 Live from Bahrain, it's theCUBE. Covering AWS Summit Bahrain. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. Hello everyone, welcome back to theCUBE's exclusive coverage live here in Bahrain. This is our exclusive coverage of Amazon's new region we're covering, part of AWS Summit, first time here in the Middle East for theCUBE. We're excited to be here. Next guest is Talha Fakbro, Executive Director of Market and Strategy Intelligence, the Bahrain's Economic Development Board, also known as the EDB. Great to see you, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. I've learned so much and it was great to meet you last night and have a conversation around some of the things you're working on. The Economic Development Board is a big part of this digital first, cloud first strategy. That's right. And Amazon's at the center of it, they're going to drop a region in here. This is really big news and it's certainly got our attention. And I've learned so much about what's happening in the startup community. You got a lot going on. What's the impact of the AWS region mean for Bahrain, the region and the Economic Development Opportunity? We took a look at Bahrain and we decided we are going to have to transform this economy from an oil dependent one into a digital one. It just, it seemed like the right thing to do. And having Amazon here, attracting Amazon allows us to plant that flag to say we are serious. We want to do this. And we will do what we need to do. We work together as a government. Bahrain is unique because we can do things really fast when we want to. We built the Formula One race track in 14 months which is unheard of. And we did the same for Amazon. We engaged with them at every level. It wasn't just let's talk about this plot of land here or this fiber optic cable there. We had the government engaging in legislation and regulation and education. Every part of the government was actively pushing and I think that's an important point. I want to just amplify and double down on that and talk about it because I think culturally Bahrain what I learned was this is a culture of fast moving, open friendly but pragmatic people. And that's Amazon's ethos. Scale, move fast and innovate. Absolutely. We've been a trading nation all our lives since time immemorial. We're a tiny little country in the middle of the map. We were cross-border trading before and we knew what that was called. So this is something not unique to us. This is part of our DNA and we found a good match with Amazon. They wanted all the same things we wanted and they're genuinely interested in making the ecosystem of the countries in which they install their regions better and we found that to be very attractive for us. So I got to ask you guys, Amazon comes in they're expected to have this region up and running in the beginning of 2019 which is just right around the corner. So they're running fast. So congratulations. Thank you. And we're on the Formula One race track for cloud computing. How, what is driving the demand for cloud computing because obviously we've seen the history of what's happened in North America with startups. That's right. And as Amazon goes around the world, there's a growth engine underneath Amazon. What's driving the demand for cloud computing in the region? Well, 96% by some measures of our entire economy are startups or SMEs. So you can imagine that the cost savings that Amazon offers is extremely attractive. In addition, the volatility of oil prices has put a big crunch on the government budget and so they are also attracted to the idea of saving some money on the cloud and the government is a big employer and a big consumer. So they really drive the economy. So in both, it was a win-win for everybody. We are really interested in making sure that our startup scene is vibrant and is scalable and cloud is the way to do that. It allows you to use as much as you need and pay for only what you consume. So it's great. I was talking to Khaled Al Rumehi, the CEO of the EDB, who's a very good visionary. He has private sector background, super smart, really enjoyed that conversation. But one of the things we talked about was, we always say in the queue, and sometimes debate this, but data is the new oil. Absolutely. Couldn't be more indicative of an oil region. And you mentioned that in moving off the dependence of oil or getting into a new market like data, data needs refineries as an economic opportunity. So he mentioned FinTech as a big driver for what could be possible in Bahrain as a core competency. When you do your research and your insight and intelligent analysis of the data, what's going on in the macro level, does that consistent with what you're seeing that there's need for this digital refinery being a center point of innovation? And if so, what does that mean? What is, how should people understand that Bahrain is a small country in a big region? How do you differentiate? How do you take a leadership opportunity? Well, Bahrain is a small country, but it's a small country that's rich in one thing. If it's not rich in oil, it's rich in its people. We are bilingual. Many of us are trilingual. We've always been open and outgoing and we've been willing to make partnerships and friends with other nations and other places. So we think that our human capital is coming together with the hard infrastructure that a region will bring. It makes it a real good proposition and it allows for our students who are, by the way, already starting to be cloud trained. Over 2,500 Bahrainis have signed up for cloud training since the program started six months ago. That's a huge proportion given in our population. That's a much faster rate than India or China, for example. So this shows you how much, how willing