Next 10 years is key for MENA's long-term sustainability, says Badr Jafar

Working in the entrepreneurship world you hear optimism all the time – especially in the Arab world. According to the polished pitches and many TED-style talks in this industry, innovation is the salve for the region’s problems and new, Middle Eastern Silicon Valleys will be buzzing with activity, with full governmental and private sector support, in no time. Well-measured hope for the future is one thing, but blind optimism inspires, if anything, even more uncertainty.

That’s why it was so refreshing to hear Badr Jafar present his clear-eyed perspective on the problems the region faces when it comes to doing business, as well as the concrete steps the organization he founded, the Pearl Initiative, is taking to address them.

The threat of value destruction

As a region, he says on a phone call with Wamda, “we’re not doing what we should and could be doing” to propel business forward in a sustainable way.

The situation is especially serious given projections for the not-so-distant future. “Over the next 10 years we expect a trillion dollars of assets [over 90% of all non-oil GDP in the Arab economies in the hands of family firms] to pass between one generation to the next… This succession is where you traditionally see the greatest destruction of value. On average only 30% of family businesses survive beyond the third generation,” he says.

Link:

Next 10 years is key for MENA’s long-term sustainability, says Badr Jafar