed many things about myself and my values that were kept hidden in my subconscious. I became far more aware of the areas I enjoyed working in, the style of work that I find most productive and the value that I contribute the most in. And with that, my partners and I had open and transparent conversations to understand how best to handle this. We did it this way because we love, respect and care for each other deeply. We value each other wholeheartedly and ultimately felt that this was the best outcome for all of us, ecosystem included. BECO can continue building on its past and recent successes as the go-to Series A VC firm in the region. I will be moving earlier in the investing stages at the pre-seed and seed stage, further contributing to the growth of our ecosystem in the ways that I know best (more about that in the future). Even though we are separating structurally, we are still family and will be fully supporting each other’s respective endeavors and striving to continue transforming our region together. Just like ABAN created 3 VCs, BECO is also doing its part. Why pre-seed and seed you may ask? Because I love championing founders. They are the true underdogs in these stories, and they are the people that need support the most, earlier on in their journeys. Not any kind of support, but culture setting, team building, storytelling, confidence building and other mental and strategic challenges that many are too afraid to discuss and share in a world where judgment is everywhere. And why now? Because now is the best time to start a company, and I need to dedicate my full time and attention if I am to build what I want to build and give it the best chance of success.
With that being said, I am so grateful for the trust put in me by my partners, Limited Partners and portfolio company founders throughout my time at BECO. When I look back at who I was 9 years ago and who I am today, I owe a lot of that personal and professional growth to them. And when I look forward to what I’m going to do next, I feel as if it’s the closest thing to operating in my element, in my truest sense of self, that I cannot but be more excited about the future.
Finally, and in the words of my cousin and Partner, Dany Farha, “Don’t forget to enjoy the ride.”
With love,
Amir
