>> from Bahrain. It's the Q covering AWS Public sector Bahrain brought to you by Amazon Web service is >> Welcome back to the cubes coverage here in by rain in the Middle East for AWS Summit wrapping up event here with the cloud computing shift that's happening. Amazon regions live lot of innovation in the area Middle East and Africa. We're here with the head executive of A W s who manages the territory. Suban Shag, part head of Middle East Africa for public sector. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. >> Absolutely. John, Thank you. Thank you for having me here. And thanks for being here with your team, learning about this story from the Middle East and, of course, all the way to North Africa and Africa as well to >> Well, it's been a lot of work that you're on your team have done it been successful, were super interested because there's a big story developing here. The Amazon region, which was announced two years ago, is available on Day one. Pun intended a lot of couples shipping their products on the cloud, but it's also a cultural revolution happening for a whole another generation that could change the landscape of the Middle East. Culture, technology, innovation, banking, entrepreneurship. This is a grass roots groundswell of change, empowerment, self esteem, money making, banking. I mean, all this that's going on >> absolute in the middle of it. Well, hey, we're proud to be part of it, and we're proud to be partners with many different organizations here as well. I think it's actually coming from all different directions, not just the ground swell, but even the leadership, the leadership of the countries that can Bahrain, but also the other countries in the Middle East and across the region. What we're seeing is that these countries air creating these vision plants, and these vision plans air about diversifying the economy, creating opportunity for youth, creating opportunity for folks that are diversifying from the economy. So then they're actually being displaced, and where do you turn to sew? These countries are turning to technology and in ah, Bahrain, in particular, they've set up programs where they helped to develop youth. They helped develop citizens, they could get free training on technology, all that to do, sees it and take it. And we've seen that uptake as well to have seen a lot of Bahrainis just taking courses, getting trained and then building. And that's what you witnessed today at our summit. >> You know, innovation takes on many forms you've seen in every way from the mobile wave. You saw, um, countries that didn't have good infrastructure, stand up mobile, fisher and Beam or connected than some of the incumbent countries that had connectivity last mile into >> an elite leap is >> the lead frog, right? So So this is happening here. But the trend we're seeing is that the old business school adage of focus on your core competency and then it's okay to outsource that that's not a core competency is a trend we're seeing with Cloud where you guys are providing the infrastructure for countries, not just businesses. Yeah, to focus on their core competency, and it's making things go faster. So speed is the table stakes, so it's slow. It's probably the old way. What are some of the conversations around this? Because this seems to be the hottest topic from things I've seen in the United States with CIA and Jed I that Therese has been involved in two education with educate and now here with the government modernizing with cloud first. Yeah, that's trickling throughout the entire country. >> Yeah, well, I mean, it's it's need, I'm part of that is needs. So in some of the countries in the region barring included, they wanted to spend controls. They want to reduce their costs. You want to get away from legacy, They want to get away from licenses they're not using or hardware that's sitting on shelves. So then they come and look at what we're doing in the same Well, wait a second. You're investing in the region. You're making infrastructure available. I can build on top of that, I can leverage open source I can create I could make citizen service is it's almost a no brainer for them to one of the biggest problems they have is that the train people and then those folks go in. They do start ups where they're going to start work for other businesses. Well, which is fantastic. It's actually creating that Gertrude a cycle that we want to be a part of his well too. So already starting to see that happening in the past couple of years. Have you been here? And of course, now we have the region lunch, which is only accelerating the journey. >> Talk about the business because you guys are active. Your presents early with a region which we think is a revitalisation, creates economic value. That's something we've been reporting on. But there's more than that. It's not just by rain. It's the whole region that you cover. What's the business landscape like? What if some of the deals you're doing? What's the startups look like when you talk about some of the the landscape dynamics? >> Absolutely. So first, let's start up Eco system is very, um, I was gonna say robust, but it's it's some to use the word that use. It's a groundswell Right now. We're seeing a lot of interest, Lot of activity. Ah, lot of folks getting into in experimenting very quickly. But it's not easy as we know. Doing a start. It's not easy, so that robust war will come with time. Ah, we're seeing that more funding is going into the space now. It's still very anemic. So in the Middle East, there's not enough funds going in there, especially for the early stage. We're seeing interest coming from outside for the later stages. We're talking about the creams, and we're talking about the cabbages and some of those companies, but at the earliest, ones >> that are clearly validated, growing like >> exactly the ones who have already earned market share with ones that air. Starting right now, they're finding their way. So we didn't do you need more funding for experimentation? Enter AWS and we provide is programs like Activate, which is an early stage start, a program. We work very closely with the V C's and the accelerators, so they're leveraging that now, too. So we're starting to see that growth, whether it's in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Riyadh or Cairo or here. It's just starting to grow, which is great. And we're seeing that interest and some of that, um, should I go into this field? Would what When my mom's safe, I'm an entrepreneur versus a doctor that started swaying Now to where people say entrepreneurship is actually pretty >> cool, it's a legitimate field. >> It's a legitimate feeling that, believe it or not, which is excited, and people are going into it as well. On the enterprise side, s Emi's all the way to large enterprises. We're seeing that folks are saying, Hey, I can actually maybe even get new markets. So if you look at Al Tayyar Group, which are telltale Travel Group, which is out of Saudi Arabia, they're using that to learn more about their custom. Customers come up with new solutions and new packages that they can offer, all using a I and ML, which is incredible or fly Dubai FlyDubai in, In. In Dubai, you probably guessed that Ah, they need to stand up very quickly and online booking system. They did it in four months. It's leveraging cloud. So they're getting that they're getting that idea that you can kick it off real quick, get it running, and then launch it as well, too, and then the government. So we're seeing governments across the region saying, Hey, we've got a controller cost first of all, and we've got to make a better citizen service is we want to make sure that we improve the lives of citizens. So been able to launch new service is in a short amount of time. Today we heard about the I G A. Working on a building permit system that allows people to build quicker because they're able to get a permit in days instead of months. This is an example scene where speed matters to the point where we now have the government challenging business in terms of moving quicker, which is unheard of anywhere else in the world, which is super exciting, >> not certainly in the United States, that's for sure. I would like just to point out that from my standpoint, I heard this many V C. C are seeing them in the hallways mix of veces entrepreneurs business, globalize V's and New Eyes bees. The Amazon partner networks here. Yeah, it is partner Network. So it's all the things are in place now. Yes, What's missing? What do you see? It's to do items. Where do you think that you can raise the bar for AWS? What's what do you sees as to do items for you? What's your plan? >> Well, to your point, I mean, all the ingredients are here. So in terms of what's missing, I don't think there's anything missing spoke putting the ingredients together and build baking that cake. That's what we gotta work on right now, too. So that's why we're doing a lot of activity in the schools across the region, getting our program Educate and Academy, which of two different programs, ones broad. One is very directed to the schools. That is what we're helping to make sure that we get the next generation of learners. We're working on items, a cloud degrees. So in four years you can actually a degree leveraging all the technologies that are enabled by cloud. That's happened at the University of Bahrain, and we hope to get that in other schools. But also just getting training out there, just getting quick training. So you learn a little mint modules and you go and build something that's another area. Need spend more time and again encouraging experimentation. Try some new things, get it out there, see what the market says. So in terms of what we could do more of it. AWS is continue to push that message. Continue developing the people out here so that they're building. >> I gotta ask you, you know, you've been in Silicon Valley. You know that game for the folks living in silicon value in the U. S. What should they know about what's going on in your territory out here that they may not know? Or maybe this was fleeting thought or something that's not being reported. What's what. What's should did people know about what's going on in this region? >> Absolutely. I think sometimes for for many markets that are outside of Silicon Valley outside of the U. S. It's about copycats, start ups, which is fine. You can actually do quite well with that. Ah, usually the returns on that when you go to an exit event is less than what you might see it in the valley. Ah, but again, there's a great triage opportunity. So you want to bring the funds here? But I do see now a change where folks are building original technologies as well, too. And I think we're going to see more of the multiples, tens or 20 time multiples out here in the region, which would be wonderful. Ah, we saw a company today. You know, phonic, which is from Saudi Arabia that is building telecommunications, and, uh, contact invoice type of service is that's gonna be huge if they get this right. And I think they will, because they got a really scrappy and hungry team. That's one of those companies that actually could start getting people to notice the Middle East is a place for original innovation. >> Awesome. Um, anything else on your to do list for next year? What's Ah, Give a quick plug for your crew. You guys hiring? I see the region here. You gotta fill staff here. Actually got curriculum in the schools here. What are you looking >> for? You coming all the big What's not here to do? Yeah. You know, into this is continue to develop my team. We got a wonderful team here. Ah, lot of people that are local to the, uh, to the region. Ah, that We want to make sure that they're growing and contributing. A swell too. Our team missions to do good into. Well, at the same time, I think they go hand in hand. So we want to do more around programs that help to develop communities. You know, there are refugee crisis is around the region. We want to make sure we can help out over there. Ah, women in tech is a big area of focus for us. How can we get more women into technology and leading and technology as well? To have got my team having a mandate to get more solution architects that our women as well to we don't have one yet. We have a lot of great women on our team, but we need more technical women, too. That's another key focus area for us. Um, and just continue building continued to help the communities build solutions on the cloud. >> Zubin Chang, part here, head of the territory here in the Middle East and Africa. That's the cubes coverage of eight of US Summit and buyer in the Middle East. Signing off our second year. We'll be back with more next year and you'll see it around in the territory. Thanks for Thanks for watching.

