As a tiny island monarchy, Bahrain was the first Middle Eastern nation to strike oil, and yet compared to its neighbors, its oil reserves are small. However, if Bahrain is not rich in oil, it is rich in its people. Most of the population is bilingual; many are trilingual. Historically, it’s been a place where open, competitive markets are welcome, combined with an outgoing populace willing to make partnerships and friends with people of many nationalities.

With Amazon Web Services Inc.’s first Middle East and North Africa data hub located in Bahrain, the country is looking forward to a future based on data, not oil and gas.

“You can’t buy innovation,” said Tala Fakhro (pictured), executive director of the Bahrain Economic Development Board. “I think we’ve proven that enough times — government is no good at making people innovate. But what we can do is make life easier for those who want to innovate … so what we want to do is pave the way. Allow for the opportunities to be there, and then … it’s every man for himself, and the free market will compete.”

Fakhro spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the AWS Summit event in Bahrain. They discussed the many ways that the government is aiding and supporting new digital businesses in the region. (* Disclosure below.)

Bahrain is looking to compete internationally

Since Bahrain can’t depend on its oil reserves, its government is making large investments in the “new oil” of data. By attracting new international players, such as AWS, the country’s government is laying the groundwork for a brighter future for the country. In her role on the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Fakhro sees a variety of ways to create a welcoming environment for innovators and entrepreneurs, which is key to the country’s future vision of being a country known for ultimate innovation.

To make sure the soft infrastructure was first in place, the Bahraini government passed a digital ecosystem package, encompassing data protection and electronic transactions laws. Additionally, there is a new law in progress that will allow people who are storing data on Amazon’s Middle East hub to bring their own laws with them, ensuring there are no compliance issues, according to Fakhro.

One of the challenges the government has addressed this year was a lack of local funding for new tech startups. Therefore, they launched a “fund to fund” initiative of $100 million, which is available to help startups and support entrepreneurship not only in Bahrain, but across the Middle East.

“[Investors] are going to come here, and they’re going to look at the Bahraini startups, and that gives us the chance to compete on the world stage and shine,” Fakhro concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Summit Bahrain event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for AWS Summit Bahrain 2018. Neither Amazon Web Services Inc. and the Bahrain Economic Development Board, the event sponsors, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE