Interview with author Christopher Schroeder
Against a backdrop of political uncertainty and the recent instability in places like Gaza, Syria, and Iraq, another revolution is quietly shaping the future of the Middle East. The global proliferation of mobile technology has brought with it a historic opportunity to improve access, accountability, and services for large swaths of the population. Nowhere is its transformative power greater than in the Middle East. In his latest book, author Christopher Schroeder tells the story of a new generation of young entrepreneurs, frustrated by broken systems, who are channeling their energy into creative enterprise through technology. In doing so, they are determined to carve out a new golden age of invention and social innovation.
Christopher Schroeder is the author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Previously, he co-founded the content/social platform healthcentral.com (backed by top Silicon Valley venture capital) sold in 2012. He also ran washingtonpost.newsweek interactive. He is an active venture investor in the United States, who also sits on the board of the American University of Cairo School of Business and serves as an advisor to Middle East incubators Flat6Labs, Oasis500, and the new Wamda Fund for A-round investing. He is an angel investor in consumer-facing content and social companies like Vox Media and Skift.
***
[Diplomatic Courier:] Your book discusses the Middle East’s growing middle class and the shifting poles of global economic growth. Why is the MENA region poised to become the next growth economy?
[Christopher Schroeder:] We have one narrative about the Middle East, confirmed repeatedly by our media, of great political unrest and instability. This narrative, of course, has deep and often painful truth. The terrible events of late in Gaza, for example, underscore how true. But what is missed, when we are stuck in one narrative, is what will be different in the next five years. Believe it or not, I was scheduled to attend a Startup Weekend in Gaza in September (and not their first). I have no doubt it will happen again.
As we have seen throughout the world, technology is becoming ubiquitous, is easy to use, and allows peoples to claim their political, societal, and economic voices, from the bottom up. It is spawning new innovation from South America to Eastern Europe to South East Asia—but at the same time even the mere access to low-tech mobile phones has changed economies. What is the largest mobile payment country on Earth? Kenya! Think of the opportunities that spin off from a population that once never had banks, and now can move money and ideas anywhere in their societies.
The Middle East is a region of 350 million people with an expanding middle class. While having great cultural distinctions, it shares a common language and history, has enormous talent, has per capita income greater than China or India, and sits geographically at the center of rising emerging markets to the North, South, East, and West.
[DC:] How can an entrepreneurial culture, driven by the leveling power of technology, help to transform some of the historical obstacles faced by the people of this region?
[CS:] A central story of our time is that a new generation looks at almost any problem as a software problem. They can use the 21st century’s connectivity, shared ideas, inexpensive organization building, and access to essentially all the world's knowledge at their fingertips, to leverage and create new tools to address problems that we once used to say "would take a generation" to fix.
Bad roads? Create crowd-sharing apps to navigate them. Broken education systems? Create learning platforms that anyone with a low-tech phone can access. Too much garbage? Create a marketplace to dispose of it. Not enough water for arable land? Explore new technologies for desalinization and cheap solar-powered ways to pump for water that already exists. And on, and on.
Imaginations are being unleashed, because everyone can see what others are doing around the world, and say, "Why not me? Why not here?"
[DC:] Youth unemployment represents a burgeoning crisis for the Middle East. Can entrepreneurship provide an alternative pathway for young people to find employment?
[CS:] In researching my book, not one economist, not one academic, could show me a path for traditional business and government to fix this opportunity. So more and more people will have to find paths of their own—that IS entrepreneurship. I say opportunity, by the way, as I'd prefer to have a youth bubble—in some countries as much as a third to 40 percent of the population can be under 30—to a problem, say, of Japan, where the population is aging. Youth unemployment and skill gaps are, of course, a huge problem, but entrepreneurship offers a real path forward. It must, however, be supported, not just talked about, or a historic opportunity will be missed.
[DC:] As you found in your research, young women are playing a prominent role in this movement. Are entrepreneurial opportunities more open to women than traditional jobs?
