So Arabnet is here. If you are a regular visitor to the Beirut conference you are going to see a very strong Jordanian presence. For a country with less than 6 million people, few god-given natural resources, in a mostly desert kingdom, with very little water, Jordan is a superstar of entrepreneurship in the Arab world. So how did this happen? What is the story of Jordan and tech entrepreneurs? How can other countries learn from Jordan’s approach?

Here is my take as a Jordanian, an Arab that roams the world, and an angel investor that has been doing business in every single Arab country for the past three decades:

1. There is no safety net. When you know someone is going to pick catch you (hint: government) you have no incentive to jump. Strange, no? Well, entrepreneurs are risk takers. When risk is minimized and we are dependent on the generosity and grants of others, then we have no incentive to make it happen. “Father knows best” does not work here.

2. The private sector leads, thinks and drives the story. The public sector plays only as an enabler… this formula works and works very well!

3. Political will and policy are driven by clear vision. Back in 1999, a group from the private sector presented HM King Abdullah with a blueprint for launching the IT industry in the country, called the “REACH Initiative.” He adopted it and pushed his government to facilitate the plan, and the rest is history. When there is a will there is a way. Yes, the private sector can work with the public sector, and yes, good things can come of it.

4. It has open systems and no web censorship. Believe me, if you sensor heavily, you drive people away. Don’t even think about it. Innovative eco-systems require open systems. And Jordan does not censor!

5. Competition exists in the telecom sector. Jordan has a totally open and deregulated sector with an independent regulator. This drives prices down and brings service levels up, and thus broadband is available at reasonable cost. This is an essential element for driving the IT industry; without it you cannot compete nor start a business.

6. There are no foreign ownership restrictions, and Jordan boasts a free trade agreement. Being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is important for any country with few resources, and in Jordan, it enables Jordanian companies to start in Jordan, learn, and make mistakes, then go global.

7. There is a substantial support community. Angel investors, mentors, incubators, venture capital, and Y-combinators like Oasis500, Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, Endeavor, IV Holdings, I-Park, and Meydan among several others work to support entrepreneurs.

8. Last but not least, there is Maktoob, where it all started. A company launched out of Amman became the largest Arab internet company later to be sold to Yahoo, making it the largest deal of its kind in the region. This exit allowed many Maktoob employees to start companies afterwards, and the success story made other entrepreneurs feel that this industry is moving forward, so they could take the plunge and start a company.

The result is that now, in the spring of the Arabs and awakening of regional empowerment, Jordanians are busy building companies and finding markets, building and nurturing talent, and exploring the world.

These are my reasons. Please add yours, and feel free to disagree.

A Lesson in Leadership: my talk with Tony Fernandes of Air Asia

He walks in to greet us and starts cracking jokes. Full of passion and charisma, his knowledge of every single detail of his company is evident. Spending time with Tony Fernandes, the founder of Air Asia, is an education in leadership and management of a unique kind.

I ask him what is it that makes this company so different, so successful, and so passionate about everything it does, creating a culture that shows on the faces of every single person in the company. He says, “Our corporate culture is it. It’s what makes us.” And it’s what makes this such a powerful story; Tony Fernandes is not an ordinary CEO and Air Asia is not an ordinary company.

Walking with him across the one floor where the company exists is like walking with a rock star getting ready to go on stage, except that every single person he says hello to is not a fan but part of the band (or brand for that matter). Management sits on one huge stage in an open space office, where the chief pilot has a corner desk looking at the operations team, which is right next to the flight attendant team, which is right next to the reception area, and where there is no call center but an online chat customer service team.

(Tony says that he shut down the call center because there was no use for it and it was not doing what it is supposed to do. So his website, where the client comes, books, pays, and complains, or rejoices, is one big happy floor– all connected, all visible, and all orchestrated by Tony).

If you did not know this was an airline, you would think you were walking into a dot com company, with a chief evangelist living in Kuala Lumpur, not in Silicon Valley.

