Beirut’s Bright Future as a Tech Hub for MENA, If Its Politicians Will Allow It

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/03/beiruts-bright-future-as-a-tech-hub-for-mena-if-its-politicians-will-allow-it/

by cnicolaou • 11 years ago

20 4 11 years ago

I had no idea this stuff was going on in Beirut, but I'm excited to visit. If anyone from the Beirut tech community is reading this, I had two questions:

(1) Do you agree with the author that the startup community is primarily held back by internet speeds? (It's painful to Skype or share a YouTube video with friends in Lebanon, so I know it's a problem -- just wondering about how you'd rank it with other concerns.) Are there any gaps in desired engineering skills? Are people bringing experience with large-scale web architecture or hardware design from working outside of Lebanon?

(2) What's the competitive advantage for these companies? Some ideas -- like music streaming or health tracking or Hulu for the Middle East -- seem easily deflated if an already-at-scale competitor decides to focus on Arabic internationalization. What do Beirut's tech startups understand about Middle East consumers that Western tech companies are missing?

moubarak• 11 years ago

I live in Beirut.

1)Internet speed is a problem. Engineering talent is extinct (all the good engineers leave the country). Like i said people are leaving so no experience from outside is coming in.

2)Some of these startups mentioned are dead, even some of the names are people i worked with and have not a single success story (some not all) which diminishes the credibility of this article. As for the promising startups like Anghami, they have a better understanding of the arab culture and connections, let alone the reality of the situation as opposed to information perceived from such articles.

mackram• 11 years ago

I have been in Beirut for many years now and I am sure that there will be many responses to this post that will be making alot of noise about how beirut has nothing so allow me to add the following:

1- I agree that Internet is quite problamatic for the country but it is not insurmountable with a bit of planning, but that means spending on energy on something you should not.

2- The companies mentioned (like most startups in the region) start out by copying business ideas and models from other places. That does not mean they are not working on some interesting things but the truth is most are not focused on this. Some companies that get no light are working on some really interesting things such as better power management, hydroponics, controllers for elevators, telecom infrastructure, bitcoin etc. These are few and in between but they do exist. Also I dont think focus on Arabic internationalization is an easy manner it might not be as difficult as saying chinese internalization (baidu anyone) but still.

Allow me to give my opinon on the problems of the community:

a- High Cost of living and few opportunities for second chances: Beirut is not a cheap city by any measure and the tech scene is very small (very few big companies) what this translates too is that talent of any kind (business or engineering) is reluctant to do startups where risk of failure is high since they are not sure they are able to pay the bills if it flunks and they cant land a job

b- Too small a market: Needless to say Lebanon and the region is a small market more importantly it is a small market of early adopters so it is very difficult to make a quick experimentation of the viability of ideas

c- Shortage of talent: It is no secret that most talent leaves the country mostly because salaries outside are way more then they can find in the country. Also the society is so small that anyone who stays is bound to know and be compared to someone of similar (or less) skill and making 5 times the salary and that tends to be emotionally tasking and propagates the cycle.

d- Lack in belief in quality from the region: There is a problem region wise where everyone seems convinced that anything coming from Europe, Japan and North America is of higher quality then things coming from the region. Accordingly all companies in the region without connection to outside are short-changed decreasing their chance of success.

e- Extreme selection bias: Everyone in the eco-system from VCs, Angels (the few that exist) and Enterpreneurs judge success and returns based on what is happening with the most successful silicon valley companies and therefore they demand same results claiming same hurdles. This is simply not true. The problems are different and they require a different solution.

Finally let me say Beirut is not ideal I know I have had (and continue to have) my crisis of faith in the matter but the potential does exist. We face similar problems to many upcoming tech communities and then some and we sure can achieve with more constructive discussions which hopefully such a discussion will start.

vonnik• 11 years ago

I don't think Beirut's politicians are the only political risk the city is exposed to. Anyone familiar with the recent history of Lebanon knows that it is the pawn in a bloody geopolitical game being played by the US, Israel, Syria and Iran, among others. All of those countries have the power to destabilize Lebanon and its capital in a variety of ways. Many local politicians are tied to one or more of those interests. Anyone who thinks Lebanon will be stable any time soon should read Robert Fisk's "Pity the Nation."

Beirut’s Bright Future as a Tech Hub for MENA, If Its Politicians Will Allow It

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