>> From Bahrain, it's theCUBE. Covering AWS Public Sector Bahrain. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. >> Welcome back, everyone, this is theCUBE's coverage of AWS Summit and Bahrain in the Middle East where cloud computing is changing the game from start-ups, business, government, and society. And of course training and skill development is job number one. We have two great guests here. Esam Hammad, who's director of partnerships and customer engagement at Tamkeen. Thanks for joining us, appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Ahmed AlHujairy, CEO of ThinkSmart for development and training, welcome back. Good to see you. >> Good to see you too. >> Last year we talked about training being important. Guess what? Number one talking point here this week has been cloud computing degrees, certificates, more training. This has been a real enabler, a real focus area. You guys have been actively involved. >> Correct. >> Helping, subsidizing, creating incentives. So this is a real push. Is it just the growth? Is it a needed part? Give us an update. >> So in terms of our mandates in Tamkeen, one of our key priorities is to actually upscale Bahrainis and make them the number one choice for the private sector. And obviously when you consider the future of jobs, you know, there's a huge digital element. And so far we've been able to sort of adapt to market requirements, the growing industry requirements. So with the set up of AWS in Bahrain, there is an obvious need to build that knowledge and know-how within the market. So we've been able to introduce programs to actually develop that knowledge within the market. Both in the private sector and to some extent within the public sector as well. Whereby we've been able to provide these sort of vendor-specific certifications. In this case, provided by AWS. Whereby we are able to subsidize completely the cost of training for any Bahraini that is looking to get certified in various fields such as system architecture for example. Where there's going to be a greater need if we are really going to be positioning ourself as a cloud nation. You know, that is really going to be required for the individuals that will drive this sort of revolution and migrate onto the cloud. >> It's certainly, certainly relevant, you get done a great job. But I'll tell you, in the hallway conversations that I've had, it's trickling down to start-ups. Some side conversations I've had has been, "Wow, this is really great market, I can find great talent "from the university and I get credits." Tamkeen's been involved. You guys are also trickling, not just for education. It's hitting the accelerator piece. So it's like it's a crossover. >> Absolutely. >> And is that part of the plan? >> Definitely. I mean, part of developing our entrepreneurship mindset and capability is really to drive forward our agenda to actually make the private sector in Bahrain the engine of growth. And given the size of our economy, you know, start-ups are required to sort of have that expansion mentality from day one. They just can't afford to be limited. So there are cloud technologies that really enable companies to scale fast. And, you know, part of this building this sort of know-how in cloud technologies will really help our entrepreneurs get there faster. >> You know, I love that it's just like a chair, you need all the legs to sit on it. And that's economies sit on these legs. Cloud computing, REED's up and running. Capital markets, they're doing a good job there pedaling as fast as they can. Getting better and better. The training and support, this is critical because it's not just for those private, it's also the public sector as a cloud nation. All the ministries got to be cloud by 2020, that's next year. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> You guys got to get people trained. >> Yes. >> And people are excited by this. But trainees continue. Ahmed, what's your take on this because, you know, how much training do you give? When is there a crossover? Is there a ladder? Is this a gamification? How do you keep track of all this? >> We try to have little bit of, let's say hybrid training. So usually when AWS was in Bahrain and the cloud is there, we started with awareness. Not certify training, no exams. So that started and we looked at students. We looked at current IT employee who are not sure what is the AWS cloud for them, so there is little bit of fear. Whether it's government, private sector, start-ups. And with the support of course of the existing programs of Tamkeen, that made it very, very, very easy. So through our awareness program we got people excited and we had our team at ThinkSmart out at the universities, at the job places, doing road shows. So it took a while for people to see and then we started getting the demand. So people started getting the basic certification, the awareness for business people, and then jumped to more advanced training. So people who were, at the beginning, reluctant to go for even normal certification, now they say, "We want to be advanced." They need to know more. So that is excitement. But at the same time, AWS has all of this also online. So somebody does not to want to go to a classroom, he is too busy, especially like people like start-ups. You can go online. And that's where our students sometimes go online, come to the classroom. And one of the things that we have in turn is that you have challenge with time, the instructor is available. Give, put them an email, give them a call, you come and have, you don't have to attend with a badge. So that kept building up, now, for a number of Bahraini, We have, we are on a very high number, in terms of number of people we got trained and certified. We are proud of that, and we see the demand. So have now in September, and already we have exceeded our target. So we are looking forward for a very successful year. >> We were talking before we came on camera about, you know, education and training as food for your brain. >> Yes. >> Build up those technical muscles. We had his excellency on Minister of Youth, social programs. Talking about tech athletes. >> Yes. >> They got people running triathlons, where's the tech athletes? You got to get those muscles going. You guys are providing that kind of capability. This is the new competitive, you know, all joking aside, this is real. >> Yes. >> The technical talent is just like sports. >> Yes, that's correct. >> This is a mindset, not a freebie. Free education, sink or swim. This is the ethos in the culture. >> Correct, right. >> How is the young generation responding to this challenge? Opportunity? >> It's actually been interesting. You know, to look at, sort of, let's start with the gap between academia and industry. So we're narrowing in, and we're actually closing in that gap. So the new generation's actually very proactive, and not depending on academia, to provide what is required for the future of jobs, or to actually develop a business. So they are actually very active in seeking out, this information, and it's readily available today. Now, the examples I use from Tamkeen, these are very, sort of, formal platforms available for any Bahraini, but, as you know now it's very easy to find this information to actually up skill yourself and this is what we're seeing. You know, the younger generation's very proactively seeking this information. Online. Anywhere. >> I think you guys are smart, I think you're on it because one of the things I see, in the U.S., at least, is some old reliance, old dogma, or habits, or bad habits, around thinking of education as a linear thing. Digital is different. You can certainly take whatever path you want, and if you can augment, say, education and university or training, with a non linear progression. You got education, you got YouTube. You've got all kinds of things happening, around learning. >> Absolutely. >> The younger generation, they want that. >> Yes. >> They don't want the, sit there computer-based training, press one to continue. >> Correct >> That's over, those days are over. >> Yes, especially since we're pushing for a more entrepreneurship kind of mindset. Where we actually go and create work for yourself. So, people actually go and up skill themselves. So, they don't actually wait for this to come their way, they go and seek it. >> Okay, so we're back to the stool, we've got the legs of the stool, got the capabilities with the cloud. You've got the culture shift happening in the training and you've got the entrepreneurship. Now you've got to sit in the chair. It's got to not break. That's the entrepreneurship. So, you've got to measure to results. At the end of the day it's about the results. How are you guys looking at success? What does success look like as everyone starts to level up in the entrepreneurial game of tech athletics? >> So, the program that we developed and that's why we wanted to make it unique and not more of a classical training. We gave candidates, who join our program options. They can join and draw targets. A career, that I'm going to be a tech guy, somewhere, in the government or a private enterprise and there was also, the entrepreneurship track. No, you're going to be a developer. You're going to be a gaming developer, You're going to have your own media company, or whatever you want. So, we give them softer skill training, we give them entrepreneurship guidance. They have mentors that are available all the time. And at the beginning, when we started two years back, we were less reluctant to take this track, the entrepreneurship track. Now it has changed, the formula is changing. Actually, I need to note something, that female were more interested in the entrepreneurship because it gives them the opportunity to work from home, develop solutions, they don't need to go to an office. They have the freedom they need. So we see-- >> Diversity is increasing, with entrepreneurship. >> Yes. So it has completely changed the mindset, going two years back not 20 years back, and we're looking at even generations now graduating from university. And one of the biggest challenges was university because universities are not teaching less. So, it took us a while to give the awareness. As I said earlier today, university, even the university's president, and now it's also everybody speaks the same language. And I think this is the success of the leadership of Bahrain where they were able to build an ecosystem, Tamkeen, the private sector, the government. All are speaking the same language. So now the students, the Bahraini individuals start feeling this change. >> Well it's hard, you guys were talking about, we live this everyday. You, certainly, guys are succeeding. If I'm the government and I'm preaching agility and digital transformation. IF I'm not doing it, what kind of example is that? >> Very true. >> Exactly. >> This is really the culture. >> Yes. >> And I can appreciate that, I respect that, I think that's really the way to do it, you've got to lead from the top. I got to ask you guys about community, 'cause one of the things that we were talking about, and not really comparing to Silicone Valley, but looking at success, entrepreneurial formula's like Silicone Valley. Which can be replicated locally in its own Bahrain way. It's about people and community. How is the community developing? 