Akram Benbarek, senior vice president of investments for Advanced Equities Financial Corporation (AEFC), a privately held financial services company, is an expatriate Egyptian living in California and he was recently in the Middle East looking for potential investors interested in sharing in the development of US late stage technology companies. He spoke to John Foster of Private Equity & Hedge Funds Middle East about the development of a Middle Eastern knowledge economy and the opportunities for VC investors in later stage technology. The entire interview can be found here but the final Q & A are noted below:
The governments of the region are trying to build up a knowledge economy. How do you see that developing?
The moves by the UAE and the Saudi government to build up a knowledge economy and invest in their people, the local residents, are very encouraging. However, building a knowledge economy takes a lot of time and a lot of money. It does not have the quick turnover of say, an apartment block in another ‘luxury’ development. The government and the private sector need to understand that to make this region prosper, not just five years into the future, but long term, it will require a lot of time, effort and patience and no small amount of money. It takes a generation to build a knowledge economy, as it is the boys and girls that are in junior school who will be the leaders and entrepreneurs of the future. It is in these children that the region needs to invest. Success will not be instant. It is not like buying a luxury goods brand with surpluses from the oil boom. This time around, the profits from the oil boom must be spent in the region, on the people in the region and investing in the future of the region.