12/06/2011
Fast-growing companies to vie for honors
From left, Anne Habiby, chief executive officer (CEO) of AllWorld Network; Jamal Khashoggi, moderator; Atif Abdulmalik, CEO of Arcapita; and Bang Siraj, CEO of ITS.
The GCC Fast Growth 100 (GCC100) program was launched Saturday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh to find and rank the fastest growing private companies of the GCC.
The first ever program was launched here in the midst of a galaxy of media men and representatives from prominent companies in the Kingdom.
Also present in large numbers were winners from AllWorld’s Saudi 100 ranking, companies growing at an average of 40 percent a year and who are early applicants to the GCC100 and Arabia500
With the immediate need to create more private employment in the region, the annual GCC100 has been initiated by the AllWorld Network, with the support of Arcapita, to celebrate and support successful entrepreneurs forging new industries.
These entrepreneurs become part of a network of growth entrepreneurs in the region and globally, facilitating knowledge exchange and cross-border investments.
The program, moderated by Jamal Khashoggi, generated wide range of discussions on the importance of the GCC100 entrepreneurial companies in the current political and economic landscape of the region.
Speaking on the occasion, Anne Habiby, chief executive officer of AllWorld Network, said the first ever GCC100 will be announced regionally and globally in October 2011 at an event to take place in Bahrain.
The GCC Fast Growth 100 is a program of AllWorld Network with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and partner Arcapita, a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain. AllWorld was co-founded by Deirdre Coyle, Anne Habiby and Professor Michael Porter. Porter was described by the Times of London as the world’s “most influential management guru” and is widely regarded at the foremost authority on company and country competitiveness.
Habiby, also a Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said : “The GCC100 will establish the first definitive record of the fastest growing, most dynamic entrepreneurs in the region. These are the entrepreneurs investing in their own markets and building new high-growth companies and energized teams. Nothing says more about the economic opportunity of the future then to see young companies succeeding. We invite all companies to apply at AllWorldLive.com”
The GCC100 application process is open to all private, non-listed companies of the GCC region who have been rapidly growing.
The GCC100 ranks companies, which must be at least three years old,according to their revenue growth, not their size.
It is a ranking of the most dynamic, not the largest companies.
Younger companies can qualify as Start Ups to Watch.
Entrepreneurs from any industry are invited to apply free-of-charge. With a ranking on the list, emerging companies will gain visibility, a global network of growth entrepreneurs and investors, and an invitation to the AllWorld Summit at Harvard University.
Arcapita, with offices in Bahrain, the US, London and Singapore, has built a business sourcing and managing investments in private equity, infrastructure, real estate and venture capital around the world, and currently has over $7 billion in funds under management.
