impressions of egypt

This is the third time I travel to Egypt, but somehow I think I'm seeing it through a slightly different lens. Perhaps it's my rigorous international development training, or the various hosts I've had on this trip, or the couple of meetings I had...

Leaving the airport, heading west towards Cairo, the length and depth of British rule over Egypt is immediately apparent. Ornate French and British architecture mixes with beautiful grand mosques along the entire 10km stretch of road from the airport to Cairo. It's quite impressive. Downtown I was met with a similar, but more aged, extravagance. Everything in Cairo looks old. Even that which is grand and high end has a worn look, as if the dust and pollution makes things nearly impossible to keep up.

Architecture in "New Egypt" between Cairo and the Airport

I had an interesting meeting with the managing director of the Endeavor office in Cairo, Ahmed Ezzat. Ahmed is a 25-year finance veteran, a venture investor and a documentary filmmaker. e described Egypt's economy as a "hand-to-mouth" needs based economy rather than a knowledge-based economy. "You have an elistist system," he said, "and the middle class has evaporated." He said of the 250 billion Egyptian pounds (~$45 billion) in the Country's annual budget, 60 billion goes to subsidies (mostly bread, as Egyptians consume 560 grams of bread per capita per day), 70 billion pays public sector salaries, 60 billion is spent servicing debt, leaving 60 billion for all other government programs, including health, education and business promotion.

View of trendy Zamalek and the Nile from friend's apartment

Exclusive Beymen Department Store at the Four Seasons Garden City

Indeed the "elitist" culture, lack of a middle class, and the "hand-to-mouth" nature of the economy is evident from a stroll down the street and a nice dinner out. But Egypt isn't that poor. PPP-adjusted annual GDP is ~$5,500 (4x that in 1981). The country engaged in a series of economic reforms in the 1990s including liberalization of trade and investments, reduction of price controls, reduction of taxes, and reduction of subsidies. But the country still has a long way to go. From Ahmed's perspective, regulation is not the problem. Rather enforcement of regulation is. Thus it's the softer things the country must focus on - corruption, governance, and bloated bureaucracies. This will help pave the way for a knowledge-based economy.

Currently, Endeavor-Egypt is supporting three entrepreneurs: First is jewelry designer Azza Fahmy who has recently gained fame across the Arab world and among Arabs in the West. Her daughter is taking over the business, putting growth into high gear. Second is wireless communications technology provider Khaled Ismail of SySDSoft. And third are Hind and Nadia Wassef of Diwan Bookstores. But Ahmed says Endeavor-Egypt has a long way to go if it plans to make a dent in the Egyptian economy. The office hopes to add 10-12 new high impact entrepreneurs per year such that it's supporting 50-60 by its 5th anniversary.

I also visited with the Economic Research Forum in Cairo. I met with Dr. Ahmed Galal, their director as well as Dr. Nadia Belhaj Hassine, one of their senior economists. This is an economic research powerhouse, focused on development issues in the Middle East and North Africa. Check out their work here: www.erf.org.eg

en route to cairo....top 10 things i love about queen alia airport

I'm on my way for a brief trip to Cairo, and I'm simply amazed at the ease of travel here. So I thought I'd share the top ten reasons why I love Queen Alia International Airport:

10. World News Cafe with coffee, tea, snacks and BBC World News in high definition.

9. Cinnabon. Enough said.

8. Very friendly people and service.

7. No lines.

6. No smoking. Everywhere else in Amman people are smoking: restaurants, cafes, taxis, but not at the airport.

5. Expansive, shiny duty free shops filled with every over-priced thing I could possibly not need or want.

4. Easy access plugs for my computer.

3. Very easy security. No need to take my laptop out of the bag, or present my liquids, or remove my shoes and belt. I realize people might think this is scary, but come on, how secure do you really think U.S. airports are? They're a hassle just for appearances. And I did get a quick pat-down here by a nice woman - nope, no weapons on me.

