Capstone research poster presentations: research for the future of the UAE

For our past National Day celebrations at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi my students presented their research in the form of a poster presentation. While I desperately missed the military band - my students made my heart fill with pride as they presented their research with pride, intelligence, eloquence and creativity.

I will again use photos as my medium to guide you through their projects - you will see common themes and notice that they are all strategic and practical in nature... My fault sorry :)

My instagram of a tweet concerning an email (yes I have a klout score of 60 - I know how to use social media for effect!) I knew I was asking a lot of them... and I was a wee bit stressed :)

The above photo describes the pressure I put them under - while they had been working on these projects for awhile, they might have been on the back-burner as the deadline is far - and the deadlines for course projects are more pressing. Of course, I had no need to worry - but I figured a few "panic email" and rants in class would help :) The two week deadline was a bit short - considering they had no idea what a research poster was when I told them I had "volunteered" them for National Day!

Setting up -everyone there helped :)

The set-up was interesting - they had brought gawa, dates and karak from home - and while we "found" tables to use, there were no table clothes (if I had asked our wonderful facilities team they would have been there - but I am a simple girl and my life never involves table clothes - they know to ask ahead of time now or bring their own!)

I would like to note that the men's Student Council (aided by  Student Life) set up our very traditional display back drop - chainsaws, scratches, pizza and very little sleep all involved!

Waiting for the "show" to start

The provost and his people

I was really pleased that the provost made time for each poster and spoke with all six groups - asked questions and was interested in their research and looking forward to the results. There was also great support from other staff and faculty from the men's campus - and fellow students. I remember my poster presentations as a graduate and post-graduate student and they were always a good way to learn about what others are doing (yes, I credit my ability to teach research poster making to CIRRELT)

Now to the projects - as I said, they are largely strategic in nature (e.g. they are concerned with the strategic direction of the UAE and Abu Dhabi), but they are also practical and interesting - problems or issues they would like solved. I just try to teach them that the best way to solve problems is by doing robust research - YOURSELF :) (of course as professors we help them out)

The group I have never had a moment's worry about!

The first project is about convincing an Emirati neighborhood (by developing a financial and strategic argument and plan) to install solar panels on their roofs. They used an interesting research method - the majalis - to speak with their fathers, uncles, brothers and neighbors about their project, what type of information would be needed and finally to convince them that the project was worthwhile.

The motivation for the project was to follow the lead of the government - who are investing billions in green energy - and make a difference and change habits on an individual level.

Venture capital with a twist

This group decided to work on a purely finance project - with a twist. There is a need for venture capital for projects in the UAE (OK, they might have been told to read the GEM UAE 2011 Report) and my students have big dreams and access to some extremely successful business people in the UAE. Combine all this and you get the development of a business model for a venture capital fund that incorporates capital and knowledge to support ideas from young Emiratis (men and women).

Why are there no "garage" based successes in the UAE?

This group is my tech savy group - and we started with the question why are licenses for home based business so restricted - mainly geared to traditional women's crafts, cooking and artisanal endeavors. What about the app maker or tech guy that wants to be "legit" and grow his business... so yeah, why not? (Yes, GEM Report involved again!). They are doing a great job and are contacting the right people - and proposing some great policy :)

Ambition student - ambitious project - ambition goals!

The Abu Dhabi pension plan has the lofty goal of achieving financial stability for 90 years...  Ibrahim is working on this project by himself and en'shallah he will be presenting it to the Executive Council. I can't really say much (it will be the first project I supervise here where I have to sign a confidentiality agreement) - but the project is looking at other pension plan reforms (including Canada) and all I can say I am proud for all the work he is putting into it!

Exporting dates to Canada! (and other less important places like the US)

This group is doing a project near and dear to my heart. The UAE has some of the best tasting dates in the world (and there are more date trees than in any other country as well) and yet I can never find them in Canada. There is a projection that dates (and camel milk) might become the super foods of the next decade - but the UAE industry needs to concentrate on innovation and new markets to extract all the value they can from this valuable resource. The students are doing a case study on a local company who are working on this - and I cannot wait to "sample" the results :)

Looking for success stories of Emiratisation

Emiratisation is a big issue here (and in the region) where there is still a surprising degree of unemployment among Emiratis - in particular the youth. While much negative attention is giving as to why it is not working - these students decided to look to a place where it is working - and look to why it is. In a second stage they will also look to the lessons of affirmative action in the US... looking for methods that might be "translatable" to this context.

I think all the students enjoyed doing this - and I think I will try to organize it next semester as well - when we don't publicly present our research sometimes it just sits on a shelf... I have a stack of projects from last year, and before when I supervised projects on the women's side, most which warrant further work to turn them into conference articles, and all that deserve a blog post...

