Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita said it has joined hands with AllWorld Network to launch the 'GCC Fast Growth 100,' a pioneering program to find the fastest growing private companies in the Gulf region and rank them.

AllWorld is an organization with a mission to find and scale all the growth entrepreneurs of the emerging world, creating the largest information system and network of growth entrepreneurs.

Its ranking program includes: Africa 500, South Africa 100, Arabia 500, Jordan 30, Lebanon 25, Saudi Arabia 100, Asia 500, India 25, Pakistan 25, Eurasia 500,  Turkey 25 and Latin America 500.

Announcing this at a press conference on Saturday, Anne Habiby, co-founder of AllWorld Network and Atif Abdulmalik, Arcapita CEO said the move is aimed at supporting regional development and co-operation and creating more private employment in the region.

Acapita, which has offices in Bahrain, the US, London and Singapore, has built a business sourcing and managing investments in private equity, infrastructure, real estate and venture capital around the world, and currently has over $7 billion in funds under management.

'Whether we review new investment opportunities or assessing strategic growth plans within the portfolio, we achieve success by being able to recognize relative strengths, and the variable that eclipses all others is that of management,' said Abdulmalik.

'Without strong leadership, corporate culture, and above all, lively entrepreneurial spirit, even the strongest product offering will wither,' he observed.

'To transform the hydrocarbon economies of the GCC into the dynamic economies that will offer growth and opportunity to a diverse population, we must foster an environment to encourage and celebrate entrepreneurship,' said Abdulmalik.

'We are pleased to be working with AllWorld to achieve this goal, and look forward to meeting the people who are already changing the landscape in the GCC,' he added.

The annual GCC100 has been initiated by the AllWorld Network, with the support of Arcapita, to celebrate and support successful entrepreneurs forging new industries, said Habiby.

These entrepreneurs become part of a network of growth entrepreneurs in the region and globally, facilitating knowledge exchange and cross-border investments.

Omar Bahlaiwa, the secretary general for the Council of Saudi Chambers, and the chief operating officer of the Tadawul, John Von Stein were also present besides the winners from AllWorld's Saudi 100 ranking, companies growing at an average of 40 per cent a year and who are early applicants to the GCC100 and Arabia500.

Noted journalist Jamal Khashoggi moderated the event and there was discussion of the importance of the GCC100 entrepreneurial companies in the current political and economic landscape of the region.

The first GCC100 will be announced regionally and globally in October at a special event to be held in Bahrain, said the officials.

The GCC100 winners will also be eligible for the Arabia 500 - a Mena wide ranking of companies, which will be announced in November 2011 at a three-day Arabia500 Summit in Jordan.

The GCC Fast Growth 100 is a program of AllWorld Network with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and partner Arcapita.

AllWorld was co-founded by Deirdre Coyle, Anne Habiby and Professor Michael Porter.

Habiby, also a Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government said, 'The GCC100 will establish the first definitive record of the fastest growing, most dynamic entrepreneurs in the region. These are the entrepreneurs investing in their own markets and building new high-growth companies and energized teams.'

'Nothing says more about the economic opportunity of the future then to see young companies succeeding.We invite all companies to apply at www.AllWorldLive.com,' she added.

The GCC100 application process is open to all private, non-listed companies of the GCC region who have been rapidly growing.

'The GCC100 ranks companies must be at least three years old, according to their revenue growth, not their size. It is a ranking of the most dynamic, not the largest companies,' Habiby added.

According to her, even younger companies can qualify as Start Ups to Watch. Entrepreneurs from any industry are invited to apply and there is no cost to apply.

With a ranking on the list, emerging companies will gain visibility, a global network of growth entrepreneurs and investors, and an invitation to the AllWorld Summit at Harvard University, she added.-TradeArabia News Service