

Beirut’s Bright Future as a Tech Hub for MENA, If Its Politicians Will Allow It - cnicolaou
http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/03/beiruts-bright-future-as-a-tech-hub-for-mena-if-its-politicians-will-allow-it/

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eastbayjake
I had no idea this stuff was going on in Beirut, but I'm excited to visit. If
anyone from the Beirut tech community is reading this, I had two questions:

(1) Do you agree with the author that the startup community is primarily held
back by internet speeds? (It's painful to Skype or share a YouTube video with
friends in Lebanon, so I know it's a problem -- just wondering about how you'd
rank it with other concerns.) Are there any gaps in desired engineering
skills? Are people bringing experience with large-scale web architecture or
hardware design from working outside of Lebanon?

(2) What's the competitive advantage for these companies? Some ideas -- like
music streaming or health tracking or Hulu for the Middle East -- seem easily
deflated if an already-at-scale competitor decides to focus on Arabic
internationalization. What do Beirut's tech startups understand about Middle
East consumers that Western tech companies are missing?

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moubarak
I live in Beirut.

1)Internet speed is a problem. Engineering talent is extinct (all the good
engineers leave the country). Like i said people are leaving so no experience
from outside is coming in.

2)Some of these startups mentioned are dead, even some of the names are people
i worked with and have not a single success story (some not all) which
diminishes the credibility of this article. As for the promising startups like
Anghami, they have a better understanding of the arab culture and connections,
let alone the reality of the situation as opposed to information perceived
from such articles.

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vonnik
I don't think Beirut's politicians are the only political risk the city is
exposed to. Anyone familiar with the recent history of Lebanon knows that it
is the pawn in a bloody geopolitical game being played by the US, Israel,
Syria and Iran, among others. All of those countries have the power to
destabilize Lebanon and its capital in a variety of ways. Many local
politicians are tied to one or more of those interests. Anyone who thinks
Lebanon will be stable any time soon should read Robert Fisk's "Pity the
Nation."

