The summit serves as a forum for exchanging creative and innovative ideas, seeking strategic alliances and investment opportunities, and learning from G20 countries’ experiences.

Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  attended the official Startup20 summit, which was held in New Delhi on July 3-4 2023.

Startup20 is a G20 India Presidency 2023 engagement group that aims to create communication among stakeholders in the global startup ecosystem.

It attempts to promote the interests of the global startup community in conversations with G20 leaders by addressing macroeconomic concerns and challenges faced by entrepreneurs. It functions similarly to previous G20 interaction groups, with initial support from the G20 India Sherpa and the Startup20 secretariat.

Prince Fahd bin Mansour bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz will lead the Kingdom’s delegation to the conference. The importance of the Kingdom’s participation in the official Startup20 meeting in New Delhi was emphasized by Prince Fahd bin Mansour. He sees this as a fantastic opportunity to highlight the Kingdom’s achievements in startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, the summit provides a forum for the exchange of creative and innovative ideas, the exploration of strategic partnerships and investment opportunities, and the learning from the experiences of G20 countries. The Startup20 chairperson, Chintan Vaishnav, issued a policy communiqué at the start of the conference.

The letter asked G20 leaders to increase their nations’ collective annual investment in the global startup ecosystem to $1 trillion by 2030. It also advocated for the establishment of a networked institution comprising “existing nodal agencies” across G20 states to carry out the group’s recommendations, and it wanted assurances that the Startup20 project will continue under future G20 presidency.

Another important aspect of the communiqué was the need for a specific emphasis on startups driven by entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups and varied communities throughout G20 nations. Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Startup20 interaction group aligns with the Vision 2030 plan’s goal of economic diversification, which calls for the SME sector to contribute 35% of the Kingdom’s GDP by the end of this decade. According to Wamda data, $25 million was invested in Saudi startups in June due to the focus on this area.

The Kingdom was ranked first in the area, with the UAE ranking second with $6 million – less than a fourth of the Saudi number. The Biban 2023 forum, which drew over 105,000 attendees in March, was one of the methods utilized to promote the SME sector. It also featured over 350 presenters who shared their perspectives on the global and regional SME environment.