During the past year, the Arab Spring has inspired a new wave of budding entrepreneurs.
But some aspiring business owners are still finding it tough.
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"The Arab Spring has helped entrepreneurship," says Rabea Ataya, the chairman and chief executive of Bayt.com, a regional job-search site.
"A lot of people who were in cushy jobs, whether banking or real estate sectors, have suddenly found between the Arab Spring and global economic crisis that they're out of a job - or their jobs are not providing them with as much satisfaction," he adds. "A lot of these people are turning to entrepreneurial ventures."
But unemployment is still a big problem. In Egypt, the unemployment rate hit 11.9 per cent during the third quarter last year, the highest level in a decade.
It is 19 per cent in Tunisia but generally believed to be "much higher" in some regions of the country, according to the US department of state.
Mr Ataya regularly gets emails from "people knocking on my door", pitching ideas, he says. "This is definitely accelerating from the last couple of years."
Khaled Ismail saw an increase in the number of start-ups launched in Egypt last year, even as the country's economy suffered. As the board chairman of Endeavor Egypt, Mr Ismail helps select, mentor and accelerate the growth of small but successful local ventures that are at least two years old.
Many university students who graduated in 2009 and 2010 have started their own businesses, Mr Ismail says, "because of the lack of availability of jobs".
Other individuals have been inspired by the hope of a better future. "It's a mindset change," he says.
"I think it was an indirect and positive affect on convincing many young people to start their own businesses."
Yet many entrepreneurs face hurdles when trying to set up a new company.
Some experts warn there is still far too much red tape for entrepreneurs, which makes it overly challenging to get going. And while there is more venture capital funding available now than in the past, not all business owners are able to tap these sources.
Technology start-ups tend to receive a higher portion of money. But even then companies such as ecommerce websites face hurdles including poor infrastructure in certain countries, which can lead to shipping and logistical delays that ultimately curb revenue growth, Mr Ataya says.
"The barriers are many."
Others caution that countries in the region could be hit by further unrest this year if governments fail to address these issues for entrepreneurs, some of whom make up the young, tech-savvy portion of the population involved in the wave of protests seen in some countries last year.
"Unless they get the support and opportunity to produce the idea [they have], they're going nowhere," Afnan Al Shuaiby, the secretary general and chief executive of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, said recently during a trip to Dubai.
"[Without out such help] this will create, if I may say, chaos," she says.
nparmar@thenational.ae
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The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
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Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
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He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
