Crowdcube has formed a JV partnership known as Crowdcube MENA. Co-founder of Crowdcube MENA, Omar Rana commented: "We are currently examining various regions to assess the best way of leveraging Crowdcube's platform to provide world-class crowdfunding in the MENA region".Rana continued, "60 per cent of the GCC is less than 30 years old, and 66.8 per cent of MENA + Africa is less than 30 years old. All these young people are bursting with ideas and passion, and they don't want to wait for governments and companies to use old fashioned ways to create jobs and support businesses. Crowdcube MENA is a catalyst for harnessing the financial and human capital in the region to promote social and economic development at an accelerated pace." He added, "The GCC clearly represents a core part of the MENA region, and over recent years various regimes allowing for sole foreign ownership and a combination of local/foreign ownership have been established, and these will be comprehensively analysed for the most effective way to successfully establish and grow Crowdcube MENA." Entrepreneurs in the region continue to be challenged by the lack of finance options available to them and are frustrated regarding the regulations surrounding the issuing of shares/securities to potential crowd investors, which remain outdated. Rana explained that "Crowdcube MENA believes the region presents unique challenges. However, given the success of Crowdcube, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (previously FSA) in the UK, we believe we can leverage this experience of working under a Tier 1 global regulator to implement a successful business model to service the MENA region".