we are. Coding is the new English. We learned English in the 70s so that we could compete globally. Now we are learning coding to do the same thing. And that's super important. So how about the human capital side of it? Because I think this is a good point that a lot of people overlook. Everyone's now connected with mobile devices so connectedness is now common. So coding is the new language. Digital is the new culture. How are you guys looking at transforming some of the day-to-day citizen roles because now you have opportunities to serve citizens from a government standpoint and to enable them to be successful. And one of the things that I noticed at the startup Bahrain sessions I was attending yesterday was the vibrant entrepreneurs. They're opinionated, which I love because that's what entrepreneurs are. They're like, come on, let's move faster. Where's the cash? Where's the capital? So the human capital seems to be a big equation here. What are you guys doing to facilitate that? Where are you guys on the progress bar in your mind? Are people coding at a young age? Has it started? What's the progress? Can you take us through the plan? Well, as I mentioned, for cloud computing specifically, we already have programs in place. We also have many other initiatives coming up through Udacity, through Coursera, through others. We're bringing them to Bahrain to have the technical skills added to the human capital skill set that we already have. But I think most importantly, we're making it important. We're making it a forefront of the government agenda. You know, we're making it something that is a requirement. And I think that as we set our national economic strategy for the next four years, human capital is a crucial driver for that. And it's going to have its very own chapter with all the recommendations and all the initiatives that we think need to be done in order to increase not just our stem cell, but also our creativity, our entrepreneurship, and all the things that have made us great in the past. You know, I was observing also, I'm talking to your CEO about, I've seen people try to replicate Silicon Valley, try to manufacture innovation in a way or try to get momentum, it's really hard. But what you guys I think have done or have here, that's hard to do or hard to replicate or manufacture out of thin air is you guys have actually built a community of people. I see the entrepreneurs, I see the support around them through the EDB, you have money. And you have growth coming. The other stuff, mechanics, how to get funded, how to do this, how are you looking at that? As you look at the research and you dig into, and sometimes the best move is just let it develop. Get out of the way and let the entrepreneurs develop. How are you guys letting this develop? Because I won't say that Bahrain is an identity crisis. I think they have an opportunity to set a new identity. How do you look at that? And how do you guys see that opportunity? How do you talk about it? Well, you can't buy innovation. I think we've proven that enough times that government is no good at making people innovate. But what we can do is make life easier for those who want to innovate. So what we want to do is pave the way, allow for the opportunities to be there and then it's every man for himself and the free market will compete. We're a very free market oriented entity and a government. And so all what we're going to do is we're going to get out of the way. But we're going to make sure that the path is as clear as we can make it. We're going to make sure that whatever we can do to help we will. Whether that's bringing somebody like an Amazon here to have the people here or the Waha Fund which is a venture capital fund of funds which was just launched and which has already invested and for independently managed venture capital funds. We feel like these kinds of things where we're not directly funding but we are encouraging, motivating, helping that's the role of government. And I also want to just say to the folks watching you guys and give you guys some props. You don't just talk it, you walk it. And I think what I noticed in the sessions yesterday and meeting some of the top policy makers and the entrepreneurs was you guys are actually doing the work. And you know, Teresa Carlson's success in Washington DC with Amazon Web Services really is a testament that if you do the work the results will pay off. And you know, when Teresa came to Washington DC Amazon cloud computing was like, well it'll never work, it's not secure. You know, now they're winning, they're doing extremely well. Obviously the model everyone's emulating and moving towards. You guys are doing the work. I see the checkboxes but there's still some work to do. EKYC, other things. So congratulations. Thank you very much. So the question is, what do you got done and what is to do? And what does that mean for people who want to come either work here or collaborate with Bahrain? Because if you check the boxes, you're going to be set up. What's the status? Well, the first thing we wanted to do was to make sure that the soft infrastructure was there. So we as a government passed what we call the digital ecosystem package. So that's data protection. That's electronic transactions laws. There's a new law that's in the process that will allow people who are storing data on Amazon's region in Bahrain to bring their own laws with them. So that there are no issues with the conflict of laws. On the compliance side. For exactly. So it's as if they're storing in Saudi or Kuwait but they're storing here. So these kinds of things, this was the first step and we passed a bunch of those laws and we think that they're very important. In addition, as I mentioned, we have the funding