FSI HOSTS PANEL ON MIDDLE EAST BUSINESSES DURING GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT AT STANFORD

Startup culture is growing fast in the Middle East, despite what you have (or more likely, haven’t) heard about the region.

“There have been at least two startup conferences this year that got 5,000 people each,” said venture investor Christopher Schroeder. “If it had been 10,000 people in the Middle East getting together to talk about the Muslim Brotherhood, I guarantee you would have heard about it.”

Together with Michael McFaul, Condoleezza Rice, and Stephen Hadley, Schroeder introduced one of the first partner events of the seventh annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit. The panel, titled “From the Valley to the Wadi: How Entrepreneurship is Making the Middle East More Peaceful, More Stable and More Prosperous,” was organized by Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Harari Center for the Middle East. The theme that quickly emerged, given the confluence of former Cabinet members and experienced businesspeople, was the role of government in economic growth.

FSI director McFaul, formerly the US ambassador to Russia, welcomed the audience to Stanford (this year’s GES host) and introduced former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Rice described the connection between prosperity and democratic development – which, as she pointed out, is not a quick or easy process. “Today people think of the US as a consolidated democracy, but they forget that it took us time to get there,” she said. “The Constitution I swore to uphold as Secretary of State originally treated my ancestors as three-fifths of a man.”

Hadley, who served as national security advisor to President George W. Bush, moderated a discussion with successful entrepreneurs from the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region to challenge stereotypes, candidly discuss problems, and offer solutions for growth. Rice noted in her introduction that countries like Saudi Arabia must include the half of their potential workforce – women – whose economic participation is currently restricted. However, panelist Ruba Al Hassan, a UAE entrepreneur and founder of the Global Youth Empowerment Movement, reminded the audience that about 25% of MENA entrepreneurs are women, compared to 18% in Silicon Valley.

The panel discussed the roles that policy can and cannot play in economic development. “The government can help the private sector by focusing on education,” said Ahmed Alfi, whose Cairo-based venture capital firm Sawari Ventures has funded an online education platform used by millions of refugees around the region. “There is no such thing as ‘not enough money for education’ – only the misallocation of funds.”

Ala’ al Sallal, who grew up a refugee in Jordan and founded online retailer Jamalon, cautioned against resting all hopes for change in the private sector. “Businesses are not social problem solvers; when we can’t operate in one market, we move to another,” he said. While the panelists agreed with an audience member’s comment that economic growth in the Middle East is bottom-up, not top-down, they also pointed out that policy issues such as open borders, special economic zones and public infrastructure play a critical role in creating the conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish.

Follow @fsistanford on Twitter for details of this and other events at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.

“Vic-TOR-ia!” Fátima cried, a grin lighting up her face. The 5-year-old had become fast friends with Stanford medical student Tori Bawel almost instantly after Bawel arrived in San Lucas Tolimán. After giving piggy-back rides to Fátima, a career in global pediatrics changed from a distant wish to a developing reality for Bawel.

Bawel is one of a few lucky medical students to travel with Stanford pediatrician Paul Wise, MD, MPH, to San Lucas Tolimán, a town in the mountains of rural Guatemala that serves as a base for his work to improve nutrition for local children. Once she completes her medical training, Bawel plans to devote her life to improving health in underserved areas.

“As an elementary school student, I was really compelled by issues of social justice,” she said. “I hope that over the course of my lifetime, I’m able to make a difference like physicians have done here in Guatemala and around the world.”

Every summer, Wise, a professor of pediatrics and a Stanford Health Policy core faculty member, takes a handful of undergraduates to the communities around San Lucas to learn about the Rural Guatemala Child Health and Nutrition Program. A collaboration between Stanford and a group of local health promoters, the program uses nutritional supplements and health education to save the lives of children under five. The students follow the promoters on house visits, help them measure the weight and height of children and gain an understanding of how the program helps the rural communities.

“We feel it is part of our educational mission,” said Wise. “We want to grow people who will make a difference, and part of that is providing them opportunities to do so.”

Bawel’s experience reinforced her desire to engage in global health work: “It’s inspired me and motivated me to want to give my life, like Wise, to… serving in areas of the world with the greatest need.”

Meeting Guatemalan students who overcame economic difficulties to study medicine — like Flor Julajuj — was also deeply moving for Bawel. Very few in rural Guatemala have the opportunity to pursue higher education or good health care. But with some help from Wise, Julajuj was able to attend medical school; just this month, she graduated from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City.

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“It’s been a great opportunity,” said Julajuj. “It’s changed my life.”

Most, though, are not so lucky; Bawel also encountered two young women who dream of becoming physicians but cannot afford medical school. Meeting the young, ambitious women “makes me want to empower them with the education and opportunities I have had,” said Bawel.

Wise, meanwhile, will continue to each Stanford students about ways to help these communities.

“They see the poverty, but they also begin to understand why being a great doctor or a great diplomat or a great economist will serve the interests of people down here if done well,” he said. “We want them to go back to whatever field they’re interested in, committed to gaining skills and then using them to serve the needs and the rights of people in places like San Lucas.”

FSI SENIOR FELLOWS FRANCIS FUKUYAMA & LARRY DIAMOND DISCUSS DEMOCRACY IN THE JULY/AUGUST ISSUE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Larry Diamond and Francis Fukuyama, senior fellows at the Freeman Spogli Institute, have both written essays in the July/August 2016 issue of Foreign Affairs. Follow the links below to read the full articles without a subscription block:

Diamond, who is also the former director of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), takes stock of the global democratic recession and urges the next president to make democracy promotion a pillar of his or her foreign policy agenda in his article "Democracy in Decline."

In "American Political Decay or Renewal?" Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at FSI and the Mosbacher Director of CDDRL, analyzes the rising tide of populism as represented by the current candidates for the US Presidential elections.