Generating Employment Opportunities Beyond Conferences

posted on: Apr 17, 2015

On April 6th, another conference to generate employment in the Arab world took place: The National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) partnered with the Arab Maghreb Union and the Union of Arab Maghreb Economic Chambers to host about 50 North African government officials and private sector executives for one week of public conferences from April 6-10 in Washington, D.C. and Texas. Since the Arab Spring, the West has focused on individual entrepreneurship in MENA. Not surprisingly, both Arab transitioning countries (Tunisia and Egypt), and non transitioning (the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia) are pursuing the industry-government coordination model to promote entrepreneurship by sponsoring large industry conferences. What’s the impact of these large industrial conferences on Arab world unemployment? Are we seeing local Arabs employed, or “diverted” on to the more romantic path of entrepreneurship? Encouraging entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North African region morphs into generating employment opportunities, when in fact, implementing this approach requires more time, skills and resources that compete with large industry forums catering to bigger (often foreign) firms.

Ironically, through the industry-government coordination model, many of the development-related conferences attempt to generate local employment by advocating for entrepreneurship and attracting foreign investment through multi-national corporations (MNCs). Yet such conferences, like the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), have largely occurred in Arab countries that have not experienced their own “Arab Spring,” such as Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, the focus on individual entrepreneurship in MENA is misleading; MNCs are the actors with more access to financial capital — not individuals.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com