< Previous20 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 COVER STORY “THIS REGION WILL BECOME THE NEXT SILICON VALLEY. LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN”MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 21 hat is a legacy? Is it impor- tant to leave a legacy? For some, these are questions that are left too late to be answered, but for 27-year-old tech billionaire Shadman Sakib, these answers are intrinsically tied to his fundamental vision. “I already have plans for after I die ... I want to build products that last for generations,” the founder of short-form video platform Vurse tells CEO Middle East when we sit down. “Everything that I have, every- thing that I will ever accumulate, and everything that I’m working towards, all of this has to be for all of humanity in perpetuity,” he says. For Sakib, his “most important objective is to con- tribute to the advancement of human- ity. It sounds broad and utopian, but that’s what I’m always thinking about.” Our conversation turned to the melancholic subject of the lifespan of a human life when discussing the leg- acy that Sakib plans to leave behind, a subject that he feels very strongly about. “In the broader scope of the history of our universe, humanity is a mere miniscule. Yet, we have accom- plished a fair amount in our relatively BUILDING THE FUTURE MIGHT BE THE EXCITING JOB OF A BILLIONAIRE TECH FOUNDER, BUT WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND IS WHAT MATTERS MOST, SHADMAN SAKIB TELLS CEO MIDDLE EAST BY MATTHEW AMLÔT W LEGACY Tech experts. Sakib’s work-hard mentality is self-evident throughout Vurse’s skyscraper offices and its team SHADMAN SAKIB | COVER STORY22 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 Recognition. Sakib received the Young Achiever of the Year award during the CEO Middle East Awards in December of last year $81.5BN The value of the global Web3.0 market in 2030, according to a report from Emergen Research COVER STORY | SHADMAN SAKIB short history. To keep that legacy alive is what keeps me going. If there’s no advancement of humanity’s legacy, there’s no point in me spending days and nights building,” he comments. To have such an all-encompassing, uncompromising focus on legacy is somewhat striking in such a young, albeit very successful, entrepreneur. Put simply, for Sakib: “What’s the point of being given this blessing of a human life if you’re not willing to contribute to the legacy of humanity as a whole? Every- thing that I build is for our legacy.” Vision It starts with a vision. Startups are easy to come by in the UAE. Indeed, the small business sector dominates the country’s non-oil economy, and represents that majority of the job market. However, finding success in the hyper competitive startup world is no easy feat, with the road paved with challenges. Sakib puts his own success down to building and manag- ing a team of like-minded individuals through a “rock-solid vision,” a belief system which brings him personal happiness too. “I have been a man without mon- ey, and I have been a man with money. When I was with money, I was happy, and when I was without money, I was still happy. The only reason for that is because I’m not driven by money, I’m driven by passion, vision and happi- ness. When I’m chasing my passion and vision with reckless abandon, I’m at my happiest, both mentally and physically. And money is a by-product of working hard towards your vision.” On the subject of money – Sakib disagrees with the age-old adage that money doesn’t bring happiness, noting it as “absolutely not true,” but brings his own caveat. “It depends on the person. For some, a million dollars makes them happy, while for others just $100 makes them happy. The reason a small farmer in Bangladesh could still be happy earning relatively less money is because he/she knows that they’re adding value to the lives of many people around the world. And that’s what’s most important. Every single human being working towards creating value in their own small or big ways.” he adds. MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 23 Content creation. Vurse believes in the vision of nurturing the world’s most extraordinary talents and making their content accessible anytime, anywhere This belief is something that Sakib has brought through into Vurse, a self-described “hyper-interactive” short-video platform. “With Vurse we have our own Creator Programme, backed by the latest Web 3 Technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence where we try to help content creators and our users with their livelihood as much as we can. We make sure that the platform will reward creators and reward regular users for spend- ing time in the app,” Sakib explains. “We want to make sure that spending time in the app will contribute to the financial happiness of the users and content creators.” Given the nature of the platform, with its roots firmly set in the futur- istic world of Web3.0 technology, it’s perhaps no surprise that Sakib chose Dubai to set up shop. The