Paulo Andrez, president of European Business Angels Network - Serbia lacks co-investment fund

(Paulo Andrez)

A traditional international event, PartnerIT B2B meetings and international FundraiseIT conference, organized by the Outsourcing Center of Serbia and the Serbian Business Angels Network, will be held April 18th and 19th in Belgrade.

Participants in the forthcoming FundraiseIT conference will have an opportunity to learn about the ways in which to find funding for their projects and the things to do to successfully implement them. The conference, which focuses on different forms of funding for IT entrepreneurs and companies, should secure the gratest value for each participant through direct contacts between company representatives and competent serial investors and entrepreneurs. The aim is to directly present a variety of investment models of business angels, venture capitals (VC) and private equity (PE) funds, local and foreign funds as well as EU funds.

The conference will gather some of the world's most famous investors and entrepreneurs, including Paulo Andrez, president of the European Business Angels Network, who will deliver a lecture on Friday, April 19th.

eKapija: How much do you know about Serbia? What would attract you to invest here?

- I have witnessed a big effort from Serbia (through SBAN) to establish a BAN in Serbia, and that is something very important for the development of your country. As an investor, I would only invest in deals where there are local business angels investing in that deal. That's why it is so important the existence of Business Angels networks

eKapija: What needs to be done in order to make Serbia more attractive for the investments?

- There are several things that can be done: investment readiness training programmes for entrepreneurs and angels, creation of a co-investment fund that would allow international investors to leverage their investment, creation of a Business Angel tax break system, in order angel investors can deduct on their income taxes, part of their investments.

eKapija: What would be your expectation from the Serbian market?

- Great entrepreneurs with global projects and with local business angels interested in co-investing in those companies

Biography

Paulo began his career in the administration of companies in the area of information systems, among those Novabase SGPS, of which he was a stakeholder. He was Chairman of the First World Summit of Leaders in the Network of Business Angels and was a member of the management of the European Network of Business Angels.

Currently, he is the President of the European Association of Business Angels and also board member of DNA Cascais (a non-profit municipal association that supports Entrepreneurship). He is the co-coordinator of the Post-Graduate Program of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Tourism in the Graduate School of Hotel Management and Tourism in Estoril. He is a Business Angel in various companies and has been involved in the creation and implementation of fiscal incentives to Business Angels in Portugal, as well as the first funding of co-investment of Business Angels in the country.

He has been a jury member in various national and international Business Plan competitions and also speaker and co-organizer of various conferences and events, nationally and internationally, about topics of entrepreneurship, investment and business angels, among others.