Great job gentlemen! Now to finish off the final report :)

Youth Entrepreneurship in the UAE: Results of the GEM UAE 2011 Report

This post provides a condensed exert from the GEM UAE 2011 Report and is copyrighted material of the authors of the report. It can be downloaded here: UAE 2011 GEM Report

If you would like to quote the report or this blogpost please use the following details: 

Van Horne, C., Huang, V., and Al Awad, M. 2012. “UAE GEM Report 2011”, Zayed University, UAE

Youth are seen as the greatest potential resource in the Arab world, with 30% of the population between the ages of 15-24. However, unless these youth are able to find and sustain gainful employment this resource could turn into a drag on economic and social development, instead of the rich source of new ideas and energy. The UAE, in particular amongst the local Emirati population, has a large portion of its population under aged 20, and recent statistics indicate that there are high levels of unemployment amongst the young population, reaching 25%.

In the 2011 UAE GEM Report, the percentage of youth who expect to start a new venture in the next three years sharply declined from 2009. This mirrors the results of both the total adult population survey and the Emirati population (Table 1). The lowered intentions of youth to form new businesses should not be attributed to self-perceived business start-up skills, as the perception of their skills remains high and far exceed the levels seen in other innovation driven economies. There is a need to better engage the youth in new ways to better inspire a more entrepreneurial and innovative mindset as youth are a critical contributor to attaining sustainable economic development.

Table 1 Youth Skills Perceptions and Entrepreneurial Expectations

	Expects to Start-up in the next 3 Years		Skills Perception
	18-24 years	25-34 years	18-24 years	25-34 years
2006	8.5%	7.7%	48.3%	44.7%
2007	45.7%	45.4%	60.7%	62.8%
2009	34.2%	52.4%	50.2%	72.3%
2011	4.9%	6.4%	54.7%	64.8%

With government employment opportunities reaching saturation and low participation in the private sector, entrepreneurship opens up many possibilities for a dynamic and energetic part of the population.

It is highly critical therefore, to nurture entrepreneurial skills at an earlier stage by integrating entrepreneurship into the education system particularly at the primary and secondary levels.  Of course, this would require academic institutions to adopt the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship and qualify their teaching staff to better engage the youth in a meaningful way as they strive to prepare a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders.

It is hard to envision a prosperous and dynamic entrepreneurship ecosystem without a strong education, training system that prepares UAE youth for productive and self-sufficient lives. Entrepreneurship and education cannot be separated as the essence of entrepreneurship comprised of skill-sets that could be learned and taught through education, the UAE government has actively supported several educational reforms, strategies, and models in the past five years.

Some of these initiatives translated into great success, for example, the Injaz-UAE connects corporate volunteers to mentor youth (ages 11-24) through its programs, which prepare students to enter the world of work and succeed through interactive, impactful and practical mentoring sessions. Volunteers undergo an orientation and training before they start their experience to enhance their mentoring sessions and readiness to inspire youth. To-date, INJAZ-UAE has reached 15,000 students since 2005, through 1,500 volunteers at 43 schools and universities - and growing.

Another important initiative of the UAE to support the development of youth is the newly launched Emirates Foundation for Youth Development, which aims to empower, inspire and guide the youth of the UAE.  Initiatives are focused on Social Inclusion, Leadership and Empowerment and Community Engagement. Most notably is the successful Takatof program which trains volunteers for community events and local institutions. This program trains and provides skills to young people to better prepare them for the future.

In the Emirate of Dubai, the Young Entrepreneur Competition is an annual initiative by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders and is targeted at young Emiratis who have a business idea and wish to develop it. The program runs over two months and allows young people to learn the basic skills of the entrepreneurial process and culminates with the young entrepreneurs selling their products in individual stalls setup in one of the leading malls, providing youth with hands on experience in an entrepreneurial endeavour.

There are also youth led initiatives such as The Zayed University Entrepreneur Club (ZUEC) – a true exemplar of a student-led entrepreneurship initiative, which was founded by students at Zayed University, with campuses in the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, aimed at inspiring and stimulating interest in entrepreneurship among Emiratis youth. Officially launched in the fall of 2011 with support of Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi government investment company, the ZUEC provides a conduit by which students can access entrepreneurial tools & resources, network opportunities with community entrepreneurs, and chance to share ideas. The Entrepreneurship Club is dedicated to furthering understanding about new and small businesses.

At Abu Dhabi University, the Entrepreneurship Incubator has been set up with the aim is aimed at supporting innovation and growth for new businesses in the UAE. The University cooperates with Khalifa Fund, as well as public and private business sectors in order to develop a real enterprise culture across the university and to provide immediate support and encouragement to all those who are able to potentially create new businesses in the future. 

Other examples of university based entrepreneurship activities include: Khalifa University Etisalat BT Innovation center, and the American University of Sharjah’s Start-up weekend, and HCT.

Advice to Emirati entrepreneurs at each stage of the entrepreneurship process

So, in researching and writing and writing and writing about Emirati Entrepreneurship and working with Emirati students on a daily basis I have come up with some simple advice for each of the four stages of the entrepreneurship process (read my blog post about it is you are curious about that). So here goes!