city has announced big plans to become the global hub for metaverse, blockchain, and other Web3.0 technologies, revealing its goal to add $4bn to its economy via a “metaverse strategy.” The decision to open his company in Dubai was one that came to the tech entrepreneur “quite easily.” “Dubai will become the next Silicon Valley, and the reason is that the quality of living here is so much higher. “If you compare the lifestyle, entertainment, security, and, most importantly, the quality of people that are moving here, it’s highly moti- vating.” In particular, Sakib highlights his quest to solve the talent equation as an important facet in the decision to be based in Dubai. “If I want to build a team and bring them to any country in, say for instance, Europe, it’s very dif- ficult. First of all, here [in Dubai] the regulations from the authorities help, but to bring foreign talent in is a lot easier than in Europe or the United States,” he says, before noting that the quality of talent available in Dubai is “top-tier.” “You have the best and the brightest coming here. People who understand technology and people with imagination and ambition. This satisfaction can only come from peo- ple who work in a city that “provides them with the environment to enjoy their life,” he says. The security of Dubai is like “no other city on earth,” Sakib adds, before applauding the emirate’s leadership as “phenomenal,” noting the leaders deserve a large amount of credit. “A LOT OF PEOPLE SEE SHORTER ATTENTION SPANS AS A CURSE, BUT FOR ME I SEE IT AS A BLESSING” SHADMAN SAKIB | COVER STORY24CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 COVER STORY | SHADMAN SAKIB “The culture key. While it may be a fantastic city for attracting and retaining talent, the key remains in successfully building and managing a team of highly skilled and driven people. Sakib is no slouch in this department, stating that he’s “often in the trenches with the team.” “Managing people becomes difficult if you’re a difficult founder, and I don’t think I’m a difficult founder... Even if the team is working 20 hours a day, I’m right there with them. I’m their friend.” In the discussion of manage- ment and culture, the topic of vision returns. “As founders, our most important job is to align everyone in the company with a vision. If every- one buys into the vision, it encour- ages them to work hard, and to build something long-lasting. They don’t do anything for me, they do it for the company, they do it for the team, aligned to one vision, then it’s able to move forward despite any roadblocks. And you can only reach there by con- tinuously focussing on building, mak- ing mistakes, and reinventing,” Sakib says. “Move fast, make mistakes, and reinvent”. Sakib, thinks this expres- sion should be applied more broadly. “We should be encouraging our society to make more mistakes, and not be afraid of making mistakes. But at the same time we have to ensure we’re working hard towards learning from these mistakes and putting our best foot forward through experiential learning,” he says. The culture of making mistakes, learning and reinventing has bled into the way in which Vurse has designed its short-form video app. Vurse With Vurse, Sakib is determined to improve the social media landscape New media. Vurse is an interactive short video platform, a destination for users to showcase, consume and engage with talent, ideas and culture from anyone and, most importantly, they do it for the vision,” he says. Sakib’s work-hard mentality is self-evident throughout Vurse’s sparse skyscraper offices. As previously mentioned, the founder puts a lot of emphasis on happiness, and he states candidly, “my happiness is to see other people happy.” Sakib adds: “If I see my team members are happy, or the products VURSE is building makes my users happy, that makes me happy. That makes me successful,” he says. Simul- taneously, if the entire company is $163.83BN The projected value of global blockchain market by 2029, according to a report by Fortune Business InsightsMARCH 2023CEOMIDDLE EAST25 SHADMAN SAKIB | COVER STORY for both content creators as well as users. “Social Media is at the epicen- tre of human interaction today. We have seen the impact it has had on people from all walks of life. However, there is still a lot of room for improve- ment. The Creator Economy has taken the world by storm, giving birth to a whole new paradigm of wealth genera- tion, but the little guy is still left far behind. The centralized nature of so- cial media platforms favors the bigger creators, but we want to make sure we create an inclusive environment where everyone gets a level playing field.” Sakib notes. Another key aspect of Sakib’s vision behind Vurse is a highly user- centric approach. “The amount of time an average person spends on social media today is extremely high. This is a fact that we must come to terms with and its addictive nature implies that this is not going to go down anytime soon. Therefore, my team and I at Vurse, believe that we must