How can Gulf countries ignite their startup revolution?

There is hardly a day that passes by without a new major initiative, announcement or bold proclamation by the Gulf Economies to promote tech startups in the region. Be it incubators, investment funds, free zones….. you name it they have it.

Gulf countries have been trying (without much success) for the last few years to develop a startups fuelled digital economy. Primarily – to create another engine for growth to offset the dependence on oil and gas. Secondly, to create more avenues for private sector job creation for its citizens who are presently almost exclusively employed in the government sector.

What’s holding up the Gulf startup revolution?

When we visualize an internet economy, the obvious image that the mind conjures is Silicon Valley!

With all the multi billion dollar surpluses you would be forgiven to believe that a Silicon Valley was round the corner or just waiting to happen. Even the names of many of the projects undertaken seem to be Silicon Valley inspired!

But far from that –  Asian neighbors like China, India, Korea or even Indonesia seem to have a much more vibrant and dynamic start up scene. So what exactly is holding up the Gulf Start Up revolution??

First and foremost to spark the fire of innovation you need a steady supply of quality engineers and entrepreneurs

Lets first start with the key ingredient – “engineering talent”

Engineers are the backbone of the Digital Revolution!  Some of the most powerful internet companies have been built by engineers but that isn’t a rule etched in gold. Alibaba founder Jack Ma was an English teacher in his previous avatar. But its simply not possible to develop globally competitive tech ventures without having top notch engineering talent!

Where’s the local tech talent?

Gulf countries have practically very little if any engineering talent available locally. So there is a desperate need to devise policies that encourages the migration of high quality young engineering talent from the likes of India, China, or Southeast Asia.

Developing local talent in parallel is definitely a positive thing but it’s going to take a significant time given prevalent attitudes towards engineering and science education!

So the best way to go in the short to medium term is to target high quality international talent. And find a way to make them stay. A constant sense of insecurity created by short term visas and barriers to jump jobs will most definitely inhibit high skilled professionals seeking to develop a rewarding career. More on the global war for tech talent later.