‘Unbound’ opens in Bahrain

Manama : The first-ever edition of ‘Unbound’ was held in Bahrain yesterday with 1500 participants and more than 50 startups 

The event which aims to celebrate startup culture brings together entrepreneurs and experts from around the MENA region. 

The event, which is part of Startup Bahrain week, is being held at Bahrain International Circuit.

Unbound, which takes place around the world, was brought to Bahrain, thanks to the support of Economic Development Board and Startup Bahrain. 

The event featured talks by veteran businessmen and experts and also served as a platform for budding entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to investors. Fifty influential speakers from fintech, adtech, travel, e-commerce and more, were at the event for panel sessions and keynote speeches 

The opening ceremony featured talks from Daniel Seal, Founder & CEO - Unbound Innovations Ltd, Dr Nasser Ali Qaedi, Chief Investment & Marketing Officer - Tamkeen, Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive - Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), and Simon Martin, UK’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain. 

Various seminars and workshops were held throughout the day. 

“We have startups here from all over the region including form Tunisia, Cairo, Dubai, Oman and of course Bahrain. We are thankful to EDB and Startup Bahrain for enabling us to make this a success. This would not have been possible if it were not for a conversation I have had with the CEO of EDB Khalid Al Rumaihi in Singapore. He mentioned that could look to have an event gathering a thousand people. Today we have a huge participation, we were expecting a thousand people initially but in the end, we have over 1500 registrations,” he said, adding, “It is really amazing to witness this region transforming from oil-based economies to knowledge-based   economies,” said Daniel Seal, Founder & CEO - Unbound Innovations

The event will continue today. A series of panel discussions such as ‘ Routes for Growth - Sourcing Capital’. ‘ Global Stories of Startup Success’ and Building MENA Innovation Ecosystems will be held in today’s session.