'Cause you've got two years going back on, diversities increased, entrepreneurship changing. What's the community like? What's the community nurturing strategy? How do you guys see that culture here? Because this is going to be a community driven, data driven, result driven. >> Correct, yes, yes. >> World. >> So you know, we like to say that we have one of the most connected entrepreneurship ecosystems in the world. Now we can say that, because we're a small market but it's a small place, so everyone really knows what everyone else is doing. So, in terms of, you know, what the ecosystem is providing to the community, I think we have good joint efforts in actually building up the community and now we're seeing much more participation from the community, compared to, I would say five years ago, for example. Where we're actually seeing people pursuing entrepreneurship as a path, versus getting employed with a government, with a financial institution, for example. I think the best testimony to this was the creation of StartUp Bahrain. So this was a community initiative, initially spearheaded or initiated by the economic development board. And it is a collective of government organizations, SMB development, organizations, and start ups, who actually pushed this sort of entrepreneurship agenda, start up agenda forward. So we have a very successful case study with StartUp Bahrain. And we can actually show for it in terms of what's patient of startups and even maybe educational institutions like universities that are now jumping on board and actually contributing somehow, to the community. >> Yeah, it's been fun to watch. I think you can always do better, as we heard from the folks here on theCUBE all day today but everyone pretty much generally agrees it's going in the right direction. The question I have to ask you guys, is where is the work that needs to get done, still on the table? What's the key areas? >> I think one key element that I think is a must, based on what we have achieved now. When we talk about successful startups, successful entrepreneurship, we really need to connect, have a bridge to certain things like Silicone Valley because Bahrain market is small. Even the DCC market is small. So our startups should have a clearer access to larger market, to big companies. Now, they have access to AWS, INTEL, HP, whoever within that international market. That's the only way you can take your product from the labs or ideas to that international market. I think this is an area which requires good development and based on the successful, gradual success we have seen, I think this is now the most important step for for moving forward. >> Is to connect to these other hubs? >> Yes. >> Where there is a lot of collaboration. You guys know, companies have engineering teams, they have certain teams. And you guys will get a bulk of that. This is the plan for that. >> Yes. >> Exactly. >> I think that you would probably agree that maybe another gap is a private sector investment. So, there is a lot of money going around from the public sector to provide grants, subsidized financing, et cetera, we're looking to have more VCs established in our region to have more agent investment, more private sector, sort of, contribution, to the start of scene in Bahrain. I think going back to something important, you mentioned earlier, Ahmed, is the awareness. We still need to build more awareness around what kind of technologies will help companies startup scale. There might be the will there, but they're not completely aware of how to get there. >> What kind of hurdles would you look for in a partnership with a VC? Early stage, you thinking 10 million, 20 million dollar fund? Is there a number, is there like a filter? >> Very good question. I would say across the spectrum. Definitely early stage, although we are addressing that gap as public sector through grants and other means of providing capital. But I think we do require some private sector contribution, at that specific stage, at the early stage. >> We're certainly in Palo Alto, Silicone Valley, you need any cross connection... >> Definitely. >> You guys are CUBE Alumni now, VIPs, you're in the network now so feel free to knock on our door. We want to help as well. >> We appreciate that. >> Thanks so much for everything you guys are doing, I think this is going to be a historic moment looking back at this time in history, new region, revitalization. This is a theme, it's not just money making, that's one piece and I like that piece, but it's impacting citizens. >> Correct. >> This is a big part of the culture. >> Yes. >> Thanks for coming on, appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> theCUBE coverage, we are here in Bahrain for AWS Summit. Stay tuned for more coverage, after this short break. (light music)

>> from Bahrain. It's the Q covering AWS Public sector Bahrain brought to you by Amazon Web service is >> Welcome back. It runs the cube coverage for Amazon whips were summoned by rain and Middle East jump for cloud computing. Our startup panel at two great guests. So, Abdullah, who's with Flat Labs? Flat? Six Labs Incubator Investor. Same dull bet with sink. Sorry. So sorry They got that wrong with little glare on my spring there. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. Guys, start up. Scene here is robust. Last year from this year, More energy, more deployed capital because you're deploying capital. You're building a company. Give us the update start. >> Yeah, I would say over the past year, just our Bahrain location alone. We've already hit 23 startups that we've invested in, and we're looking to increase that number by about 68 start ups every six months. Um, as you've seen over the past year and Amina region and the GCC, there's rapid growth in the startup scene. Um and we're slowly starting to see each vertical fill up with the relevant startups and get more saturated. I think for a while we were one of the regions that were a lot less saturated when it came to our local startup because systems and the rest of the world The good thing is, now that we've gotta love the financial infrastructure into place, flat six Labs is one of them. And I think that's where we really um, we're lacking support before on DSO were signed to feel see players come into every stage of the startup growth be ableto help the stops raise their seed funds. Siri's a Series B >> and your role here is outreach building out my rain. Yet where the Economic Development Board trying to figure out that put together an entrepreneur strategy and not figure it out. We know what it is. You get money? Yeah, yeah. Party together, >> Yes. So what we're trying to do is there's two main things. One is that we're trying Thio finally be the first kind of financial investor that can help people going from a full time job in tow. You know, full time entrepreneurship rolls on to give them access to three of the biggest barriers that they usually will face, which is a business development network mentorship on Capitol andan. Everything that we're doing is weed. So personally, What I take care of is that I go to a lot of the international events around the globe, would start up because systems and try and find very early stage founders and educate them on the market. The region see where people would fit, where the gaps are in the market on dumb kind of raise awareness of old advantages that we have here in Bahrain. >> What makes you guys different? What's the differentiation >> as a country or as flat six labs? Both. So I'd say, as a country behinds in a very unique position where we have, ah, cultural mindset that is very easy for a lot of foreigners and expatriates to adapt to, Um, I think we've even been ranked number one in the world as a place for expect us to live several times on DA number. Thing is that we have a very high skilled workforce. Um, overhead costs are lower. So, for example, when it comes to the cost of rent when it comes to hiring a team, you also have subsidies that come into place like Tom Keen, uh, which Sam has also benefited from where if you go and you hire fresh graduate Bahrainis, you'll get >> ah, >> large margin of that subsidized by the government. So you're looking at, ah, mix where you have a high quality of life. But at the same time, it's the best starting point for a lot of start ups. Because you can extend your runway. You have, ah, much lower cash burn, and at the same time you've got one of the biggest market places right next door, which is Saudi Arabia, is the 30 minute drive across the bridge. So we've kind of got the best of all worlds over here, and and because we're a small country, we have a government that's incredibly reactive. So the regulatory authorities are very close with the startup ecosystem, for example, were always involved in the economic development board round table meetings on the ministries, all working closely together to try and make this as friendly and atmosphere is possible for the startup >> and they're authentic. That's interesting and see government authentically aligning. >> Yeah, it's in the interest of entrepreneur, I would say. One thing we really have going on is it's really an nationwide initiative from the founders to the private entities and investors like us and to the governmental agencies where we all are really dedicated towards making this start up >> san talk about your company. What do you guys do and what's your situation? >> Right? So my company's name is sinking. We're software as a service company that helps businesses manage the really hard aspects of managing their employees like things like timesheets scheduling. Job safety is a big one for us and job costing, and our target market is actually us small businesses and way were early stage company, and we met Salar and Flat six Labs, and they convinced us to come sit up here in Bahrain and never looked back. But the access to talent here is just amazing the cost of very low and were able to do a lot of a very small amount of money. And so far we've got to a total of four and 1/2 1000 U. S. Businesses using the platform. And we've done that all here from Bahrain, >> so very low, low cost leverage, a model, and that's because of the substance of just talent >> as a >> mixer, so it's a little