This document discusses fostering entrepreneurship in Bahrain. It summarizes that only a small percentage (1-5%) of firms account for most of the economic and social impact through high growth over 15-30 years, and these are often from basic industries rather than technology sectors. It advises Bahrain to prioritize solving social problems and allocating resources to do so, but to let the market decide which firms and sectors succeed rather than trying to pick winners. The key recommendation is to make the entrepreneurship system simple, transparent and fair for all.

1. most talented potential entrepreneurs
will naturally gravitate towards these
opportunities if we remove the barriers.
Encourage the maturation of true, open,
and merit-based market processes.
The most basic motivation of the best
entrepreneurs is to succeed in a market
that is fair and tests their mettle.
Finally, it is important for Bahrain and
Tamkeen to send strong and consistent
messages of venture growth and scale
up, celebrating those who take risks and
grow whoever they might be, encourage
tolerance of mistakes, and honour
wealth-creation through hard work and
risk-taking.
Inspired by our fast paced lifestyle, we started Box It Restaurant
that offers all kinds of food in boxes that makes it more practical
and with reasonable prices. The restaurant would not have been
successful if it weren’t for Tamkeen’s Tasweeq scheme (Marketing
Assistance Scheme) through which we were able to create a menu,
get branding designs, and a complete marketing strategy that
made Box It stand out.
Abdulhadi Diwani
Founder and Managing Director, Box It
Fostering
Entrepreneurship
in Bahrain
Research and practice on
entrepreneurship and economic
development is beginning to show a
clear pattern in many different countries
and economies. First, only a small
percentage of firms in any economy,
those which grow rapidly for a few
years, account for almost all of the
positive economic and social impact of
entrepreneurship in terms of job, wealth
and fiscal health. The percentage is
between 1% to 5% of all firms. The large
majority of small businesses and newly
created startups do not contribute to
economic development. Second, these
high growth and impact firms have
typically existed for 15-30 years. Third,
they are more often from basic industries
than from those we think of as tech or life
science “growth.”
Make the
system simple,
transparent
and fair for
everyone… and
the most talented
potential
entrepreneurs
will naturally
gravitate
towards these
opportunities.
Celebrate those
who take risks
This poses a big challenge for
governments who want to reap the
benefits of entrepreneurship but also
need to help everyone. Bahrain, in
particular through Tamkeen and other
agencies, has long seen business
diversification as a strategic objective, and
more recently has been looking to a more
entrepreneurial culture to contribute to
this ambitious national goal.
The best words of advice I can give,
based on thirty-two years of experience
and many projects in advanced as well
as emerging or mixed economics: Don’t
try to pick winners or winning sectors. It
is enough to prioritize social problems
to solve (for example health care, the
environment) and allocate resources to
solve them. But do not allocate resources
differently for different ages or sizes of
firms, or for different sectors such as
technology and non-technology: Let the
market sort that out.
Second, and instead, make the
system simple, transparent and fair for
everyone, not just young firms, and the
Daniel Isenberg
Professor of Entrepreneurship Practice, Babson Executive Education
Executive Director, Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project, CEO of
Entrepreneurship Policy Advisors
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