There are four basic phases of the process :

1.      Recognising opportunities

2.      Assembling resources

3.      Launch of venture

4.      Harvesting and succeeding

Entrepreneurship process

Phase 1: Advice to Aspiring Emirati Entrepreneurs       
 

Live your passion! Don’t just look for opportunities, turn your passion into your own business – this will ensure that you will gladly make the necessary time and effort commitments to turn your dreams into reality.

Become an expert! To overcome your fear of failure and lessen insecurities learn all that you can about your new business idea. Research on the internet, talk with experts, read biographies of successful entrepreneurs and learn all you can about your chosen industry on an international, regional and local level.

Find a mentor! Whenever we try something new it helps to have someone to turn to for advice and motivation. Find a mentor at school, at work, in your family or in the community. Attend local events organized for entrepreneurs and volunteer in the community to expand your network.

Phase 2: Advice to Budding Emirati Entrepreneurs

Don’t give up! The road to success is a long one and often full of challenges we don’t expect. But, if you believe in your idea and know your stuff, don’t let the challenges stop you – learn from them to better prepare for whatever life throws your way.

Seek advice from experts! Although we might not find an ideal mentor everyday, we can and will encounter people who would be willing to share their experiences with us. We can also read profiles of successful entrepreneurs and attend events where our entrepreneurs will be speaking – seek and you shall find!

Use your networks! We all have networks and sometimes we might be shy to ask people for advice when starting up a new venture. Don’t be shy, the worst that can happen is the person will not be able to help you, but they might or might direct you to someone who can help.

Phase 3: Advice to New Entrepreneurs

Watch your cash flow! In the early days there will be more cash flow out than in – but that is no excuse not to keep careful records and to watch your fils!

Listen to your customers and suppliers! Be a hands on owner and get to know your customers and your suppliers – they are your source of ideas for improvements, new products and services and also can tell you what your competition is up to!

Look for support! You are not alone, there are many organizations out there to help you. Look to your local Chamber of Commerce for training programs, local entrepreneurship agencies of women centres for support from fellow entrepreneurs.

Phase 4: Advice for Established Entrepreneurs

Be creative! There are many ways to expand your product/service line. Think “outside the box” for complementary industries or where your unique goods could be adapted for new uses.

Take calculated risks! Once we have established ourselves and have found our “comfort zone” in our operations we might not know what to do. Consider all options, do your research and take risks if you feel prepared and ready for growth!

Look for international opportunities! In the global scale the UAE is a small market – but look at where we are positioned! At the cross-roads of burgeoning markets, with access to over 200 nationalities on a local scale we can test our products at home before heading abroad!

Entrepreneurs and their networks

You are an entrepreneur – or you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur… who do you go to for advice? Who do you trust for advice? Why?  Well, according to the research in the UAE and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) I have participated in (and as soon as the articles and reports are published I will write about the specifics of our findings) – entrepreneurs in the region turn to family and friends first and professionals (accountants, banks, professional services firms) last.

We tend to think about entrepreneurs as independent beings, succeeding and failing solely by their own efforts. Of course, this is not a totally accurate view. Entrepreneurs are part of a larger network made up of social and professional actors. These actors provide resources and support which entrepreneurs capitalize on to achieve their goals. Networks are the  relationships that each entrepreneur as an individual is involved in that provides resources – for the subject of this blogpost: knowledge/information/advice – one resource commonly needed across all phases of the entrepreneurial process.

A network is the “set” of contacts (individuals, organisations,  around an entrepreneur who provide a resource (advice) to an entrepreneur. Networks should be considered as social entities.  An entrepreneur’s social network supports her business network (in fact it could be the same network viewed from two different angles) as these networks promote trust and reduce transaction costs (for services, resources, etc.).  This is done through superior information gathering and a reduction in opportunistic behavior – because network actors could and would lose reputation through a misuse of information or erroneous information/advice. 

Networks are also a key means of accessing external knowledge, knowledge we don’t possess.  This knowledge involves both formal and informal exchanges and the exchange and creation of both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is know-how, know-why and our instincts developed through experience. Explicit knowledge is what is written down, but which also often needs interpretation.

Trust of course is the key to these networks working – which is maybe why entrepreneurs turn to family and friends before the professionals – at least in developing economies where professional infrastructures are not as “trustworthy” or are simply unknown to entrepreneurs.

From research we know that the use of different kinds of networks leads to different results. For example, the more contact a person has internationally, the more innovative their products or services and of course the more likely they are to export their products or services internationally.

More innovative products and services are also more likely to come from entrepreneurs with closer and a greater number of links in their industry/market. When an entrepreneur knows what her competitors are offering, the more likely she will try to be a little different – offer something newer, better – more innovative! Also, links with suppliers (e.g. a fabric manufacturer for an abbaya designer) will although the entrepreneur to know more about what will be available in the future – raw material wise – which will help her creative more innovative designs which better incorporate the new materials.

