Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Huseyn Valiyev - Trend:
Absence of legislation is hampering formation of venture funds in the field of information technologies in Azerbaijan, Imran Bagirov, head of Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, told Trend.
He said that against this background, it would be wrong to talk about venture financing, since issues related to tax regulation may arise.
“For now, only small amounts of investments, where there are also risks, may be discussed,” Bagirov said. “It is important that the interests of business are taken into account when forming the legislation so that acceptable conditions for the business are created. Azerbaijan’s financial sector should pay special attention to this issue and create conditions so that a foreign investor would be interested in coming to the country.”
On Feb. 13, Azerbaijan's State Fund for Development of Information Technologies said that it was preparing proposals on regulating the activities of venture funds in the country.
The work in this direction is conducted with the relevant state agencies of Azerbaijan. It is expected that the proposals will be ready this year.
Private companies play an important role in establishment of venture funds. Earlier, the state fund appealed to private companies with the idea of establishing an IT venture fund and a club of investors. This is an ordinary form of investment activity, which envisages the participation of investors in project development as shareholders. The creation of such a club is important because it will allow commercializing ideas that require financial injections.
Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center is ready to render assistance in the development of the prospective projects, Bagirov said.
“Our role is to create an ecosystem of startups,” he noted. “We have the necessary infrastructure and there are talented young people in Azerbaijan. The Barama project doesn’t pursue commercial goals, and we support startups free of charge. About three million manats have been invested in the project since its launch.”