2. Express check-in and bus service from Amman to the airport for $5. This is awesome. Rather than pay $30 for a taxi, I can check my bags and print my boarding pass at the City's offsite Royal Jordanian terminal. 45 minutes later (including wait time), I'm at the terminal. Taxi takes 30-40 minutes anyway. An exclusive service for Royal Jordanian customers.

1. Free high-speed wireless Internet! Take that Charles De Gaulle's 15 Euro wireless Internet service. I'm snapping and uploading photos and writing this blog as I wait for my flight to board.

the safest place on earth?

Jordan is a very safe place. I'm not sure it's as safe as Singapore or Tokyo, but it certainly feels safe. It's difficult to explain why exactly. People are genuinely friendly, no one tries to rip you off, the city is clean...

I heard an interesting statistic the other day that may help explain why: 1 in every 4 people in Jordan is on the payroll of the Mukhabarat (Jordanian Intelligence). I heard this statistic from 2 people separately. When I mention it to others they say, "Yes, that sounds about right," or "Yes, they are more concentrated in the University areas. We used to know who they were when we sat in class."

It's astounding. While I'm usually very critical of such unverifiable statistics, I think this one could be true for several reasons.

First, Jordan is indeed very safe. The country borders Iraq but you don't hear of any terrorist activity here. There were hotel bombings four years ago, but that was the only incident and I'm sure they've upped the intelligence since then. I'm sure you think hotel bombings are a big deal, and I agree that they are; but I still believe that for its critical location, small size, and small government budget, Jordan is surprisingly safe. There must be some reason for this safety and good intelligence is a primary candidate.

Second, Jordan is a strong ally of both Israel and the U.S. Jordan receives a lot of aid from the U.S. - between $250m and $500m annually during the past 10 years. Also, Jordan is strategically located with Syria to the North, Iraq to the East, the Gulf to the South, and Palestine and Israel to the West. Thus, it is a key provider of intelligence to both Israel and the U.S. Therefore, these two very powerful countries have an incentive to ensure Jordanian intelligence is strong.

Third, there's a great entrenched source of intelligence. Jordan is full of Egyptian taxi drivers and waiters, and live-in housekeepers from the Philippines and Indonesia. These people earn between $100 - $200 per month and are willing to do a bit of work on the side to supplement their income. They also don't have any strong loyalties to people living in Jordan. From what I hear, these guys and gals are the backbone of the Jordanian Intelligence. I have trouble believing they're all so slick as to outsmart me. But then again, my interactions with them are always so brief with me doing most of the talking, often not to them directly. Makes me think twice about what I say in front of my friend's housekeeper. And I used to think taxi drivers talked me up because they were hoping to get my number! Perhaps I should think again?

promoting high impact entrepreneurs

Endeavor Jordan had its first local selection panel on Monday. This is the process whereby Endeavor Entrepreneur candidates are vetted by a local panel of top business leaders to determine if they should present at the Endeavor International Selection Panel (ISP), held four times per year. The next Endeavor ISP will be held here in Jordan at the Kempinski Hotel, Dead Sea. This ISP will also mark the official launch of the Endeavor Jordan office - go Jordan!

Our panel consisted of the top business leaders in Jordan. They include, from left to right: Ali Al-Husry, former Chairman and CEO of Capital Bank and Chairman of Endeavor Jordan; Laith AL-Qasem, CEO of Arab Business Consultants for Development; Fadi Ghandour, Founder and CEO of Aramex and Endeavor Jordan Board Member; Maher Kaddoura, MD Huron Consulting Group; and Safwan Masri Professor at Columbia Business School and Endeavor Jordan Board Member. In the front you'll find Endeavor Jordan Managing Director Carmen Saad and me of course! These guys are very busy. As Fadi Ghandour tried to hurry out of the meeting, I intercepted him and asked that he pose for a proper group picture. Thankfully, he's a very nice guy and happily obliged.



It was an exciting day of entrepreneurs presenting to the panel, great discussion and (sometimes) heated deliberation. The event spurred my thinking again about the state of entrepreneurship in Jordan and the level of sophistication among both entrepreneurs and capital providers. I must say the search and selection team put together quite an inspiring and varied group of entrepreneurs.

