How GCC countries are spurring entrepreneurship

Downtown Dubai. Changes in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are happening at a rapid pace as states seek to develop the business environment as part of a drive to diversify away from hydrocarbons. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 23 December 2019
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How GCC countries are spurring entrepreneurship

  • GCC countries are seeking to diversify their economies away from oil by growing entrepreneurship ecosystems
  • Success will be measured by the creation and growth of start-ups and SMEs in the years to come

ABU DHABI: In recent years, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries have been trying to build robust entrepreneurship ecosystems as part of a common drive to diversify their economies away from hydrocarbons.

In practical terms, this means putting in place venture-friendly markets, friendly policies, funding vehicles, a stimulating culture and a range of support mechanisms.

But creating such an ecosystem is a complex process requiring careful planning and patience. Without universities, corporations, risk capitals and entrepreneurs to act as stakeholders, big ambitions will stay just that.

 

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The success of each country will be measured by the creation and growth of startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in the coming years.

The Saudi government in 2016 released Vision 2030, a comprehensive plan for long-term economic growth that aims to move the Kingdom away from state-led growth toward more open market policies. 

The objective is to foster entrepreneurship and allow the private sector to play a leading role in economic development and job creation.

The results so far of the efforts of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors were among the topics of discussion at the recent SALT Conference in Abu Dhabi.

“What I’ve witnessed in the past few months is significant,” said Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, CEO and managing director of Saudi Technology Ventures.




Abdulrahman Tarabzouni. (Supplied)

“You have societal, economic and regulatory changes. The pace and volume of what’s going on in the country is exhilarating.”

Although the changes being introduced across Saudi Arabia have been welcomed by entrepreneurs, they come with their own challenges. 

Tarabzouni said that one has to constantly change and be dynamic enough to embrace and keep up with changes.

“That’s where it becomes interesting because you have the new economy, and a lot of these entrepreneurs are well positioned to take advantage of many of these changes,” he added.

“Capital is coming in, foreign direct investment is steadily increasing, and a lot of large institutions and corporates are putting money to work in Saudi Arabia, even though venture investment was previously considered a risky asset class.”

Tarabzouni said while talent is starting to come in, attracting and integrating them within the ecosystem is still a challenge. 

He singled out Saudi Arabia for praise for its recent decision to open and pave the way for naturalization of top talent in different fields from all over the world.

“This is significant,” he said. “This is a country that’s literally telling the world, ‘I’m here, and I want to open up to anyone who’s going to be part of my transformation story and be a part of my platform’.”




Areije Alshakar. (Supplied)

Besides Saudi Arabia, Bahrain is one of the options people can look at, said Areije Alshakar, director and fund manager at Alwaha Venture Capital Fund of Funds in Bahrain.

“Each country in the GCC offers great opportunities for funds and startups. Bahrain has the right amount of population, the right size and the ability to access decision-makers,” she told the SALT Conference.

“We operate like a team so, ultimately, if you’re a startup looking to penetrate the region, Bahrain is a good testbed to expand in other markets as well because it has a good ecosystem.”

Oman is also emerging at the top of the list, said Abdullah Al-Shaksy, co-founder and CEO of Phaze Ventures, which specializes in energy disruption and logistics. 




Abdullah Al-Shaksy. (Supplied)

He added that the sultanate is going through a major transformation, similar to the one underway in Saudi Arabia, despite being a smaller market that does not get as much coverage.

“We have a very young demographic and a lot of educated young talent. And for the first time, that talent is now moving away from the state sector and into the entrepreneurship sphere,” he said.

“We finally have all the basic building blocks of the ecosystem, our accelerator programs and three venture funds, (which will be) almost four next year.”

Al-Shaksy said that the Oman developments happened in the last three years, in tandem with regulatory reforms and increased corporate interest and participation in ventures and technology investments.

“That has all come together to make Oman a bit of a dark horse in the race,” he said. “We’ve done four deals in Oman. All four are companies that operationalized in the last two years, and their average annual revenues are $10 million. All four companies are now expanding outside, and one of them acquired a company in Kuwait.”

