‘Bahrain is a testbed for startups’

Manama : Bahrain aims to be a testbed and a launch-pad for startups in the region, said CEO of EDB Khalid Al Rumaihi. Bahrain will continue to ease regulations to encourage startups, said Al Rumaihi. He was speaking at the opening of ‘Unbound’ conference yesterday.

“During this period of time in the Gulf, we face two sides of a coin. A challenge on one side of the coin and opportunity on the other side of the coin. I think everyone in this time has to innovate, governments need to readjust to a different environment where their revenue has dropped, they have to innovate in policy. Businesses have to innovate, schools and universities have to readjust, workplace in the future is going to be completely different in the future so the way we educate has to adapt. The winners are the ones who can think on their feet, ones who can adjust and react to a new reality,” he said.

“For a small country like Bahrain, our agility and innovation is our secret weapon, like it has been in the past. Much like other small countries like Singapore and Hong Kong has done, it will be our ingenuity and our ability to make being small work to our effect that will help build a bright future for our people. We want to encourage our country to be a testbed for startups, we want them to benefit from our young ecosystem. We want them to scale and use Bahrain as a launchpad,” he said.