At the Closing Ceremony of the World Business Angel Investors Week, it was announced that the World Congress of Angel Investors WBAF 2022 will convene on 25 and 26 October 2022 in Antalya, Turkey. This will be the first in-person global convergence of angel investors since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The previous in-person Congress hosted 1,658 angel investors, private equity fund managers, business angel networks, wealth management institutions, executives of stock exchanges, banks, science and technoparks, incubation and acceleration centers, startups, entrepreneurs, SMEs, global thought leaders and policy makers from 92 countries.
For the first time ever, the 2022 World Congress will host a regional congress as part of its official agenda. The Mediterranean Regional Congress of Angel Investors WBAF 2022 will be hosted by the Antalya Organized Industrial Zone Technopark.
The overarching topic of the Congress is Digital Transformation for Post-Pandemic Economies. The ultimate goal of all the Congress keynotes, panel discussions, presentations, and workshops will be to agree on a common roadmap for entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs that will enable them to emerge from this pandemic period even stronger than they were before.
The G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) issued a statement reaffirming the G20’s commitment to its Action Plan under the Saudi Arabia Presidency, which outlines its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Business Angels Investment Forum is a signatory of the Action Plan.
To reflect its commitment to the Action Plan, the WBAF 2022 agenda will focus on financial inclusion, digital transformation and connecting startups with angel investors. The sessions will deal with ways to democratise access to finance from startup to scale-up to exit. LPs, startups, scale-ups, and angel investors will be able to connect at the Global Fundraising Stage GFRS 2022 and at the World Excellence Awards, which salute those who stand out in imagining, discussing, and shaping the future of an entrepreneurial world.
The Congress will host four global summits as a part of its agenda: a Global Startup Summit, a Global Women Leaders Summit, a Science, Technology and Innovation Summit, and an Ethical Governance Summit.
100 selected startups will pitch on the Global Fundraising Stage after an investment readiness workshop and a one-to-one mentoring session. The WBAF Business School will deliver short courses, workshops, masterclasses and the Qualified Angel Investors Certification Course during the Congress.
The Grand Assembly 2022 will take place on 24 October, before the Congress starts and will be closed to public. WBAF has 1,352 Senior Associates, High Commissioners, Senior Senators, Senators and International Partners from 132 countries.
The Congress will also host the Annual Meeting of WBAF Country Offices, which Country Directors and board members of each country office will attend. WBAF has 10 country offices on 4 continents.
The official website of the Congress is now live for early bird registrations. www.wbaf2022.org