So what is this corporate culture that changes lives and makes this company one of the most successful airlines in the world? It asks the question, “Hierarchy, what hierarchy?” Tony is a leader and a manager, but he is one of the team also. So his office is smack at the heart of the company, with no walls and no doors. Everyone sees him and he sees everyone. He is Tony to everyone and he is in his polo shirt and with his famous baseball cap. His only vice is that he gets a special parking slot right next to the door of his building, for his two-door white Peugeot.

Stepping out of his car to his office, which is next to the passenger terminal, he is stopped by clients who want his autograph and to take a photo with him. He talks to them, carries their bags, checks them in and walks the aisles of the plane.

So, can corporate culture be the only competitive advantage of a company? You bet it can. In a business of people, people make and break companies, and their happiness is what matters most. You can buy the best airplanes in the world and they will cost you hundreds of millions of dollars, but if you do not have the people to make this investment in your planes worthwhile, you’re going to vanish. The airline industry is filled with brands that one never thought would not exist today. Yet Tony, with his simple idea that people matter, and his ability to walk the talk, has created the ultimate people’s company, with billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of million in operating income. How many companies could achieve such incredible margins, and how many airlines could run 100 aircrafts, with over 300 takeoffs and landings a day, and still make this much money? It’s a rare commodity by any rubric.

Tony Fernandes throws Michael Porter’s theories about the airline industry into disarray. Tony defies MBA theory, and gravity, just because his corporate leadership and management is one that makes working for an airline as cool as working for Google or Zynga or Facebook.

After 4 hours with tony, eating airline food with him at the open air cafeteria with every single trainee, captain, and ground handling staff, I walked away thinking that I just went to leadership school, and learned what I have always known: walking the talk is not a theory, it is life itself in the corporate world, in the leadership world, and in the consumer world, where customers rule through instant feedback on Facebook, Twitter, and everything in between.

So while we may continue to look West to learn, sometimes the real lessons occur where East converges with South, mixes with “down to earth,” and is energized by the magic touch of a leader who makes working a pleasure and puts a smile on every face.

A poem to live (and survive) by, written by James Baldwin”

Some days worry
some days glad
some days
more than make you mad.
Some days,
some days, more than shine:
when you see what’s coming
on down the line!

Some days you say,
oh, not me never – !
Some days you say
bless God forever.
Some days, you say,
curse God, and die
and the day comes when you wrestle
with that lie.
Some days tussle
then some days groan
and some days
don’t even leave a bone.
Some days you hassle
all alone.

I don’t know, sister,
what I’m saying,
nor do no man,
if he don’t be praying.
I know that love is the only answer
and the tight-rope lover
the only dancer.

When the lover come off the rope today,
the net which holds him is how we pray,
and not to God’s unknown,
but to each other – :
the falling mortal is our brother!

Some days leave
some days grieve
some days you almost don’t believe.
Some days believe you,
some days don’t,
some days believe you
and you won’t.
Some days worry
some days mad
some days more than make you glad.
Some days, some days,
more than shine,
witnesses,

coming on down the line!

فادي غندور يناقش ريادة الأعمال في الحقبة الجديدة I am really interested in your feedback

In this age of revolutionary change, when overnight nothing is the same, when humble role models in remote areas of the world become more powerful in their symbolism than the most feared of systems, citizens all over the world feel a sudden empowerment, the urge to do, the urge to conquer the world.

Gradualism does not work anymore; evolutionary change needs to be a bit more revolutionary, a bit more insistent… Society as a whole must be involved. Individuals are voting with their feet every day, people with an agenda and people without food on their table and people who just feel the need for change are coming together and forming a global tribe of change makers. Twitter, Facebook and other virtual connectors are bringing the long tail of the Internet into every home and awakening something that one thought was in deep sleep.

