- April 30, 2024
EPISODE #
#73: Why is a Chinese fund scouting for the next unicorn in MENA?
About this episode
Ben Harburg is the Managing Partner at MSA Capital, a Chinese VC with $2.5bn of assets under management and MSA Novo, a newly established emerging markets fund with focus on the GCC. Ben brings a decade of expertise investing in Chinese tech companies to the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region and is scouting for the next MENA based unicorns. MSA capital is already an investor in regional success stories like Tabby, Homzmart, Rabbit, Baly and KASO to name a few.
A refreshing conversation on Chinese tech and what we can learn from China’s startup ecosystem and why Ben believes that startups in MENA would likely be looking more East than West when it comes to innovation and business models to mimic and perhaps even exit opportunities.
Ben is an entrepreneur and the co-owner of Cadiz football club, he shares tips on entrepreneurship and on having the foresight to spot opportunities before they become common knowledge and why he constantly seeks arbitrage opportunities.
This episode is supported by Capital.com, an award winning global investment platform. For seasoned as well as new traders, Capital.com provides competitive transparent pricing, 24 hour support, news, analysis and a knowledge hub with in-depth courses that help its customers make informed investment decisions.
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guest profile
Ben Harburg
Ben Harburg is Managing Partner at MSA Capital, a global investment firm with over $2 billion in assets under management. Ben also leads MSA Novo, the emerging markets focused franchise of MSA.
Ben has significant investment and operations experience in the Greater China and various emerging markets. Ben is also the founder of CoreValue Alpha (“CVA”) and a Portfolio Manager at CVA’s Greater China Growth ETF (NYSE: CGRO). He sits on Boards of Directors of various private, as well as those of foundations such as the National Committee on US China Relations, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Carnegie Endowment’s China Center. He was a Neubauer Scholar at Tufts University (where he studied International Relations), a Fulbright Scholar at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and the first native born American admitted to Tsinghua University Peoples Bank of China School of Finance elite EMBA program.
His passion is football and he is a co-owner of Cádiz Club de Fútbol, a team playing in Spain’s First Division (LaLiga).