Sitting in the room with the panelists, hearing them joke with each other and interrupt the entrepreneurs to ask incisive questions, I felt like I was sitting around the board room with the partnership at my old venture fund:

"How do you quantify your target addressable market?"
"Your greatest risk lies in successfully executing on your franchising strategy."
"What is your pricing model and how will you work to build your recurring revenue base?"

The entrepreneurs were quite impressive as well. They brought energy, charisma, shiny power point presentations, and well thought out responses to the panelists' questions.

The entrepreneurs included a female PhD who founded a profitable social enterprise, the creators of a very innovative new green technology, a couple of Web 3.0 gurus, and a niche retail specialist who has grown a sizable business already. We're very excited to see who makes it through the ISP to become an Endeavor Entrepreneur. Stay tuned to this blog - I'll announce the new Jordan Endeavor Entrepreneurs in October!

The entire experience made me think: "Yes, Jordan is ready. The seeds have been sown to grow a strong knowledge-based economy built on entrepreneurship."

How does Endeavor help?

First, Endeavor provides access to a network of top business leaders. In addition to 3 of the panelists mentioned above, Endeavor has Samih Darwazeh, Founder of publicly traded Hikma Pharmaceuticals on its board, as well as Peter Kellner, co-Founder of Endeavor. The office has also assembled a group of VentureCorps members, other business leaders who serve as mentors to the entrepreneurs. Endeavor provides consulting/mentorship, makes introductions to potential partners, customers and funders, and can provide training on raising capital and pitching to investors.

Endeavor seeks the entrepreneurs with high potential and gives them a bit of a push, or a shoulder to stand on, in order to ensure their success. In this way, the organization helps build large companies that can employ many people and helps build a culture of entrepreneurship that encourages others to achieve. Endeavor entrepreneurs give back by coaching others and in some cases donating a portion of their revenue.

A key question in my mind is: How much of a role does Endeavor play in the entrepreneurs' success? Would these entrepreneurs be as successful without Endeavor's help? I'll come back to this in a later post. But the short answer is, I think Endeavor does have a unique and important role to play.

Finally, here's a quick tour through our office:

Modern set-up.

Beautiful views.

Outside garden. We have 3 undergraduate interns (in suits), me (also in a suit), Ismail and Ali (search and selection team, Ismail on the left), and Carmen (managing director, center).

my neighborhood

My husband wrote me an email the other day whose sole purpose was to say that while he really enjoyed reading my blog, he didn't think I was using that expensive new camera enough. "Where are the pictures?" he said. Well, Mohamad, I have been using my camera and these next couple of blog entries are for you!

I live in a neighborhood called Jabal El-Weibdeh. "Jabal" is Arabic for "Mountain" and "El" is Arabic for "the." So I live in Mount Weibdeh, which is literally up on a hill and thus has beautiful views of Jabal Amman and the old city to the south and east. Weibdeh, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Amman, has been rejuvinated of late and is now home to several art galleries, the National Gallery for Fine Arts, several non-profits such as Save the Children, CARE International and Endeavor, some Embassies including the Italian Embassy and the Pakistani Embassy, and a few cafes and restaurants. Here is the view from my apartment:

It's a small and beautiful neighborhood with culture and character. It has a very homey feel. People are friendly and helpful. It's traditional and family-oriented without being conservative. I'm quite comfortable walking around in a tank top and everything I need is within a 5 minute walk: supermarket, fruit and veggie stands, banks, pharmacies, convenience stores, dry cleaning, travel agent, taxi office, salons; I can't think of anything else I need.

