A (0:00)

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you all for coming here today. Today we have a very distinguished speaker and we're delighted to have her here. On behalf of LSE and the Arabic Society, I'd like to welcome her today. And I'd like to pass you over now to El Anu D Thani who will chair the proceedings today and will give you a much more detailed introduction of our esteemed speaker. Thank you.

B (0:26)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim wa salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Good evening, your Excellency, President of the League of Arab States, Dr. Habib Abseen. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests and diplomats, ladies and gentlemen, I am Al Hanu Daftani, a second year student at the LSE and the former Vice President of the Arabic Society. It is both an honor and a privilege to be able to introduce you to a role model of note, a woman of distinction, Sheikha Hanadi Al Thani. Sheikha Hanadi has distinguished herself as an Arab class businesswoman and is the Founder and Chairperson of Amwal, CEO of Al Wahab City Real Estate Development Project and Deputy CEO of Nasser Bin Khalid Al Thani and Sons Group. She has taken her accomplishment one step further and together with her firm determination, she was named Young Global Leader by the World economic forum in 2005 and voted as Personality of the Year by Araya, Qatar's leading newspaper, for her vision and contribution to the economy. She was named Women CEO of the Year by the Middle East CEO Awards Institute in 2006 for her significant contribution in developing Qatar's economic and social presence in the Arab world. Leveraging on her experience, she conducted and published several research papers on macroeconomic issues in the gcc. What makes her achievements all the more remarkable is the fact that they were all set at a very young age. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you will agree that the world of Arab economics and business has gained a celebrated role model. Please join. Join me in welcoming Sheikha Hanadi to address you this evening with her words of wisdom on entrepreneurship in the Arab world. Thank you.

C (2:08)

