An Interview with Dr. Hashim Hussein of UNIDO-ITPO Bahrain

“When we started this program in the year 2000, even the word that we use in Arabic to define the entrepreneur was non-existent. We had to work very hard to coin the word ‘entrepreneur’ in Arabic.”

Dr. Hashim S. Hussein is the Head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Investment and Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO-ITPO), the Arab Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) – Bahrain. His experience in the field of Industrial Development, Investment and Technology Promotion spans nearly 2 decades, working at various levels of responsibility in different countries such as USA, Egypt, Sudan and currently, in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

He holds a PhD (Honors) in International Law of the Sea from the Universite de Nantes, France and has obtained a PhD from University of Maryland at College Park, U.S.A.He has worked UNIDO for the past 28 years in Bahrain.

Dr. Hashim said:

Since I joined UNIDO, my focus has been on how to support entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized enterprises.

This helped me to establish the first international center for entrepreneurs in Bahrain in 2001, with the objective of developing and promoting international best practices in support of local entrepreneurs.

UNIDO engineered a program called the Bahrain model, as part of the Enterprise Development and Investments Promotion within the UN Technical Programs. This model eventually became one of the most successful models in support of entrepreneurs worldwide. Today, this model is being implemented outside of Bahrain, in countries like France and China, among 52 other countries.

So far, this has been the focus of my achievements and life’s work.

My leaning towards this field started when I studied in France where I completed a degree in International Law. This commitment continued when I did a PhD in Corporate Management which is related to Corporate Empowerment.

This academic profile served as my asset, and gave me the power and push to work towards developing SMEs, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Talking about developing empowerment, do you believe that entrepreneurship is a way of encouraging small people to be empowered, to have their own businesses and to regulate whatever resources they have in order to grow as a person and as a businessman/woman?

Yes of course, this is exactly our goal over the years which we achieved in the Bahrain model, through the United Nations and its member organizations, and through the SDG – Sustainable Development Goals which I worked on together with the UN Secretariat and UN Assembly from 2016-2017, to help reinforce the link between entrepreneurship and development.

And now in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030, entrepreneurship is integrated in all the SDGs and I’m very proud to say that we started all these here in Bahrain. Till now, achieving all the SDGs for entrepreneurship has become a goal for all UN Agencies, the government and the private sectors.

Can you tell us about the EDIP or the Entrepreneurship and Investment Development Promotion. Please cite one or two projects that the EDIP has done in the past.

Well, I’m very pleased to be called the Godfather of Entrepreneurs in the Arab region. When we started this program in the year 2000, even the word that we use in Arabic to define the entrepreneur was non-existent. We had to work very hard to coin the word entrepreneur in Arabic.  In Arabic we used to call it Tojjar Aamal or Sayedat Aamal. Then we brought a common terminology for females and males, ‘Ashab Al Aamal’.

I worked with the UN Encyclopedia and other experts till we got the word, Raed Amal. I can still remember how we used to call it Raed Al Amal in the airbase, and some people say that it sounds like an ‘astronaut’ in space. Then little by little people started to understand its essence as a ‘driving force’, the entrepreneur who had the initiative and the potential to make a unique and creative product or service. Over the years we developed a number of related concepts for entrepreneurs, one of which we call the ‘entrepreneur’s millionaires’.

Along with economic agendas for women, we developed excellent programs on empowering women worldwide. We came up with many names related to entrepreneurship which became a byword in countries such as Lebanon, China, Bahrain, Syria, Sudan, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, and all these were linked to the same model on how to support entrepreneurs.

Why is it important, even necessary for countries to invest in startups and entrepreneurs?

Because they support our economy, they create jobs.  But most important of all is the entrepreneur who is behind every successful micro and small business. You have to work with the human capital, teach them how to build confidence and to be a risk taker, how to initiate a startup.

On the average, a startup will immediately bring three jobs. And if we have for example 7 entrepreneurs who have developed their businesses overtime, we can have roughly 200 or 700 people working for them. This is the beginning of a self-made startup entrepreneur.

Do you think that the time is ripe for entrepreneurship in Bahrain?

Bahrain became very solid in entrepreneur culture. Twenty years back this did not exist, but now we have more qualified entrepreneurs with innovative solutions and products. The future of Bahrain will act on the Bahrain model. But the Bahrain model will not be successful without the Bahraini entrepreneur’s initiative, discipline, commitment, punctuality. I’m from UN, so I believe in the human resource.

You’ve worked with many entrepreneurs for a long time, what piece of advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?  

You can do it. And I can say that the support of financial institutions in Bahrain offer the best in the Arab region.  The government provides all the support initiatives—whether from Tamkeen, Economic Development Board, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism which is our partner,  Bahrain Development Bank,  Family Bank, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society, member universities, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Municipalities, etc. Now the culture has not only matured because of the entrepreneur. It has matured because of the valuable support of institutions coming from all over the region.

To all Bahraini entrepreneurs, you can make your dreams materialize. You can have a bright future.

Just come, the door is open for you in UNIDO.  You’re all welcome to start.  And we’ll be ready to help you. You can be sure that you can become an entrepreneur millionaire. You can make a change in yourself, your family, community… and in Bahrain’s economy.