The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has driven unprecedented growth in various sectors within the Gulf region. According to the Indian research firm Mordor Intelligence, the ICT market in the GCC reached around $116.82 billion last year. The sector is expected to continue growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.49%, approaching $203.09 billion by 2029. This growth has the potential to bolster economic expansion, increase competitiveness on the global stage, and drive innovation within the region.

The adoption of digital technologies has led to the development of a robust physical infrastructure in the GCC countries. Bahrain as an example has invested heavily in building its telecommunications network, with high-speed internet and mobile connectivity, that is provided by the Big Three: Beyon, STC, and Zain. It has also hosted the first-ever public cloud in the region, which was built by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This has attracted investors, who are drawn to the country's business-friendly environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Human capital development is another key area where digital transformation has had a significant impact in the GCC countries. Bahrain has also made substantial investments in ICT education and training programs. Tamkeen —Bahrain’s Labour Fund— aims to develop a large pool of talents in software development through globally-affiliated programmes such as the General Assembly Academy and Reboot Coding Institute. Human resources play a critical role in attracting investors and preparing the island for the demands of the hyper-digitalisation that is driven by artificial intelligence.

Digital transformation has disrupted many sectors, especially commerce and finance. Payment gateways and e-marketplaces have become increasingly popular, providing consumers with a convenient and seamless shopping experience. Crypto-asset exchanges have also emerged as an essential catalyst in the digital transformation landscape regionally, including two companies that are based in Bahrain —Rain Financial and CoinMENA— which provide investors with neo-investment opportunities. They also open vacancies to local talents and highly-skilled expatriates from all over the world.

In conclusion, the impact of digital transformation on economic development in the GCC countries and Bahrain specifically has been significant, despite some regulatory issues here and there. By addressing the challenges head-on, regional policymakers and stakeholders can leverage digital technologies to spur economic diversification, foster entrepreneurship, and empower people across all social strata including citizens and residents. It is essential that GCC countries continue investing in their digital futures while ensuring that no one is left behind on this auspicious transformative journey.

It was one of the best decisions I've made in my life because I discovered a new way of education that has transformed my mindset completely. It was learning about learning, one of my ironic viewpoints and weird outputs as always. LOL!

General Assembly is a private education organization that is based in New York with branches in various countries. They deliver tech-related courses in an innovative educational method where they combine practical tutoring with industrial training.

I joined the Software Engineering Immersive which is intended to prepare full-stack software developers from zero to hero (to some extent). The lead instructor, Tor Johnson, was a highly qualified professional with a wide business background.

We went deep into web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery), web frameworks (React.js, Node.js, Express.js, Django, etc.), database management (MongoDB, SQLite and PostgreSQL), DevOps (i.e. development operations) and more.

The educational program was project-based without examinations. It's modelled after the concept of boot camp which means: "a type of physical training that consists of many different types of exercise, often done outside." [Cambridge Dictionary]

That journey made me somehow sceptical about traditional academic education, believing more in neo-pedagogy and going far toward what I can call "e-self-relearning" (ChatGPT still can't come out with something like this, LOL!).

Finally, the most important point is I have met great colleagues and instructors with whom I learned, worked, drank coffee and ate doughnuts together, and we laughed a lot (and cried sometimes) for 12 weeks from 9 AM to 5 PM every day.

1- Work hard: Despite being so rich and famous, Cristiano Ronaldo is still a very hard-working person. He wakes up too early and goes to training before sunrise every day, and he says: "To be in my shoes is not easy." That's something you rarely learn from billionaires such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Many people think Cristiano became the best because of his luck or talent, but he says: "Talent without work is nothing."

2- Do extra work: Every normal successful person works, but only the most distinguished persons do extra work. Cristiano says: "You have to work, I try to do it almost every day. This is why I'm in the top level for many years. It's not by coincidence but because I do it extra outside the pitch." However, you have to do it way more smartly and efficiently than others in the field as he says.

3- Stay healthy: Imagine you can easily relax but you resist it. Cristiano gets up early and takes an ice bath around the year including winter. He maintains a military diet with no carbonated sugar drinks, no fried processed meat, and even no alcohol. His teammate Dimitar Berbatov said: "At the Christmas parties we organized the players had a great time, but very professional. I never saw him drink even on those days."

4- Brand yourself: You don't need an MBA in marketing, just watch Cristiano who is the most followed human being on social media currently. Personal branding is one of the needed soft skills these days, which helps you to broaden your employment chances if you are a job seeker, or to increase your sales if you have a business. However, your brand should reflect your values, and that's what Cristiano does.

5- Be authentic: Having fame and money but still being honest and humble, that's very difficult. However, it's not the case with Cristiano. In the Instagram account biography of his CR7 brand, he says: "I don’t take myself too serious but I take what I do very seriously." Many people who have met Cristiano admit that he is a very modest and straightforward man, in spite of all that you see in the media.

6- Compete with yourself: "Focus on yourself, not others." Cristiano says. It is one of the most significant obstacles to success when you compare yourself with others, so just compete with yourself. Don't give a sh*t to idiots, because they are going to hate you whatever you do. Cristiano says: "In my mind, I'm always the best. I don't care what the people think and what they say. In my mind, I'm always the best."

7- Chase the vision: It's more about mindset than a recipe or business plan. Those great people have a great way of thinking about themselves. Likewise, the American internet entrepreneur Tony Hsieh says: "Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you." That is exactly what successful people do like Cristiano who says: "I don't follow the records. The records follow me."

