Istanbul to host world business angels' forum

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - A meeting of international suppliers of seed money for such enterprises as start-ups and entrepreneurs will start in Istanbul on Sunday.

The World Business Angels Investment Forum' (WBAF) annual congress, at Swissotel The Bosphorus in the Besiktas district, will last for three days.

The congress, which Anadolu Agency is serving as the global communications partner, will bring together key players of the equity market to discuss the benefits of and challenges to the investment community’s achieving successful growth for their businesses.

"The discussions will explore how family offices and wealth management institutions can foster open innovation and deliver more business value through partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses and SMEs," Baybars Altuntas, head of the WBAF, said on the congress website.

The congress will feature several programs such as the CEO-preneurship and Fintech summits, Investment Academy, and World Excellence Awards.

"The CEO-preneurship summit will focus on transforming CEOs into angel investors, while the Fintech summit will deal with issues of financial inclusion and ways to democratize access to finance," said the website.

Some 124 speakers from 26 countries will speak during the congress, with 1,200 delegates attending from around the world.

"The WBAF is an international organization aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from start-up to scale-up, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide," said the forum's website.