The neighborhood also has both a well-known mosque and two well-known churches, within a 5-minute walk from one another. Many people in the U.S. don't realize that all Arabs are not Muslim. There's a plurality of religion in the Arab World with Shi'a and Sunni Muslims; many Christian denominations including Greek, Syrian, Armenian and Coptic Orthodox, Catholics, Latins, Protestants and others; Druze (11th Century offshoot of Islam); Bahai's; Jews and others. Jordan is no exception. Here Muslims and Christians live and worship alongside each other in harmony - literally in harmony as on Sundays one can hear the mingling of church bells with the call to prayer! Below are pictures of one of the Churches and the Weibdeh Mosque:

Perhaps what I love most of all is the sense of art and culture. Weibdeh is home to the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Dar El Funoun (House of Arts), the National Photographic Society, and several art galleries.

entrepreneurship initiatives versus public policy

For a small country, Jordan is making a big push for entrepreneurship. On Wednesday last week I visited the El-Hassan Science City (http://www.elhassansciencecity.com/), home of the Princess Sumaya University of Technology, The Royal Scientific Society (an applied research institution), and the Higher Council for Science and Technology (policy and strategy). Co-located with Science City is the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE). Together, these institutions are working hard on very lean budgets to implement a vision of an integrated science park with students, incubated budding entrepreneurs and more mature businesses working alongside one another. And they are promoting a grander vision of a Jordan built on a strong knowledge based economy.

The QRCE has pioneered several initiatives, most notable of which is a national business plan competition sponsored by Google. They've also partnered with the Cisco Entrepreneurship Institute for business training and created a Made in Jordan competition whose aim is to turn innovative research into high growth companies. Additionally, business plan winners and runners-up, as well as some other companies, are supported at Science City's Incubator.

Courtesy of my friend Bob, who works as a consultant for Science City, I had the opportunity to tour the campus, meet with some companies and meet with the Deputy Director of the QRCE, Mohamad Khawaja. Here's a picture (and article) of Bob and Mohamad meeting with Her Majesty Queen Rania a few hours before I visited: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=17456.

I think the effort is quite admirable, and I believe it will pay off. It already is. Mohamad, the QRCE's Deputy Director, is a young pragmatic yet passionate guy who can make things happen. The entrepreneurs at the incubator are young, hard-working and fired up about their prospects and the support and recognition they are receiving. I hear more talk of entrepreneurship than a few years ago. And while still rare, I see a venture fund popping up here, one there, focusing on high growth local entrepreneurs.

But there's still a long way to go for the government in terms of policy. Regulations often go counter to the goal of the business promoting initiatives. Take for example import tariffs. They're great, right? They generate revenue for the government while protecting or encouraging local business. But this is where Dani Rodrik's voice rings in my ear, "coordination failure." If the inputs that business require don't exist in country (coordination failure) and it's too costly to produce them in country, then they must be acquired from abroad. Now the import tariffs don't seem as appealing, since they might serve to depress business growth that can fuel the economy and generate many multiples more in tax revenue than the import tariffs currently generate. There are many other examples. For one, it is very costly and cumbersome to open a business in Jordan. Permit and license fees are very high as are working capital requirements.

Thus, we have exciting and ambitious government initiatives to foster entrepreneurship and build a knowledge-based economy coming at us from one direction, and mismatched government regulation that hinders entreprenuership coming at us from the other direction. Fortunately, in this monarchy government, strong potential exists for getting things done. If you are able to find and convince the right person things can start moving. Bob spends some of his time working on this. I'd like to as well....

what about endeavor?

One of the key missing components for aspiring entrepreneurs in the region appears to be capital. Most of the entrepreneurs I've met or heard of in Jordan are Western-educated and come from money. Thus, they have the luxury to experiment with new ideas without having to worry about how to meet next month's rent payment and put food on the table. In many cases, they also have access to family money that can fund their venture beyond just the expenses of the founding entrepreneur. The obvious question is, where does that leave the other 99% of society? What opportunity exists for the smart, hard-working Jordanian who manages to get into Jordan University on his own merits, not because he can afford to pay? (As an aside, in Jordan, if you make the grades on the entrance exams you can go to University for a small fee. If not, you can pay 4-5x the fee and attend anyway. Presumably there are still some minimum requirements even for those who can pay).

The answer is that there is virtually no opportunity. The smart and hardworking middle class Jordanian can work at a bank or some similar company for $500-600 monthly starting salary. This amount will hardly cover rent, so most young professionals live at home.

