The National: Smart play is to back technology start-ups

By Tom Gara

Few things excite and inspire a technology reporter as much as talking to entrepreneurs.Big companies may have the reach and the resources to take on the biggest of challenges, but it is start-ups that change the world, and we all know it.But in the Middle East, full of energy and possibility and wealth, there are few things more disheartening than the lack of investment into this most exciting breed of businesses.

Speak to enough technology entrepreneurs in the region and it quickly becomes clear that almost no one in the Middle Eastern financial world is taking investment in start-up technology very seriously. Most entrepreneurs in the Middle East get their early funding from family and friends. If they are lucky, they find a wealthy businessman willing to put a roof over their heads.Surely this situation must change. In agreement with this sentiment are, among others, a Jordanian princess, an American president and some of the brightest young minds in the Arab world.

All are saying the same thing: that investments in property, stock markets and heavy industry, while strategic and profitable, need to be supplemented by another economic pillar of growth. (more)