Not one of those people voting with their surfing connectivity and their feet knows what will come. But they all feel that whatever it is, it is better than what they have. Their sudden feeling of ownership and belonging is more powerful than anything they have felt before; and when something is yours, you protect it and shape it.

Entrepreneurs, the private sector and enterprising individuals have to understand this because it has serious implications for them more than they think. This is not about governments or democracy alone; it is about governance and dignity. It is about society rebelling and wanting a better life. It is about society saying we are not asleep and our wellbeing matters. It is about society saying this status quo cannot go on and we need to do something about it. It is about society saying we are citizens, and we want to be able to shape our future.

Entrepreneurs, more than anyone else, should be able to understand this. As it is that same sense of ownership and that same refusal of the status quo that lead them to venture into their own endeavors. It is that same reason that inspires a business man like Maher Kaddoura to work relentlessly for safer roads in Jordan rather than wait for the government to do so. In 3 years, the results are astounding: 32% drop in fatalities in traffic accidents and a massive 46% drop in serious injuries from car accidents in Jordan.

The same is true for Yasmina Abu Youssef, a young lady who runs her family business in Egypt. When she visited a slum in Ezbet Kheirallah in the heart of Cairo, where illiteracy, poverty and malnutrition are a fact of life, she decided that change is needed and that this area is as much her home as the rest of Cairo. So she opened a school: “Khatawat”. Her school has more than 150 children, and it is quickly transforming into a community center, where children and parents learn not only to read and write but skills that will allow them to make a living.

Upon her graduation from the American University in Cairo, Raghda al Ebrashi felt that it was up to her to find a creative way to help marginalized communities in Egypt. She established Alashanek Ya Baladi, an NGO whose activities range from nurturing skills among disadvantaged youth, linking training with employment opportunities and providing microfinance to small businesses run mostly by women.

While some entrepreneurs and corporations have rebelled against the Milton Friedmans of this world (those who only believe in profit maximization as sole goals for businesses) by investing in their communities and aligning their corporations’ values with that of their societies, many others have not.

There is still much for us in the private sector to learn from this. We have to understand that this is also about us; about how we manage our businesses, how we treat our people, how we care about our environment, how we invest in our employees, how we treat them and empower them. It is not about corporate social responsibility and its PR shallowness; rather it is about corporate values and their total integration into the needs of the society these companies operate in.

Companies living in societies that are not well will not last. These companies are not sustainable and will perish sooner rather than later. The private sector has to wake up and reflect hard on its missions, its vision and its responsibilities. It has to finally grasp that profits will only last as long as they live in a society– their small society of employees and the larger society of citizens- that is happy, affluent and empowered… and that its wellbeing has a direct and powerful effect on the wellbeing of shareholders and quarterly results.

So to all my friends in the private sector, wake up and smell the Jasmine. Stop sitting back and thinking that development is someone else’s responsibility, that education is something to complain about and that pollution is a theory.

Embrace the citizens that have decided to make a difference on the ground.
Put your skills, expertise, resources and networks at the service of citizens and partner with them.
Look at the partnership opportunities that are creating shared values for both your business and society.
Use your creative mindset to develop innovative solutions and inclusive models of development.

Opportunities across the region are ample, and citizens across the region are reaching out… I hope that you are listening to them.

Get Engaged

Yet we have millions of very productive expatriates. Why ? Is it the job type, the salary, culture, what is it that prevents our youth from taking these jobs ??

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/676e0f42-3df5-11e0-99ac-00144feabdc0.html

My comment on this article is that it is too general and the writer does know what is really happening on the ground in the region … bearing in mind that;
Rentier state mentality is the domain of certain groups who got intoxicated by it … solution is a better education system, and showing our youth how to own their future, through entrepreneurship and building their skills for better chances of employability, to liberate them from rent mentality and state dependency

At the end of each year Bertrand Russell comes to mind, a moment of silence to reflect …
Happy New Year

Three passions have governed my life
Bertrand Russell

Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.