situation. We begin to look at that and we hope that. That's a hundred million. Fund of funds. That's a hundred million dollars. Fund of funds. Fund of funds, which means that you're going to enable private sector and professionals to come in. Absolutely. People who know what they're doing, who have done it before in the region and outside of the region, whether it's Silicon Valley or Dubai, they're going to come here and they're going to look at the Bahraini startups and that gives us a chance to compete on the world stage and shine. And it also gives us a chance to up our game. Once you see the competition then you can fix it just and do what you need to do. And that's what we want. We want them, we're not going to help the Spoonpeat them. We're not going to give them charity. This is, you are going to compete because what we dream is that Bahrain will eventually become a global player. And we think we can do that. That's our vision and that's what we want to do. And that's where we're headed. So you guys are competitive? We have to be. We're the underdog. But sometimes underdogs win. You know, as I was saying, also observing that, we're our first time here with the queue in the region. So I was noticing that, you know, we see a lot of events in Dubai. Dubai's very blown up now and it's developed. And Bahrain feels like Silicon Valley because New York is different than say the San Francisco Bay area, Silicon Valley. But they don't have to be each other. New York's New York, hustle bustle, Silicon Valley is where innovation is. It feels like you guys have that same kind of We do. vibe here. We do. And a rising tide lifts all ships. What is good for the Emirates and Saudi is also good for Bahrain. It's a region at the end of the day. We're too small to be a player on our own. But one thing I wanted to touch on, you mentioned that, you know, with the Silicon Valley, the difference between New York and Silicon Valley is everybody knows everybody in Silicon Valley. So if you're an entrepreneur and you have a good idea, you can easily access the people that you need to access. We think Bahrain has that advantage too. And this is clearly demonstrated in the Amazon transaction because, you know, at the time when we had everyone from his Royal Highness the Crown Prince on down, if we needed them, they were a phone call away. And people are accessible here. They're open. They're very friendly. But it's kind of, I won't say known, it's kind of known, no nonsense in the sense of people just want, get to the point, right? But it's not in your face like a, you know, East Coast, New York kind of thing. Well, we're not there yet. Give us time. All right, so back to the access to capital concept. Because I think one, first of all, we're going to open up our doors with the cube and Silicon Valley for you guys. So very impressive. Consider that an open invitation. But now you talked about networks. As you build community outside of Bahrain, what are some of the things that you guys are trying to do? What does the research say to do? Is there regions that you see that you need to connect to? Obviously you want to build some communications with other groups. What's the data show for you guys? What's the sequence of execution? So I think what we need to do is we really need to focus on the partners that we have and enhance that relationship. But also we need to look a little bit deeper. So I think India and China are areas where of interest for us as well, because they are interested in this part of the world. And we need to improve our relationship with Silicon Valley, not just giving the money, because everyone wants to give Silicon Valley money. But we want to really learn and understand what they have done, why it's worked there, why it doesn't work elsewhere, and apply some of those lessons here. And bring some collaboration, certainly. Absolutely. Leaving Silicon Valley, and I know that most startups and growing companies have engineering teams all over the world, so it's a global economy. Absolutely. Final question for you as we wrap up. What is going to attract folks here? Or let me rephrase that. What should companies know about Bahrain if they want to engage with you guys here and work with you, or domicile here and create a group here? Well, first of all, they should know that they don't need to involve anyone else, because they can come in and set up on their own. 100% foreign ownership is something that we have here. It's a very liberal economy, it's a great place to live, and that sounds facetious, but it's actually really important because talent is the crucial component of every success for these companies. And people like to live here, people enjoy it. I think you'll find a welcoming environment, you'll find an environment where if you have an issue, you can raise it to the highest level very easily. And the EDB is here to help with that. Well, Tala, thank you coming on. Tala Fakro, executive director of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, the EDB. They have a website, you can engage them, obviously doing great things. This is the calm before the storm. As Amazon Web Services region gets up and running, we expect to see a lot of growth and unexpected things. Unexpected, unintended consequences. Be careful what you wish for, right? I mean, it's coming. And we're waiting. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much. I'm John Furrier with theCUBE. You can reach me at Furrier on Twitter, bringing all the action here in Bahrain for our exclusive coverage of the Amazon's new region in the area here in Bahrain and through the Middle East. Thanks for watching. Stay with us for more live coverage here at the Ritz-Carlton for AWS Summit in Bahrain 2018. We'll be right back.