My PhD thesis was about knowledge and technology transfer from universities to industry – well, you can imagine not many entrepreneurs in the MENA region use the results of university research … hopefully that will change, because a knowledge economy is built on – uhm, well knowledge – and the most cutting edge knowledge is produced by universities and working researchers… Yes, the Google guys are university “drop outs” – but they dropped out of a PhD program and Google is a direct result of their (and their professors) research there…

Finally, an entrepreneur or future entrepreneur can seek and gather advice for years – but it is making the leap which is the most difficult part – which is perhaps why the support we receive from our family and friends (and professors J) might be the best resource any network can produce.

Entrepreneurship as Process

Although many believe that entrepreneurship is a singular concept – as any entrepreneur will tell you, it isn’t. In the scientific literature, entrepreneurship is described as a process which entrepreneurs take from opportunity recognition to established business to harvesting the rewards of hard work, through sale or closing down or continued success (or well-earned experience). Each phase of the entrepreneurial process requires support from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and each has its own learning curve for the entrepreneur.

There are four basic phases of the process :

1.      Recognising opportunities

2.      Assembling resources

3.      Launch of venture

4.      Harvesting and succeeding

The process (GEM terminology in brackets)

Phase 1: Recognizing  Opportunities

How do some entrepreneurs recognise opportunities and others don’t?  What types of training or backgrounds support this (e.g. international experience, wide interests, specialised knowledge, etc.) and what factors impede it (e.g. fear of failure, limited interests, lack of access to R&D findings, etc.).

Also, how do we support recognising opportunities within organisations (be it governmental or private firms)? In the UAE we can look to successful intrapreneurial ventures such as Saaed traffic unit of the Abu Dhabi police which are responsible for traffic related accidents in the Emirate (I had a group of students do an excellent report on this) or the start of the Entrepreneurship Club at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi J. In global firms my favorite example is Nestle’s Nespresso – now one of the main profit centres for the huge multinational (and the innovation that makes me smile every morning).

Phase 2: Assembling Resources

From idea to beginning to assemble resources takes support – and courage, and gathering the necessary resources for any new entrepreneur can be a daunting task. Here is where the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the nation, city, region, economy, really plays a supporting role. There are several parts of the ecosystem which can be used to support this sometimes difficult process, including physical infrastructure such as roads and ports (like the newly opened Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi will create many opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Emirate and the country) and telecommunications systems; non-physical infrastructures such as supporting networks of external advice for entrepreneurs (e.g. RUWAD, Khalifa Funds, Saud bin Rashed funds,  Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. for Small & Medium Enterprises), access to capital markets,  availability of necessary data needed for researching opportunities and the general supportive culture of the economy (e.g. awards, and television programs such as The Entrepreneur to launch this fall).

Phase 3:  Launch of New Venture

What are the rules, regulations and costs associated with starting a new business? Where can a potential entrepreneur go to get the licenses and permissions? Future entrepreneurs will not launch new ventures if the environment in which they want to operate is not considered supportive. This environment, or entrepreneurship ecosystem is an absolute requirement in any economy that wishes to foster entrepreneurship risk taking.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Ecosystems are inherently local. While national policies shape the economy in profound ways, the institutions and activities of regions differ. Indeed, multiple actors that share an interest in entrepreneurship —large firms and organisations (e.g. banks, large scale manufacturers), government entities, educational institutions, community non-profits, etc.—must come together to enrich the ecosystem.

Previous research has found that start-ups that become dominant players have strong early-stage relationships with established companies. Large companies could give smaller suppliers access to internal resources helping them break into global export markets through referral or international assistance.

Clusters of Innovation: Often arise out of large physical infrastructure (e.g. ports) and large anchor companies (such as Aluminum smelters, Yas Marina Sports Complex, etc.) – they spur smaller entrepreneurs to take advantage of the customers that are drawn to these places, or the companies and people working in them (e.g. a laundry service to service hotels).

Phase 4: Success and Harvest

The final, and perhaps most enduring phase of the entrepreneurial process is the success, or continued existence of the new venture and could even mean the exit of the entrepreneur through the sale of the firm to another.  A great example of an Emirati SME that is “harvesting” their hard work is Just Falafel – which is now franchising around the world.

Of course, many SME ventures do not succeed – but, in the West (especially in the United States and most especially in Silicon Valley) a failure of a venture is seen as a badge of honour and courage and experience. So the first “failure” might teach the entrepreneur to be a better entrepreneur the next time, or might inspire another to take the leap themselves.

So, the basic four phases – the story will continue with a more in-depth look at each phase and some local entrepreneurs and their stories (so if you have a story to share, please contact me). Entrepreneurship (and intrapreneurship) is exciting and a key to economic diversification and personal job satisfaction – if our jobs were just about pushing paper how boring would life be?

Closing the Gap: Developing Research Communities in Emerging Regions and Nations (Part 1)

On Saturday August 4th will be a workshop (a professional development workshop) at the Academy of Management Conference 2012 in Boston (Closing the Gap PDW). This workshop is not "about" the UAE - but all the organisers work and live in the UAE at INSEAD Abu Dhabi Campus, Zayed University and the University of Wollongong Dubai and we are actively trying to promote the development of a research community, here in the UAE and the Middle East as a region.

