Postcards from the Edge : Middle East

Spring has sprung

claireoh — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:15:27 GMT

Sometimes I describe what I do at being at the intersection of technology and politics and education. No better example of two worlds colliding than the use of Twitter during the G20 summit. There must be a real movement afoot as I cannot seem to go anywhere without hearing a reference to Twitter these days. I am such a luddite for not signing up. Yet. Indeed some of you may be going “Eh?”. Well here is a great guide by Lucy Atkins in the Telegraph.

Probably a good way to keep track of President Obama on his tour. He’s in Turkey now.

I am told that Stephen Fry has been ‘tweeting’ on his travels in Asia – bizarrely following a similar route to me just weeks before him. Singapore I know well but I did enjoy visiting Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia for the first time. Borneo is a good spot – we got fairly close to some orang-utans and lizards; though we did not venture deep enough into the jungle to meet leeches and snakes thankfully.

After sampling the sights and lights of Sydney and glimpsing roos in Queensland, it was time to chill in Bali with a friend. She managed to book me into an incredible little boutique hotel with luscious gardens, right on the beach, in a quiet part of the island. Then home to what should have been March mayhem but instead has delivered sunshine and warm days, as I eased myself back into the Q3 workload with intermittent dog walks, bike rides and flying lessons. This very pleasant spell has continued into April and people in general seem to have a sunny disposition.

Actually from where I am sitting the news is all good. The progress with BizSpark in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region is incredible. 20 countries have launched and Turkey continues to lead while South Africa, Israel, parts of Levant and North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt) are storming ahead. Pakistan is doing a great job. Gulf and Saudi are ‘on the grid’ as are Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya. Very satisfying after months of preparation.

The trend in other emerging markets is similar: in Central and Eastern Europe, 19 countries are live with the program and - while Russia and Poland have an impressive lead – Ukraine, Romania and Hungary are closing the gap. Other countries continue to astound watchers with demand – Croatia, Belarus, Slovenia and CZ. There is no doubt that there is real appetite in these emerging economies and people will brave the challenging environment to start new businesses – often in what one would readily admit are not ideal social, economic and political circumstances. Still, good to know there are beams of light making it through.

Sparking Small Businesses

claireoh — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:44:00 GMT

November saw the launch of the eagerly awaited new program for start-ups - BizSpark is now widely available across US and Canada, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, UK, Germany, France; major markets in Asia Pacific from Indonesia and Malaysia to Australia; and Latin America.

Leading up to Christmas, there was a great turnout at LeWeb in Paris and the TiE summit in Bangalore. Microsoft India managed to get Ravi Venkatesan and C K Prahalad to open the proceedings and TiE Bangalore (with over 1,000 members) firmly reinforced their centre’s position as “the Silicon Valley of India”. Over the three days over 1,700 start-ups attended and there is still a great buzz in the media about this new program.

Middle Eastern countries will launch in February with Turkey ahead of the game launching early December at the Microsoft Turkey Developer Summit with 500+ developer attendees. They got some great coverage (I do not understand Turkish but Mehmet in the team tells me it is positive!)… Turkey also feature very high up in the league table of downloads of Microsoft’s program for student programmers, DreamSpark, announced by BillG in February 08. It is clear that the next generation of software companies will not just come from China and India.

I am really looking forward to seeing the reaction to this new program for start-ups in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi, Gulf, Pakistan and through Africa in Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa.

Happy New Year!

Sign of the Times

claireoh — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:27:00 GMT

The one thing I manage to consume everywhere on my travels, regardless of timezone or climate, is the FT. These days it is full of desperate tales of economic decline, of course. Along with every other quality publication, every television channel and every outpost of communication from Beijing to Bognor. Thank goodness they managed to find a picture of some European leaders smiling this week.

There is no hiding from it. The message is clear. We are all doomed. Allegedly. One of the best commentaries I have read is in today's Times.

The most ironic conversation with the financial services sector for me this week has to be with a fine representative from one of the largest, wealthiest (once) Swiss investment banking institutions who, in the throes of our discussion about partnership on start-ups and Entrepreneurship, seemed terribly distracted and asked me if we had any jobs going. Back in London on Thursday, my meetings with Sir Stephen Wright from IFSL and with HSBC were a little more rewarding. Neither of them asked me for a job.

With a good coffee and a little sunshine to accompany it, I read through the San Francisco Chronicle last week, learning more about the Obama and McCain campaigns. Our VC Summit in Silicon Valley went well. We hosted visitors from US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, China, Russia and Ukraine. SteveB was in fine form. He has incredible energy. Mine was eroded somewhat with all the plane hopping so I was not able to run across the Golden Gate bridge with my German colleague. Hit the shoe dept at Barney's instead.

The week before, on an incredibly brief pitstop, I managed to soak up a little of the atmosphere while in Beirut and sample the festivities one evening around Iftar - the breaking of the fast at sunset, during Ramadan. Those guys sure know how to party. And eat. I love the vibe in Beirut. A wonderful city. Munich was not so exciting for me as I was perpetually tired and the hotel had a rubbish gym (one treadmill in a room the size of a stamp - do not stay at the Sheraton Munich Airport if you need the treadmill). I also had to decline the beer during Oktoberfest. Its hard being virtuous sometimes. But I reckon it suits me.

From San Fran to Oslo for a team meeting and, again, not much sleep or running. Back in the UK before taking off to Brussels tomorrow, I escaped into updates on the cabinet reshuffle and Mande's return. Hidden gem from Janice Turner. I also managed to run 16.5 miles. Not sure I am really ready to do 26.2, but will give it a go. Still fundraising by the way!

