UAE investors attend Stanford entrepreneurs summit

ABU DHABI // Entrepreneurs, investors and innovators from the UAE joined almost 2,000 participants at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford University in California last week.

The event, organised by the United States Department of State and initiated by US president Barack Obama in 2010, aimed to bring together entrepreneurs and investors from around the world who are creating new opportunities for investment, partnership and collaboration.

On the sidelines of the summit, the UAE Embassy in Washington sponsored a speed networking event and iftar dinner, hosted by the Middle East and North Africa Consultants Association, the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau of the US Department of State and the Arab League.

Ruba Al Hassan, senior adviser to UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, participated in an Atlantic Council discussion with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and a panel of Arab entrepreneurs, to debate the implications of the Middle East’s burgeoning start-up scene.

During a summit panel discussion, Christopher Schroeder, an entrepreneur, investor and author, highlighted the UAE as a positive case study for conducting business in the region.

He said: “The UAE has been doing some amazing things in rule of law and opening up free movement of goods, people, ideas and capital.

“One of the biggest surprises I’ve had over the last few years is that when I go there, to Dubai or even Abu Dhabi, I will see some of the best talent in the region there. And the network affect of the best people wanting to be around the best is actually one of the essential successes that has been for Silicon Valley”