Why do we need a research community in the region? Aren't consultants good enough? Why do we need management research? What is management research? Uhm, what is a research community? Uhm, sounds kind of boring....

No, wait! Management research is not boring for one, it is about learning how and why organisations succeed or not - how we can improve our business processes, our business practices, how we can encourage and support entrepreneurship and innovation, how we can build better strategy (or build better systems for implementing strategy), how we manage people, how we manage resources - really interesting (and important) questions...

And a management research community are the scholars and researching practitioners around the world looking into these questions through the scientific process and publishing their results - incremental steps to better understanding managing organisations and people.... The most important global research community in management is the Academy of Management (AOM website). They started in 1936 and now there are thousands of members from all over the world. I have been a member since I attended my first AOM Annual Meeting in 2008 (where I interviewed for Zayed University) when I presented my pink poster :)

At these meetings (usually 10,000 + attendees) we listen to new research, meet with former colleagues, network with future colleagues, network with future research partners, listen (some more), discuss, debate, and also talk about better ways to teach and new books, and, and, and... 

Why do we need these meetings? Because the problems organisations face in our regions, might have been faced and solved elsewhere (or the opposite might be true) and we can learn from one another... and then apply it, modify it, use it when we get back home. We can also use it in the classroom as case studies and examples.

So, if there is a global research community, why work to develop one in the UAE or the Middle East? Well... because the issues faced here are different and some of our theories and practises might best be modified and adapted to the region - but we need to develop solid research to truly understand how, why and where... and we (the lone nerdy researcher) can't work in a bubble, or in solitude - we are management researchers - and world class research takes a world class research community to develop it.

OK - this might have answered some of your questions... but I didn't really get into what we will be discussing at the PDW on Saturday - I will leave that for the next post :)

And don't worry, I will be blogging the Conference... hopefully I will have photos too :)

IDRC paper development workshop or "Nerds at work to find solutions for some big problems" Day 5

Before I begin the last blog post (which is a little late I know) I want to thank the tireless coordinator, cheerleader and “research guide” Thomas Schott – he was the first to arrive and the last to leave – gave extra hours in the evening to ensure those of us who wanted to learn how to use Amos had the knowledge we needed to continue at home. Of course I use we in the sense of the group – I corrected an entire thesis once that used structural equation modelling, and so really had to understand it to make the right English edits, and that was enough for this lifetime J So that you Thomas for your efforts, your kind nature and your undying enthusiasm for the GEM project, MENA and your quest to be part of the bigger process of gaining understanding about entrepreneurship and the role of networks in this most important phenomenon.

We started the last day as we also did, with a group presentation (this time group 8 of 8) of their paper and preliminary results and then a discussion of the entire group with questions, recommendations and one or two nerd fights (which always ended with laughs and very good humour). Group 8 presented the role of networks on job growth – well the perception on the part of the entrepreneur on how many jobs he or she expects to create. Of course networks has an impact on this…

An entrepreneur’s network can roughly be defined as his or her “social capital” – which I tell students is like self-earned “wasta”. I came to the UAE almost three years ago knowing no one – and now I know a lot of people, in different industries and walks of life – through attending community events, volunteering, work, students, friends, etc. I have built my network which I use to learn about the environment in which I live and work – entrepreneurs do the same thing.

Back to the role of networks in expected job growth – use of professional (colleagues, etc.) and international (people living abroad or from abroad) seem to positively impact an entrepreneur’s expectation of job growth – why is another question and the team will work on that in the next while (manuscript due in September 2012!).

We also talked as a group about policy recommendations and how best to make them. Remember, we are all working on our respective GEM 2011 reports – these were the team leaders and members who attended the workshop – and our “sponsors” want/expect/need policy recommendations. One senior team leader reminded us that to write good policy we have to think like policy makers – what is the strategy, what is the vision, what is possible, what doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (ok, he didn’t mention the last item, but I know it is true in the MENA region especially).

We then did more spss training and I might have answered some student email while this was going on J

After our final delicious lunch (darn you Jordan and your excellent food, I gained weight last week!) each team presented a road map towards article completion in September. This represents our “contract” amongst the team members and with the larger group (and IDRC who funded this project). Because we need to publish our papers or it would be like we sang into the wind, it may be the most beautiful song every sung – but if it is not recorded it will have a very limited impact (e.g. none) on the world.

It was really nice that two of the people who mentioned on day 1 their lack of confidence in their English speaking skills, spoke for their groups. Smile and courage in action! It made me happy that the environment of the group and its positive atmosphere had allowed their confidence to grow …

Second to last we talked about forming a task force – made up of MENA researchers working in the MENA region on the subject of research into entrepreneurship. I hope something comes of it – but of course sustaining any taskforce requires funds – funds we lack. We will see though J And of course I will keep you all updated through this blog.