bit cheaper to hire. People have more access to tell him it's a number of things. It's both of those things. >> Yeah, the university programs were interesting there. Got a degree in cloud Computing. They announced that we heard that news today. I mean, that's compelling. I mean, have you want to make the market just teach it? Yeah, exact. This is good, I think. >> I think the good thing is that everyone's come to an understanding that all parties have to get actively involved to make it the right atmosphere. So the universities are also working very closely with us hand in hand. And I've seen Percy a gigantic improvement over the past year where their senior projects of the universities are turning out where they got legitimate startup. It's Dex on Dhe. Some of them are even ready to go straight into acceleration, which was not the case a few years ago. So everybody's really on board. >> That's one of things we met last year in the economic Dillman for that round table. Lotte. I won't say complaints but concerns, and they're very listening to the whiteboards out their charts. How are they doing? Checking the boxes? They are checking the items off, moving these blockers and what's remaining in your mind in terms of things to make it frictionless. >> Yeah, I'd say like there's so far. We've done a great start andan the space of a year. We've accomplished a lot. But of course there's still shifting the whole mentality to understand the startup scene and also, you know, to get people to be less as, ah, cultural mentality, risk averse and start letting people feel that failure is an okay thing. It's okay to go straight out of university and give it a shot and try and start your own startup, Um, and also educating people of all the tools that are available to them. So although we do a lot of outreach and roadshows, still, there's, ah, a lot of people that need to be educated on how exploration works, how the VC side of it works. And I'd say another thing. We need Thio See coming is bridge funds. So we've got people that are ready to come in at Siri's a that precede that seed. But then there's usually these gaps where we need to kind of help Fila's well to keep people on target towards seriously >> like a bullpen. Capital kind of model. Like Paul Martinez Company? Yeah, sass coming that are in between being Air B or B and C just need that little bridge. Yeah, exactly. That. Just >> that extra runway so that they can hit the targets that the later stage investors want us. >> Guys, give it plug for your reference. What you working on? Now? What do you quit your to do? Item? What's, uh what's the plan? Give a pitch for the company. >> Looks way No. The first company to attack time tendons. And we won't be the last. But where we think that we can win his job costing and job tracking, which is something that the customers that we talked to it really screaming out, too. So we've been building a really complex but simple to use system for managing jobs the last 3 to 6 months, and we're about to deploy that to our users in a few weeks. We're very excited about that. And that's really our secret source. We just a lot of guys doing the time in attendance. We're doing it very well, but we want to be the best of jobs. And we also want to stay laser focused throughout our particular users, which is actually employers with 1 to 20 employees in the states. And that's actually that actually makes up 89% of all employers in the States. And it's very hard to historically to find these guys. But we'll be having a smart phone in their pocket. It's actually becoming easier and easier for us, and we find it. >> And those coming need the most help, too, because they're the ones that could grow to 50 employees next. Exactly. So what's the U. R L? Our website and app Tick and download. What's the head of someone contact U S. >> So they will go to sync dot business and they can use the Web version there. But we also have to mobile app so we could be found in the APP store and on the place. >> Awesome. Congratulations and updates for you guys. What's next for you here by rain in general? >> Well, in Bahrain and Demeanor Region, we're continuing to expand their several locations that we're gonna launch again as accelerator programs on dhe. Locally, over here, we're always accepting applications from international startups. We're actually having our demo day tomorrow So you should drop by if you're gonna be here. Yes. Did I would be great if you come down and a CZ that happens. We're accepting applications to the next cycle on dhe. They can just log onto flat six labs, bahrain dot com All the information's over there. And if they want to get in touch with me, they can just put my name into Lincoln. So >> I beat him up into a system, and when they're ready to accelerate, they go. Good to go. Congratulates. Good job, guys. Thanks for the update. Startup scene is robust here by rain. The Cube coverage for our second year covering Amazon Web service is summit. I'm Jumper Stevens for more coverage after this short break.

>> from Bahrain. It's the Q covering AWS Public sector Bahrain brought to you by Amazon Web service is >> Okay Welcome back, everyone to the cube coverage We are hearing by rain for a W s summit where cloud computing is changing the games. The Fintech panel discussion Yasmine el Sharif, head of Fintech Innovation Unit, Central Bank of Rain Thank you for joining >> us. Thank you for having me >> Elmo Yacht. Whose founder and CEO of Ammonia Technologies Thank you for coming on. Thank you for having so We're very robust Conversation before they turn on the cameras Fit in tech is hot. I'll see in global fintech Everyone knows what that is, but it's interesting because entrepreneurship and innovation is not just for start ups. It's for countries and hearing by rain, this ecosystem and the mandate to go cloud first has had a ripple effect. We were talking about open banking, mandate, open banking versus regulation, chasing innovation, holding it back. You guys here taking a different approach. Take a minute to explain the philosophy. >> Yeah, I think there's there's benefits to being late adopters to the game. I think in the case of behind it's been a very interesting journey. I think the we started with the whole AWS. But if you look at the prerequisites of technical adoption and creating Data Pool's for analytics to run on, I think the what's interesting about Bahrain is it's really led by regulation. If you look at the prerequisites of creating a digital economy, what's happening in financial service is, or the digitization or openness of financial service. Is it really one context off the bigger picture of Bahrain's digitization plan or the economic strategy? And really, what happens here is if you look at first built the data fools and or the data centers bring a W. A s in and create the data centers. Number two is creator data or cloud First policy. Move the entire government onto the cloud and then give the ownership of the data to the people by implementing the Bahrain personal data protection laws. Once you've done that, then you've given the ownership to the people and you've created what we have is we started with a unique identifies. So the citizens of the country or the residents of the country have a unique identify our number where they're known by once you've done that and then you start mandating certain sectors to open up with a P I integrations. You're creating a very, very interesting value proposition. It creates a much faster you leap frog, a generation of technology. You're going from the classic screen scraping technologies or whatever to a very a completely open infrastructure and open a P I. Where things air cryptographic Lee signed. People are in control of their data, people can control the mobility of their date, and you're really creating a very robust data pool for a lot of algorithms to sit on. >> You know what I love about this has me were talking before he came on cameras that you guys are thinking holistically as a knocking operating system is being in a geek that I am. I love that. But it's not just one thing you're doing, it's a it's a system and it's it's a modernization view. Now we all know that financial systems, power economies and fin tech innovation unit, but you're in. This is important. You gotta have that. That leg of the stool, that pillar that's working absolutely sandbox. You have technology mechanisms to roll in tech, move things quickly moving fast. What's the strategy? What if some of the key things What's the sandbox? >> Let me start by saying The Kingdom of Bahrain has always been considered as a centre of excellence as a financial centre of excellence. And we do realize at the Central Bank in order for us to maintain that position, we have to innovate. We have to remain dynamic and agile enough to make the necessary reforms within our regulations to meet the dynamics off the digital economy. Technology is changing the paradigm off the financial system on the changes happening extremely fast. Regulators have had to come up with a mechanism whereby they can harness and test the feasibility of these innovations whilst putting the risks in a controlled environments as regulators were not typically assigned to host incubators to host startups. However, because of all this change in technology, it has become extremely essential that we come up with a regulatory approach to enable startups as well as existing financial institutions to test out their innovative financial solutions in a controlled environment. So a sandbox is really a controlled live bounds time bounds environment, enabling startups as well as existing financial institutions to test out their innovative solutions under the strict supervision off the regulator, without being required to abide by full regulatory requirements directly with volunteer customers. >> You have to put this trick standards now but means sandboxes. What developers? No, it's a collaborative approach, absolutely not being an incubator. But you're setting up a rules of engagement, Senator startups to take what they know how to do >> exactly >> end up sandboxes in the cloud. That's what everyone does >> absolutely, and our journey with the sandbox has been very successful. We've launched our sandbox back in 2000 and 17. Up to date, we have 35 companies that have been admitted into the sun box. We have been able to graduate to companies successfully. One of them has been licensed as a crypto acid provider, the other as an open biking service provider. We have four other companies in the pipeline ready to graduates. I think all in all, our experience with Sun Box has enabled us to grow and develop his regulators. It has enabled us to maintain open communication with animators, to come tea, to learn the needs of innovators and to