Al-Shaksy said that the transformations have a lot to do with the talents that had hitherto remained untapped because they used to be drawn toward the government sector, but are now empowered to create their own opportunities.

Overall, the GCC region holds a lot of promise and is currently undervalued, underestimated and greatly misunderstood, said Fahad Al-Sharekh, co-founder and general partner of Kuwait’s Techinvest Corp. 




Fahad Al-Sharekh. (Supplied)

“We have a lot of potential and added value that we can bring to any asset class,” he said. “This is the reason many international investors want to come in and set up funds in the region. But it’s still in its infancy and growing, and (still) not enough.”

Al-Sharekh said that the most important building block of the infrastructure of a technology ecosystem is the human talent that makes up the workforce, which these days is likely to consist of coders, programers, software engineers and architects.

“We unfortunately don’t have this (building block) in the region (to the extent needed), because there aren’t enough schools and programs that teach coding,” he added. 

“That’s the impediment, but with more attention, the next thing (governments) will do is try to expedite education initiatives in coding, which will lead to more innovation, ideation and not just mimicking.”

That being said, opportunities in the region are tremendous, with the panelists at the SALT Conference saying the surface has barely been scratched. 

Tarabzouni pointed out that the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is $6 trillion, compared to $30 trillion for the US.

The US has 150 unicorns — a tech startup that reaches a $1 billion market value — compared with 25 in the Middle East. 

“But the region only had one Careem to date, so there are (still) 24 missing unicorns that the region, from a GDP and economic-activity perspective, can absorb,” Tarabzouni said.

“It goes back to this circular argument of needing capital but also talent and open markets. Plus you need to fix fragmentation and get the MENA collective bloc to act as a single market for entrepreneurs to be able to address.”

On the upside, Tarabzouni said, changes in the GCC are happening at an incredible pace, and governments’ interest in helping spur entrepreneurial activity and talent inclusion is amazing.

“A lot of this is government-backed, but this industry is all about really long feedback cycles,” he added. 

“But these companies take 10-15 years to create value, and you need patient investors, so I’m optimistic.”

The hope is that going forward, entities from the GCC’s private and public sectors will design and implement initiatives to speed up the evolution of the bloc’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.


Israeli security service says 60 Hamas members arrested in West Bank

Updated 4 sec ago
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Israeli security service says 60 Hamas members arrested in West Bank

HEBRON: Israel’s security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group’s members.
The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that “a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed” in the West Bank town of Hebron.
It said it broke up 10 militant cells that “operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame.”
Hamas leaders “worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets,” according to the statement.
Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank “in the past decade.”
It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the statement.

US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations

Updated 32 min 27 sec ago
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US embassy in Bahrain returns to normal operations

The US Embassy in Bahrain said on Sunday that it has returned to normal staffing and operations, according to a post by the embassy on X.
Shortly before this month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the US military had allowed families of service members in Bahrain to depart the country temporarily.


Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 17, including children

Updated 56 min 14 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 17, including children

  • The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north
  • Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 17 people including three children in the war-stricken Palestinian territory on Sunday.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that 16 people died in air strikes at five locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli fire near an aid distribution center.

The Israeli military said it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting “to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in a campaign launched in 2023 against the Islamist militant group whose attack on Israel triggered the war.

Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.

Bassal said two children were killed in an air strike on their home in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood in the early morning, and “the house was completely destroyed.”

A member of the family, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, said he was at home and “heard a huge explosion at my relative’s house.”

“I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire,” he added.

“We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs — two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop,” Azzam said.

“They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up.”

Elsewhere, Bassal said a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed five people including a child.

He said that other casualties included a young man killed “by Israeli fire this morning while waiting for aid” near a humanitarian distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.

The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory’s north, warning of imminent action there.

The military “will operate with intense force in these areas, and these military operations will intensify and expand... to destroy the capabilities of the terrorist organizations,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement posted on X.

He told residents to “evacuate immediately south” to Al-Mawasi area on the coast.

The civil defense agency later said an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City, killing three people.

Israel launched its offensive in October 2023 in response to the deadly Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.

After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages.


