About ifada

ifada is Beyond Capital’s fellowship program catered to entrepreneurs that see an opportunity in redesigning finance products to solve the region’s access to capital challenge.

We provide expertise, mentors, and advisors to support the design, fundraising and launch of your innovative financial products and services for Jordan and the MENA region.

How can we build the capacity of the next generation of fund managers?

BeyondCapital is pleased to introduce: IFADA, a call to action; to help convert product concepts into real fundable finance instruments.

The Innovation Finance Fellows Program is designed to empower extraordinary individuals from diverse disciplines, those with a passion for unlocking the access to finance challenge, to design solutions and grow capability both individually and collectively. 

Answering a call to action

What is the purpose of this fellowship?

To help aspiring finance entrepreneurs in the design and launch of innovative financial products that help address the finance challenges faced by Jordan and the greater region.

Learning Journey

The learning journey map spans six different core studios. Each studio offers a set of modules that provide fellows with learning, concepts, and resources that they can implement into their products over the course of their fellowship.

Apply to join the ifada family or nominate someone you believe fits right in!

FAQ

  • The list of program outcomes:

    • Fundable financial instruments that hold the potential of positively impact economic and/or social growth in MENA and beyond.

    • Knowledge on wider offering of types of finance products and investment styles available and the situations in which they are most appropriate. To also speed in the creation of models for financing innovation.

    • An understanding and ability to navigate the following concepts

    – fundraising

    – team

    – structuring a fund/finance product

    – understanding financial models/return expectations

    – governance and investment decision making

    – operating and administrating funds

    – reporting and compliance procedures

    • An initial list of potential funding options for the finance product.

    • Network of peers and/or mentors to help guide and support the journey.

  • Fellows are not responsible for the cost of their fellowship journey’s. We work on pairing fellows with partner institutions and organizations for sponsorships themselves (e.g. through the nominating party or the applicant’s organizations).

  • Ideal candidates must:

    • Have the intellect, desire, and ability to solve specific access to finance challenge

    • Have the necessary experience and/or requisite support to design, curate, and launch a relevant innovation finance product

    • Have an understanding of the finance sector in some capacity or form

    • Be in a position in their career or organization where they are able to take on a leadership role to advance innovation finance options in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and/or MENA as a whole

    • Have a DNA of empathy, inclusiveness, and integrity

    • Be able to clearly benefit from the ifada program

    • Be open-minded and able to contribute to dynamic and diverse points of view

    • Be prototype minded

  • Main location will be in Amman, Jordan but the fellowship program consists of a mix of online and offline content (with the majority being held online). All seminars will be available to attend online for those who cannot attend in person; however, as some sessions emphasize in person interaction, it will be highly encouraged to attend those in person to receive the most value from this module. Regardless, and given potential travel and COViD-19 related constraints, we will adapt as best as we can to make the modules online-friendly.

  • We usually hold sessions at a time that allows people to attend without disrupting their day-to-day activities to the extent possible.

    On average you will have to commit to 15 hours per month for 3-4 months.

  • We ask fellows to attend the seminars in their entirety, start to finish. The seminars are an essential component of the Fellowship and missing any part is unfair to the sponsors and the rest of the fellowship class.

  • We have designed this fellowship to impact the financial and entrepreneurial environments in Jordan and the greater MENA region. Fellows do not have to be in any particular country their initiatives should be focused on impact within the MENA region.