Women Business Angels Program managed by IM Capital

Lebanese league for Women in Business (LLWB) is launching a Master Class for Women Business Angels (MWBA), a one-year program for individual female-only angel investors. The program is expected to start in the first quarter of 2017. It will be managed by IM Capital.

Each registered participant on the program will pool a $10,000 entry ticket which is placed in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for investment (typically a Lebanese holding company), in which each participant is an equal shareholder. The SPV will benefit from a 50 percent investment guarantee by IM Capital, a USAID funded project that provides matching capital, equity guarantee, and support programs to a broad range of qualified early-stage local business and investors.

“The program’s aim is to build investment readiness of ‘novice’ angels through a structured approach,” said Asmahan Zein, Chairwoman of the Board of LLWB.

Investor participants will get to meet SMEs via pitching sessions every six to eight weeks and negotiate three or four investments per year. They will also benefit from coaching by Go-Beyond Investing, which is a FinTech company transforming angel investing into a new scalable asset class for small and large, novice to experienced investors.

The group will make three to four joint investments at the end of the year (a portfolio-approach) with a range of $50,000-$100,000 per investment. A specific quota for investing in women entrepreneurs’ projects will be set by the group

LLWB is a socio-economic association bringing together professional woman by providing them with a platform on which to share experiences and challenges, develop competencies and skills, and network and exchange expertise.

Reported by Derek A. Issacs