[CS:] Entrepreneurship is open to everyone who is willing to work around challenges and make things happen. The Economist reported last year that over 25 percent of startups are led by women in the region. I judged an MIT Enterprise startup competition in the region one year where it was 40 percent. Every woman I interviewed was passionate about what they were doing. And while some were tech entrepreneurs, many simply used technology like mobile phones and internet access to extend the reach of selling the craft they made. They said repeatedly in some form, "We know how to work around obstacles. We don't fear that." Perfect answer from great entrepreneurs.
[DC:] You reiterate the need for Western media to portray narratives other than conflict in the region. Why is this booming culture of entrepreneurship a story that needs to be told?
[CS:] I read through my Twitter groups on a host of issues; I have a group on each country in the Middle East, entrepreneurship, etc. And it is telling that when I scan down them all the stories are pretty much the same. The Middle East stories shared are all about doom and violence. Everyone writes about the same things, the same way. These stories are reality also, but if you presume the past is prologue—meaning the future must be more of the same—you are going to miss how things happening now may mean some different outcomes, say, in the next five years.
I have no idea what will happen in Syria in six months or Egypt in three years, or how Iran will play out. But I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that there will be a lot more people—billions likely—around the world in the next decade who will have a lot more technology in their pockets than five years ago. This means problem solving and engagement overall happening more bottom up; it means more people can do things at home and in their own regions; it means there are going to be surprises from all over the world. And perhaps a thousand other things. It is exciting, it is happening now, and it is hopeful. And all but ignored by traditional media. We can change that.
Christine Horansky is an award-winning advocate for global education and champion for women and girls, who has been named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. She works to support the UN Millennium Development Goals to end global poverty by campaigning for universal education and gender equality. In 2012, she was named a Top 99 Young Foreign Policy Leader under age 33. She can be found on Twitter @MissMillennial.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's September/October 2014 print edition.
a global affairs media network
Startup Rising: The Middle East’s New Generation of Entrepreneurs and Innovators
September 3, 2014
Interview with author Christopher Schroeder
Against a backdrop of political uncertainty and the recent instability in places like Gaza, Syria, and Iraq, another revolution is quietly shaping the future of the Middle East. The global proliferation of mobile technology has brought with it a historic opportunity to improve access, accountability, and services for large swaths of the population. Nowhere is its transformative power greater than in the Middle East. In his latest book, author Christopher Schroeder tells the story of a new generation of young entrepreneurs, frustrated by broken systems, who are channeling their energy into creative enterprise through technology. In doing so, they are determined to carve out a new golden age of invention and social innovation.
Christopher Schroeder is the author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Previously, he co-founded the content/social platform healthcentral.com (backed by top Silicon Valley venture capital) sold in 2012. He also ran washingtonpost.newsweek interactive. He is an active venture investor in the United States, who also sits on the board of the American University of Cairo School of Business and serves as an advisor to Middle East incubators Flat6Labs, Oasis500, and the new Wamda Fund for A-round investing. He is an angel investor in consumer-facing content and social companies like Vox Media and Skift.
***
[Diplomatic Courier:] Your book discusses the Middle East’s growing middle class and the shifting poles of global economic growth. Why is the MENA region poised to become the next growth economy?
[Christopher Schroeder:] We have one narrative about the Middle East, confirmed repeatedly by our media, of great political unrest and instability. This narrative, of course, has deep and often painful truth. The terrible events of late in Gaza, for example, underscore how true. But what is missed, when we are stuck in one narrative, is what will be different in the next five years. Believe it or not, I was scheduled to attend a Startup Weekend in Gaza in September (and not their first). I have no doubt it will happen again.
As we have seen throughout the world, technology is becoming ubiquitous, is easy to use, and allows peoples to claim their political, societal, and economic voices, from the bottom up. It is spawning new innovation from South America to Eastern Europe to South East Asia—but at the same time even the mere access to low-tech mobile phones has changed economies. What is the largest mobile payment country on Earth? Kenya! Think of the opportunities that spin off from a population that once never had banks, and now can move money and ideas anywhere in their societies.
