One of the leading business accelerators in Bahrain is the handiwork of Mohammed Al Tawash, its Founder & Chairman; a conceptual business thinker who envisions Bahrain as the future startup center of the region and whose exemplary leadership has encouraged numerous start-up growth and turnaround situations. His partner, Maryam Alsaegh, CH9 Executive Director, is a business development professional who utilizes her experience in venture capital and private equity industry to plot accelerator setups. Together, Mohammed and Maryam seek the advancement of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Kingdom and the GCC region by providing a platform that supports aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners and startup founders. Since CH9 rolled out the accelerator concept from its headquarters in Amwaj Islands, CH9 has been at the core of many entrepreneurial activities and first-time ventures. CH9 offers a virtual address with CR documentation and 24-hour access to business spaces equipped with fiber-optic wi-fi, Microsoft-powered Cloud solutions, meeting rooms and printing facilities.

Mentorship opportunities are available free of charge to Bahrainis, plus provisions for business consultations. The accelerator has hosted regional startup pitch events such as the Seedstars Summit in 2016 and Seedstars GCC in 2017.BEntrepreneur talks to CH9’s Mohamed Altawash, Founder & Chairman and Maryam Alsaegh, Executive Director for more insights on the accelerator platform.

CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT CH9 AND WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS DO YOU SUPPORT?

We first launched in 2016 as the first co- working space in Bahrain. We started with some exciting programs for our startups like the Gaming Hackathon and My Startup Bootcamp that we’ve been doing for almost two years now, and we’re working on other new projects as well.

FROM BEING THE FIRST HOMEGROWN ACCELERATOR YOU ARE NOW THE BIGGEST.

True. But the size really doesn’t matter although CH9 is about 1,300 times bigger than other accelerators in the Gulf. What matters is the acceleration and support that we provide to our startups.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START THE HUB?

What inspired me to create an accelerator for startups and scale-ups is the ecosystem when it started in the Gulf. We’ve been hibernating in the Gulf for so many years, we just woke up in 2016 and 2017. And we found out that there are so many opportunities, scale-ups and capabilities within the region, whether they are from an indigent population or expat foreigners living in the Gulf. Residents have lots of capabilities in setting up their own companies. There are certain ideas… so what inspired me is to support these entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur who started 20 years ago, I didn’t get any of that. We didn’t have any support from Tamkeen, Bahrain Development Bank or EDB. Today, the big difference is what the government or the semi-government institutions have put together as a bundle of packages for entrepreneurs and startups to avail.

ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF CH9, WHICH IS VERY INSPIRATIONAL IS THAT YOU DON’T TURN AWAY ENTREPRENEURS.

The door is open. Since a year and a half ago, we have been conducting intensive bootcamp activities for businesses on the process of generating business ideas. We have trained 240 entrepreneurs, and that is quite a big number. We have no intention of rejecting anybody and we receive them all whether that person does or doesn’t have an idea. Even if they don’t have any idea on how to set up their business, we spoonfeed them with one, or with a business plan. They have to come up with an MVP which is the Minimum Viable Product, and from the MVP they should manufacture their product and then we give them an access to the market in the region. It is a fairly complete service that we try to accomplish with our partners on the best possible level.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS ACCELERATORS LIKE CH9 IN THE ECONOMIC CLIMATE OF BAHRAIN TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE?

Let me quote what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said a couple of days ago during the FII, or the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi. He clearly put forward the mindset of the government in that regard, that the new pipeline in the post-era of oil, includes the many support systems that had been given by the government in terms of infrastructure. What the Crown Prince has been referring to as the pipeline in the pre-phase is the credit line given to startup businesses. Incubators and accelerators are smaller in terms of size, but we are the true refineries in the new era, accelerating the startups and the economy as well, and putting entrepreneurs in the right direction.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR CH9?

I think expansion. We can’t just stay here in Bahrain and support everyone coming in to the hub. We have an aggressive expansion plan right now for CH9. In terms of geographical expansion, we are looking into our affiliate accelerators from Oman and Hamala. Next, we’ll be expanding into our neighboring countries, because by 2025 we hope that there will be 10 CH9’s in the Middle East. Hopefully by 2019, we will be in Saudi as well as in Oman. This will allow us to have multiple CH9 locations not just for accelerators but also for the co-working state. This is the direction we will pursue to attract entrepreneurs, startups, corporates, as well as the scale-ups in the co-working state.

WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE TO ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS?

Be patient. It is not a career nor a joke that you will accept and expect salary from at the end of the month. I’ve been sitting with entrepreneurs for the past two or three years and I know from experience that if you want to start something like this, you wouldn’t be able to sleep. You will be drinking coffee all the time. It is the passion behind what you’re doing that will accelerate you to become a successful startup. Secondly, you have to be resilient in a way that you will take issues in stride. Is it a matter of funding, or monetizing your product? Do you have the market expertise to promote your business? These and other factors will stress you out but you have to be resilient because you have to deal with these factors one by one. And this is exactly what we do and teach to everybody in CH9. Be resilient enough to overcome the challenges. If it’s a career, it’s a matter of accelerating you on your work. But here, if you shine, we are accelerating you on a life journey.

What you do with your family at home, is exactly what you will be doing here at CH9. Startups sleep over here at CH9. Maryam sends me text messages during midnight. It’s not just the startups or the entrepreneurs and the accelerators, it’s also the people behind the operations. And that refers to Maryam, Ali and the other guys which is the reality. They sleep here, this is the kind of support that we give right from the start to entrepreneurs. It is not an easy task to run an accelerator.

Running an accelerator is the last thing you want to do in your life. You will be dealing with tons of people, many of whom don’t have a clue on how to start or accomplish the task in hand. Running an accelerator has to go first with the mindset and the lifestyle; you’ve got to be patient and look after each other. You have to find a way to support every individual and accelerate them to achieve a sustainable startup, and then a scale-up, and later on towards expansion into the Gulf as well.

Take advantage of the support that the government and the accelerators provide in Bahrain. I don’t think there’s any other Gulf country that offers what we have here in Bahrain, whether it’s from Tamkeen, EDB or Startup Bahrain, or other accelerators. They already have everything here… especially the baseline to start on what they want to do.

For more information:
www.chnine.com
@corporatehub9