On November 17-18, 2022, the Azerbaijan Investment and Youth Entrepreneurship Forum was held in Baku with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the organization of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBIA), Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) and its Eurasian Regional Center (ICYF-ERC).
The purpose of the forum, co-organized for the second year, is to encourage investment in Azerbaijan with the participation of local and international organizations, representatives of state institutions, businessmen, investors, experts and startups and to inform them about investment opportunities, to develop a new vision in the field of supporting young entrepreneurs and discussing ways to strengthen the startup ecosystem in Azerbaijan, Eurasia and member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The opening of the forum was addressed by the Minister of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan Rashad Nabiyev, First Deputy Minister of Economy Elnur Aliyev, Assistant Secretary General of the OIC for Economic Affairs Ahmad Kavesa Sengendo, Head of the Financial Office of the President of the Republic of Türkiye Göksel Aşan, Head of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Secretary Yousef Hasan Halavi, Director General of the Wealth Fund of Türkiye Selim Arda Ermut, President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurial Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mammad Musayev, Chairman of the Board of the SMBDA (KOBIA) Orkhan Mammadov and President of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum Taha Ayhan.
Within the framework of the event, the exhibition presented about 50 start-up projects from OIC countries on food and agricultural technologies, “green industry”, fintech, games and applications, environment and renewable energy, smart technologies, aviation and space technology, logistics and “smart city”, robotics.
In the panels held with the participation of government officials, businessmen, investors, startups and representatives of youth organizations from the member countries of OIC, speeches were made on topics such as the increasing role of entrepreneurship in the world, new trends in this field, innovative development, financing of startups, and investors’ expectations from startups.