Not another Dubai entrepreneurship conference

Private equity group Abraaj Capital and regional courier giant Aramex are the main forces behind what is promised to be a celebration of entrepreneurship to be held in Dubai’s Madinat conference centre from 8-9 November.

This wholly private sector initiative deserves the support of local private enterprise which has taken quite a battering in the economic storms of the past two years. Entrepreneurs are the seed corn of capitalism, the movers and shakers of the future.

Risk for all?

Encouraging the young to take an entrepreneurial view of life is, however, a mixed blessing. There are many for whom a comfortable job offers a far more stable way to earn a living. Only a tiny proportion of entrepreneurs ever succeed, and many careers end in failure or even prison as many participants in the Dubai real estate bubble found out.

Is it the right thing to do to whip up euphoria at such events, and encourage often rather naive and unworldy young people to try their hand at business? Is it churlish to suggest that backing these guys can often prove a total disaster?

You certainly learn from your mistakes. But if you take on too much, too young it can ruin your whole life. Treating entrepreneurship as a kind of faith that you can buy into is just not the right approach. Business is business not a magic formula.

Then again this is the sort of risk analysis that can also be discussed at a forum like the one planned early next month. It is also inspirational to meet those who have succeeded. And such networking can be transformatory. But let us hope the 160 mentors deliver a fair message and are not too carried away by this ego-trip.

Young leaders

At the press conference to launch the event last night a beauty parade of young Dubai entrepreneurs included a number of promising ventures that showed initiative among young people. It might be that the two nationals with multi-flavoured shawarma sandwich stalls are the next regional Pret A Manger, and end up selling out to MacDonalds.

But they are only just about opening their second shawarma stand so let us not get too carried away. Being an entrepreneur is about having a good idea and then making it happen. That is almost always a long, hard job requiring tenacity and perserverance.

However, it can be done. Read ‘Opportunity Dubai: Making a Fortune in the Middle East’ for one real life UAE entrepreneurial success story about how AME Info became a dot-com star, though not without seven years of hard work! (click here to buy a copy from Amazon, or try Spinneys or Magrudys).

For an invitation to this event click on this link.