There is no one land of opportunity any more. Here's why

Technology has blurred geographical limitations so anyone, anywhere can build a business

The US was once considered the key global hub to set up a company, but times have changed. AFP

For over a century, America was the legendary land of opportunity. Geography was destiny in business. Success required going where industry and capital connected.

No more. Opportunity is everywhere and anywhere: whether that's Dubai or Detroit, Sharjah or Sydney, Abu Dhabi or Athens. Geographical limitations pale as technology bleeds into every sector – so anyone, anywhere can build a world-bettering business and profit.

When I began managing money professionally more than 50 years ago, location was key. In the 1970s and 1980s, business builders flocked to California’s Silicon Valley – where myriad technology firms blossomed in a modern, quasi-gold rush. Bankers eager to cash in followed. Menlo Park’s Sand Hill Road became the world’s venture capital epicentre. Speciality investment banks made fortunes underwriting tech initial public offerings for start-up Davids that became Goliaths. The nouveau riche needed lawyers, accountants and wealth management – hence, other firms followed.

Like mine! In 1979, I launched my firm in Woodside, California, on Silicon Valley’s outskirts – in my basement with nothing. No fancy office. No hifalutin degree. But it was the land of opportunity. All that money sloshing around meant numerous investors needing help building the financial futures they dreamt of – while I built my firm. Oceans of opportunity – vastly more than there were in Alabama, Albania or almost anywhere.

Now? Everything has changed. Financial services are fully globalised. My firm has offices spanning four continents – including an institutional office in Dubai’s International Finance Centre, a high-net-worth facility in Riyadh, and clients worldwide. Our home base is now Dallas, Texas, but it could be almost anywhere. Financing flows far more freely than ever. While venture capital funding has soared with volatile ups and downs in the US, it has grown even faster outside. While still below 2021’s all-time peak, 2024’s $334 billion in venture capital investment was up 6.7 per cent from 2023 and marked the third-best year ever.

Venture capital firms are increasingly backing start-ups outside the US. Some estimate that more than 90 per cent of 2011’s global venture capital financing landed in the country. In recent years, Dealroom reveals, funding has been bouncing at around 50-50, and in some years, non-American funding was actually higher, percentage-wise. The broad Europe, Middle East and Africa region lured $69 billion in 2023 – four times 2014’s $17 billion.

That cooled slightly in 2024, but the $56 billion still shows venture capital is increasingly active globally. You see this dramatically every year when the Expand North Star conference comes to Dubai, connecting thousands of start-ups from all over the world with a similarly global investor audience. And now, with giants such as Amazon funding start-ups, you may not even need traditional venture capital investment.

Private equity is also increasingly active worldwide. The 10 largest private equity firms have evolved to be fully global – unlike 10 years ago – providing capital banks never did. In 2024, global private equity deal value rose 14 per cent, rebounding from 2022 and 2023 declines, led by the US and Europe, according to McKinsey data.

In all regions, but particularly in the Middle East, with major local players such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Mubadala, a steady staircase of financing opportunity from teensy to gargantuan is a quick Google search away. Hence, there are more than 1,250 “unicorns” – start-ups valued at over $1 billion – globally as of December across 57 nations. Yes, many are American. But more than 500 are outside the US. Increasingly, location is not a valid objection to launching your company.

Have an idea? The internet lets you locate nearby funding from your couch. World Bank data shows 78 per cent of the Middle East and North Africa’s populace uses the web, higher than the global overall rate of 67 per cent. While the US and many western nations are higher still, those averages don’t apply to you personally. It’s all up to you solely.

Across most nations, online resources can walk you simply and easily through the process of registering your new start-up. Business operations, tech support, legal advice, tax help and more can be handled remotely, too – and it's cheaper than ever. Harness it. Then build. Let your actions better your customers’ and employees’ lives. Anyone can do it, anywhere. Use it.

Few will. Starting a business remains a process of continuing hard work and worry. That they don’t is your opening. Profits are the payoff. Capitalism’s beauty is the decentralised harnessing of creativity, its mantra: you never know what succeeds until you try.

Yes, you may fail. But failure isn’t fatal. I failed for 10 years before succeeding. It is how you learn. Failure delivers important lessons about what works and what must change. Heed them. Then try again. Persistence pays.

The barriers to entry are broken. What is stopping you?