As part of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, which brought together entrepreneurs and investors from all around the world, an opening bell ceremony was held at Borsa İstanbul with the attendance of Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç, Minister of Youth and Sport, the Republic of Zambia Vincent Mwale, Global Business Angels Network President Jonathan Ortmans, African Business Angels Network President Tomi Davies, World Business Angels Network Chair Baybars Altuntaş, Turkuvaz Publishing CEO Tuncel Sunar and the representatives of business angel networks. Borsa İstanbul also hosted a signing ceremony for the mutual cooperation agreement between Borsa İstanbul Private Market, Business Angels Association Turkey and Business Angels Association Turkey Member Business Angel Networks. A panel titled “Future of the Early Stage Investment Markets: Visions from the Regional Leaders” was held following the signing ceremony.

World Business Angels Investment Forum – WBAF 2016 was held on February 22-23, 2016 in Istanbul. Within this context, an opening bell ceremony was held at Borsa İstanbul with the attendance of Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç, Minister of Youth and Sport, the Republic of Zambia Vincent Mwale, Global Business Angels Network President Jonathan Ortmans, African Business Angels Network President Tomi Davies, World Business Angels Network Chair Baybars Altuntaş and Turkuvaz Publishing CEO Tuncel Sunar.

In his address at the opening-bell ceremony, Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç expressed that Borsa İstanbul was always ready to work together with the business angels participating in the event form Turkey and all over the world and they were pleased to host business angels from 46 different countries.

World Business Angels Network Chair Baybars Altuntaş thanked Borsa İstanbul for hosting the event and wished that the delegates would bring luck to Borsa İstanbul.

Global Business Angels Network (GBAN) President Jonathan Orthmans during his speech at the opening-bell ceremony said “Private Market, an innovative program offered to entrepreneurs by Borsa İstanbul, is an opportunity for Turkey and the international investors” and he added “Turkey is a global leader and a country where angel investment is increasingly getting mature”.

African Business Angels Network President (ABAN) President Tomi Davies expressed his gratitude to Borsa İstanbul for hosting the event and noted that this event was an opportunity to inspire the next generation African entrepreneurs. He also stated that he had a dream about trading of African companies not only on the Private Market but also at Borsa İstanbul, and invited all participants to support African entrepreneurs.

Minister of Youth and Sport, the Republic of Zambia Vincent Mwale said in his speech that that event was a very special experience for him. He also said he knew how innovative the young people in Africa were and he urged the Turkish and global investors to invest in the next generations in Africa.

Mutual cooperation agreement between Borsa İstanbul Private Market, Business Angels Association Turkey and Business Angels Association Turkey Member Business Angel Networks

Following the bell ceremony, a signing ceremony was held for the mutual cooperation agreement between Borsa İstanbul Private Market, Business Angels Association Turkey and Business Angels Association Turkey Member Business Angel Networks. Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç said at the signing ceremony that Borsa İstanbul and Turkish business angels joined forces to establish a better structure. He emphasized that the Private Market was a very good idea and said “I hope that it will prove to be successful in the future too because it is a very good platform for the investors and motivating for the future of all start-ups. I am hoping that a “unicorn” will come out from Turkey and we will owe this to investors”.

The program continued with a panel moderated by World Business Angels Network Chair Baybars Altuntaş and attended by Global Business Angels Network President Jonathan Ortmans, African Business Angels Network President Tomi Davies and Borsa İstanbul Chief Operations Officer, Futures and Options and Private Market Dr. Çetin Ali Dönmez as panelists. 2025 vision of global angel investment was discussed at the panel.

World Business Angels Forum program continued with a visit to Istanbul Technical University Technopark and ended with a training program on global angel investment.