entrepreneurship and the middle east

Filed in archive Entrepreneurship on September 25, 2003

Stef Wertheimer has earned much respect for his entrepreneurial achievements and his plan to open several industrial parks all over the middle east. Now the Economist has contributed a full article to his honor.

Israel is home to a surprisingly vivid entrepreneurial community. Israel ranks third (following the U.S. and Canada) among the countries monitored by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor on the basis of its level of entrepreneurial activity. A surprising amount of Israeli high-tech start ups get investments and penetrate European and US markets with their technology. Given the issues of inner security in Israel and the reulting problem to attract foreign talent, this is even more striking. Interestingly the entrepreneurial statistics are somehow also reflected in this site. Israeli domains rank third in requests behind US and Germany.
The fourth rank in my domain statistics this month is even more surprising -- United Arab Emirates, which is in economic terms more or less Dubai. Dubai has gone a stunning path from an oil rig settlement to a modern cosmopolitan city state in just 30 years. Projects like the Dubai Internet City or the Dubai Media City are good marketing tools. Dubai has also recently launched a smooth new marketing campaign. It is an impressive city and has invested the money from it's natural resources much more careful as most neighbouring cities and countries.