Three businesses have raised a total of $547,000 on entrepreneurship-themed reality TV show Beban from the panel of regional investors.
UAE-based Drop It founded by Obaid Alshowaihi, raised $200,000 from Omani investor Yasser Albarami and Egyptian investor Mohamed Nagaty Aboelnaga, while Bahrain-based Right Calories, founded by Abdullah Sulaibeekh, fundraised $265,000 from Hope Ventures, and Motolines, represented by one of its co-founders Ahmed Ashoor, bagged $82,000, also from Hope Ventures.
Beban produced by Hope Ventures, the investment arm of Hope Fund, aired the sixth episode of its third season last week.
During the sixth episode, four businesses pitched in front of the panel of regional investors, which consisted of Egyptian investor Mohamed Aboelnaga Nagaty, who is also the co-founder and chief executive of Exits; Omani serial entrepreneur and angel investor Yasser Albarami who is the co-founder and chief executive of Mubbadarah Investments, and Saudi co-founder and chairman of Riyadh Angels Investors Abdullah Alaraj.
Beban TV show is the region’s first private-public investment platform through its formed partnerships with Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (UAE), the SME Development Authority (Oman), GFH Capital (Saudi Arabia), Zain Kuwait and Sabah Al Ahmad Centre for Giftedness and Creativity (Kuwait), and Tamkeen (Bahrain).
Filmed in Exhibition World Bahrain (EWB), Beban season 3 offers 41 businesses from across the Mena region a pitching platform in front of a panel of regional, reputable investors for equity investment and strategic business development opportunities that can accelerate the growth of these businesses into new markets.
A new episode of Beban will air every Wednesday this month.
The next episode airs tomorrow on Bahrain TV at 6pm, Oman TV Cultural at 9.10pm, AlRai TV at 9.30pm, SBC Channel at 10pm, and on Saturday at 5.30pm on Abu Dhabi TV, or anytime on video-on-demand platform Shahid.