The Middle East is a region of 350 million people with an expanding middle class. While having great cultural distinctions, it shares a common language and history, has enormous talent, has per capita income greater than China or India, and sits geographically at the center of rising emerging markets to the North, South, East, and West.
[DC:] How can an entrepreneurial culture, driven by the leveling power of technology, help to transform some of the historical obstacles faced by the people of this region?
[CS:] A central story of our time is that a new generation looks at almost any problem as a software problem. They can use the 21st century’s connectivity, shared ideas, inexpensive organization building, and access to essentially all the world's knowledge at their fingertips, to leverage and create new tools to address problems that we once used to say "would take a generation" to fix.
Bad roads? Create crowd-sharing apps to navigate them. Broken education systems? Create learning platforms that anyone with a low-tech phone can access. Too much garbage? Create a marketplace to dispose of it. Not enough water for arable land? Explore new technologies for desalinization and cheap solar-powered ways to pump for water that already exists. And on, and on.
Imaginations are being unleashed, because everyone can see what others are doing around the world, and say, "Why not me? Why not here?"
[DC:] Youth unemployment represents a burgeoning crisis for the Middle East. Can entrepreneurship provide an alternative pathway for young people to find employment?
[CS:] In researching my book, not one economist, not one academic, could show me a path for traditional business and government to fix this opportunity. So more and more people will have to find paths of their own—that IS entrepreneurship. I say opportunity, by the way, as I'd prefer to have a youth bubble—in some countries as much as a third to 40 percent of the population can be under 30—to a problem, say, of Japan, where the population is aging. Youth unemployment and skill gaps are, of course, a huge problem, but entrepreneurship offers a real path forward. It must, however, be supported, not just talked about, or a historic opportunity will be missed.
[DC:] As you found in your research, young women are playing a prominent role in this movement. Are entrepreneurial opportunities more open to women than traditional jobs?
[CS:] Entrepreneurship is open to everyone who is willing to work around challenges and make things happen. The Economist reported last year that over 25 percent of startups are led by women in the region. I judged an MIT Enterprise startup competition in the region one year where it was 40 percent. Every woman I interviewed was passionate about what they were doing. And while some were tech entrepreneurs, many simply used technology like mobile phones and internet access to extend the reach of selling the craft they made. They said repeatedly in some form, "We know how to work around obstacles. We don't fear that." Perfect answer from great entrepreneurs.
[DC:] You reiterate the need for Western media to portray narratives other than conflict in the region. Why is this booming culture of entrepreneurship a story that needs to be told?
[CS:] I read through my Twitter groups on a host of issues; I have a group on each country in the Middle East, entrepreneurship, etc. And it is telling that when I scan down them all the stories are pretty much the same. The Middle East stories shared are all about doom and violence. Everyone writes about the same things, the same way. These stories are reality also, but if you presume the past is prologue—meaning the future must be more of the same—you are going to miss how things happening now may mean some different outcomes, say, in the next five years.
I have no idea what will happen in Syria in six months or Egypt in three years, or how Iran will play out. But I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that there will be a lot more people—billions likely—around the world in the next decade who will have a lot more technology in their pockets than five years ago. This means problem solving and engagement overall happening more bottom up; it means more people can do things at home and in their own regions; it means there are going to be surprises from all over the world. And perhaps a thousand other things. It is exciting, it is happening now, and it is hopeful. And all but ignored by traditional media. We can change that.
Christine Horansky is an award-winning advocate for global education and champion for women and girls, who has been named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. She works to support the UN Millennium Development Goals to end global poverty by campaigning for universal education and gender equality. In 2012, she was named a Top 99 Young Foreign Policy Leader under age 33. She can be found on Twitter @MissMillennial.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's September/October 2014 print edition.