enable innovators to live, get familiar realized. With the regulatory environment of the Kingdom of Bahrain, >> you know, you guys are doing some really pioneering work. I wouldn't want to say it's really commendable. I know it's fast and new, but if you look at the United States with Facebook there now asking to be regulated regulation if it comes too late is bad because you know things got out of control and if you're too early, you can put a clamp down and stifle innovation. So the balance between regulation and innovation has always been an art, if you will. >> Exactly. >> What do you guys, How do you view that? What's the philosophy? >> So from a regular perspective, we think that regulation and innovation goes hand in hand, and we have to embrace innovation open heartedly. However, having said that, regulators have to run all common sense checks, meaning that we don't accept an innovation that will potentially pulls more harm to the financial stability of the economy as opposed to the advantages that puzzles. We've passed the number of different regulations to support innovation in the financial services sector dating back to 2014 when we first issued our payment service provider licenses allowing more competition and innovation within the payments sector. We've issued CROWDFUNDING regulations. We've issued robo advisory regulations. We've issued insurance aggregator regulations, crypto asset service provider regulations, open banking regulations, Justin in a few. And I think that each of the regulations that we have issued solves a specific pain point, whether it's to enhance financial inclusion, whether it's to empower customers by retaining ownership back, uh, of their financial information and data, Whether it's too also empower startups and to enable them to get it gain access to funding through digital platforms. >> Have dual. I want to get you in here because as an entrepreneur, like I love all that great, I just wanna get funded. I want my product to market. I need a capital market that's going to be robust. And I need to have that's capital providers state venture capital for private equity supporting their limited partners. So I want to see that I don't wanna be standing there when I need gas for my car. I need fuel. I got to get to the next level. This is what I want And he bought >> on. I think, the one thing John that is very important that people look at in the context of fintech today. Raising money investing into fintech Regulatory uncertainty is one that defines scalability today. Once your technology is proven, where you go next really is dependent on the regulator that you'll be dealing with in the context of that specific activity that you'll be performing. In the case of Bahrain, I must say we were blown away by the receptiveness. We in what way? Yes, yes, mean mentioned open banking, for example. We got into the regulatory sandbox, which you hear a lot about sandboxes all around the world. We got into the sandbox. We got into the sandbox with contact with with with an idea of building and accounts aggregator direct FBI integration to these banks. And we got into the sandbox. We There were no regulations at the time. They like the idea. We started bouncing ideas back and forth on how to develop it. We developed the technology. We started piloting the technology. We integrated to 15 banks in the country on a sandbox environment. The consul, the white paper on open banking, was listed. They sent it out for consultation. We integrated on a production environment to more than 70% of the banks in it in the country. The central Bank of Bahrain mandated open banking across the entire nation. With every retail bank all in a period of less than 18 months. That's insane. That's the kind of context. So as a no Vester exactly so as an investor or as an entrepreneur that looks at the sector. The question is here. If anything, I think the regulator in Bahrain is the one that's leading the innovation and these air the benefits of being late adopters. We get to test out and see what's going on in the rest of the world and really develop great regulations that will embrace and and foster innovation. >> You know, I love the liquidity conversation because this neck goes to the next level. Liquidity is a wonderful thing started. Wanna go public? If that's what happens in the U. S. Mergers and acquisitions, we have an incubator that we're gonna interview here flat Six labs just had to come. One of their companies got sold to match dot com. So you're seeing a lot of cross border liquidity. Yeah, this is a new dynamic. It's only gonna get stronger, more come. He's gonna come out of my reign in the region. Liquid is important. Absent. So how do you guys want to foster that? What's the strategy? Continue to do the same. >> So from a regular perspective again, we don't really holds. Thank you. Beaters are actually two accelerators, but what we do as we refined our regulations to support startups to gain access to liquidity, for example, are crowdfunding regulations that have been passed in 2017 and they support both. Equity is one of financing crowdfunding, including conventional as well as Sharia compliant. Crowdfunding transactions were also currently working on refining our regulations for enabling venture capitalists to take roots and marine and to support these startups. >> Yeah, I think John, you mentioned two things you mentioned regulation leading. When you mandate something like open banking, you are ultimately pushing the entire sector forward, saying you better innovators fastest possible. And there's a gap that you need to you need to basically bridge, and that really loosens up a lot of liquidity when it comes to partnerships. When it comes to acquisitions, when it comes to these banks ultimately looking for better solutions, so they that's the role of the regulator. Here we are seeing a lot of VC activity come to the region right now, the region is only starting to open up. AWS just went live a few months ago. We're seeing the cloud adoption start to really take effect, and this is where you'll start seeing real scalability. But I think the most compelling thing here is Previously people would look at the Middle East with a boot with a bit of skepticism. How much innovation can really take place and the reality is here. There are a few prerequisites that have been put in place. Foreign ownership is at 100% cloud. First policy. There's a lot of things that can really foster innovation. And we're, I mean, where as an entrepreneur, where living proof off this whole Team Bahrain initiative of the fact that you can get in you can build in accounts aggregator in a country that never even had the regulations to adopted to mandate it and to be Ultimately, I think Bahrain will become the global reference point for open banking very soon because it has mandated a regulation of open AP eyes with cryptographic signatures ultimate security frameworks with a robust infrastructure across an entire nation. And don't forget, we still have a population of below the age of 30 70% of our population below. So it gives a very compelling story t test your technology. And then what we end up saying is, once you're on AWS or any cloud for that matter than the scalability of the technology just depends on where you want to go in there. >> No doubt the demographics are solid here, and I love the announcement here. The bachelor's degree. Yeah, cloud computing. We've seen some data science degrees, so new skills are coming on. My vision is interesting. I think that would interest me about the region of Amazon. Being here is these regions create revitalisation? >> Yeah, you >> guys are in perfect position with this Modernization trend is beautiful, not only to be a template for the world but a center for global banking. So I think to me, is that, you know is I'm trying to put together and connect the dots of where this goes in the next two decades. I mean, if crypto currency market continues to get matured and stabilized, that's still flowing with a lot of money. A lot of money in the relay >> absolutely >> was not just the region business to do here for couples to come here. It's you guys playing a role in global financial system. That's of interest to me. What's your vision? >> Absolutely. I think that regulators around the world are starting to realize the importance of collaborating together, to try and work on policy challenges in line with innovation within the financial service of sector and to share experiences to share lessons learned at the Central Bank of Bahrain were a member of the Global Financial Innovation Network, which is an initiative that has Bean passed by the F C A in the UK Again, we're also a member of the authentic working group of the GCC and through these two different initiatives, we work alongside other regulators to collaborate on solving policy issues, to solve, to share experiences and knowledge and to try and harmonize our regulations. Because of the end of the day, startups and innovators ultimately will want to scale up and want to serve customers across the friend jurisdictions. So it's important to have that kind of harmonization in terms of regulations to foster innovation as well as to safeguard the overall security of the international financial. Um, >> keep partnerships. Do you guys need to do to kind of go global on this 20 year vision? Is there other things they have to fall into place? That needs to happen? >> I think >> 20 years is a long time, I say in the next. Let's take five years, for example. If you say in the next five years and where I see this going, the question is, what do entrepreneurs and startups need to look at a jurisdiction and say That's where I want to test my technology. You need a robust infrastructure. You need a regulator than embraces you. You need technical subsidies and financial subsidies that are available, and then you need an independent arm that can really hand hold you and take you to that >> thrust. Its critical trust, money making absolutely ability. >> Just add to that and Byron, we take great pride in our human capital, which we believe is one of our biggest assets. And today, with having your Amazon web service is in Bahrain, this has enabled training of young Bahrainis for the data and knowledge economies which is expected Thio greet around 5000 jobs within becoming five years through different schemes such as Amazon education. For example. >> This is super exciting, which we had more time. Congratulations. Love the vision again. Occupiers like to make money. They wanted environments could be trustworthy and some scalability on behind it. So good luck. We're behind you. We'll keep following up. Thanks for having a cube coverage here and by rain for AWS. I'm John Ferrier. Stay tuned for more after this short break.

