cool global BIZ

Brave New Startup World: Women Entrepreneurs on the Rise in Middle East

 

 

Female entrepreneurs at a recent startup conference talk about opportunities for women in the Middle East. Video courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

A WAVE OF risk-taking female entrepreneurs in the Middle East are pitching and launching startups, contrary to popular stereotypes of Arab women, according to the Wall Street Journal. At a recent startup conference hosted by Oasis 500 in Jordan, 40% of the pitches were by women. In Saudi Arabia, women are "an untapped ocean of talent," Glowork.net executive Adbullah Alghadouni told the Journal. Also this week, the MENA Business Women's Network Forum will bring together female entrepreneurs in Dubai. "It would be ironic," Journal reporter Ben Rooney writes, "if a region that is castigated for its attitudes toward women actually turned out to be more welcoming of female entrepreneurs than those doing the castigating."

New Breed of Global Media: Al Jazeera English and Other Arab Media On the Rise

 

 

Al Jazeera English's newsroom in Doha, Qatar. Photo courtesy of CMDavid on Wikipedia.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, May 6, 2011

THE NEXT REVOLUTION will be found where the new breed of global media is the most active. And the epicenters are growing in the Second and Third Worlds, where modernization and raw forms of self-rule and semi-democratic governance will take shape with each non-violent protest. As the global economy spreads, it's only a matter of time before similar youthful and middle-class revolts surface in Asia, Russia and Latin America. 

In the current Columbia Journalism Review, Lawrence Pintak explores the role of the Al Jazeera media network and the Arab media in the recent Middle East uprisings:

 

Documentary Filmmakers Explore Global and Cultural Boundaries in New World

 

 

When China Met Africa by Marc and Nick Francis. Says one African official, laughing, to a Chinese multinational's project manager of a major road in Zambia: "Since you are not black, you will be easy to find." Video courtesy of the filmmakers, on YouTube.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, April 12, 2011

SO MANY FINE films, so little time. Documentary and indie filmmakers continue to take on urgent and volatile topics often ignored by commercial TV and Hollywood, and their work will grow in importance as globalization races onward. Here are video clips on acclaimed global documentaries that explore cultural fusion and the boundaries that divide us:  When China Met Africa, by filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis, the tale of a Chinese project manager working on Zambia's longest road . . . Crossing Borders, by Arnd Wachter, on the world travels of eight American and Moroccan students . . . And Wagah, by Supriyo Sen and Najaf Bilgrami, on the daily flag-lowering ceremony at the India-Pakistan border by proud, high-stepping guards of both nations.

 

 

 

Trailer for Crossing Borders, a feature documentary by Arnd Wachter and Crossing Borders Education. Narrator: "At a time of world tensions, four American and four Moroccan students will travel and live together . ..  sharing experiences . . . encountering the other ... and in the process, discovering themselves." Video courtesy of Arnd Watchter, on vimeo.

 

 

 

 

Filmmaker Supriyo Sen is recognized at the Berlin Film Festival 2009 for his acclaimed short documentary Wagah, on the flag-lowering ceremony on the India-Pakistan border. Video courtesy of supriyobubu's channel on YouTube.

 

 

"You Say You Want a Revolution / Well, You Know / We All Want to Change the World . . . . "

 

Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel blog, "Women and Egypt's Revolution" by Lauren E. Bohn and Sarah Lynch. Video clip courtesy of Foreign Policy.
 

CoolGlobalBiz, March 4, 2011

MORE MIDDLE-EAST watchers weigh in on the revolts and uprisings in the Arab world. Also, listen below to "Revolution," the rock classic by the Beatles:

 

Wadah Khanfar, director general of Al Jazeera, in Al Jazeera and the Washington Post: "Indeed, it should surprise no one that so many Western analysts, researchers, journalists and government experts failed to recognise the obvious signs of Arab youth movements that would soon erupt into revolutions . . . That failure has exposed a profound lack of understanding in the West of Arab reality."

• Aljazeera.net, "We Saw the Revolutions Coming" by Wadah Khanfar.

 

New York Times' Kristof Poses Most Important Question: Can the Arab World Embrace Democracy?

 

   

"The Other Side of the Fear is the Freedom" by jonycunha (Jonatas Cunha), under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Cunha is a professor and photographer in Brazil.

 

 

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 27, 2011

POWERFUL OPINION PIECE this morning by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, posing the most basic and profound question of all regarding the Middle Eastern revolts: Can the Arab world embrace democracy? No truly modern and progressive society, no diverse and growing economy, will thrive over the long run without it. In "Unfit for Democracy?" Kristof writes:

 

"Is the Arab world unready for freedom? A crude stereotype lingers that some people —Arabs, Chinese and Africans — are incompatible with democracy. Many around the world fret that “people power” will likely result in Somalia-style chaos, Iraq-style civil war or Iran-style oppression . . . I’ve been humbled by the lionhearted men and women I’ve seen defying tear gas or bullets for freedom that we take for granted. How can we say that these people are unready for a democracy that they are prepared to die for?"

   

 

"The Genie is Out of the Bottle" -- Former German Vice-Chancellor Fischer on Middle East Revolutions

 

 

 

 

Egyptian activist and blogger Gigi Ibrahim. Photo by Al Jazeera English, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.

