Beyond the Silk Roads: Middle Eastern Venture Investing with Noor Sweid, Founder & Managing Partner of Global Ventures
Today we welcome one of the Middle East’s most successful angel investors and venture capitalists, listed in 'FORBES 100 Most Powerful Business Women 2025'.
Noor Sweid explains her journey, from her early career in management consultancy to relocating to Dubai, then how she came to operate a business which became listed on London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai (Depa), through to establishing her own VC firm (Global Ventures).
She sets the scene for the investing dynamics of MENA (Middle East North Africa), where the domestic market comprises 450 million people of whom half are below 30 years old.
Noor explains both the geographic and industry opportunities, why she established Global Ventures, and the priorities in their investment process.
From fintech to solving medical challenges, and agritech to consumer goods, she details their approach, selection criteria, and the characteristics they look for.
She explains how they prioritise, how much they become involved in their investee companies and what they look for in “winning entrepreneurs” and why they believe their success rate can be higher than typical industry norms.
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