Manama: Bahrain has the proper infrastructure and the required talent and support to become a key host of successful future global startups, according to an expert.
The Harvard Business School (HBS) Club of the GCC hosted an event entitled “HBS-Bahrain Dialogue” at the Capital Club, held in partnership with the Capital Governorate, where the guest of honor was H.E. Sheikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, the Governor of Manama. The event was organized as part of the Capital Governorate’s Manama Week, which featured a weeklong summit aimed at finding, developing and coaching entrepreneurs in Bahrain to develop the core competencies and soft skills required for global entrepreneurial success.
Under a “fireside chat” concept, the speakers – Mr. Hamza Farooqui Group CEO, Cii Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Ms. Tara Uzra Dawood, President of Dawood Global Foundation – shared their candid thoughts with the community on a variety of topics including artificial intelligence, sharing economy, peer to peer lending, internet of things and cyber security, as well as their leadership journeys and the future of fintech and banking.
Hamza Farooqui spoke to the audience about his entrepreneurial success at the age 12, explaining how he simply followed his passions.
Moreover, Tara Dawood encouraged female empowerment and shared her journey of defying the norms to become the first female CEO of a publicly listed financial institution in Pakistan that she founded with the Asian Development Bank. Miss Dawood’s current dream is to provide vocational education to 1 million girls globally through her social entrepreneurial project Educate a Girl.
During the event, Mohammad Shaheed Khan, Vice President at GIB, the leader of the Bahrain Chapter of the HBS Club of the GCC, said in his remarks, “Silicon Valley is coming to financial sector, it is an industry ripe for disruption. In this space, it is no longer the traditional fight between Godzilla and King Kong rather it is a slow death by a 1000 small cuts by inflicted startups and smaller players. Adoption rate for newer technologies is much faster now. Furthermore, average company life span on the S&P 500 has come down to 12 years; Fortune 500 companies tumbling down.”
The HBS Club of the GCC thanked their esteemed guests for attending the event and passed a special recognition to the Governor of Manama H.E. Sheikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, the US Ambassador to Bahrain H.E. William V. Roebuck, CEO of Pinnacle Group and US Presidential Ambassador for Entrepreneurship Nina Vaca and CEO of GIB Mr. Abdulaziz A. Al-Helaissi.