  

CoolGlobalBiz, February 26, 2011

EARLY COMMENTARY ON the populist revolts seemed timid. Now more big guns are letting loose with stronger opinions on geopolitics in the Middle East and Africa.  In Project Syndicate, former German vice chancellor Joschka Fischer predicts the uprisings will lead to greater globalization and "the profound transformation and modernization of entire societies and economies."

(Photo, above) Former German Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fischer. Photo credit: Andrzej Barabasz in Wikimedia Commons.
 

The Fate of Egypt's Economy: State-Run? Military-Ruled? Democratic Free Market?

 

 

"Marching into the Sunset" by Rusty Russ (Russ Seidel), under a Creative Commons license on flickr.

 

 

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 18, 2011

AS NEWS STORIES on Egypt wane, a huge question remains: Where is the nation's economy heading? Toward more iron-fisted military and state rule? Toward a more open Western-style market? Or toward a chaotic marriage of both? Will corruption continue, or will rule of law gain a foothold?

 

 

The Global Quest for Egyptian Regime's Assets

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 15, 2011

JUST AS EGYPT celebrates a new day, the global hunt begins for the assets of the last pharoah's regime. Good luck with that. History shows that tracking the money trail of autocrats and their backers is a Herculean task. Assets flow into a maze of bank accounts and investment holdings, under many names and businesses, in many jurisdictions. In Mubarak's case, the former Egyptian president was an ally of the West for 30 years, so the U.S. government and Congress might not look too deeply at the flight of capital from Egypt during his rule. Maybe other interested parties -- watchdogs in the Egyptian government, the United Nations food program, public pension funds, private investors, law firms and private investigators -- have been closely monitoring Egypt's finances. Beyond the search for assets, let's hope that the Egyptian economy -- energy, steel, tourism and other industries -- takes off in the coming years. Money still makes the world and democracies go around, especially after regimes no longer control the coffers. 

(Photo, above) "Cairo bazaar" by Ed Yourdon, under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Yourdon is a photographer and computer consultant in Pensacola, Florida, U.S.A., at Yourdon.com.

  

• CNN.com, "Where has Mubarak stashed his millions?" by Peter Wilkinson.
• NYTimes.com, "Mubarak Family Riches Attract New Focus" by Neil MacFarquhar, David Rohde and Aram Roston.
• WSJ.com, "Egypt Seeks Freeze of Some Former Politicians' Assets" by Stephen Fidler and Jay Solomon and "Egypt Asks U.S. to Freeze Former Officials' Assets" by Joe Palazzolo.
• NakedCapitalism.com, "Mubarak's Billions Beyond the Reach of Law"
• Telegraph.co.uk, "Hosni Mubarak used last 18 days in power to secure his fortune" by Philip Sherwell, Robert Mendick and Nick Meo.
• USAToday.com, "Posse Tracks Billions of Saddam's 'Blood Money' " by Edward Iwata.

 

 

CoolGlobalBiz: The Race to Build the World's Tallest Building, or Does Height Really Matter?

 

WHY DOES GLOBAL MAN try so hard to build record-breaking highrises?  The world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, already exists in Dubai.  Now the $27 billion Kingdom Tower, to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will rise a mile high -- twice as tall as the Burj.  Why do this?  For global bragging rights and prestige?  To impress tourists and businesses?  Because they can, like mountain climbing and space exploration?  And are these steel-and-concrete giants real architectural milestones, or ornate shrines to excess?  This is beyond my ken.  Someone please explain.  

 

In the United States a century ago, great captains of industry raced to build skyscrapers in New York and Chicago.  Now it's Asia and the Middle East's turn.  Are wealthy emerging nations building humongous highrises simply because their money men and economies can afford it?  Joseph Stiglitz I ain't, but I know strong economies need infrastructure, energy, technology, rule of law, stable financial markets, a thriving workforce, good education, decent housing, business-friendly policies, natural resources, and more.  So why is building the planet's No. 1 highrise an urgent priority?

Graphics above: Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) by GDS Infographics and Tiffany Farrant, under a Creative Commons license on flickr.com.

 

Some say that highrises reflect boom business cycles and easy money, that skyscrapers rise with rising economies.  (See below, "Skyscrapers as Economic Indicators.")  Or maybe it's a rich-guy-my-monument-is-bigger-than-yours-leave-a-legacy kind of thing.  Sure seems that way, if you read the famed 1896 essay "The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered" by Louis Sullivan, a father of modern architecture who coined the phrase "form ever follows function."  Sullivan wrote:

 

"What is the chief characteristic of the tall office building? . . . It must be tall, every inch of it tall.  The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exultation must be in it.  It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing . . . . "

 

I get it.  These insights come slowly to us proles on the ground floor.  Just thinking what I'd do with $27 billion, after paying bills and taxes.

 

GulfNews.com, "Tallest tower plan in Jeddah on track: Kingdom Holding says construction of the Adrian Smith mega structure will go ahead" by Abdul Nabi Shaheen.

Wikipedia, "Skyscraper."

Emporis, "Official World's 200 Tallest High-rise Buildings."

MarketUrbanism.com, "Skyscrapers as Economic Indicators."