This was an amazing experience for me as a young professor (OK, not so young in age, but young in career) and I know that we all benefitted from it. It would be wonderful to repeat it – with PhD students and not necessarily on entrepreneurs’ networks, but on research in entrepreneurship in the MENA region. We need more understanding of it – we really do. On the last evening we went for coffee on a very nice street downtown and we saw a small scuffle of local teenagers (or young men) – of course I thought they wouldn’t be doing this if they were busy doing something else – but they might not feel prepared or able to do anything else – why? What can we do to help? What skills are they lacking? How can we best motivate them? What industries interest them most? See, there are way more questions than hours in a day – that is why we need to work together to come up with some understanding based on sound scientific research – kind of like building our house on stone and not sand.

I will keep you updated with paper links as they happen – and if you would like to donate money to start the task force I will put you in touch with the right people J 

P.S. - Thank you Nadia and the IDRC - without your funding and efforts this would not have happened - thank you for setting an example of what rich countries need to do to create sustainable solutions for the great challenges the MENA region faces.

IDRC paper development workshop or "Nerds at work to find solutions for some big problems" Day 4

Second to last day and still no photos, sorry ... maybe I will ask someone to send me one of the dozen or so group photos we took last night!

I have forgotten to mention something that I actually tweeted - we are doing a lot of SPSS training (sigh) but it provides very good opportunities for nerd jokes (and yes, it is a great way to make the most of the rich and wonderful data we have and it is one of the best ways we have to test theory, test hypotheses and maybe even start to build some theory for the MENA region). OK, back to the nerd jokes, which are funnier than you may think (and really this is such a funny group, I laugh so much (maybe to hide the pain of SPSS).

OK, the joke already - in statistics things are "significant" when the relationship between the variables means that something is there and not just by chance or randomness (don't think that is a word, but you know what I mean). BUT - relevance means researchers should care about it - or it is interesting (e.g. UAE is a smaller country than Saudi Arabia) - so, kind of a running joke is about things being "significant, but not relevant". Hmmmmmm - ok, maybe you have to be there to get it, but really, in context and in that room sitting around that big table it is super funny!

But, what did we discuss today - well in the morning it was the impact of networking on the innovativeness of entrepreneurs - e.g do they offer products and services that others don't, that are new to the market, etc. By the way - UAE is tops on innovativeness for MENA countries... but really, it has more to do with the fact that we have more opportunity driven entrepreneurship than necessity driven entrepreneurship (no one needs to start a business to eat in the UAE, we are very very lucky that way). And still with all that, when compared with the rest of the world, the UAE is kind of low ...

The literature tells us that networks support innovation, because we have access to more information and therefore should be better informed of what is going on in the market and have more opportunities to hear about or see opportunities... but how are networks good and how could governments and NGOs working in the region support these networks.

Not surprisingly, when entrepreneurs mainly seek out advice with their family or close network - innovation is not often a result. Not surprising, our family and friends mainly (unless they live overseas or something) see and hear what we see and hear - so no really "new" or "novel" information.

I kind of had more moments of reflection today - because MENA entrepreneurs (in general) don't really take advantage of the "network" effect as much as other places - but why? Is it that the advice given by workplace, professional and market actors worse or of poorer quality than in other parts of the world - hmmmm, maybe.

Or, could it be that entrepreneurs in the region (in general) are not able to turn advice (or information) into knowledge or action because THEY do not have the necessary  education, skills or experience needed to turn information into knowledge into value (OK - my PhD thesis might have been on a very similar theme, but I think I am right).

But - good news, governments can more easily improve the skills of entrepreneurs than the professional, banking and regulatory system in their countries!

One last aside for this shorter than normal blogpost (I am super tired) - when we talk about MENA, we really cannot ignore God - most of the residents and entrepreneurs are Muslim and practising - and I think an understanding of that (especially for non - Muslim researchers like myself) is important for understanding the phenomenon of entrepreneurship.

Now, this was a private discussion and not in any way part of the official agenda for the meeting (said to reassure my secular Canadian readers), but this is my blog, so I will let you know about it!

We talked about the role that God plays in life, many in the West seem to believe that Muslims believe that God dictates all, but not exactly. We realised that we all (in the mini-discussion) come from traditions where we say that God helps those who help themselves – I think in the MENA region we can’t ignore God and religion in any phenomenon.

Finally, another last thing (reread my notes and realised I wanted to talk about this). Innovativeness is most linked (in a significant way) to the existence of an international network. In other words, the use of international networks has a significant and relevant affect on the innovativeness of entrepreneurial firms and the goods and services they offer. We tested this with the data a couple of ways, first we used a complex model, which was the same result of the simpler model and reflected the observations I have made through interviews and contacts with entrepreneurs in the UAE (and Dr. Victor had the same observation).

So, we may use many different methods to arrive at the same understanding - sometimes in research all roads do seem to lead to Rome.

À demain!

IDRC paper development workshop or "Nerds at work to find solutions for some big problems" Day 3

Wow! Only day 3, it feels like we have been here much longer and that I have known these funny and intelligent people for a few years, not a few days.

