Capital hailed as Middle East centre of entrepreneurship

Raphael Amit: “If we are to train tomorrow’s business leaders we must be where tomorrow’s businesses will be.”

Abu Dhabi is the capital of entrepreneurship and family businesses of the Middle East, according to a prestigious American business school that has a campus here.

"In the 21st century, we can no longer just focus on the US," said Raffi Amit, a professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most highly regarded business learning institutions in the US.

"If we are to train the leaders of tomorrow's businesses, we have to be where tomorrow's businesses will be."

Abu Dhabi was "the very first branch [of the school] set up outside the United States", Mr Amit said, and it will remain the only one representing the Middle East.

However, the professor admitted that his biggest challenge in the region was finding reliable data. The school has had a campus in the capital for a little more than a year.

"We believe that if we are able to accumulate reliable data, we can help the public policy," he said. "I think our research can be very powerful to help boost the Abu Dhabi Government and help the UAE Government foster the development of a knowledge-based economy, not just based on resources."

The school offers classroom knowledge linked to practice.

This helps foster entrepreneurship through outreach activities, research and teaching programmes, such as the Venture Initiation programme, a business incubator for Wharton students.

"Wharton has now embarked on a globalisation strategy, and we see the region here as growing and impacting globally," Mr Amit said.

Through classes, mentors and grants, students get an opportunity to start their own ventures. The institution helps students realise their entrepreneurial ideas and aspirations.

"Abu Dhabi is a new and growing culture, and personally I think this is a much more viable and strategically better approach for the local population," said Pankaj Paul, the managing editor and general manager of the Wharton Entrepreneurship and Family Business Research centre in Abu Dhabi.

"Every geography and culture is different, so it's always better to have on-the-ground knowledge," said Mr Paul, who edits the centre's business journal, Arabic Knowledge@Wharton, which publishes twice a month, in English and Arabic.

The school has helped 20 local projects since it opened, and is now working with 20 more, seeking to create and disseminate knowledge on entrepreneurship and family businesses.

Mr Amit said he believed that family businesses are “the cornerstone of the economy of this region.”