Thankfully everyone I work with is buzzing with the sense of potential and building up to the launch of some very exciting programs in a months time. Credit crunch? What credit crunch.

Hummousility

claireoh — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:01:00 GMT

Just back from a week at the mothership in Seattle and what a week it was.

In order to prepare appropriately for a series of demanding sessions with our senior worldwide leadership team, we felt it necessary to hit the slopes first. Just as well I got some exercise to counter the calories consumed in the last few days. Much of the incremental ones coming from the great local wine. And larger-than-average blueberry muffins.

Driving 1.5 hours from SEA-TAC airport you hit deep snow and towns with funny names like Enumclaw; and Muckleshoot with their scores of casinos. Might have to play the Lucky Leprechaun. The skiing was great though. Even managed to survive a double-black diamond. Scare yourself at least once a day and all that...

One evening the team had the company of our recently-appointed leader and chief. Walid is a really great guy. Very passionate and up for the challenge it seems. Talking to him at the dinner (actually we were cooking our own dinner that night - good fun) we got onto the subject of politics. Not sure how. He hails from Palestine originally but from what I gather has spent many years in the US. His knowledge of the US political voting system and of US political history is impressive. I got a fix of national politics every morning from CNN and to be honest I was yearning for that FT on the plane home today. It's all very complicated.

Me and Walid got chatting about my recent trip to see the MEA folks in Dubai and Beirut. The regional team is headed up by Ali and encompasses 8 subsidiaries, 30 offices covering 79 countries. The opportunity in that region is immense.

Dubai is buzzing. Since investing in the Microsoft Innovation Centre in Kuwait we've see the creation of groups like ABAN eager to invest and leverage the growth of innovation. BillG's recent visit in Jan this year highlighted some of the work we're embarking on in the Gulf. I was stuck by the momentum there:

In the next four years, the region's IT sector (in this case comprising Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE) will generate more than 210,000 new jobs and account for the creation of more than 4,100 new IT companies.

Lebanon itself, the venue for my meeting on day two, is not without its challenges of course. I was saddened to find such a great city empty of tourists. The team there comprise people from all over the region, some educated in the US and all well traveled and somewhat pragmatic as to the road ahead. What is evident by their stoicism and positive attitude (a fair percentage of buildings in Beirut are yet to be "refurbished" after even 1975 events, not to mention last year's) is how business can transcend religion and politics. It can drive change.

There are countless tangible example of where investments in education and enterprise programs, in partnership with Government, Institutions and Foundations, are paying off. We're seeing new venture funds created and even the rise of more cross-continental co-operation (like Vietnam and Oman).

One thing I do know: after my US over-indulgence and expanding waistline, I need to embark on a diet of just great bread and hummous. With perhaps some tabbouleh for good measure. Can't wait to get back out there. Inshallah. Now I must sleep....

Challenging Times

claireoh — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:49:00 GMT

This was a good weekend for newspaper interviews. Poring over yesterday's and today's Times I found a good interview with Tony Blair by Richard Beeston. In it he says “I believe that the Middle East is a region in transition. The question is transition to where? It can go to one of two places. One is where the economy becomes the cutting edge of globalisation so the politics and culture and forces for moderation and modernisation win out".

Let's hope this is the case. Economic growth and well-being can actually change the landscape; it empowers communities. A few weeks ago Andrew Cahn, head of UK Trade & Investment, said "trade produces peace". Never was a region so ripe for Microsoft's Local Software Economy initiative: the premise being that by partnering with Governments, Academia and local enterprise and community groups, we see more innovation, more graduates in STEM subjects, job creation and wealth creation.

We see significant progress progress in many quarters in the region. Indeed the news from Saudi Arabia is encouraging where we see traditional laws being debated and evolved and more women starting businesses and investing. There's also a healthy representation in further education - in 2004/05 of the 200,000 students, more than half are female.

Perhaps they will be inspired by Baroness Warsi. Things in Pakistan and Afghanistan still have a way to go. Both Simon Jenkins and Matthew Parris address the situation this weekend. Somewhat less encouraging than previous articles.

Bill Gates also featured in the weekend paper talking mainly about his plans to get Yahoo. Gates intends to step down from the day-to-day running of Microsoft in July to devote more time to his charities. He, like Blair, also intends to spend time trying to improve the situation in the Middle East. In 2005 the Gates Foundation awarded $10m to the Aspen Institute's Middle East Strategy Group and hopefully we'll see more such public/private partnerships created in the coming year.

BillG says farewell to London

claireoh — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:53:00 GMT

Bill was in London yesterday - his last visit to the UK while he is still full-time at Microsoft. This comes at the end of a ten-day tour through the Middle East and Europe, where Bill keynoted at the Government Leader's Forum in Berlin and at the WEF in Davos; in Abu Dhabi, he witnessed the signing of a deal between Microsoft and Emirates to set up an ‘Innovation Lab’ in Dubai to develop products and services for the travel industry. Here is Bill pictured with Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates.

The UK team managed a series of great meetings and events - at the Institute of Directors, “An Audience with Bill Gates” heard Bill outline his thoughts on the “Second Digital Decade”; more than 700 partners attended the Longhorn launch event; he met 45 CIO's from the largest UK enterprises; Bill met Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street and talked about Local Software Economy; then attended a Prince’s Trust reception at the House of Commons. Bill featured on the Money Programme and you'll see an interview with him in the Sunday Times. Over the 8 hour day Bill addressed over 2000 people. That's some itinerary!

If you haven't seen this it's worth a look. Very amusing. I'm sure we'll hear more from him soon.