Hannibal's elephant riding Carthaginian army inflicted defeats on the Romans even when heavily outnumbered. Time Life Pictures / Getty Images
Hannibal's elephant riding Carthaginian army inflicted defeats on the Romans even when heavily outnumbered. Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Underdog principle to tackle jobless problem



Pursuing an unconventional strategy has been proven in the past to greatly improve the odds of overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. Take Hannibal's army of 50,000 in 216BC for example, which was outnumbered against a Roman force of 86,000, but defeated its stronger opponent by adopting a bold strategy.

This involved deploying his weakest troops in the centre, facing the concentrated thrust of the strongest Roman infantry, while positioning his most experienced troops on the sides, allowing the Carthaginian troops to encircle the Roman infantry and inflict a comprehensive defeat.

We consider such unlikely victories as statistical anomalies. However, the political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft analysed wars fought in the past 200 years and found that when the weaker side fought with an unconventional strategy, its winning ratio more than doubled to 63 per cent.

The same lesson can be applied to modern-day challenges. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region faces high youth unemployment with 25 per cent of those under the age of 26 being jobless. This high unemployment rate translates into an annual loss of US$40 billion (Dh146.92bn) to $50bn, equal to the GDP of Lebanon or Tunisia. This economic disempowerment was at the heart of the Arab Spring.

Until now, governments and development institutions have relied on conventional strategies to solve the challenge of youth unemployment, with one such approach being to exploit natural resources. This has prevented the emergence of a strong private sector while only increasing reliance on oil and gas, which account for 80 per cent of merchandise exports of Arab countries.

A second approach has been to rely on the public sector as the engine of job creation. However, food price inflation and demographic changes have stretched the resources of governments and they are no longer able to create a sufficient number of jobs.

The third approach has been to utilise foreign aid. Mena has been the largest recipient of development assistance on a per-capita basis, receiving $73 per capita as compared to $49 for sub-Saharan Africa in 2008. This has built dependency rather than developed capacity within the economies.

It is evident that traditional economic models have not delivered, and perhaps an unconventional approach is needed to solve the youth unemployment challenge.

An unconventional approach could be to back innovative business ideas of entrepreneurs - especially emerging enterprises or small medium enterprises (SMEs), According to research by the European Union, a dollar of investment in SMEs creates twice as many jobs as in large corporations.

In sub-Saharan Africa, research shows that enterprises the Abraaj Group has invested in have created jobs and now employ more than 19,000 people. A specific example is Brookside Dairy, a leading Kenyan milk processor, which indirectly supports about 200,000 Kenyans in its value chain.

This strategy can be risky, however, because smaller businesses may be more likely to fail than a more established company.

But if successful, investing in home-grown entrepreneurs that are generating economic wealth fuels a sustainable engine of job creation. This is an unconventional and bold alternative to the existing models that are no longer wholly effective.

Two millennia later and not far from ancient Carthage, now a suburb of Tunis, entrepreneurs such as Dr Alya El Hedda are deploying Hannibal's ingenuity in defeating economic disempowerment. Dr El Hedda left a safe job with the ministry of health to start her own business in 1988. Her generic drug manufacturing business, Opalia, has grown by 15 per cent per annum over the last five years, employs 350 Tunisians and generates foreign exchange through exporting 13 per cent of its turnover. Through Dr El Hedda's efforts and skills, Opalia, with the support of Abraaj since June 2009, has developed 150 generics - a complicated process requiring highly trained human capital and strict compliance with international standards - and been a role model as wealth and job creators.

The ultimate story of an unconventional strategy overcoming a stronger adversary is David's victory over Goliath. Realising that a conventional sword stands no chance against a bigger and stronger opponent, David took the risk of using an unconventional weapon, the slingshot and five smooth stones. Much of the old economic order in the region is geared towards conventional "weapons" to defeat the challenge of youth. Now, more than ever, the unconventional strategy of empowering entrepreneurs through investment in growth enterprises is needed to defeat the Goliath of youth unemployment.

Malik Ahmad Jalal is vice president at the Abraaj Group, a private equity investment company

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Know your Camel lingo

The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home

Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless

Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers

Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s

Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival

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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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Find the right policy for you

Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.

Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.

Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.

Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.

If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.

Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.

Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”

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Top tips to avoid cyber fraud

Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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