WBAF Response to COVID 2019

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN

3 April 2020 - WBAF Response to COVID-19

Dear Friends,

The ‘startup economy of the pandemic world’ has unfortunately been significantly affected on the demand side. A dramatic and sudden loss of demand and revenue for startups and SMEs could severely affect their ability to function and/or cause severe liquidity shortages. Access to finance was difficult for startups and SMEs before the pandemic, now it is even more difficult.

Furthermore, consumers may experience loss of income, fear of contagion, and heightened uncertainty, which in turn reduces spending and consumption. These effects may be compounded when workers are laid off and firms are not able to pay salaries. Some sectors, such as tourism and transportation, may be particularly affected, which also contributes to reduced business and consumer confidence.

The impact of the virus could have potential spillovers into financial markets and early-stage equity, causing further reductions in confidence, cash flow, and company valuations. We are thinking that making a successful exit from an invested startup venture may take a longer time or will be done with a lower company valuation.

These various impacts are likely to affect both large and small firms. However, the effect on startups and SMEs may be especially severe, particularly because of their higher vulnerability and lower resilience related to their size.

The WBAF action plan 

As an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum will propose a comprehensive economic and financial support plan to the G20 leadership to alert policymakers about the urgent needs of startups.

But we believe we should not expect everything from policymakers, and we believe startups and angel investors are looking to WBAF for more than proposals for comprehensive support plan.

Having reviewed each country’s response and action plan for COVID-19, we see that governments around the world have classified their action plans as financial and non-financial supports. Australia, for example, has made a great contribution: mentoring support (50 mentors available), and financial workshops are being delivered in several locations in Queensland to support SMEs, with an emphasis on local business communities.

We invite you to review the OECD Policy Response to COVID-19 to understand the full picture. You can download the report here:

https://wbaforum.org/upload/OECD_Response_to_COVID-19_n1v.pdf

WBAF Business School to deliver free webinar sessions to startups and angel investors

We are pleased to inform you that WBAF will offer online and free mentorship and financial planning workshops via the WBAF Business School. Its 50 faculty members from 32 countries will share innovative ways to recover the losses of startups and maintain company valuations. We will host online roundtables and panel discussions with guest speakers from around the world. We are confident they will offer valuable advice and innovative solutions for keeping businesses afloat.

Here is the calendar for the WBAF Business School COVID-19 Webinars for April. Please visit the following link to learn more about the speakers and about the content and goals of each webinar—and for free registration: 

https://wbaforum.org/WBAF-Business-School-Webinars/16

A response from regional leaders: Coping with the effects of COVID-19

13 April 2020, Monday   3pm GMT

A response from world leaders: What leadership skills do policymakers and business owners need during a pandemic?

16 April 2020, Thursday  2pm GMT

A response from thought leaders: What is the response of the world startup economy to the reality of COVID-19?

20 April 2020, Monday   3pm GMT

The post-pandemic business environment: The post-pandemic business environment for startups, angel investors, and VCs

24 April 2020, Friday   3pm GMT

Open Forum: The Coronavirus pandemic and the new world

27 April 2020, Monday   3pm GMT

Global Insights: Insights from Iran, Italy and Spain

30 April 2020, Thursday   3pm GMT

Deadline extended for finding co-investors: The WBAF Angel Investment Fund Executive Committee has decided to extend the deadline for startups who are in the due-diligence process.

Webinars of the WBAF Global Woman Leaders Committee: Leveraging the WBAF network globally, WBAF women can connect with other women for support and advice. Swati Mandela, President of the WBAF Global Woman Leaders Committee, will send you topics and schedules of the webinars prepared as a response to COVID 19 from the Committee shortly. Here are a few of the wonderful webinars they have prepared for you:

? Gender and leadership: How men are dominating decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic, and why the world needs more women leaders

? Engendering investments and increasing women’s participation in the ecosystem 

? Why female-led startups matter: Building a business case for investing in women 

? The COVID-19 factor: How the gender agenda will be affected

WBAF Reading Club: WBAF wants to take the advantage of the extra free time that COVID-19 has created for some of us. We have launched a reading club for you to join and enjoy. To learn more about joining the reading club, please email to Maryam Najafi – Department Head, WBAF Business School: [email protected]

The importance of financial inclusion

We take CORVID-19 as an opportunity to re-think the importance of global financial inclusion. We have to start questioning more strongly how the world’s 2 billion unbanked people will benefit from public support in such difficult economic situations. This will be an important part of WBAF’s report to the G20 leadership.

We are confident that startups, scaleups, high-growth businesses and SMEs will overcome the problem of the century and that we will learn much about building a stronger startup economy in the near future.

We wish you and your family patience in this difficult time, and we hope we will overcome this problem together very shortly.

With our best regards,

Baybars Altuntas, on behalf of the WBAF Board of Directors, High Commissioners, Senators, International Partners

Dr Paul Doany, on behalf of the WBAF Business School and its faculty members

Israel Pons, on behalf of the WBAF Angel Investment Fund investors

Dr Inderjit Singh, on behalf of the Global Startup Committee

Swati Mandela, on behalf of the Global Woman Leaders Committee

HRH Princess Dr Nisreen El Hashemite, on behalf of the Global Science, Technology and Innovation Committee

Fadi Saab, on behalf of the WBAF Ethics, Governance, Quality Leadership & Excellence Standards Committee

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