Trump calls for deal on Gaza war as signs of progress emerge

Updated 29 June 2025
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Trump calls for deal on Gaza war as signs of progress emerge

  • ‘MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!’ Trump wrote on his social media platform
  • The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza

TEL AVIV: US President Donald Trump on Sunday pleaded for progress in ceasefire talks in the war in Gaza, calling for a deal that would halt the fighting in the 20-monthlong conflict as the sides appeared to be inching closer to an agreement.

An Israeli official said plans were being made for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a new deal. The official declined to discuss the focus of the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not yet been finalized.

“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday between posts about a Senate vote on his tax and spending cuts bill.

Trump raised expectations Friday for a deal, saying there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”

Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza. Despite an eight-week ceasefire reached just as Trump was taking office earlier this year, attempts since then to bring the sides toward a new agreement have failed.

A top adviser to Netanyahu, Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire.

Trump post slams Netanyahu corruption trial

The Gaza message wasn’t the only Middle East-related post by Trump. On Saturday evening, he doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure.”

In the post on Truth Social, he said the trial interfered with talks on a Gaza ceasefire.

“(Netanyahu) is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back. How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING,” Trump wrote.

The post echoed similar remarks Trump made last week when he called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference by an international ally in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. And it unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump’s popularity in the country.

Israeli military orders new evacuations in northern Gaza

The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza, an early target of the war that has been severely damaged by multiple rounds of fighting.

Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media. It includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as Jabaliya refugee camp.

The military will expand its escalating attacks to the city’s northern section, calling for people to move southward to the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Adraee said.

After being all but emptied earlier in the war, hundreds of thousands of people are in northern Gaza following their return during a ceasefire earlier this year.

An Israeli military offensive currently underway aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza so forces can more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups say their movement would amount to forcible transfer.

A sticking point over how the war ends

The war in Gaza began with Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages, about 50 of whom remain captive with less than half believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory response has killed more than 56,000 people, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count but say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The war has set off a humanitarian catastrophe, displaced most of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and obliterated much of the territory’s urban landscape.

Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over one major sticking point, whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.

Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas disarms and goes into exile, something the group refuses.


Netanyahu ‘must go’, says former Israeli PM Bennett

Updated 29 June 2025
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Netanyahu ‘must go’, says former Israeli PM Bennett

  • Former PM Naftali Bennett: Netanyahu ‘has been in power for 20 years... that’s too much, it’s not healthy’

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must leave office, his predecessor Naftali Bennett has told a televised interview, refusing to say whether he intends to challenge the country’s longest-serving leader in an election.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired on Saturday, former prime minister Bennett said Netanyahu “has been in power for 20 years... that’s too much, it’s not healthy.”

“He bears... heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society,” Bennett said of growing rifts within Israel under Netanyahu, who has a strong support base but also staunch opponents who have demanded his departure including over his handling of the Gaza war since October 2023.

Netanyahu “must go,” said the former prime minister, a right-wing leader who in 2021 joined forces with Netanyahu critics to form a coalition that ousted him from the premiership after 12 consecutive years at the helm.

But the fragile coalition government Bennett had led along with current opposition chief Yair Lapid collapsed after about a year. Snap elections ensued, and Netanyahu again assumed the premiership with backing from far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

Bennett, who has taken time off from politics, has been rumored to be planning a comeback, with public opinion polls suggesting he may have enough support to oust Netanyahu again.

No vote is currently planned before late 2026, however, although early elections are common in Israel.

In his Saturday interview, Bennett claimed credit for laying the groundwork for Israel’s bombardment campaign earlier this month against Iranian nuclear and military sites.

The decision to launch attacks against the Islamic republic “was very good” and “needed,” said Bennett, claiming that the offensive would not have been possible without the work of his short-lived government.

In Gaza, where Israel has waged war since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Bennett said the military has displayed “exceptional” performance but “the political management of the country” was “a catastrophe, a disaster.”

Criticizing the Netanyahu government’s “inability to decide,” the former prime minister called for an immediate “comprehensive” agreement that would see all remaining hostages freed from Gaza.

“Leave the task of eliminating Hamas to a future government,” said Bennett, who also evaded several questions about whether he intends to run for office.