What is the Global Bridges initiative?
The Global Bridges is a first of its kind initiative created by Hatch Quarter aiming to build a ‘bridge’ between the Australian technological, economical and innovation space to the rest of the world by creating new and exciting opportunities both locally and internationally for Australian scalable businesses.
As one of the world’s most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world, this initiative will help boost its diverse population and utilise its strength in ultimately making Australia a strong technology and innovation hub with global connections.
What is the MENA Bridge program?
The MENA Bridge is a Global Bridge program and is the first of many regional bridge programs that Hatch Quarter will be launching. This program is designed for Australian companies to scale their business into the Middle East and North African (MENA) region by providing successful applicants with the necessary connections, tools and knowledge and bridging them to the diverse and talented network of the flourishing MENA markets.
The Story so far . . .
Currently, the program is at the ‘Acceleration Stage' where successfully selected participants have been chosen, assessed and are raring to go! The participants will have access to a suite of Masterclasses on a range of important topics and consultation hours from experts, entrepreneur-in-residence and Hatch Quarter advisory. In addition to collaboratively creating key documentations detailing strategies, plans and connections that will enable the participant’s company to strive in the MENA markets.
The recent ‘Welcome Day’ event brought together the 2021 participants (ranging from green- and deep-tech to med- and bio-tech) and an extensive panel of experts and entrepreneurs-in-residence from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise.
This session provided orientation and introductions as well as allowing participants to further understand the program and the different steps and stages they will each be taking in order for them to smoothly enter the MENA markets. The session also featured four honourable guests speakers who are at the forefront of their fields in innovation, technology and business in the MENA region including Amin Matni (Qatar Business Incubation Center), Maher Al-Khaiyat (Microsoft), Nahil Hanna (Unbound MENA) and Saleh Alhammad (entrepreneur/investor).
Meet Our 2021 Participants
It gives us immense pleasure to warmly welcome and introduce the 2021 HQMBS participants (in alphabetical order):
BindiMaps (Anna Wright): A smartphone app that helps anyone navigate an unfamiliar internal space such as a shopping centre, hospital or university.
Brunswick Aces (Stephen Lawrence): The world’s first distillery to produce botanical blend Gin in non-alcoholic (Sapiir) distillates.
Connect2MyDoctor (Pramod Kutty): A platform that provides healthcare providers deliver care in efficient and patient centric ways.
Diversity Atlas (Peter Mousaferiadis): The world's first tool providing insight into cultural and demographic diversity.
Evergen (Ben Hutt): Cutting edge software optimising solar and battery system performance.
Hike (Jay Sutaria): An omni channel retail platform for small businesses globally.
OMM Label (Ophelie Mouton): A breastfeeding fashion label which combines practicality with beautiful design to provide high-quality ethical clothing for mums.
Lenexa Medical Pty Ltd (Ajit Ravindran): Developing a continuous care patient monitoring and risk management system that can be implemented in hospital, aged care and home care settings.
Savic Motorcycles (Dennis Savic): An innovative high-performance designer electric motorcycle with proprietary powertrain technologies.
Sky Ledge (Harun Bultan): A platform for any organisations looking to adopt or streamline insights, asset management or operations.
Thinkbio (Lisa Anderson): Accelerating the transition to more sustainable crop production whilst providing strong returns to growers.
VCEX (David Pillinger): A digital off market exchange and share registry all in one platform.
If you're interested in connecting with the founders, please reachout to us by completing this form.
The Future and Beyond!
With the program well underway, participating companies will be attending masterclasses over the coming months and will be under the meticulous guidance of the experts and entrepreneur-in-residence to collaboratively create feasibility plans, a penetration strategy and a stakeholder mapping.
Onward we go! The next significant event that everyone is anticipating is the grand ‘Demo Day’ held on the 2nd of September. This celebratory and inspiring event will connect participants with important stakeholders and potential opportunities as well as allow for all participating companies to showcase and present their plans for success and expansion into MENA. Most importantly, this will provide the community an opportunity to come together and celebrate each and every one of the participants’ amazing progress, achievements and efforts.
Join us at the Demo Day by registering here.