The Egyptian Economy & President Mubarak

Nobody will dispute that the first thing a country, any country or state needs is political, religious and economic stability.  Granted the economic aspect has not been as quick in it’s evolution as many would like.  But economic growth depends as much on a country’s citizens as it does on it’s government.  In the Middle East more so than in western countries (to date) we must rely on governments to create a stable religious as well as political atmosphere so a prosperous economy can evolve.  Economies evolve, they are not created.  In creating a prosperous economy we first need education of our citizens.

The responsibility for growth and development falls on the teachers.  Much needs to be done by teachers to continue their own personal education and truly pass on a the best education they can to their pupils.  Their pupils are the future rulers, movers and shakers of Egypt.   There is much enlightenment needed here among the teachers, and again they are doing the best they can within the limitations of their own knowledge and personal experiences.  Enlightenment is needed for all of us in how to use our brains to our full potential and to teach others how to do the same – as opposed to simply teaching to pass exams or regurgitate facts on one subject or another.A prosperous, growing economy – especially an emerging economy (and remember that is what Egypt is – an emerging economy) needs people with ideas.  It needs a citizenship that is willing to work.  In a way I think that right now in Egypt we may have too many educated and qualified (by this I mean holding certificates) citizens.  There may be an imbalance between the number of people qualified in certain areas and the number of “Ideas” people needed to come up with ideas of how to create positions for these educated and qualified people to fill.

For most of us we get educated, train for a job or career.   When we set up a business or start a job we institute routines for ourselves.  As time passes we get caught up in dealing with what comes our way on a day to day basis working with these routines and skills.  We rarely have the luxury of being able to sit back and look at what we are doing objectively, with fresh eyes.  Eventually new, younger people invade our workspace and point out to us that we are old-fashioned, behind the times, wasting our time and not utilizing the amazing new technology at our disposal. How do we feel when this happens?

Fair is fair and I feel compelled to point out that President Mubarak got no training for the position of President of Egypt.  He was a trained air force pilot.  He lead a country to stability and an economy with only 9% unemployment today – a better performance than many western countries experiencing at the moment!  Like those of us in business or with careers/jobs he got caught up in the day to day business of the running the country and co-ordinating peace efforts in the entire Middle East as well as courting and enticing foreign investment and trade to Egypt.  Yes, like the rest of us he fell behind in many ways – but which one of us could have managed a job of the magnitude of that of the Presidency and protection of Egypt?

Egypt has a large potential workforce but in comparison to the size of the population of Egypt and the speed at which that population is growing it is sadly lacking in industries across all spectrums.  There are government grants available – but to avail of the grants you have to have an idea, you have to be willing to work your heart out to bring it to fruition, you have to have problem solving skills, in short you need a whole range of personal traits and be willing to put yourself on the line and take a chance.  Egypt needs Entrepreneurs not critics.  Egypt needs economic heros and heroines not mindless grabbers.  Egypt needs it’s people to stop, breath and think.  Egypt needs it’s people to be smart enough to notice who is manipulating them, how they are being manipulated and refuse to be manipulated by faceless entities of self-serving interests.