I am going to start back to front - the end of the day to the beginning. We went for the big dinner tonight, and again, it was another totally delicious meal. It was a traditional restaurant (of course I can't remember the name and I didn't pick up a match-box (sorry Mom) even - so maybe someone will write it in comments) and it was so good. First the mezze, hot and cold and fresh bread (the hollow kind) with seaseme seeds on it. There was even ketchup, must have been there for Anglophones - but really is a sign of a well run place if you ask me! Then the grillades or grilled meat, then watermelon that was so tasty you could smell the goodness from the plate - then Turkish coffee - pain!

It was friendly meal, and the the ladies were sitting on the comfy bench against the wall - self-segregation I guess :) After this most amazing meal we all got back on the bus and went to a famous dessert place - the kind with cheese in it - well TWO kinds - and wow - I was supposed to be on a diet :) Impossible in Jordan!

I would like to say a quick word about the woman/company who organised our stay here. Professional, friendly, bright, hard-working (no I am not getting a kick-back for saying this!). Hadeel Hasan is the Deputy General Manager of TravelMasters and I strongly reccomend, if you have a trip or a confrence or an excursion to plan in Jordan, contact this woman!

It was another excellent work say though (ok, I woke up with a fever and was a bit low energy - everyone asked how I was though, which is beyond sweet). And we had time to work in our teams and I think we have the outline and the tests and the literature we need to include - and that is a relief really :)

We started the day talking about opportunity recognition and that really it is a process - one that the use of networks helps with - or could help with. We talked about the data and that while not perfect, is quite important - no one has this - and we are the best positioned to learn from it, obtain understanding and then recommend policies to help ellivate the crushing unemployment in parts of the MENA region.

I thinkthere are many great things about listening to other teams' presentations, first learning from these super smart people, most of them very senior, second, thinking of the data and our own research questions in a differnt light, and third, listening to the debate and the genuine desire of everyone to do the best job possible and find the most meaning possible with this data set.

I was also struck by two seperate ephipanies if you will (well, stuff I already knew, but I wrote it down this time so I would remember it).

1. Scientists/researchers need definitions - we seem to feel naked without them. It is our first step in understanding, defining the problem, defining the terms - all to ensure that what we say is accurate, honest to the best of our knowledge and work - and not keeping within our boundaries.
2. Science /research is not about making sweeping statements and generalisations - it is about understanding the small bit of the pie so that we can go on to the next - but the process gets easier - the second piece of the pie takes shorter to understand and the third, etc. But there are no simple answers...

The afternoon presentation was about the structure of firms and networks - or do networks have an impact on the number of owners, etc. They used a vareity of methods to present the data -

IDRC paper development workshop or "Nerds at work to find solutions for some big problems" Day 2

Today we started the day talking about culture – and of course, when we talk about management and we talk about culture we also talk about - Geert Hofstede – a researcher who “defined” culture per country a million years ago (OK, maybe his book Culture’s Consequences was published in 1980, not a million years ago). Since that time people have been simultaneously criticizing his work and using it as a framework – because although it is imperfect – it seems to provide a solid enough theoretical framework to build interesting results.

We are all still getting to know one another, and the discussion could seem heated to “non-nerds”, but it isn’t. We all have the same vision – solid research to robustly explain the phenomena under study to arrive at an understanding that will hopefully lead to solid policy recommendations. I feel that we have a distinct understanding of what each other is dealing with, as a researcher and as a researcher in MENA.

We talked about the researcher as author – the stuff we publish (en’shallah) has to be interesting and readable and tell a story that is compelling and based on the questions being posed in the literature now – I liked how Bettina explained it as well though “observed patterns are not causal relationships” (this is my pet peeve in almost all the “research” published by newspapers in the UAE – but that is another blogpost, one that will most likely never be written).

Back to the day – I circulated an important recent paper from one of the most famous researchers in entrepreneurship, this region and in absorptive capacity (the main reason I love the guy – his paper with George changed how I looked at the world).  Shaker Zahra wrote “Doing Research in the (New) Middle East: Sailing with the Wind” and it was published just this past November (2011). It really outlines the directions that he feels really need to be studied – and I thought it might be important for us to place our work in his “world” so to speak – I am sending a lot of email with the blog posts and everything, I hope I don’t start ending up in the spam box!

We had a lot of discussion about what we are asking of the data – and we haven’t solved that issue yet – but it is and will continue to be an interesting debate.

There is also a debate on treating MENA as a single entity – and there are strong reasons to do that and equally strong reasons not to – I think it depends (really I do, it’s not a cope out). It depends on the question and what the data is trying to tell us.

(An aside – men DO NOT like taking direction J But then again, neither do I – I just pretend to listen and then do my own thing!)

After another excellent lunch, Dr. Victor (my research buddy from ZU) presented – and he presented a whole course work of literature on entrepreneurship networks in like 25 minutes – my head was spinning! But he brought up some interesting things. First, there are three main questions that guide the “science/art” of entrepreneurship:

1. Why, when and how opportunities for the creation of good and services come into existence?
2. Why, when and how some people and not others discover and exploit these opportunities?
3. Why, when and how different modes of actions are used to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities?

