BiD Network at EBAN Congress 2008: investment opportunities in developing countries

On April 14th and 15th the annual European Business Angel Networks (EBAN) Congress was held in Arnhem (Netherlands). Over 200 people from business angel network managers, regional economic development professionals, fund managers and institutional investors to policy makers, innovation professionals, and researchers attended the congress.
The conference’s main theme was “Business Angel investing: Entrepreneurial Capital for the 21st Century”. About 25 speakers presented expected evolutions of the early stage investment market in and beyond European Borders.
Presently most business angel networks only make matches in their own country. Research even showed that 55-75% of the angel investors do not invest in a company more than 100 km away from their home. One of the subjects discussed was ‘cross-border investments’, which is getting more popular and is encouraged by the association. However, this type of investments nowadays only refers to countries in the West.

BiD Network, which attended for the first time, brought something new to the congress: investment opportunities in developing countries.
Most people learning more about BiD Network’s activities reacted surprised and at the same time enthusiastic. Presently, few of them were actually eager to make a move towards developing countries. That was to be expected, after all, innovators always have to overcome scepticism and grow credibility. And that is what BiD Network is aiming at!