Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
Chairman and Founder of international Jordan-based group Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization.
I believe that I was lucky to have suffered. Some people don’t realize that in suffering there is great potential, because if you are deprived for any reason… Politically, financially, socially or otherwise… and if you set your mind in the right direction, you will find that the only way to survive is for you to excel, by being better so you can be treated better.
Technology is not simply additive; it is more often exponential. An invention usually triggers other inventions.
A healthy, creative, open, growing, learning society will spontaneously create and develop the types of individual that the society needs. It will make development to economic and social adjustments all the more easy and natural. It will allow those of us in the private sector as well as government and civil society to correspond with each other and meet the needs of society in a positive way.
Creating a system to protect industrial and intellectual property is a prerequisite for the transfer of technology and consequently the resurgence of national technologies.
Business can constitute an enormous force for goodness in society. Through its commitments to corporate citizenship and to the principles of the UNGC, the global business community can continue to create and deliver value to society.
Intellectual capital is the main determining factor and the base for economic and social development to any country.
Making the future and the road to the future wealth lies in the youth of the present and future, and rebuilding the nation’s institutions based on knowledgeable scientific foundations that require promising human capacities derived from college graduates. Universities are the makers of men, we are proud of their role and of the efforts of their administrators.
I wanted to be the exception to the other kids, but in the right way. We have a lot of suffering in our part of the world, but that suffering is, in a way, a blessing. Obviously, I could not afford to go to school without a scholarship, so that meant I had to excel in order to get one.
An efficient telecommunications network is the foundation upon which an information society is built.
The foremost challenge is that of the knowledge revolution. Economic power will depend on creativity and innovation. Creation of wealth will move from traditional resources to the one asset: knowledge.
Moving to the forefront of advanced nations is not a choice but a national duty. This requires, among other things, erecting the best industrial property protection systems despite all challenges, particularly in the transition phase that we must endure.
Governments should be role models of leadership and improve the utilization of ICT in all the governmental departments in order to improve the efficiency of governmental services and motivate ICT industries.
Internet literacy must become universal within the Arab world.
In this century, technology will concentrate on the brain, whose heavenly potential, is yet to be realized.
Human experience throughout the ages has been enhanced through learning, information and communication.
The internet plumbing years are over - The internet intelligent years are ahead.
The goal of providing basic literacy and education to all the world’s people is still the most basic development challenge.
The INFOSPHERE we are heading towards invokes the inherent risk of being the sphere of the developed, the few. Unless we can bridge the technological gap between the 20% and the 80% of the global population, we will be heading towards an ugly world with ugly consequences.
E-Business will become the virtual market place in 20 years.
Throughout all the years and in everything we do, we have focused most of all on the development of human capacity, beginning with our own professional staff, and leveraging their expertise to enrich the Arab community. We have embraced the concept of the ‘knowledge worker’ and have sought to empower our people and the Arab world’s people to dream, to imagine, and to create.