The UAE has unveiled plans for a huge investment in its tech sector. Pawan Singh / The National
The UAE has unveiled plans for a huge investment in its tech sector. Pawan Singh / The National
The UAE has unveiled plans for a huge investment in its tech sector. Pawan Singh / The National
The UAE has unveiled plans for a huge investment in its tech sector. Pawan Singh / The National


Space for 100,000 coders - the UAE is becoming an IT hub


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July 12, 2021

Big tech companies are, by nature, competitive with one another. But on Saturday, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and LinkedIn, among others, joined together to sign a deal with the UAE to help the government train and attract 100,000 programmers and coders in the country.

Tech is one of the most promising sectors in the Middle East's economy. The region has produced world-class apps in recent years, such as Careem, a car-booking service acquired by Uber last year, which now operates in 100 cities, and has created a million jobs in the region. There is room for more growth. Smart phone penetration in the UAE is now as high as 99 per cent. Other countries are working to improve their internet connectivity. Overall, the region had nearly 175 million smartphone users in 2019.

Coupled with this huge potential is the unique accessibility of the programming profession for young people. Once initial skills are acquired, anyone with a laptop and internet connection can operate independently, relatively free from the other barriers to entry that squeeze the talent pool in many traditional sectors.

Young people across the region will be able to come the UAE and work as programmers. Jaime Puebla / The National
Young people across the region will be able to come the UAE and work as programmers. Jaime Puebla / The National

For a number of years, the UAE has placed itself at the forefront of this regional opportunity. In 2017, in conjunction with the think tank Dubai Future Foundation, the government launched the One Million Arab Coders campaign to train one million young people in the field. Saturday's initiative will further diversify and strengthen the domestic economy. There are targets to create 1,000 new digital firms, which will be supported by plans to boost government start-up investment to more than $1 billion. But the initiative's effects could also be felt abroad. The UAE's ever-expanding Golden Visa programme, which grants 10-year visas to talented people, will be used to attract 100,000 of the world's brightest coders.

Even as we enter an age of more virtual work, business leaders and entrepreneurs in the Emirates are retaining their faith in the role of in-person knowledge exchange to boost innovation. California's Silicon Valley, after all, was not just a digital movement, but part of a bricks-and-mortar city that became the global centre of the tech revolution. And while the area's remarkable success was driven by the individual ambitions of its visionaries, favourable legislation and external venture capital also played a huge role in its emergence, both of which are now set to happen in the UAE.

Beyond its economic benefits, coding is an inherently young discipline. Too often the declining average age of the Middle East is viewed simply as a challenge that will fuel instability and discontent, and strain limited resources. A burgeoning UAE tech movement is giving youth across the region a clear path to a better future. The UAE’s ambitions include ensuring new opportunities are always emerging, for the country and wider region.

Company profile

Company name: Dharma

Date started: 2018

Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: TravelTech

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

MATCH INFO

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Man of the Match Allan (Everton)

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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

Updated: July 12, 2021, 3:00 AM`