An American Entrepreneur in Kuwait on a Mission
I love my country. I love the USA as much as I love NYC. We may complain about a lot of things that are broken, but for the most part, we've got it good. Especially for entrepreneurs. Trust me, I know. In many places in the world, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to start a business. The laws and restrictions inhibit some from building something of their own. To me, this SUCKS.
I believe that EVERYONE should have the right to build their dreams and find opportunity in solving issues. I also believe, generally speaking, that if people put aside their issues and focus on their skillsets and passions to work with each other on separate issues, the original issue dissipates and leads to amazing solutions. Collaboration leads to innovation. With this in mind, I have proudly agreed to be part of the United States State Department Speaker and Specialist Program.
This arrangement will send me to Kuwait City to help inspire entrepreneurs to collaborate and celebrate the very essence of entrepreneurship. Needless to say, I could not be more excited. I have decided to share my experiences with you, the ridiculously amazing readers of Entrepreneur. I will be covering the stories and meaningful relationships within my articles and share it socially through Twitter. You can follow me @SaltzmanJason.
When I was first asked to do this, I was a bit concerned because of all the scary media coverage in the region. After some research, it was obvious that I could not be more wrong. Kuwait is the safest country in the Middle East and it also happens to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world. From what I have learned, the people are awesome and they love Americans. They love rock and roll, and they even have a Shake Shack. (I will be cheating on my diet the whole time I am there.)
Furthermore, I learned that 90 percent of working Kuwaiti citizens are employed in the government sector. Thousands of Kuwaiti students study for business and technology degrees in the U.S., but return to find current Kuwaiti business and economic regulations a barrier to the creation of new businesses. The Government of Kuwait has announced programs like this to support young entrepreneurs in an effort to expand the private sector.
In Kuwait, I will be visiting and working with Sirdab Lab and Sociallobby. They are both great and growing organizations, very eager for training and expertise and direction.
This will be the first of many trips that will take me overseas to represent American entrepreneurship. My goal is to not only inspire collaboration and creation of new ideas and products -- it is also to showcase different communities around the world. Through positive exposure, I believe we are able to humanize foreign cultures and make it more relatable to everyone who is paying attention. With a relatable view on the different cultures I feel that we will be able to understand each other more clearly and the doors of communication will open up to amazing things for our future.
I want to thank to the people in the State Department for selecting me, the U.S. embassy in Kuwait for making me feel super comfortable, and the awesome Kuwaiti people for having me come. I am super excited for this. I would also like to thank you for reading this and following me on this journey. My hope is that we all learn a bit more about each other and figure out how to collaborate globally (AlleyGLOBAL) so we can fix the crap that needs fixing and all HUSTLE ON.
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