At the Global Entrepreneurial Summit (GES) in Dubai last week, it was clear to me that there is a new level of engagement in developing more entrepreneurial economies at the highest levels of government in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The summit, a collaboration between the U.A.E. Prime Minister’s office and the Obama Administration, was an effort to leverage U.S. strengths in high growth entrepreneurship. Now that the summit is over, we take a look at the challenges before policymakers in the region in making the path easier for even more nascent entrepreneurs to succeed in the future.
It was encouraging as I walked around the Dubai World Trade Center last week to see so much activity already underway in the MENA countries to advance entrepreneurship. U.S. Government-led programs such as Partners For a New Beginning (PNB), the State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program, and the Global Innovation in Science and Technology (GIST) projects were very visible. So too were many of the flagship entities from the region including the Higher Colleges of Technology, Khalifa Fund and Dubai SME, all active players in financing and encouraging start-ups in the region.
To read the original article: Gulf States Focus on New Starts - Entrepreneurship.org