(upbeat electronic music) >> Live from Bahrain. It's theCUBE. Covering AWS summit Bahrain. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. >> And welcome back to theCUBE's live coverage here in Bahrain for the exclusive coverage of the AWS's summit and their announcement and their execution of a new region which should be online here in early 2019. I'm John Furrier, your host with SiliconANGLE Media theCUBE, extracting the signal from the noise, meeting all the people. First time the Middle East and the region should be a big impact, having a digital footprint as size of Amazon Web Services, bringing energy and entrepreneurship and innovation and economic revitalization and enablement. We'd love the coverage, we meet a lot of great people. Our next guest is Simon Martin who's the ambassador of the British embassy here in Bahrain. Simon, welcome to theCUBE. >> Thanks. >> Thanks for joining us. >> My pleasure. >> So, OK, so I want, I want to just kind of get your perspective. I met the US ambassador yesterday the last night at dinner. He's kind of new to the area and the job. >> But he's already, >> You've got experience, >> But he's already well informed, I can tell you (laughs). >> He's well informed (laughs). Birth by fire, thrown in the deep end. You've been here for a few years. >> Yeah, three. >> Take a minute to talk about the environment here, because we're first time here. We're learning or observing. I'm certainly surprised. My daughter was asking me: What are the women like there? We had a women's breakfast yesterday. 70 plus people. The energy, the diversity, interesting culture. Feels like very open, what's your thoughts. >> Well, very much so, I mean, Bahrain has been at the sort of crossroads of international travel for hundreds and hundreds of years. The UK's relationship with Bahrain, the formal one, goes back just over 200. And that was all to do with trade. Manama means the place of sleep. And it was the place that people used to stop to rest on their way across the Arabian subcontinent and towards the Indian subcontinent, and so on. So, it's a place which is naturally welcoming of foreigners and outside ideas. And I think that's what Amazon have found here. So, there is an often lot of change going on in this part of the world. Bahrain is relatively small economy compared to its neighbors. It was the place that oil was first discovered in the Gulf, but, actually, once they discovered it, they realized that she had rather less than most of the neighbors and, therefore, it's an economy which has had to adapt to keep, keep growing. In contrast, >> Mainly, mainly the dependence on oil, other oil-rich areas. >> Yeah. >> Right, is that it? >> Yeah. So, that's been the main stay of the economy for some time, but there is not the, there is not yet the potential for the growth that's needed in order to help develop an economy with its, with the necessary modern infrastructure. A growing population, a need for, for quality employment for young people which is something that we've heard a lot of in the last few years. >> Talk about your history, how long have you been in the job you're in, what's the background, what are some of the things that you've done >> OK >> at the government in the UK. >> Yeah, well, Thank you, so I've been here for three years. Before that, I was working, actually, for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. And in that role, visited this part of the world on a couple of occasions, and so, and so the impact of that very important part of our relationship, royal family's relationship with the royal families in this part of the Gulf, and it just opened my eyes a bit to the, to the importance of having multifaceted relationships. And, again, this is what we're now, this is what we are now seeing here, that Amazon Web Services with the cloud region that they are building here have brought a new dimension, >> (laughs) The fly got... >> Not surprised, to the Bahraini economy. >> So, tell me about the multifaceted piece of news. What I'm fascinated by is the Dubai dynamic, right. You know, I see Dubai, a lot of events there, Blockchain events, AI events, a lot of tech events. Feels like New York to me, using the American metaphor. It's kind of like a Silicon Valery kind of vibe. But they all work, been working together for years. What's the historical relationships, how have they changed, and how does cloud computing make up for that? How does that play into it? >> Well, of course there've been, it's been a very collaborative and yet competitive relationship between the different, particularly the finance centers of the Gulf for many years. The economic success story of Dubai is very well known. Bahrain has continued to develop, but without the resources that underpin the UAE success, has done so on a more, more progressive way. But this is always be, going to be a much smaller economy and Bahrain has to, has to compete in niches in which it has the competitive advantage. And it's this, what we have now happening here, is creating a wonderful new niche opportunity for Bahrain. But, of course, I don't think am letting out any secrets to say that each of the countries in the Gulf would love to have been hosting the new cloud region. >> Yeah. >> So Bahrain had try incredibly hard to present an environment in which to host this kind of, this kind of investment which requires regulation. It requires openness and ease of doing business and it also requires an openness to developing the labor force to support not only the Amazon, but all of the train of companies that we're expecting to invest along behind it. >> Well, Simon, I really appreciate your experience and candor here on theCUBE. Certainly, for us it's a new area and you have certainly a perspective for, for the Royal Family in the UK, and now being here. But one of the interesting things I'd like to get your perspective on is, you know, you look at globalization and you look at regulations, you look at digital, things like GDPR, you see all traditional things, you mean, you can go back when I was a young kid growing up, I remember the pound and the French franc and all the different currencies going on, and then EU comes together. And now you have Asia and cryptocurrency. So you have a whole another cloud computing generation coming where that might reimagine the political landscape, might imagine the economic relationships. These are opportunities, but also threats. And so how people handle it is interesting. So, how do you, when you look at that kind of dynamic, you got a little bit uncertainty and opportunity at the same time, depending how you look at it, it's the glass half full or the glass half empty. >> Exactly. >> How should executives and government officials start thinking about this new model, this new marketplace. London is certainly the center of the action and connects now into Bahrain, could be a different dynamic, frictionless, digital. >> Mhmm. >> People living across borders. These are new dynamics. What's your thoughts on this new melting pot of digital impact? >> Well, of course, everybody wants a piece of it, everybody wants to be at the center of a new melting pot. And for Bahrain, they're looking to be the of it within, within this region, but of course, the Dubai Finance Center and, you know, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, and so on are also, are also very keen, and no one, no one is expecting to be the dominant player. And certainly from Bahrain's perspective, it's very much about creating the environment in which companies will see, this is a good place to start. The Gulf region is a coherent region with an incipient single market, and so on, within the GCC, and so, naturally, investors from the outside are going to look at one place to start. And so what Bahrain has done, and I think it's, it's been very well founded, it's just taken place over the three years that I've been here, it's to dramatically increase the ease of doing business, and then find proportionate ways in which the government can support new companies to get them established. So, you mentioned GDPR and, you know, how's this going to affect a company in the Gulf. Well, I was at the launch of a very interesting new big data software project by one of the, in fact British owned new startups in the FinTech Bay here which is supported by the Economic Development Board. They're starting point is that the product that we are selling out of Bahrain is GDPR compliant, which gives you an idea of the way, >> Yeah. >> in which even from, from this relatively small island in the Gulf, >> Yeah. >> the global perspective has been taken. >> And certainly with, you know, digital currency, the Know Your Customer Anti Money Laundering is the big thing too, you got to get that right. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> So, they have an opportunity with FinTech. Final question for you, as you look out and see the human capital market and the future of work. >> Yeah. >> It's a big conversation we're always having and certainly I live in Silicon Valley where everyone's, no secret that there's a migration out of Silicon Valley due to the prices of living there, but yet concentration of entrepreneurship. People are going to have engineering teams all over the world. so you have a disperse workforce now crossing borders and not just the domicile issue, that's one, you know, taxes, where to domicile, outside say the US or other countries. So, you have a combination of diverse workforces. >> Mhmm. >> This is big, this is a big opportunity too, challenge and opportunity. >> It is, it is. And, of course, there are not just big changes, now, there's constant fluctuation in the way the workforce and the populations in this part of the world and within the gulf are changing. Look at Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia, the big increase in the Saudi workforce, both through the policy of Saudization and through the creation of many more opportunities for women in the workforce. That's affecting Bahrain. But Bahrain has always been a place where people come to work and sometimes to work remotely, sometimes to live here and work across in Saudi Arabia. So, the Bahrainis feel that they are very, very attuned to these challenges. But I might just mention as well that this is not just about economics. And what impresses me about the reform program you see going on here is that, the idea is that we will create a broader and wider spread opportunity, particularly through the opportunities for young professionals working in AWS, but also in the environment all the way around it, for all communities in Bahrain, not just the wealthy, not just the sort of Ivy league equivalent graduates. >> Yeah. >> And so that's why the academy that they're setting up here can, >> And then network does emerge in social networking is going to bring people closer together. >> Yeah. >> OK, great to have you on. Final question is, as people look at this moment in time, maybe an inflection point, shot heard around the Gulf, if you will, of Amazon, certainly they did this with CIA in our country, the said success is coming in, and kind of changing how things do, reimagining value creation and value capture. What do you see as the impact of the, a diverse region have been in this area and the geography? Just your thoughts on what the impact's going to be. >> Well, of course, this is a virtual world and a cloud region is the virtual concept, so it's easy to say, well it shouldn't take an Amazon Web Services cloud region to transform the way in which governments work here. In practice, what AWS have seen wherever they have established cloud regions, it's a magnet for other businesses to develop around it, and it provides the reassurance that governments need to take that step forward. I don't know whether you heard Max Peterson and his presentation this morning saying he was amazed at the speed with which the entire Bahraini government system has embraced the move to the cloud which, indeed, my own government is doing as we speak. And this, I think, is going to be one of the really big, the really big impacts which will allow governments to get smaller and more efficient and more transparent >> And serve their citizens in a different way, in a better way. >> But one last thing, John. Because, you may not have heard about this is, we're hearing a lot about the shift towards renewable energy in this part of the world, and people say, why on earth would we need renewable energy which is, you know, so much of the world's petrol carbon resources are based here, but, of course, if you don't burn them, you can sell them. And that's very simple economics. The fact is that it has taken longer than other parts of the world for the transition to renewable energy, even though we have so much sunshine and at times quite a lot of wind. The government here just put out a tender for a 100 megawatt solar farm. And the driving force behind that is because AWS have said: we want to power our cloud region from renewable energy. And this is an example of industry and the big investors actually applying a positive force to speed up the direction of the government policy already. And it's something that has been well. >> It's happened fast, this private partnership public relationship, that's a success story. >> And I think there are lots of other ways we will see this happening, as I say, you can't have over 2000 people here all focusing on the cloud technology without bringing an awful lot of extra attention to and focus on what else is going on in Bahrain. >> Yeah. >> From my perspective, the Bahrain government is saying we welcome, we welcome this, this publicity, and we look forward to explaining ourselves. And I think we'll see a lot of further development in this area. >> Simon that's a great point. Sustainable energy and the trade-off between industry, private industry trying to make money, but contributing technology and a co-creation with the government. >> Yeah. >> I mean, data center, it's hot here, you need cooling, you got sun power, you see, you got to have that solution. >> Absolutely, yeah. >> You can't burn it, you can sell it, so good opportunity. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Simon Martin, ambassador, the British ambassador to the embassy here in Bahrain. Thank yo for sharing your insights and color commentary. >> Pleasure to meet you, John. >> Appreciate it. Okay, live coverage here. I'm John Furrier with theCUBE bringing you all the new observations. Our first time in the Middle East region well coherent structure, great economics, great society benefits, cloud computing, Amazon Web Services region opening up in 2019. Exclusive coverage. Stay with us fore more after this short break. (upbeat electronic music)

