Lessons from the Middle East
It’s 4:38 A.M. in Business Bay. Early sounds of motors and metal clanking are beginning to fill the air. Over the sound of work though is the soothing and almost hypnotic hum coming from a nearby mosque as the first call to prayer is being played over the loudspeaker. It’s Ramadan, and as the locals kept telling me, this is a much quieter time than usual in the city. My typical wake-up time in the U.S. is 6:30 A.M., but the time difference and jet lag have me up a little earlier and I decided to embrace the day by beginning with my own prayer and mindful meditation. In my reflection, I began to think about how incredible it is that a city so innovative and opulent, could also be so grounded in spirituality and history. But then again, Dubai is a city rivaled by none in comparison.
I spent a little over a week in the U.A.E as a representative of a small U.S. delegation to the region to discuss Venture Capital and parallel investment opportunities. Our cohort was organized by EVCA, a global networking organization designed to support the next generation of venture investors, and included brilliant individuals from some of the top firms in the U.S. Our concentrated schedule was full of meetings with investors, entrepreneurs, big tech companies, local leaders, government officials, and more. I’m grateful for the careful design of our itinerary, which opened up a world of opportunities and authentic relationships. At first, I had no idea what to expect. It was my first time in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Outside of popular songs, quick Instagram clips, and my American friends who have been living there, I truly knew very little. When I arrived, I was immediately shocked by how kind and inviting each person was. Regardless of race, gender, background, or status, it seemed like every person wanted to extend a helping hand. The level of service and attention to detail is something I haven’t quite experienced in the U.S. I thought this might fade as we began to meet with more business professionals and officials, but the hospitality carried over. This could just be my touristy rose-tinted lenses, but it felt like a place that has mastered “home” as a culture vs. a physical location. The data points provide strong proof of this feeling, Dubai is indeed one of the safest most livable cities with outstanding career opportunities and world-class experiences.
Our first day was spent in Abu Dhabi, about an hour and a half down the road from Dubai — similar, but completely different. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the U.A.E. and the financial center of the region. We were walked through the history of the city and taken on a strategic journey of their roadmap to the future. One that includes a heavy investment and emphasis on technology and startups. Abu Dhabi has built an immaculate global technology ecosystem at Hub71, and intricately strewn together a seamless pipeline of entrepreneurs, investors, and strategic partners. The team that runs Hub71 is directly linked to the economic development team and with that relationship comes both local and global impact. They’ve developed 5-star benefits for anyone looking to move to the city and work there, or build their company, including perks on housing, employees, office space, medical care, and more. What stood out to me the most was that they were very strategic about their “why”. It isn’t just about financial returns, it’s about creating a foundation for a large epicenter to be launched to truly compete in the global technology market of tomorrow.
The next few days we traveled back to Dubai and met with so many incredible leaders. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give thanks and a shoutout to the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism who made much of this trip possible for most of us that traveled so far. They played a crucial role in ensuring we were comfortable and learned about the key components of what makes Dubai the great city that it is. I personally enjoyed learning more about Dubai’s International Financial Center (DIFC ) and Dubai’s Future District Fund (DFDF), two massive initiatives completely designed with detailed programming to foster inclusive environments for entrepreneurs and provide the capital necessary to scale their companies efficiently. Again, the theme of impact stood out to me here. Venture in the U.S. has completely evolved into an alternative asset class, hyper-competitive, and exclusive given the dense propensity of success. The U.A.E. while far from capital-constrained, is still in the early innings of it’s development and the focus on curating an environment for widespread and long-term success is clear. U.S. investors who are interested in partnering with Limited Partners or Investors from the region should keep this in mind. There is obviously interest in investing in the U.S. market, but there is a simultaneous interest in developing the local ecosystem in the U.A.E. This is not an easy responsibility, but worth the investment.
Beyond work, I had a tremendous amount of fun. Dubai feels utopian in some aspects. From fitness to lifestyle to dining, shopping and more, it felt like everyone was striving to be their best. I viewed the city as a place of opportunity for those around the globe looking to live their most immaculate lives. From riding ATVs in the desert to dining at Atlantis on the Palm, walking along Jumeirah beach at sunset, or taking in incredible views of the Burj Khalifa — Dubai was absolutely breathtaking. I can’t begin to name every single person I met who was a positive light and impact on my life in such a short time, but I am supremely grateful and joyous that I had the pleasure of crossing paths with them. It’s important for me to shout out my great friend Riley, who graciously acted as our tour guide during the excursion and showed us an incredible series of events including a very long night of karaoke at a Filipino dive bar.
So what’s next? That is to be determined. Every day we see news headlines about massive transactions coming from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. We hear about large U.S. investment firms or companies brokering partnerships with leadership from these dominions. It seems like everyone wants to build bridges between the Middle East and the rest of the world. My takeaway is this, yes the Middle East wants to conduct business and extend influence globally, but the Middle East also wants to strengthen the Middle East. I draw parallels between the work they’re doing in an emerging region and the work we’ve been dedicated to the last few years in emerging founders. There is a delicate balance between the two. Non-traditional founders, from non-traditional backgrounds, seeking to build world-class companies to solve global-scale problems. I find that the problems that come with building and supporting a developing ecosystem are adjacent to the problems that come with supporting and investing in developing founders. Constantly searching for what’s next, where are unique competitive advantages, how to scale faster, how to optimize unit economics, and how to incentivize other investors that are more traditional to back these founders once they’ve demonstrated traction and relevancy. I am deeply interested in continuing to build genuine and authentic relationships with the people in the Middle East and continuing to ideate on how we can collaborate to push through global barriers.
We are more alike than we think, and by working together, we can find a way to truly democratize innovation and entrepreneurship by using capital and resources in emerging regions around the world.
