Doha, Qatar: Qatar is a perfect and ideal hub for implementing technology-based startups, businesses, and investments due to its geographical location.
In an interview with The Peninsula, Maninder Dhaliwer, Partner at Startup Studio, an accelerator and venture fund firm based in Canada said: “Qatar, has an advantage for being the center of the East and the West of the world. So it’s a geographic center, and everything passes through, which enables the country to be a tech hub.
Dhaliwer was also a speaker during the recently concluded Web Summit Qatar at the Doha Exhibition Convention Center enlightening participants, guests, and startup entrepreneurs on “narrative-based execution”, which is one of the key objectives for any founders.
She stressed that there is a huge potential for startups and local entrepreneurs to explore opportunities in Qatar due to enhancing innovation, technology, and projects in the country.
Dhaliwer mentioned “In Canada, we have amazing innovation and it’s all built by Iranian Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians, and Indian Canadians, who end up here from different parts of the world. So I think I’ve got some brilliant founders from across the region and in Qatar.”
Underscoring the advantages of operating businesses in Qatar, she said that there are a lot of cleantech companies and investments are comparatively high, which makes the Middle East one of the top-notch regions to carry investments.
“We’re bigger than Qatar but are technically considered small. The country is picking a specialty. In the Middle East, one of the things that is a natural fit is climate, clean tech capital catapult, and that may be AI and analytics used mechanical processes, but that is a strap in picking where the industry is already there.”
The area is strong and I think the government is doing all the right things, which is really impressive.
During the summit, Dhaliwar shared insights on the strategic approach towards decoding the winning traits of early-stage founders. Emphasising her panel talk, she said “In my perspective, the winning trait for founders is that you need to be a good story-teller because you’re trying to convince somebody of what you believe in, where there’s no data to support it. So you need to tell a really good compelling story and convince them to join you as investors, advisors, and clients.
However, telling a story is not enough, Dhaliwer said adding “We need to start backing it up with data slowly and that shift between narrative-based execution is the key to me for a founder that wins.”
She stressed that governments across the globe have a crucial role in fostering young minds and local startups.
“Governments have a strong role in private sectors in each country and they are the core part of building a successful technology ecosystem,” Dhaliwer added.
Source: The Peninsula