Businesses looking to emerging rapidly growing markets should check out huge opportunities now presenting themselves in the Middle East. That’s the clear message from author Chris Schroeder in his new book. Acknowledging concerns about political stability, openness and human rights, witnessed in events such as the Arab Spring, Schroeder says that the region is undergoing another revolution with a new generation of entrepreneurs and foreign direct investors leading the way. “There’s a tendency to dwell on the problems and to zone in on what’s happening in Damascus rather than Dubai, for example. There’s great instability in many parts of the world but great businesses figure out how to overcome difficulties.” Schroeder, a US internet entrepreneur, who traveled widely through the region to research business opportunities, admits he was curious but skeptical himself at first about the region.
What he discovered surprised him, however. The Middle East, he says, is now a hotbed of local entrepreneurship with talented entrepreneurs overcoming traditional, cultural, legal and societal impediments. What will also surprise many, he says, is the number of these start-ups that are led by women. The book details many examples of successful female entrepreneurs but Schroeder is anxious to stress the differences across the region with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states more restrictive than Egypt or the Levant states. Notwithstanding problems in the region (corruption, massive gaps between rich and poor, archaic laws, education and literacy levels among them) there is a three-fold hurricane force wind entrepreneurs have behind their back, he says. First, technology offers an irreversible level of transparency, connectivity and access to global markets and capital. Secondly, this generation of entrepreneurs now benefits from regional and global capital comfortable with political risk; and thirdly, the changing market dynamics, growth and opportunity in the Middle East were in place well before the recent uprisings and will not be contained. In general, local start-ups fall into three broad categories. Improvisers are enterprises that have adopted models that have already worked in English-speaking countries and which just need to be adapted to local sensitivities. Problem-solvers are those who see local and regional needs that might previously have been met by governments and which can be turned into businesses while those in the third category, global players, know from the beginning that they are developing unique companies that can reach and have impact in any country. “Global players are those who are looking at the market and saying that the world is only one click away. Virtual products are utterly borderless. Clear Day, one of the highest paid weather apps in the world, is just one example. This was put together by a bunch of guys in Alexandria in Egypt.”
What he discovered surprised him, however. The Middle East, he says, is now a hotbed of local entrepreneurship with talented entrepreneurs overcoming traditional, cultural, legal and societal impediments. What will also surprise many, he says, is the number of these start-ups that are led by women. The book details many examples of successful female entrepreneurs but Schroeder is anxious to stress the differences across the region with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states more restrictive than Egypt or the Levant states. Notwithstanding problems in the region (corruption, massive gaps between rich and poor, archaic laws, education and literacy levels among them) there is a three-fold hurricane force wind entrepreneurs have behind their back, he says. First, technology offers an irreversible level of transparency, connectivity and access to global markets and capital. Secondly, this generation of entrepreneurs now benefits from regional and global capital comfortable with political risk; and thirdly, the changing market dynamics, growth and opportunity in the Middle East were in place well before the recent uprisings and will not be contained. In general, local start-ups fall into three broad categories. Improvisers are enterprises that have adopted models that have already worked in English-speaking countries and which just need to be adapted to local sensitivities. Problem-solvers are those who see local and regional needs that might previously have been met by governments and which can be turned into businesses while those in the third category, global players, know from the beginning that they are developing unique companies that can reach and have impact in any country. “Global players are those who are looking at the market and saying that the world is only one click away. Virtual products are utterly borderless. Clear Day, one of the highest paid weather apps in the world, is just one example. This was put together by a bunch of guys in Alexandria in Egypt.”