At its core, Endeavor recognizes the large gap between microfinance loans available to small mom & pop shops and private equity available to large companies. There is no funding to help establish high growth companies and take them to scale. As such, Endeavor helps its entrepreneurs gain access to capital - be it in country, in region or globally. My primary project with Endeavor Jordan this summer is to map the venture capital and private equity landscape in the region, determine which funds can be most useful for Endeavor Entrepreneurs and build relationships between these funds and Endeavor.

The Jordan venture market is nascent. Investors also tend to be more conservative here than in the U.S. This means they often under-value young companies or are simply unwilling to invest. Thus far, I have discovered about 8 funds. While this is a good number for such a small market, let's not get too excited. Most of the funds are very small, many haven't raised their full target, and several aren't focused on early stage companies. Fortunately, most people are very willing to meet with Endeavor so I have already had one meeting and have a couple more scheduled.

However, I will have to look beyond Jordan to find additional sources of capital. The challenge is that firms like to invest close to home. Gulf money prefers to either stay in the Gulf or invest in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe. This is one of the primary problems I wish to research. When people think of the Middle East, they often think of oil and money. The money is in the Gulf, not the Levant (area comprising Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine). The Levant has the knowledge and skills. However, Gulf money does not come to fund these skills. Why? There are many possible reasons including lack of exit opportunities, small markets, lack of venture finance sophistication, difficulty of screening for the best entrepreneurs.

Perhaps an organization like Endeavor can play a role. By rigorously screening for the best entrepreneurs with the greatest potential, and providing these entrepreneurs with strategic guidance, Endeavor may help make them attractive to funders outside of Jordan. My job is to find these funding sources, educate them on the Endeavor model and get them excited about the prospect of investing in Endeavor entrepreneurs.

why jordan of all places?

So why did I choose Jordan for my internship? Many of my international development (we call ourselves MPA-ID) buddies are off to more exotic places, or at least to larger places with arguably bigger development problems. Jenny, Oyebola, Jacob and Momar are in Liberia; Abhilash is in Kenya; Soham is in Sierra Leone with Tony Blair's commission, Paul is running TAMTAM (http://tamtam-africa.blogspot.com/); Helena, Olga, Martin and Dany are in India; Widhar and Jaun Pablo are in Vietnam; and the list goes on....


Jordan's annual per capita GDP is $5,300 (PPP-adjusted). Compare that to Liberia's $500. It's also small with a population of ~$6.2 million (July '08 estimates) up from about 4.4 million ten years ago, largely due to the influx of Iraqis into the Country over the past 8 years. So why care about Jordan when there are so many bigger development problems to tackle?

First, Jordan does have significant development problems. Jordan is a low middle-income country with very few natural resources but an abundance of high skilled human capital. However, the Country has failed to attract significant amounts of outside investment capital. Further, an interesting dynamic exists where there is a small upper class and a large, often well-educated, lower middle class that is unwilling to perform the unskilled labor tasks. As a result, the unskilled labor is mostly imported from Egypt and the far East. And there is a significant degree of unemployment and underemployment - often among people who are educated.

Next is my personal interest in the Levant region - the region comprising what was historically greater Syria and what is today Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine and Israel. As a Palestinian, this is the region I am from (Jordan is also an estimated ~60% ethnically Palestinian). While I speak Arabic fluently, and have been to the region often, I have never lived or worked in the region for any significant period of time. For me, being closer to my heritage and learning the ins and outs of the business culture in my region, is very important.

Further, Jordan is already making a big push at the government level to develop a bottoms-up knowledge-based economy so there is some activity going on for one to take part in. And Endeavor, a U.S. non-profit supporting high-impact entrepreneurs in developing countries, just opened its newest office in Jordan late last year.

Finally, while the Middle East is of strategic importance to many Western countries, there is a general lack of understanding of what the Middle East (and the Arab World more specifically) really is. What do westerners typically think of when they think of the Arab World? The Gulf? Oil? Wealth? The U.S.'s war in Iraq? Mysterious, exotic people? Radical Islam? Terrorists? ...Well, what about all of the "regular" every-day Arabs? I think the world doesn't really care to know about them; but I also think these are the most important people in the region to care about. I truly believe that ensuring the economic stability and security of a region is the surest way to foster strong allies and squelch violence.