(tech music) >> Live, from Bahrain, it's theCUBE. Covering AWS Summit Bahrain. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. >> Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our live coverage here in Bahrain for theCUBE's exclusive coverage of AWS Summit here in the Middle East in the region. Our first time here, lots of observations, lots of learnings, and also great people we're meeting. I'm John Furrier, your host of theCUBE. Our next guest is Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, who is the Chief Executive of the Information E-Government Authority, also known as IGA. Welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you very much, thank you for hosting me. >> Saw you last night at dinner. We were talking about all the opportunities. So the first question I have to ask you is, as you guys are bringing in the digital transformation, which is happening, you now have Amazon here with the region, how is that changing things? >> Of course, always we try to innovate, and the technology, if you don't innovate, if you don't make sure that you are ready for the changes coming, it is very difficult. When we announced our first strategy in 2007, we delivered it in 2010 becoming the leader in the region, delivering 200 services over four channels. But as you mentioned, usually in the technology, the longest cycle is the infrastructure and servers and configurations, buying things and configuring. And with the leadership vision of transforming the country the vision 2030, transformations happening in the judicial system and to the commercial legislations and to the customs and to health and education, the pace of change required and the ambition is very much, much higher. And particularly, when you develop something and you were successful. So our leaders say, we are a bit slow. We need to fast things up. So then we looked into the Amazon and the cloud. How it can help us. And usually, in Bahrain, we don't have the luxury of trial and error. Trying things and if it works, you know, try multiple things. So we have to study it well. This is why we looked into the cloud, what it can bring to the country, the agility, the time to market. And when we put the strategy forward, it was a comprehensive one. The leaders decided to go cloud-first policy. Everybody should move. Because that's the way forward, that's the way that the Kingdom can deliver its vision-- >> And the cloud-first decision, when was that made? >> That was last year. And, when it was made, it's not a piece of strategy. You have to look at it in a comprehensive way. >> Yeah. >> You have to look into your laws, legislations, compliance, >> Yeah. >> audits, architectures, unit policies, skills sets available, the procurement process, the tendering process, and you have to review all of that-- >> Yeah. >> and make sure that there is no show blockers or barriers for the implementation. Otherwise, it will take a long time. >> Yeah. (chuckles) >> This is why, in a year's time, we managed to migrate huge workloads to the cloud. >> We were talking last night about how hard it is just to figure out the future, never mind provisioning all the gear you got to do, and the training, and so this cloud-first is very interesting. But I also want to just tell you that we talked about, also, how hard it is. So when I say, oh, go cloud-first, it's so easy! Right? No, it isn't. There's a lot of work involved. >> Yes. >> Take us through some of the things that you guys have done, your learnings prior to cloud-first. And the key learnings now that cloud-first has been under your belt for over a year. >> Of course, always with the governments, the biggest challenge will happen about the security. How I am going to move losing the control, putting my processing and storage outside the government. How I'm going to protect it, somebody else is there. That's the biggest challenge. That's number one. Number two, people doesn't understand, they think it's processing. So okay, I have my processing power, I will save some money, that's not much. >> Yeah. >> But they don't think about the ultimate goal. About the time to market. >> Yeah. >> When you have a new vision, when you have a new service to be delivered, you cannot wait for 18, 24 months for the infrastructure-- >> Yeah. >> Getting there, idle for a couple of years until you know the full utilization of them. So this is why the ultimate goal is much, much bigger. >> Yeah. >> And the thing about the issue, of somebody else, looking into-- >> So speed is critical. >> Yeah. >> And you guys have speed under your belt. You did a Formula One racetrack in what, 14 months I heard, very fast construction. The Amazon region is going up in record time. Is this a cultural thing? Just go fast? People like speed? The need for speed? >> We like that, you know the Formula One, of course that's just part of our DNA. Our leaders always push the citizens. And that's the Bahraini culture. >> Yeah, the other thing, too, about the application, now to get back to our serious conversation, to have innovation, you need to have software development go on in a way that's not the 24-month, oh we built it, and you don't know if you tested it or not. But you got to built the dev-ops model infrastructure as code. How far along are you on the infrastructure as code? Because the developer side is going to be very great. >> [Mohammed Ali Al Qaed] Yeah. >> Amazon's proven that developers love it, easy to get going, lower cost to test, agility, time to market, time to value. The setup for you guys is a little bit different. You've got infrastructure as code-- >> Yeah. >> You're not a startup. But you want to act like one, but what are you going to do for the infrastructure? >> Of course, the infrastructure in terms of processing, that's easy because it's been migrated, most of it's been migrated, our ports, our channels, our mobile channels. >> The networks, you have 5G, do you have 5G here yet? >> We are already experimenting, ready for it. The frequency's already freed up for the telco's to utilize them. It's already there for the 5G. Of course, fiber is everywhere, all the government entities are connected to the fiber. High speed, we have 100-meg, we have a gig, we have 10 gig, we have all kinds of speed available. >> No problem for bandwidth in the country. >> I don't think so. We don't have an issue about the bandwidth. And the processing power, once moved, then the optimization, which already happened. But as you mentioned, coming to the development, we started already, developing into the serverless, using the lamdas, using born-in-the-cloud concepts, that was not there once we started. But now we are already educating and training our employees. >> What's the reaction to it? >> The reaction is excellent. I give an example today about the fingerprint authentication. That's a basic service, but it requires a huge demand return from all the telco's, all transactions happen in telco's, private hospitals, the banking are coming. >> Yeah. >> Any authentication happens, it has to happen in a second. >> Yeah. >> So that requires a huge, massive infrastructure. Once we built it, at the beginning, for only a few customers-- >> Yeah. >> we invested about 250,000 dinar at that time. Now, I think, it's being moved completely to serverless-- >> Yeah. >> Concept, a new development. >> Yeah. >> So... >> A simple idea, hard to implement in the old way, but the new way, you got to wire API's around, sling API's, and connect devices, telco's, environments quickly. So this brings up the integration, this is the benefit of the cloud. >> [Mohammed Ali Al Qaed] Exactly. >> The glue layer is, what, microservices? Is it API's? How are you making that lambda function...? >> You know, that API's, and, just, you call the service and it gets you online and you go back to the storage. I mean, a basic thing. >> Yeah. >> Initially, you know, you need a testing environment, a development environment, a lot of infrastructure, and then you have to secure all of that, secure your data. >> Yeah. >> Now, it's a fraction of that cost and much faster to go to market. >> I'm a huge believer in the services model, and this is why microservices is a big deal right now in clouds, if you look at all the cloud-native conversations, it's containers, we're using it, no problem, very good to use containers. They're great. Kubernetes, now, orchestration. But deal with state and stateless applications is now the new challenge because there are so many new services that are spinning up. Soon, you're going to be like, ordering McDonald's, you know, I'll have a microservice over here, so this is the world we're moving to. This is the services. >> Exactly. And we would like to build a center of excellence, you know? Because we get into this journey, we looked into all our legislations and the ecosystem, trained our employees, their skillset is very important, with the program, with Tamkeen. We looked into the training strategy, all the portfolio training, making sure that our Bahrainees have the ability to develop, to operate, databases and all aspects, even the planning of it. Then institutes, partners, to be ready to train the private sector and everybody. >> You know, Mohammed, I'm really impressed with the entrepreneurial people that I've met. They've got a good mojo to them, because they're kind of cocky, which I love about them, but they're not arrogant. They're like, they're smart, and I so I got a... I see a good community there. The question for you is, as you move to cloud-native, how is that transition? The young kids get it. I mean, it's no problem. >> Yeah. >> Where's the progress on the skillset gap? I've heard that conversation. I just don't see it being a problem if the young kids are eating up the cloud stuff like it's nobody's business. >> Yeah. >> Then I don't see a problem. What's your take on this skills gap thing? I mean, the guys I met, and the entrepreneurs, they're like, they want more action. >> Exactly. The point is the current employees that we have already. Hundreds of government employees that have been trained in a different environment with different technologies. I get a couple of questions from some of the professionals in the market, private sector and government sector: how we can benefit out of that? How we can help? We are experts in the field, but cloud for us is a new thing. So as you mentioned, for them it might be a bit more difficult. So what we did, and the IGA, we created a taskforce of the most brilliant team, and told them okay, you have to migrate the workloads, train, we'll give you the training, and you have to migrate. >> Go. >> Next, you have now to optimize. Give the task of migration to somebody else, a new team, and the old team, they have to optimize. Third, now you have to work on, bore on the cloud, develop on the cloud, create the environment of the cloud, a new concept. So that's how we take-- >> So you're spreading the work around through hands-on training? >> Of course. You train, and then you get them into the action, hands, on, and so on, one by one. But, eventually, the university's already working on training their students. So we want to make sure that part of the curriculum, the cloud is there for the new generations to take it from day one. >> You know, you guys are a learning culture, my observation, first time here, very impressed. Very friendly, which is always cool. But, it's a multilingual culture. So, if you add source code to the new lingua, coding is going to be critical. Are you guys getting at the younger generation really when they're young? How young are you going in terms of the new language, software... Thoughts on that? Where do you see that going? >> Starting from school-- >> Elementary