reinvent what it means to be a user on social media. Through gamification of user activity, coupled with the latest cryptocurrency technologies, we are able to create a new ecosystem of solutions where us- ers can generate passive income from the time spent on social media. “Along with this we are also work- ing on narrowing the gap between users and content creators. Through some very interesting features in our app, we are able to connect these two stakeholders like never before. This gives users much deeper relationships with their favorite creators and allows for users, as fans, to get something in return for their loyalty as well as giving them great insight into what it takes to be a successful content crea- tor and build a living out of it, if they aspire to do so.” As the interview finishes up, Sakib turns to walk us back through Vurse’s office, wherein we find the ma- jority of the team huddled at one end working on an undisclosed new feature. On the wall are large, vivid signs, perhaps each an expression of the firm’s “rock solid vision,” includ- ing phrases designed to, as Sakib explains, “evoke brilliance.” When asked though why he works in “the trenches” and endures the 20+ hours a day of work though, he had a simple answer, with the subject of legacy never far from his mind: “I want to be remembered for some- thing that really made a difference.” “ I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR SOMETHING THAT REALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE” Empowering creativity. Sakib says Vurse rewards creators and regular users for spending time in the app26 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 he 26th Annual Global CEO Survey, released last month by PwC, paints a stark picture of a world in a state of transition. Most strikingly, 40 percent of company CEOs believe that their companies will be economically unviable in a decade without significant change. Evolving customer preferences, new regulation, skills shortages, technological disrup- tion, supply chain issues and changes to new energy sources were all identi- fied as the forces most likely to impact profitability. The gloominess of CEOs is perhaps unsurprising. Although we in the UAE have so far shown remarkable resil- ience, many countries around the world have witnessed a profound period of instability, first with the pandemic and more recently with inflation and slug- gish economic growth. A more optimistic CEO, taking a longer-term view, might argue that history shows that in all likelihood the economic difficulties will pass, growth will return, supply chain issues will nor- malise, and new energy sources, tech- nology and regulation will produce new opportunities in a safer and greener world for those who show ingenuity. The issue of skills shortages is to my mind a far more serious one and requires our immediate action and attention, as these shortages will not normalise without policy changes. A significant change to our education system is required. How you identify the skills we should be equipping our young people with was rightly described at the World Economic Forum by UAE Minister of Education Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi as “the billion-dollar question.” The truth is that we cannot know what the labour market will look like in tomorrow’s economy. The pace of change is too fast. The risk we face is that a student starting a degree today may find their degree is out of date by the time they graduate. How do we at universities prepare the next generation of employees for their futures when so many of their prospective employers are so unsure of their own futures? A new model of education is required. As the UAE’s Education Minister highlighted at Davos, the answer lies in the promotion of interdisciplinary education and focusing on enhancing Higher education needs reform, writes Professor Paul J Hopkinson, Dean of the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Zayed University TRANSFERABLE SKILLS OVER SINGLE DISCIPLINE Educator. Hopkinson has worked in academia for over 20 years and held a variety of leadership roles in UK and UAE education institutions EDUCATION 271 MILLION The population of children, adolescents and youth (0-24 years) who will live in the MENA region by mid-century, according to a UNICEF data T MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 27 EDUCATION Future skills. Working in disciplinary silos is seldom an option in today’s disruptive environment a students’ soft skills. In doing this we can develop a student’s “learnabil- ity,” by which we mean their capacity to learn. Whilst also encouraging an ability to solve complex problems and developing a willingness to grow and adapt to new situations. This may sound a little vague to those of you, who like me, attended university, and studied a single disci- pline or a specific vocational degree, but interdisciplinarity is not new. Many of the most successful businesses and emerging industries in the world are interdisciplinary: the fintech