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by thanking the LSE Arab Society for inviting me here today and especially thanking Lanoud Al Thani for persuading me to be here today, as well. As a former student of the London Business School and the University of London, it almost feels like coming home. For many of us, the past 18 months have been unprecedented. Much of the world rode on a huge wave of investment and development, only to come Crashing down. The fall has been dramatic and in some cases devastating for economies and communities. While there has been a lot of talk of green trust and turning corners, the truth is that the global economy will take some time to recover. The initial reaction, understandably, was that of damage limitation exercise. Next came the reflection and analysis, and then the longer term solutions. The most important factor is to understand the causes and effects of of this crash and to build from there. It is vital that lessons are learned and shared for the next generation of business leaders and decision makers. There is a legacy of financial instability and uncertainty, and it is they who must ensure that these conditions that led to the crisis are not repeated. They must be financially illiterate, astute, aware of their economic environment, and most importantly, conscious of their actions and their consequences. Everyone from the captains of industry, the policymakers and the private investors must provide their successors with the opportunity to take on these responsibilities with confidence and clarity. The fate of tomorrow lies with the school children, the college students and the young adults of today. We all have a duty to ensure that they are fully equipped to manage those pressures. As US President F.D. roosevelt once said, we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. In many respects, the Arab world has been an anomaly during this turmoil. Many Middle Eastern economies are linked and to some extent even dependent on the successes of their neighbors. The casualties have been heavier in some certain cases than others. But the common denominator is that we all must invest in our future. But what is the Middle East? The Middle east is a heterogeneous agglomeration of over 350 million people. Maronites, Kurds, Coups, Berbers, Africans as well as Muslims and Arabs, inhabiting a land that spreads from the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf and from the Saharan desert right to the foothills of Anatolia. So all generalities about the Arabs, their experiences, instinct and style of faith, and even politics must be treated with skepticism. David Gardner of the Financial Times chose the name the Last Chance for his recent book about the region. To understand why he chose such a bleak description of the region, we can look through a crude comparative social and economic statistic. The total manufacturing exports of the entire Arab world has recently been below that of Philippines, with one third of the population, or Israel, with a population that is equivalent to Riyadh. From 1980 to 2000, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Jordan between them registered 376 patterns with the United States. Over the same period, South Korea alone registered 16,328 and again Israel 7,652. This is the dark side of the Middle Eastern economies. However, in my opinion, one communality and a shimmering bright side in this region is the aspiration of its youth. And so, how and where do we begin? The fundamental starting block must be attitude. There needs to be a sense of ambition, of motivation, of passion, and once again of confidence. A sense of purpose and a desire to succeed are integral. Without these qualities, the game is lost. And this applies to the mentors as much as the people they mentor. I'd like to speak today about two organizations I work with, each one of them targeting a segment of the Arab youth. Injazil Arab is a part of the Junior Achievement Program that tries to install these values into the young people. It is a way to introduce them to fundamentals of business ethics and practices and provide the educational resources to help realize their ambition. One element of Injazil Arab is to harness the skills of these business leaders who understand how essential it is for their own knowledge to be passed on. These young men and women, personal experiences and events are shared to give a greater understanding of the business world around them and most importantly, the potential within them. Since its inception in 2004, more than half a million students have benefited from help and advice of over 10,000 volunteers around the Arab world, including many high profile executives from prestigious private companies. It has added an ingredient in particular to our recipe for the future inspiration. As a board member of Injaz Al Arab and the chairperson of Injaz Qatar, I have seen the tremendous impact this can have. By the same token, I have seen what it can be. Without it, one third of the entire 350 population of the Middle east is between 18 and 25. This means that while the rest of the world is growing greyer, we in the Arab world are growing younger. But how many of those young Arabs have those opportunities? For those that do, how many have the motivation and inclination to take advantage of them? 100 million new jobs need to be created around the Arab world merely to leave unemployment at the levels that we are in today. And a lot of practical help as well as advice is crucial. Things are changing to some extent. There are pockets of assistance. There is a recognition that we need to see some tangible results. Silatec, for instance. SILATEC is a non for profit organization founded in 2008 by Her Highness Sheikha Mozrab Nasser Al Masnad of Qatar to address the critical and growing needs to create new jobs and opportunities for the young people across the Arab World. The word Sila tech comes from the Arab world, Sila Connection. And the organization has created its own unique connections with the private sector, creating commercial initiatives for global businesses to address the challenges of the youth employment while also being able to explore new markets. Through Siletic, we envision a world in which every young person is prepared to succeed, engaged in decent work and actively pursuing their dream. SILATEC is an innovative social enterprise created to meet an urgent need to generate new jobs and opportunities for young people starting first in the Arab world, where the problem is more acute. Silateq is not unique, but it is a great role model for those seeking to make a difference for the future. It is addressing those three key elements, policy, mindset and access and across these pillars, promoting large scale job creation, entrepreneurship and access to capital and markets for the young people. Between July and October last year, the Silatic Index, which measures the views of the Arab youth, gave an amazing insight into just how severe the challenges ahead really are. 8,000 young people from the Arab League were surveyed on their attitudes, thoughts and beliefs. 26 people. Again, 26% of young Arabs say that if they were given a chance, they would leave their home countries. That is really a high figure. What makes it terrifying is that this figure represents the highly educated population and the people who are ready to start their own enterprises and really to benefit their economies. Those that are more likely to stay and contribute to their own economies are young Arabs who would rather work for the government than the private sector. And this is something that needs to be addressed. There is a wealth of indigenous talent in the Middle east and that must be expressed in terms of entrepreneurship as well as state roles. The Silatic Index also provided one of the most valuable profound insights into nurturing this talent and foresight and fostering healthy, ambitious young minds. The one attitudinal factor that increases all three index scores for policy, mindset and access is the perception that children are treated with respect and dignity. This relationship underscores the importance of human development to economic development. Looking at the Arabian Gulf in particular, many of this region's economies have only really come to fruition through the last 40 years. It is not a long history and sometimes it is more difficult to join a race than to start it. A large factor in the success of of these economies has been enormous wealth of natural resources and to some extent that has buffered the impact of global financial collapse. But has it also bred a level of complacency? Has the demand for the private sector growth been less acute? And if so how can we turn this culture around? The discovery of oil and gas in particular brought with it an enormous influx of expatriates keen to take advantage of their own prospects. Much of the logistics, practical and even commercial elements were outsourced and many of the opportunities to learn new skills and experiences were lost. For many expatriates, those high days are certainly fewer and further apart. But the need for foreign investment is as great as ever. Small and medium sized enterprises make up the backbone of many Middle Eastern economies and many of the foreign investors play a part in that. To relocate a company's employee is expensive and time consuming. By far the best option is to recruit from within the country of operation. And that means being able to rely on knowledge and experience in the local team. The goal is not to constantly rely on foreign direct investment. It means that an economy becomes far more attractive when the ease of business, reliability and confidence are not even an issue. The goal is to be able to use that to the best advantage while developing a global workforce to be reckoned with. One of the Middle east initiatives to guarantee jobs for young nationals has been to introduce a quota system which states that companies must employ a certain percentage of indigenous population. It is an excellent way to integrate more of the local force into the private enterprise. But this in many cases, in my view, has been only a band aid solution to really acute problems. And so once again it falls upon the next generation of business leaders to create a great culture of foresight, preparation and sustainability. This generation has the greater access to information than ever before. There is a desire for global citizenship and already a greater awareness of the demands of a successful national and international economy. I believe with those tools and the investment in young people as future leaders, the reliance on natural resources will decrease and the spirit of the private enterprise will flourish. From my own experience in Qatar, I can see those shifts taking place. I can sense the acknowledgement that this is one of the paths that needs to be followed. To be fair, I am very proud that my country had the vision to realize this so early on and place such an enormous emphasis on the youth development as a founder and executive business as founder and executive of businesses it is a relief to see an increasing number of Qatari youth who are now showing an interest and the will to perform to their best ability and benefit their enterprise as well as themselves. Over the last 17 years I have founded companies from a small ladies finance company that became a fully fledged investment bank to a mega real estate development project that has over $4 billion of projects. My team and I have a passion for what we do and the knowledge of how to achieve our goals. We provide a good service with hard work and strong ethics. For me personally, I took opportunities in business and economic education and made sure that I walked away with the very best understanding I could. This is not an accident. This has been a commitment. Again, I'm glad to be here. Hosted by the LSE Arabic Society to speak with the youth and leaders of the Arab future. But wish to remind you that by very definition, young people do not have the maturity to put many experiences into context. And they must trust us, their advisors, that we can take them on the path of fulfillment. There is thankfully still plenty of optimism in those young adults. I would like to leave you with one final statistic. Just over 2/3 of the young Arabs believe that their countries are heading in the right direction. For their sake, I hope so. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your time.