school? >> From elementary school, trying to get them in to coding. Universities as well. >> So you are teaching kids to code? >> Of course. And you know, any citizen they can get any certifications free of charge, according to the agreement with Tamkeen Labor Fund. They are willing to train any Bahrainian on any certifications, professional certifications, free of charge. >> That's great. >> To be ready for the next, and making Bahrainians-- >> So there's no excuses. >> Of course. >> There it is. >> We want to give Bahrainians a choice for employment. >> Yeah. >> You know? If that's the future, we have to make them ready for the future. >> That's great. And the cloud's going to give you all that energy. Talk about the relationship with Amazon a bit, Amazon Web Services. Obviously, Teresa Carlson, really behind this, the whole team. I talk about the whole company, I see them getting behind this and partnering with you guys. They're not just coming in here and being Amazon. There's a real co-development ethos. Talk about the relationship you have with... >> Amazon is impressive. I mean, the way that we work, in a partnership way, everybody should think about the long-term, not the short-term part of the partnership. That they should help the economy, the Bahrainis for employment, making sure that the economy will benefit out of this move to Bahrain. And as well, we have to help with the registrations, with the regulations, with any infrastructure connectivity to the international links. Whatever they need, we try to help them because we believe that eventually it will create the ecosystem for the market. >> I know they open up a lot of doors for you guys, and then for us as well. They attracted us to come and cover the territory here, so we're super excited. And I'm so glad we came because I learned a lot. >> Thank you. >> It's been fantastic. Okay, your big idea... Final question. What's your big idea that's going to come out of the cloud? It doesn't have to be the complete... Your idea, in your personal opinion, what is going to happen five years down the road? What is it going to look like? What will this new magic look like? What's the outcome? >> I think it will be a major restructure and reform in the government. So most of the people working into the routine work of buying and configuring, buying and configuring, they can be more focused into the real problem about the innovation, trying to bring solutions to the problems and issues in the country. Trying to develop software that will help the economy to foster, and to look at what is required, what is the vision of the leaders, try to implement those. So most of the people think business. Before, it was isolation. The technical people only, they had their territory, their environment looking at the wires and hardware and configurations, and somebody else looking into the development and a third group of people who are looking strategically, analytics, and how to utilize it. So, I think what we'll have, we'll merge those people, thinking only about the solutions, and how to analyze and how to come with new solutions out of those analytics. >> And that model has been consolidated, those silos have been broken down. With the cloud, it brings it all together. Developers are now on the front lines. >> Of course. And those-- >> And they're driving the business. >> They're driving the business. >> Mohammed, great to have you on, great to see you. Thanks for sharing your insight. And congratulations. Looking forward to tracking all the great coverage. Amazing opportunity here for everyone in the country, and also for Amazon and for us. Great to meet new people. This is theCUBE, I'm John Furrier. You can reach me on Twitter @Furrier, F-U-R-R-I-E-R, or just search, I'm open. All my channels are open, Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, you name it. Say hello, reach out. Stay with us, more all-day coverage after this short break. (tech music)

>> 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 Tala Fakhro, Executive Director of Market and Strategy Intelligence of Bahrain's Economic Development Board, also known as the EDB. >> That's right! >> 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 are 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. >> Yes, we are very-- >> You've 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, we work together as a government. You know Bahrain is unique because we can do we can do things really fast when we want to. We built the Formula One Racetrack 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 engaged in legislation, and regulation and education. Every part of the government was actively pushing for this transaction. >> 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. >> Absolutely. >> And that's Amazon's ethos. >> Absolutely. >> Scale, move fast, and innovate. >> Absolutely. We, we've been a trading nation all our lives since time immemorial, you know. We're a tiny little country in the middle of the map. We were cross-border trading before we knew what that was called. So this is something not unique to us. It is part of our DNA, and we found a good match with Amazon. They wanted all the same things we wanted and they are 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've got to ask you, as Amazon comes in they're expected to have that, this region up and running in the beginning of 2019. >> That's right. >> Which is just right around the corner, so they're running fast, so congratulations. >> Thank you. >> It's the new Formula One Racetrack for cloud computing. 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 could 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. >> Yeah. >> 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 would consume, so it's great. >> And so, Khalid Al Rumaihi, the CEO of the EDB. >> Yes. >> Who's a very good visionary. He has private sector background, super smart. Really enjoyed that conversation. But one of the things that we talked about was we always say in theCUBE 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 mentions, Vintech 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 of what's going on the macro level, is that consistent of what you are seeing that there's a 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? >> It is a small-- >> How do you differentiate? How do you take a leadership opportunity? >> Well, Bahrain is a small country but it is 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, you know, a real good proposition. And it allows for our students, who are, by the way, already starting to be cloud trained. Over 2500 Bahrainis have signed up for cloud training since the program started six months ago. >> Yeah. >> That's a huge proportion given our population. That's a much faster rate than India or China for example. >> Yeah. >> So this shows you how much, how willing we are. You know coding is the new English. We learned English in the 70's so that we could compete globally. Now we are learning coding to do the same thing. >> And that's super important. Let's talk about the human capital side of it, 'cause 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 get 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. 'Cause 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? Is it, what's, what's the progress? Can you take us through the plan? >> Well we, as I mentioned, for a cloud computing, specifically we already have programs in place. We also have many other initiatives coming up through Udacity, through Carcera, through others. We are 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 are making it important. We are making it a forefront of the government agenda. You know, we are 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 is going to have it's 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, >> Yeah. >> And all the things that had made us great in the past. >> You know as I was observing also, talking to your CEO about, I've seen people trying to replicate Silicon Valley trying to manufacture innovation in a way or trying to get a 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? >> We do. >> And you have growth coming. The other stuff's mechanics. How do you get funded? How to do this? How are you looking at that? When 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 has an identity crisis. I think they have an opportunity to set a new identity. >> Absolutely. >> 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, you know, then it's every man for himself and the free market will compete. We're a very free market oriented entity and government and so all 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 are 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 Al Waha Fund which is a venture capital fund to fund, which was just launched and which is already invested in. And three or four independently managed >> Yeah. >> 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 the government. >> And I also want to just to 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. >> Oh, we're trying. >> And Teresa Carlson's success in Washington D.C. with Amazon web services really is a testament that if you do the work, the results will pay off. And when Teresa came to Washington DC, Amazon Cloud Computing was like, whoa it'll never work. It is not secure. You know, now they are winning. They are doing extremely well. I've seen the model. Everyone's emulating and moving towards. You guys are doing the work. I see the check boxes. But there's still some work to do. EKYC, other things. >> Yup. >> 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? 'Cause 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 conflict of laws. >> On the compliance side? >> Exactly. >> Yeah. >> So you know, it's as if they are storing in Saudi or Kuwait. >> Yeah. >> But they are storing here. So these kinds of things, this was the first step. And we've passed a bunch of those laws and we think that they are very important. In addition, as I mentioned, we have the funding situation. We begin to look at that. We hope that with this-- >> That's a hundred million fund of funds. >> That's a hundred million dollars fund to fund. >> Fund to fund, which means that you are going to enable private sector-- >> Correct. >> 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 the chance to compete on the world stage and shine. And it also gives us the chance to up our game. Once you see the competition, then you can >> Yeah. >> Fix and adjust and do what you need to do. And that's what we want. We want them. We're not going to help spoonfeed them. >> Yeah. >> 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. That's what we want to do, and that's where we are headed. >> So you guys are competitive? >> We have to be. (John laughing) We're a tie, we are the underdog. >> Yeah. >> But sometimes underdogs win. >> You know as I was saying also observing that, we're our first time here with theCUBE in the region. So I was noticing that, you know, we see a lot of events in Dubai. And Dubai is very blown, built, blown up now and is developed. 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 is 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. Where there's good for the Emirates and Saudi, there's 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 are an entrepreneur and you have a good idea, you can easily access the people that you need to access. >> Yeah. >> We think Bahrain has that advantage too. And this is-- >> Yeah. >> Clearly demonstrated in the Amazon transaction because you know at the time when we could, 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 open. >> They're very friendly. But it's kind of, I won't say no, it's kind of no nonsense in the sense of people just want, get to the point. Right? But it's not in your face like a East Coast New York kind of thing. >> Well, we're not there yet. (John laughing) Give us time. >> All right, so back to the access to capital concept because I think first of all, we're going to open up our doors >> Yes. >> With theCUBE in Silicon Valley for you guys. So very impressive. Consider that an open invitation. But now you're talking about networks. As you built 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 it, is there regions that you see that you need to connect through? 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 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 them money. >> Yeah. >> Because everyone wants to give Silicon valley money. But we want to really learn-- >> Yeah. >> 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 collaborations, certainly. >> Absolutely. >> Well, people are 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 you are, 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. Where 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. >> Got it. >> And EDB is here to help with that. >> Well Tala, thank you coming on. >> Thank you. >> Tala Fakhro, 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. >> Yeah. >> Unexpected, unintended consequences. Be careful what you wish for, Right? >> Well. >> I mean, it's coming. >> 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 you 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. (bright music)