sector, which thrives here in the UAE, is a prime and obvious example. Moreover, businesses frequently depend for their success on the ability of employees to collaborate across disciplines to manage projects and deliver innova- tive products and services. Working in disciplinary silos is seldom an option in today’s disruptive environment. Forward thinking employers recog- nise that these changes are essential. They understand that their companies, industries, and the world around them is changing and that those who do not evolve will not survive. For an employer the technology skills a student learns in university or at school may be useful tomorrow, but we can be almost certain that those skills will not be in demand in a decade. No one can predict which industry that automation or artificial intelligence will disrupt next. Clearly the ability to adapt is crucial. Coupled with this is the fact that the careers of today look different to the careers of yesterday. In the not- so-distant past it was not unusual to spend your entire working life with one company. Now the average job lasts just 2.5 years. And these are not just moves within industries: a survey of the MENA region by Bayt.com found that 56 percent of professionals were hoping to move job this year, with three in every four of those planning on a “complete change” in the industry they work in. have the wherewithal to adjust to the world as it changes will be the ones who are most successful. Our job is to embed this mindset in our students: to encourage them to view their careers and approach to learning as dynamic, not static. The degree programmes of today therefore need to be considered an in- vestment in our people and the skills of the future. These are problem-solving skills, which are grounded in analyti- cal and critical thinking, creativity and originality; the ability to manage our- selves whilst also developing resilience and flexibility; the people skills of col- laboration, communication, influence and leadership; and an openness and embrace of technology. Anyone equipped with those skills will find themselves in demand, ready for the future and immune to disruption. *Professor Paul J Hopkinson is the Dean of the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Zayed University. Hopkinson has worked in academia for over 20 years and held a variety of leadership roles in UK and UAE education institutions. Prior to embarking on his academic career, he held technical and commercial roles in the aero- space and telecommunications industries. 56% The percentage of professionals in the MENA region who are hoping to move jobs this year, according to a survey by Bayt.com “WE CANNOT KNOW WHAT THE LABOUR MARKET WILL LOOK LIKE IN TOMORROW’S ECONOMY” We must prepare graduates for this new reality. The need to reskill dur- ing a career is not simply an option for today’s young people, it is a neces- sity. Those who succeed in continually renewing themselves, are committed to ongoing personal development and 28 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 he world of education was never faced with a bigger chal- lenge than it is facing today. At the school level, the old concepts of imparting knowledge have already been thrown out of the window, as reflected in innovative curricula and formats devel- oped by technology-driven institutions. The scenario at the tertiary education level is far more complex and there is widespread criticism that many of the graduates churned out by universities do not have the skill sets needed in the cur- rent market. Tertiary education is therefore at a crossroads because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that is turning the job market upside down. Many of the jobs that were open to fresh graduates are disappearing, or about to disappear from the radar. Jobseekers need something more than mere degrees and diplomas to sur- vive, because artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, biotechnology and genetics have altered the landscape completely. The pace of change is not just dramatic but also frightful. In 2018, a LinkedIn survey revealed that most companies’ focus areas had switched to cloud computing, statistical analysis, and data mining skills. Two years later, the scenario had changed, with blockchain and analytical reasoning emerging as the top desired skill sets. Disturbing scenario A 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) study painted a disturbing picture of a world changed by the pace of technology adoption, one that is set to transform jobs – and their associated skill sets – by 2025. Almost half of the businesses surveyed by the WEF were already plan- ning to reduce their workforce because of technology integration. The study predicted that many existing job categories would be oblit- erated, but it also provided a glimmer of hope that new jobs would be created along the way, possibly outpacing those Tertiary education is at a crossroads because the Fourth Industrial Revolution is turning the job market upside down HIGHER