July 18, 2008

The story of the U.A.E. is a pretty amazing one. The journey since independence in 1971 has been simply spectacular, with a lot of it documented quite well by the media, so I won’t go into any details there.

The reason I mention this is because I am a student of outstanding leadership and the U.A.E. certainly had one in the late, great Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. If anybody has seen early footage from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) documenting the formative years of the U.A.E. - you would know that Shaikh Zayed was the undisputed leader and made strategic choices that have held his Emirate - Abu Dhabi and the rest of the U.A.E. in good stead to this day. How he managed to secure such a majority of the U.A.E.’s oil reserves for Abu Dhabi is a testament to his brilliance in diplomacy & people engineering.

Dubai, had another superb leader in the late, great Shaikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Makhtoum. He set the foundation for Dubai to be the chief “Innovation Emirate” and the current leadership has been doing an excellent job realizing the seeds sown in an era past. Plenty of rumors are abound about Dubai running out of oil within 5 years or being submerged under water within 50 years.

I think Sir Branson was looking for a little spaceport publicity there :). Clearly there is more to the U.A.E. than just the coastline. Just because that’s the only part he has seen, doesn’t mean it is the only asset the U.A.E. has. He probably is right when it comes to fuel reserves - just not the timeframe. I am pretty sure there is a decade’s worth left.

In my opinion, the “Innovation Emirate” should go ahead and focus on renewable energy. Specifically, solar energy. Having lived in Dubai for 17 years, I have no doubt in my mind that it is a haven for solar farms. Why else would Audi, atleast 10 years ago, have debuted the first solar powered sunroof in the Middle East?

I really think we will see a massive surge in solar cell conversion efficiency - reaching the magical 40% level within 5 years. Given the right funding. So, bottom line, I urge the Dubai Wealth Fund managers to recruit these MIT researchers and give them an environment & an offer they can’t refuse. I know Dubai is good at making offers people can’t refuse. :)

I can imagine solar farms, the size of football fields peppering Dubai, sucking in the sun and storing it. Dubai’s relative proximity to India & China would allow it to easily export all this surplus out to these growing giants. Dubai’s world-renowned expertise in Solar power & energy transportation would then be sought after in Africa & the rest of the Middle-East - creating further revenue.

Who needs Oil when you have cracked the Sun?

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