The Arab millennials challenges :

The world wide web is connecting more than 3 billions people all over the world, advanced internet technologies such as cloud computing, big data, machine learning has created an infinite opportunities for building successful startups and positively impacting our environment and the the whole humanity.

Meanwhile it remains very unclear if we are taking advantage of the technology progress to change the course of our history and rise again. Some Arabic countries are starting to build the infrastructure for a technology-driven future which will give mena startups the ability to compete globally, Yet, it is uncertain if it’s just a matter of basic infrastructure and regulatory environment changes.

In my opinion it goes deeper, here’s the challenges that we face and must win for a better future :

1. cultural :

We are born and raised in conservative societies with strong moral values, it’s a double edged-weapon, a strength because we know who we are and what we stand for and a weakness because we still lack openness and tolerance towards other cultures, a concrete example of what changed is your next generation kid dreams. A car, a home and a sultan-like wedding won’t make him happy (only if he do it with his own money), be prepared to offer him his first investment (30k for 5% equity will be a good start) and take proudly the risk to see him fail as he will learn from it.

2. Citizenship :

We need to build a clear pathway toward citizenship in the Arabic world, we are experiencing in the latest decades a complete citizen break, disengagement and depolarization are poisoning youths, political and social engagement is at it’s lowest point despite some optimistic views on the Arab spring youths role backed with false data and fueled with the desire to impress the west.

Why it matters?

Simply because active citizenship leads to the creation of engaged communities, each one support a different cause, local entrepreneurs can benefit from that in so many different ways, at the end your startup is solving a problem and you are not the only one who want to see a concrete outcome of your hard work.

3. Data :

Yes, data is the key for change, unfortunately in the Arabic world it’s a complete disaster, we lack research, open database, and it’s getting worst, no one is tackling this serious problem, we need more transparency and a proper architecture to process data and use it in our favor, it’s so frustrating to miss the opportunity to use data analytics to make more efficient decision, at this point i won’t write more about this subject until i have more .. data!

My latest advice would be to face our own reality, stop copying the developed world and start working on technological progress that fit our needs while sustaining the idea that we can also change the world and reach human peace by the power of technology.