EDUCATION AT A CROSSROADS: UNIVERSITIES MUST ALIGN PROGRAMMES TO A CHANGING JOB MARKET Future leaders. Universities need to embed emerging skills in their curricula, while imparting the multidisciplinary skills that will hold the key to any successful career EDUCATION T BY PROFESSOR HASSAN HAMDAN AL ALKIM, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF RAS AL KHAIMAH MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 29 EDUCATION Educator. Professor Al Alkim says a faculty member is no longer just a teacher but a facilitator lost, with increased opportunities for remote working. The key takeaway from the study is that the new roles would require much greater integration with machines, lead- ing to an increased demand for cross-dis- ciplinary skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and self-management. While high unemployment is a common problem worldwide, the Arab countries have the highest and the fastest growing unemployment rate of young people worldwide - 24.8 percent in 2022, according to a 2022 study by ILO. The report says a ray of hope would come from the expansion of green and blue (ocean resources and their sustainable use) economies. Changing role of universities In this scenario, the role of tertiary edu- cation is becoming increasingly impor- tant. It is a daunting task for universities to keep up with these disruptive develop- ments. They seriously need to consider change because the student community would expect not only value for money but an education that would give them jobs to survive, if not to prosper. The common refrain among employ- ers is that many of the graduates they hire are ill-equipped to join the work- force. As a reaction, employers are in- creasingly adopting a “skills-first hiring” approach. What we learn from this is that a university degree is still essential, but only if it is tempered with soft skills. We all know that knowledge involves two strongly inter-linked components: Classroom learning, as we know it, has to be altered to foster collabo- ration with peers on real-life group projects – virtually as well as in person – to enable students to meet people from campuses all over the world. We should encourage an entrepreneurial mindset so that students can work in self-directed ways that are critical in the modern workplace. The next major focus area should be stronger collaboration and more regular interaction with industry, with the goal of tapping into their up-to-the-minute knowledge to help inform the design of academic courses and to share experi- ences and insights directly with students. In other words, universities need to embed emerging skills in their curricula, while imparting the multidisciplinary skills that will hold the key to any suc- cessful career. This will boost graduate employability, and help universities to fulfil their goals of academic excellence, and position themselves as institutions committed to supporting the lifelong learning that will equip and empower the workforce of the future. Links with industry This could be achieved through proac- tive measures from higher education institutions. One way to reach this goal would be to have an industry advisory committee in each tertiary education institution to suggest changes to the cur- riculum and align it more closely to the needs of the market. The instructors or professors need to get more proactive in embedding skills within the students. We must realise that the role of faculty has undergone a change: A faculty member is no longer just a teacher; he is a facilitator. This means that faculty members need to go the extra mile to stay up-to-date with emerging skills. The challenge is huge but it is not insurmountable. Concerted efforts by academics, industry leaders and the government would go a long way in creat- ing a new roadmap for a changed higher education landscape. 24.8% The unemployment rate of young people in Arab countries in 2022, according to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) “UNIVERSITIES NEED TO EMBED EMERGING SKILLS IN THEIR CURRICULA” content and skills. The Conference Board of Canada explains this very effectively. Content includes facts, ideas, principles, evidence and descriptions of processes or procedures. Most instructors, at least in universities, are well-trained in content and have a deep understanding of the subject areas they teach. But expertise in skills development though is another matter. The issue here is not so much that instructors do not help students develop skills – they do – but whether these intellectual skills match the needs of knowledge-based workers, and whether enough emphasis is given to skills development within the curriculum, according to the Conference Board of Canada. New skill sets The key to results-oriented tertiary edu- cation is blending academic learning with new skill sets that would have in their ambit complex problem-solving skills, along with advanced communication, team working, business understanding, leadership and other behavioural skills.Next >