So westerners don't really know much about the Arabs of the Levant region. And the oil-rich Gulf states invest their capital in Western infrastructure and industry (Chrysler building, Ferrari, etc.) and in local (Gulf) infrastructure projects. They largely do not invest in Arab entrepreneurs, despite the fact that education and human capital is arguably one of the Levant's greatest resources; and that the financial capital required to unlock its potential is lacking.

Why doesn't Gulf money find Arab entrepreneurs to be interesting investments? Why aren't there more Arab entrepreneurs? What are the biggest challenges to entrepreneurship in the Levant region? What are the barriers to getting things done? And how can lessons learned be applied to other regions such as Lebanon and Egypt? These are some of the questions I hope to study while I'm here.

all hail the king

Last week, King Abdullah II declared Tuesday, June 9th 2009 a national holiday celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his ascension to the throne. Streets closed, parades, King's speech, parties, the works. It's the first really hot day since I've been here. Rather than participate in the festivities I chose to take it easy at a friend's barbecue and enjoyed a long afternoon nap.

The concept of a modern day monarchy may be a bit strange to westerners. Jordan is not a monarchy in name with the King as figurehead. Rather, the King has full executive authority as the head of state, the chief executive and the commander in chief of the armed forces. This got me thinking about the implications of a monarchy government for Jordanian society, political participation and economic development. Of course a monarchy must mean people are oppressed with little freedom of speech and political expression, social norms dictated from above, and a lack of judicial due process; right? But that's not what I see....

This being his first time in Jordan, one of the undergrad interns at the Endeavor office asked me and a couple of local Endeavor employees, "What do people really think of the King? When I ask the taxi drivers they all say they like him. But aren't they just saying that for fear of persecution?" One of the Endeavor guys answered, "No. I think the King is generally well-liked. People recognize that he's doing a lot for the economic development of the country. You might find more criticism amongst the lower classes, in East Amman." Based on my observations, I tend to agree. And let's not forget Queen Rania...who wouldn't like her? (Perhaps I'll save Queen Rania for another blog post, but for now, check out her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/QueenRania. You've gotta love a Queen with a facebook page!)

First, the Jordan government is a constitutional monarchy. The King as executive appoints the council of ministers, or cabinet, and signs all laws. But there is a legislative branch, a Senate of 55 appointed by the King and an elected 80-member Chamber of Deputies, who can over-ride the King's veto with a two-third majority. The judicial branch is constitutionally independent, with judges subject to no authority but the law. While Islamic courts exist, they are used only to deal with personal matters including marriage, divorce and inheritance. Everything else is dealt with by civil courts. However, the system of checks and balances is lop-sided in favor of the King, with the Parliament generally regarded as weak.

The King has made genuine attempts to improve the economy. The U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiated in 2001 has improved exports. Youth literacy rates are at 99%, and education is generally good. Projects such as the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship and Al Hassan Science City aim to stimulate small and medium business growth. In fact, it is in this climate of enthusiasm for business development that Endeavor selected Jordan as its newest office. The Jordan River Foundation (http://www.jordanriver.jo/) promotes handicrafts of the poor to improve their livelihood. And the King promotes private investment in infrastructure - many of the development projects and the new stores and restaurants are a result of private foreign capital. The main one being the huge Abdali development project (the "new downtown of Amman"), funded by Lebanese-Saudi businessman Saad Hariri's Oger International.

Jordan is peaceful. One feels safe and comfortable here. Amman is very clean and easy to navigate thanks to new street signs and building numbers. There are no feelings of fear from the almighty ruling hand. No political persecution. There is freedom of religious worship. Students are free to wear headscarves or crosses or other forms of religious expression to schools. Compare this to rules banning such forms of religious expression in democratic countries such as France.

I heard some say yesterday that democracy won't work in Jordan. It's not that people are opposed to democracy. I believe Jordan is quite capable of having fair, free, peaceful elections with results accepted by the public. The problem people see is the sectarianism. They feel a democracy would be so by definition, but would lack any deep and meaningful political discourse, since people would vote primarily along sectarian lines; a system not dissimilar from that in Lebanon.