And then he spoke about the guiding principles in our global research:

1. Network ties are contingent upon relationships between individuals
2. The social structure can affect entrepreneurship
3. Role of social networks in business start-ups

Finally, (OK, this was not the end of the day, but at this point I had reached my saturation point for note taking – there was loads of SPSS training after and even this evening the hard-core researchers (e.g. not me) are being introduced to AMOS by Thomas) I finally got the definition of network I was looking for. Like I said, I like to know the rules and then might ignire them, but I wanted to know what was our guide.

So, this is network defined by Thomas Schott to us (based on loads of researchers, but he explained it well). Networks are the  relationships that each entrepreneur as an individual is involved in that provides resources – in our case knowledge/information/advice – one resource common across all phases. A network is the “set” of contacts (individuals, organisations,  around an entrepreneur who provide a resource (advice) to an entrepreneur.

I have studied networks before , and used slightly different definitions – but really, I like this one.

So, Day 2 is a wrap. I am very happy to have this opportunity to meet and learn from such smart, funny and stubborn people – many kind of remind me of all the people I did my PhD with (many from MENA) and it makes me happy (and tired, but a happy tired).

À demain!

IDRC paper development workshop or "Nerds at work to find solutions for some big problems" Day 1

So, day 1 of our paper development workshop funded by IDRC - or the Canadian international Development Research Centre (website in English) whose aim is "IDRC funds researchers in the developing world so they can build healthier, more prosperous societies".

There are 25 people here, from 15 MENA countries and Denmark. Many are senior scholars, but there are a few newbies like Dr. Victor and myself, and even a couple PhD students. We have 8 teams of 2-4 researchers per team and each team is looking at a research question on the question of entrepreneurs and the networks they use (e.g. who they ask for advice) and how that influences various aspects of entrepreneurship, e.g. innovativeness of new firms, and how certain "types" of people (e.g. women, youth) use networks in different ways.

We have a lot of data, from a lot of countries - it is from the GEM Reports from 2009 - 2011. GEM stands for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor - a study of entrepreneurship that enables countries to obtain a portrait of their own "state of affairs" regarding entrepreneurship and who entrepreneurs are and allows countries to compare themselves with others (GEM Consortium home page). Dr. Victor and I are the team for the UAE 2011 Report - you WILL here more of it as the report is closer to publication.

So, enough background, what do 25 researchers do the first time they meet up - you guessed it we TALK! Thomas Schott from Denmark is the coordinator and Nadia Belhaj is the IDRC coordinator. Wow, we are kind of lucky to have the two of them - this workshop began with just an idea a year ago and now we are together - but why....

OK, a few:

1. Training in doing GEM research
2. Collaborate and work together across language, cultural and geographical boundaries
3. Publication

 As you may not know, less than 2% of the published scientific literature is published about or by scholars working in the MENA Region. Not a lot. We really need to support one another to make our footprint bigger - as they did in China, Brazil and what they are starting to do in Africa. Working together makes our research more robust, more relevant and just more interesting - because entrepreneurship research isn't about advancing theory (but we do need to do that to aid in understanding) - it is about studying a phenomenon that could help solve a (if not THE) major issue facing the Arab world today - unemployment (especially youth unemployment) and empowerment of groups who have traditionally had less power (e.g. women).

So, what we learn from the data, will hopefully help policy makers make better, more informed policy - to help solve problems before they become so big there is nothing left to do but clean up the mess.

So, I could go on, but I need to wake up at 6 to have time to have the yummy breakfast at the hotel before an 8 am start - yes, that early :) À demain!

Visit to Khaled Hurriyah Restaurant: An Emirati Gourmet Experience

After our awesome visit to the Sharjah Wildlife Park we went to lunch. Now, it would not be any student of mine to suggest Burger King or something like that - no, we went to one of the most famous Emirati restaurants in the UAE, with arguably the most famous cook (and number 1 fan of the UAE National football team).

Using some smile and courage (long story, but something I teach to all my students from day one) one of my students decided that we should have traditional food - and so he called Mr. Khaled Hurriyah to see if he could talk to the class about his experiences as a cook and as a football fan. Now Mr Khaled is famous - he has cooked for everyone who is anyone in the UAE - he has been on TV and he made time in his busy day to talk to my students about his passion - cooking. Forty years ago, the story has it, he was a policeman, but decided to follow his dream and open a restaurant cooking traditional food. And become the best, hands-on cook-owner-manager he could. He still personally trains his cooks and staff and demands from them what he demands from himself - hardwork, dedication and passion for excellence.

And then the food started - with harisse (yum), and chicken harrise (I forget the real name) and a whole lamb (or 3 we were a big group). We had geemat (donut holes with date syrup on it) and fruit for dessert - and we learned that excellence and success does not come from formal education and degrees on the wall - but through passion and a dedication to excellence - and being humble and never being too good to play host for a group of students and their professor from Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. Shokran Mr. Khalid, I will never forget the meal we had or the wonderful lessons you taught my students (and me!).

Video of the lamb (do not watch if you are a vegetarian)