from Hacker News

Beirut’s Bright Future as a Tech Hub for MENA, If Its Politicians Will Allow It

by cnicolaou on 4/3/15, 2:04 PM with 4 comments

• by eastbayjake on 4/3/15, 6:16 PM

  I had no idea this stuff was going on in Beirut, but I'm excited to visit. If anyone from the Beirut tech community is reading this, I had two questions:

  (1) Do you agree with the author that the startup community is primarily held back by internet speeds? (It's painful to Skype or share a YouTube video with friends in Lebanon, so I know it's a problem -- just wondering about how you'd rank it with other concerns.) Are there any gaps in desired engineering skills? Are people bringing experience with large-scale web architecture or hardware design from working outside of Lebanon?

  (2) What's the competitive advantage for these companies? Some ideas -- like music streaming or health tracking or Hulu for the Middle East -- seem easily deflated if an already-at-scale competitor decides to focus on Arabic internationalization. What do Beirut's tech startups understand about Middle East consumers that Western tech companies are missing?

• by vonnik on 4/3/15, 8:31 PM

  I don't think Beirut's politicians are the only political risk the city is exposed to. Anyone familiar with the recent history of Lebanon knows that it is the pawn in a bloody geopolitical game being played by the US, Israel, Syria and Iran, among others. All of those countries have the power to destabilize Lebanon and its capital in a variety of ways. Many local politicians are tied to one or more of those interests. Anyone who thinks Lebanon will be stable any time soon should read Robert Fisk's "Pity the Nation."