So is a monarchy good or bad for Jordan? If the King wants something to happen, it happens. It's somewhat of a system of benevolent dictatorship; probably great for a developing country. Think about how difficult it is for us to get things done in the U.S. Think about the mess of health care reform. Sometimes I wish someone had the power to fix it all in a way that optimized for the majority without wasting time and taxpayer money navigating a political web that's near impossible to navigate. But would I change the democratic system we have in the U.S.? Absolutely not. And would I change the system in Jordan? It's easy to say yes, as there could be many improvements. But I say, no, not yet anyway. I think the monarchy is good for Jordan, at least for the time being.

Different systems for different situations; and to each his own.

(Note: I snatched the photo of the King and Queen from facebook. Apologies if I'm breaking any kind of copyrights!)

what's a-buzz?

So what is everyone talking about in Amman? Here's a quick run-down:

1. Obama's speech in Cairo to the Arab World. The sentiment is generally very positive. People are hopeful for the change Obama can bring. But they also recognize that actions speak louder than words. The Arab World is still waiting to see if Obama can deliver on his promises. A funny caricature summarizes the feelings quite well. By adding one stroke to the words "Uncle Sam" written out in Arabic letters, they are transformed to "Uncle Salam," which means "Uncle of Peace." But in the caricature, Obama himself is the one laying this claim. Let's see if it proves true.

2. Lebanese Elections. Taking place today, these elections have been all over the media. The elections pit the Hizbollah-led pro-Syrian alliance against the pro-West alliance that includes Saad Al Hariri and the Sunnis. Interestingly, the Christians are split between the two broad coalitions and thought to be a deciding factor. There are some fears of a backlash if the losing parties don't accept the results, but people generally don't seem to think this is likely. ...Results coming in now show the Hizbollah-led coalition has lost and is accepting defeat. Interestingly, a new law has passed to reduce the voting age in Lebanon from 21 to 18. This change did not take effect in time for this year's elections, but it is thought to benefit Hizbollah and the Shia'as. Let's see what happens next time!

3. Air France Crash. People here are just as shocked and devastated as everywhere else. I flew here on Air France...yikes!

4. Sports. Very much into the soccer finals and the French Open. Needless to say there's much more of a following of international sports here than in the U.S.

west meets east

Amman is a booming city with a sharp mix of West and East. Walking by a new cafe in the trendy Jabal Amman neighborhood you hear the latest club tracks as the intoxicating sounds of the afternoon prayer fill the air. The towers of the Shmeisani financial district have a view of the old, crowded, traditional Amman to the East; the new, modern, wealthy areas of Abdoun, Deir Ghbar, and Khalda in the South and West; and the massive Abdali downtown development project below. Veiled women walk alongside those in the latest designer skinny jeans and Prada sunglasses, down streets full of billboards and brandname logos. Everything is written in Arabic and English. Amman is a hub of commercialism and real estate development. Every time I visit there are new neighborhoods and new development projects.


Doesn't really seem like the country needs economic development workers. The unemployment rate is 13.5%, the Country spends 6.5% of its GDP on education (slightly above average for the Arab World) and has a 99% youth literacy rate, and real estate development projects abound.

But beneath the shiny veneer lies a more complicated story. Jordan has a very large youth population with 70% under the age of 30. Perhaps they should be spending more on education. The actual unemployment rate is estimated to be upwards of 30%-40%. Female participation in the workforce is an abysmal 12%. The Country has very few natural resources (traditionally Jordan has relied on some phosphate exports), leaving it dependent on external sources for its energy requirements. The one "natural resource" it has in abundance, national sites / tourism, it fails to effectivley exploit.

The business culture has a shiny veneer as well, but beneath the surface seems to lack a certain degree of professionalism. Verbal promises and agreements are often broken, contracts often renegotiated. Availability of capital is still ambigous to me. Capital seems abundand for large real estate and business development projects, but very difficult to come by for entrepreneurs.

Look forward to digging deeper and learning more.