Pilot Study on Gulf State Entrepreneurship and Innovation Among Youth

Seungah Lee
2019
Author(s)
Seungah Lee
Location
Qatar, Bahrain, Oman & UAE

What is the rhetoric surrounding entrepreneurship and innovation in the Arabian Peninsula, and how do Gulf states cultivate a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation among the youth? What roles do various organizations, especially education institutions, play in shaping the culture and environment around entrepreneurship and innovation in the Arabian Gulf? And how do the ways in which an entrepreneurship ecosystem is development vary across the Arabian Gulf, given the different levels of resources, wealth, and demographic structures?

This past summer, I spent three weeks traveling across four Arab Gulf countries conducting research on government-supported efforts to foster a culture of entrepreneurship among young people.

Building on exploratory research on youth development efforts from the previous summer, I conducted meetings and interviews with government officials, leaders of quasi-governmental organizations focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, CEOs of incubators and accelerators, university administrators, and private sector partners. The interviews with various stakeholders in the four countries provided insights into how different organizational actors are conceptualizing entrepreneurship and delivering youth programs around entrepreneurship. Furthermore, since I was able to conduct interviews with stakeholders in four Arab Gulf states, I was able to observe variation within the region for how youth entrepreneurship development is prioritized and supported by governmental, quasi-governmental, and private sector organizations.

These meetings and interviews have become the foundation for my dissertation research, and it is hoped that this research will inform further efforts to develop a culture and environment for entrepreneurship in the Arabian Peninsula.

This summer field research would not have been possible without the support of the Abbasi Program. Because of Abbasi funding, I was not only able to conduct interviews but build relationships with key stakeholders to be able to continue working on this project.