The Entrepreneurship Obsession: That's not how you get things done.

I hesitated a lot before writing this note about entrepreneurship, so I hope you will be patient and not understand what follows as an opposing viewpoint, as the current situation necessitates putting some points in order.

I hesitated a lot before writing this note about entrepreneurship, so I hope you will be patient and not understand what follows as an opposing viewpoint, as the current situation necessitates putting some points in order.

To begin with, business incubators are centers that stimulate the nurturing of entrepreneurs and their ideas, turning them into real-world projects. The idea of business incubators first appeared in the early 1950s after the end of World War II when the U.S. economy experienced rising unemployment rates, traditional large factories were idled, and indicators of an economic depression emerged. This led to the establishment of the first business incubator in 1956.

All of the above is commendable, but in our countries, you witness the unbelievable. Young people are mobilized and directed towards entrepreneurship, marketed to as if it were a "force of destiny," and a trivial saying is implanted in their minds: "Just set a goal in your mind and you will achieve it!" Their minds and their dream of liberation from unemployment and need are robbed with grand words like: passion, motivation, program your mind... etc. There is no governmental authority to deter these people and tell them, "That's not how you get things done." On the contrary, they beat the drums and blow the trumpets for it because it distracts the youth without demanding employment and jobs. They narrate to them the experiences of Silicon Valley giants from Mark Zuckerberg to Gates and others, as if Bill Gates just "blew" on his idea and it instantly turned into Microsoft at lightning speed. Yes, entrepreneurship exists, but the business environment, the entrepreneur's personality, and their genius in marketing their idea play a role in their success or failure.

Internationally, some reports indicate the waste of billions of dollars from the savings of the needy after the idea of business incubators was floated. The accompanying media campaign targeted many unemployed young people, and they embarked on implementing small projects with the little capital they had (trick and spark). However, as those reports say, the percentage of projects that succeeded compared to the percentage that failed is very small. For example, how many applications similar to WhatsApp have succeeded? Very few, or their market share is negligible. And here another question arises: Why did WhatsApp succeed in the first place even though there are much better applications that did not gain that fame? The truth is, this topic is lengthy, but there is a claim that there is a systematic process to suppress ideas or acquire them by giant corporations. These huge empires may benefit from them to develop their work (and this is commendable), but many of these ideas are acquired but never see the light of day, which means a real process of suppression has occurred for the purpose of control, not benefit. Google (for example) is accused here of contributing to the "suppression" process because it only shows in the top search results those companies funded by Google Ads—projects that entrepreneurs may not be able to match in their advertising budgets, assuming (if we think charitably) that they (some entrepreneurs) know how to target and run their marketing campaigns.

In the Arab world, billions of dollars have been wasted on developing entrepreneurial work, claimed to be investment, but in reality, it was nothing but futile waste for many reasons. Governments aimed to "distract" the youth with the trend of entrepreneurship through training and workshops, which consumed very large sums. Unfortunately, when an entrepreneur finishes their training and prepares their investment idea, and after immense effort, it is presented to funders and does not obtain the necessary funding. Here we have two cases: either this young person loses their time and effort and reaps the wind of frustration, later turning into a ticking bomb resentful of society; or, in the second case, they may be forced to "skim" the savings of their family and social circle to gather capital and risk it, and we enter the maze again: those who succeed (and they are few) reap millions, and those who fail disappoint their family and surroundings and turn into resentful individuals charged with violence fueled by the lie: just have a goal and passion, and you will reach it.