Startup Grind hosts Mona al Mukhaizeem of Savour Ventures

Startup Oman (www. startupoman.om), the Sultanate’s only online platform created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and the designated chapter of Startup Grind in Oman, has hosted Startup Grind on Sunday, October 29.

Featured on Startup Grind’s stage was Mona al Mukhaizeem, Managing Partner at Savour Ventures, the Middle East’s first food vertical accelerator. She is also the co-founder and Managing Partner of Sirdab Lab, a Kuwait-based startup incubator and entrepreneurial network that provides a platform to educate and help aspiring entrepreneurs through different stages of the startup journey.

Mona worked in Transaction Advisory Services at Ernst & Young and as an Investment Manager at Global Investment House. In 2012, she helped launch Alchemist Accelerator, a venturebacked business accelerator in Silicon Valley, and was a consultant at Naxuri Capital, a seed fund investing firm. She specialises in seed funding, private equity, and venture capital. She has an MBA from Hult International Business School, San Francisco and a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Kuwait University.

Over 100 entrepreneurs, students and young professionals joined the event at Innovation Factory space in Knowledge Oasis to hear Mona’s story to entrepreneurship. Sharing highlights of her journey, she said, “When we started Sirdab Lab in 2013, we knew it was a crazy idea, and that it might not work. Our biggest challenge was changing the culture and introducing coworking space as a concept.

Savour Ventures was established out of a market need. We saw a trend of growth in the food industry, as well as food tourism, and we realised that it’s not just about restaurants. There’s a whole supporting ecosystem that needs a boost to grow.”