| 4.1 Value Adding at Portfolio Company Level (Value Adding Approach) | 4.1.1. Familiarizing | To get to know the company business and to collect data | “Would be a discussion with them as well to see what they really need our help with, and what they're lacking in terms of the support that they need to make sure they're meeting their target” ZA, Investment Associate) |
| 4.1.2. Assessing | To isolate and prioritize the area that need support | The VCT judged the strengths of “PC1” in the following way: “Positive industry trends: rapid growth in analytics and social monitoring, strong growth for SaaS products and integrated solutions, strong growth for consultative insights and briefings across all markets” (IFC Portfolio Report, slide. 2) |
| 4.1.3. Planning | To identify the required actions, resources and timeline to reach the company's goal of improving company efficiency | the action plan for “PC11” included “looking to improve their private label selection through joint ventures with smaller designers, setting up return services for European markets and expanding “PC11”’s operating basis: New central warehouse and opening of logistics centers in key regions” (IFC Portfolio Report, Slide. 33) |
| 4.1.4. Providing Support | To improve the company's performance, accelerate the company growth and help them realize its potential | “[We] open doors, introduce them, open networks … They learn the language of the business … And then they are able to fly without us … And then we hope that we're able to make these companies well, run … because it's always about the entrepreneur, we're just supports” (HV, CEO, Horizon Venture) |
| 4.1.5. Monitoring | To ensure that the CEO acts in the company's best interests, to protect their investments, to ensure the companies are in line with their post-investment strategy and to ensure that all resources are focused on the right initiatives | Companies reports help them to “see what they've done, what they're initially set up to do, how they're doing, what challenges are facing, if there are some things specifically that we need to help them with etc” (ZA, Investment Associate) |
| 4.2 Value Adding at Portfolio Level | 4.2.1. Building Connections | To build VC team connections | “I was in Saudi for the last year building connections there and working on how Horizon can scale to Saudi Arabia … by building your connection you came back to one of your PCs and you help them to expand to Saudi for instance”(TS, Partner) |
| 4.2.2. Learning | To build VC team knowledge | “I did some studies [before going] to the company that we invested in “PC12”, it's all about banana growing. I spent some time understanding bananas, and I talked to some companies here who are dealing with banana transportation. (TF, Director of Operation and Customer Experience, Horizon Venture) |
| 4.3 Value Adding at VC Firm Level | 4.3.1. Building Reputation | To build the conglomerate reputation | “the investment team is actively engaged through mentorship with deal originating initiatives such as incubators” (HC Investment Process document, p. 2) |
| 4.3.2. Running PCs' Events | To build the knowledge and network of their PCs | “Another event we did is GITEX, was back in August … was more focus on SMEs and larger companies. But they did have start-up section where myself and NB went and listened to pitches and companies come speak to us and tell us about their company (SB, Investment Associate, Horizon Venture) |
| 4.3.3. Offering Online and Offline Support | To build and grow the MENA entrepreneurship ecosystem | “When you actually have a start-up that's started, even if it just newly born, to have them featured on [Horizon] was for them a badge of honour. Someone can read about it. An investor might say” (TS, Partner) |