Whether I was a winner or not, I always feel glad and satisfied because one of my competitors was eligible for the prize as a deserved winner in the competition (wherever its final judgement is fair and just). Yes, because I like reality, I embrace success and I support human development, all the time and everywhere. The best prize I win in every competition is: information and communication (i.e. ideas and friends).

After a long life of thinking and writing, the great American thinker Stephen Covey told us in his all-time bestseller “The 7 Habits of the Most Effective People” how we have to think win-win to win because we cannot be winners if our ecosystem is the biggest loser. I have found the final destination of entrepreneurship in my point of view which is being thankful to God because of his great blessings!

In that context, to continue leading global markets they have to maintain a healthy business ecosystem that secures high competitiveness rankings. We never move forward if we destroy the great liberal principles of the founding fathers of the modern world, so you should have some foundations to build upon and develop progressively. Senator Bernie Sanders, the longest-serving independent congressman in US history, says: “Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit; it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas, and that is a good thing.”

I am neither a politician nor an economist but just an independent researcher and specialist in IT services. I have founded a startup in my field of research-based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and I am proud to have small business relations with huge American names such as Amazon, Apple and Google. As an active member of the Google Developer Group in Manama, I have received an invitation from Google to attend their annual international conference on the 7th of May 2019, which will be held at the heart of Silicon Valley.

After getting my invitation, I went to the web to learn more about the area. It is a famous global economic centre for technology and innovation, which covers all San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metropolitan area in the US state of California. According to the Brookings Institution, this area has the world's third highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, after Zurich and Oslo in the EU. The term “Silicon” refers to the main material used in electronic microchip manufacturing. Silicon Valley is located in a multicultural metropolitan area with many demographic features such as unique diversity including large Chinese and Indian communities, so it is a transparent elastic society like its Silicon substance.

Again, we live in the information age where you cannot stop knowledge sharing around the globe. Nowadays, we have many new valleys such as the “Silicon Roundabout” area in East London. Furthermore, the French “Staten F” in Paris is considered the world’s largest tech incubator currently, while Germany has more than 2,500 startups around its “Silicon Allee” neighbourhood in Berlin. I think the EU countries will gain much greater influence shortly, especially because they protect their “four freedoms” to guarantee the free movement of labour, capital, goods and services. The Indian subcontinent has its own story in Bangalore, the so-called Silicon Valley of India. Russian Federation also has its milestones in that field. However, the biggest competitor to Silicon Valley currently in my opinion is the People’s Republic of China.

First, the Chinese population is the largest internationally. Moreover, they have the world’s highest GDP based on purchasing power parity according to International Monetary Fund estimates, so we can consider it the world’s largest economy. In Beijing municipality, Zhongguancun is a high-tech area, which is often referred to as China’s Silicon Valley with over 12,000 companies including global names like Lenovo which purchased the American IBM’s PC division with $1.75 billion in 2005. Heading south to Guangdong province near Hong Kong we will find Shenzhen city, China’s Silicon Valley which was described by The Economist magazine as “a hothouse of innovation” and it is home to IT giants such as Huawei Technologies which has its Middle East headquarters in Bahrain. Recently, the Chinese technology group Wonder News announced the launch of its main international headquarters in Bahrain on the sidelines of the 30 years celebration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and they will invest $50 million in our small market. Nevertheless, the American IT giant Amazon also chose Manama to host its first regional data centre, which puts Bahrain on the heat to attract more foreign investments and tech-savvy workers.

I see many promising horizons on our little island in the middle of the Middle East to make it a global high-tech portal for the MENA region. To satisfy my curiosity about the global economy and culture, I have studied an elementary course in the Chinese language at the Confucius Institute of Bahrain. The centre was opened after a visit by His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa to China, so they provide Bahrain with a good foundation for cultural understanding with opportunities for studying and doing business as well. A friend of mine, who visited China through an educational program sponsored by Huawei Technologies, said it was an amazing trip, the society is open-minded and all procedures are smooth and straightforward without any doubts or xenophobia issues there. He visited the Great Wall of China, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but Chinese people understand it currently as a historical landmark, and they no longer maintain any real walls to isolate themselves from other countries.

Comparing that journey to my experience after a long process to get a US visa, I completed an additional paper called “DS-5535” around six weeks ago. According to the NAFSA website, the new form has been announced in 2017 by the administration of Mr President Donald Trump to collect extensive information such as travel history during the last fifteen years; social media platforms and identifiers used during the last five years; and phone numbers and email addresses used during the last five years. I have found an article from the New York Times newspaper titled: “Who Needs a Border Wall When You Have DS-5535?.” The author had been waiting more than 13 months to get a visa for his fiancée. For different reasons, there are several similar stories on the Internet by business travellers from many countries around the world.

We have to deal with reality and learn lessons from different circumstances. Every country has its own regulations and legal procedures, so we must accept them. I am writing this article just to investigate some issues in our economy locally and globally, to share some lessons I have learned from my short experience and to address my concerns about how we deal with others and how they deal with us in the 21st century. I hope all global powers keep their fair and open values to continue playing leading roles and to gain bigger economic relations with our country and every country, especially the US as a strategic ally to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

An abridged edition of this article has been published by The Daily Tribune newspaper on the 1st of May 2019 (Issue No. 8098). It can be accessed from: https://www.newsofbahrain.com/epaper/01-05-2019/8.html