Abu Dhabi to welcome 2021 with AED2bn investment programme

Through this innovation programme, Abu Dhabi is showing the world that it is open for business and is committed to entrepreneurship, said Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, director general of Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).

In an interview with Arabian Business, Bin Hendi addresses the investment appetite in Abu Dhabi and how this initiative, part of Abu Dhabi’s Ghadan 21 accelerator programme, will incentivise it. He also expands on the details of the programme and how funds will be allocated.

This year’s programme diversifies from ADIO’s AgTech incentive scheme, which saw it partner with seven agriculture innovators to establish R&D and develop cutting-edge agricultural projects in the emirate.

Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, director general of Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO)

How will the fund be broken down across the high-growth sectors?

We don’t have a specific breakdown of that AED2 billion as it relates to each and every sector. As the opportunities arise, and as we see the build out and expansion of some of these sectors, we will deploy accordingly. But I think more importantly, for us, this allows us to double down on our initial programme and expand into other sectors.

We’re also signalling to the world that Abu Dhabi is committed to entrepreneurship, innovation, and to creating these competitive advantages that we want to grow.

This is just the start. As and when these sectors start to speed and we start growing them, we will look at other incentives that we will be able to offer to them.

Do you think there is still an appetite to invest after everything that has happened in 2020?

I think, if you look at 2020, there has still been quite a number of companies that have raised capital.

I really think it comes down to the opportunity and, if I take this one step back, you have two groups:  you have a group of companies that have already embraced technology and understand that they need to digitise so they can continue to grow; and you have another group that have not identified the technology they need so they can continue on their path of growth by embracing that.

Both of those companies need to work with start-ups, entrepreneurs and the private sector so they can help rebuild and rebase their business lines and be able to really take things forward from a technological perspective.

So I actually think there’s a lot of investment that’s going to continue to happen. What Abu Dhabi is doing is showcasing to everyone, whether they’re based here or based abroad, that we are serious about building out and strengthening the ecosystem, that we have confidence in our economy, and that we’re committed to the long term growth of the economy.

This offers a very strong message to the investment committee and many of them have approached us now. Even yesterday, I was having meetings with people asking if I had come across any interesting areas that they can invest in. So we think that this is not just direct support for the economy but it’s a very strong message for everyone else involved in our economy, or that wants to participate in our economy, that they need to come and be a part of our growth.

What do you see happening with these investments in 2021?

For all of the areas we’re focused on right now, we are currently in very active conversations with both start-ups and entrepreneurs, as well as SMEs and major international institutions to come and participate across all of these.

One thing I want to highlight is that beyond the AED2bn financial incentive that’s on offer, most of our conversations with these institutions revolves more around what Abu Dhabi has to offer. It’s really about informing them of what’s on the ground: most of them have capital, they want to come and deploy their capital and build out their infrastructure.

So it’s about awareness and showing them the potential; the financial incentive is just an added benefit to some of these initiatives that will set up here.

But for the most part, many of them are already just looking at what opportunities Abu Dhabi presents. Once you describe that to them, they then come in and are very willing to participate and grow here.

Speaking of the non-financial incentives, what do you think would be most important for these companies to attract them?

So there’s a few things and it depends on the company. In general, a lot of them are very focused on that connectivity and access. When companies are trying to come and grow, they often don’t have a single source that can help guide them throughout the entire ecosystem: we provide that for them.

What is particularly important for smaller companies and start-ups is us being able to connect them to potential revenue streams. That is a non-financial incentive that we offer and that is the ultimate need for the start-ups, because of the private sector and the ecosystem built out of here. So those two things are very, very critical.

But the third thing which I think has been really important for us is that many of these institutions want to plug into the universities and build up on this R&D and we provide that. We give them that seat at the table that allows them to look at policy and how they may be able to participate in changing policy and regulations, and really growing on an R&D side.

How did you select the areas you will invest in?

What we did was we were looking at these sectors in terms of the growth. We focused on high growth areas and are looking for companies where we can advance what they already built. For example, with ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) you’re addressing financial services so how do you expand that and build an asset management platform in the region?

Same applies to the ICT sector which is quite broad and touches every other segment.

Then we looked at health services and biopharma. From what we went through in 2020, in terms of medical supplies and consumables, we’ve understood that there’s a lot of potential in these areas and that we need to look at areas that are a complete digitisation of certain services. Telemedicine, as an example, was not something any of us were using as extensively as we are today, just a year ago. So we want to build on that.

Each one of these areas is growing in tandem with the growth of Abu Dhabi in terms of population growth and the aspirations to expand to the wider region. That’s why we were looking at these sectors in terms of how we can build our own internal resiliency but then be able to export this into the wider region.

If you could sum up in one line your aspirations for Abu Dhabi in 2021, what would you say?

That we’re open for business and we view everything as a partnership. Nothing is a transaction for us; we want to build long-term resilient relationships with all of the companies and people looking to call Abu Dhabi home.

It’s going be an exciting year I hope. 2020 was very different for everyone and I think 2021, Inshallah, we’ll see a lot more positive momentum in different areas.