Entrepreneurship in the Gulf Cooperation Council Region

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Contents
• About the Editors
• List of Contributors

The chapter portrays the GCC region starting with its history. It overviews the evolution of the region and particularly the establishment of the GCC. Furthermore, it depicts the overall economic profile of the region and its socioeconomic development since its inception. It ends with the content description of the whole book.

The chapter depicts Bahrain’s current state of entrepreneurship. Followed by introductory words, the chapter’s content elaborates briefly on the history of the country up to the modern times. Then, the entrepreneurship environment is described in which businesspeople undertake entrepreneurial actions. Furthermore, the main players in the current economy and entrepreneurship development are discussed. Finally, the chapter emphasises the current and future opportunities, as well as the government’s effort in achieving prosperous economic and social development.

This chapter describes the historical background of Kuwait as one of the wealthiest countries in the world (by GDP per capita). Entrepreneurial activities and actual policies for the development of entrepreneurship in the country are analysed and described. It also includes essential facts regarding promoting activities of entrepreneurship and the role of the government in creating a favourable environment for domestic and foreign entrepreneurs. The chapter ends with providing useful recommendations on what should be done in the future for the development of entrepreneurship in Kuwait. Besides tables and figures, the chapter includes original pictures of relevant entrepreneurial examples in Kuwait.

This chapter provides some useful information with regard to the evolving environment for the development of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises in Oman. It begins with a brief introduction to Oman and its economy followed by a description of the entrepreneurship development programs and policies in the country. A brief introduction to the evolving entrepreneurial education scenario is also presented. At the end, some comments are provided for more initiatives in entrepreneurship and SME sector development in the country.

This chapter aims to illustrate the different environmental factors and their impact on entrepreneurship in Qatar. Despite its economic prosperity and governmental efforts to foster entrepreneurship Qatar still has not achieved its full potential in this regard. The analysis of the situation of entrepreneurship in Qatar shows no insurmountable difficulties at the macro-level. The problems are rather due to culture generated personality traits that are common among Qatari people. In fact, the fear of failure and the aversion towards risk and stress are negatively impacting entrepreneurial intentions among the population. The example of Qatar shows that a favourable economic situation does not necessarily promote entrepreneurship. The Qatari government is making huge efforts to optimise the legal and economic situation in order to reduce business risk and facilitate start-ups. However, it still has to invest more in human development in order to make Qatari people aware of the opportunities that their country is offering for innovative business ideas.

This chapter portrays a glance picture of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It begins with an overview of the Saudi context and its development approach. Then, it describes the state of entrepreneurship and maps the Saudi entrepreneurial ecosystem highlighting the challenges and current issues. The chapter concludes by suggesting further development of entrepreneurship research in Saudi Arabia.

This chapter examines UAE entrepreneurship and how the UAE can be claimed as one of the most innovative countries in the Gulf. The chapter gives a basic illustration of the UAE, its history, and how it functions. Then, the chapter discusses how the UAE became a financial centre in the Middle East and looks at its embrace of entrepreneurship. The chapter focuses on how the UAE Government has created strategic policies to enhance entrepreneurship. The chapter ends by looking towards the future of entrepreneurship in the UAE.

This last chapter overviews each country in the GCC. It provides general information about the socioeconomic development of each GCC country, emphasising the economic performance of each State. It also gives readers the opportunity to get to know future perspectives of each GCC nation. Final words of the chapter describe the GCC members as the fertile soil for FDI activities, stressing the fact that the region has a favourable cross-cultural environment.

The following section is included:

• Index