The UAE: A global 'glow-up' story
How has the UAE gone from a start-up nation to a scale-up nation? A new book tells the history of the country through the eyes of the people who have been and continue to be, a part of its success.
Bruce Whitfield is joined by Tom Hudson, a specialist in tech investment and legal and government affairs for the Middle East. He is also the author of 'Exponential Emirates'.
It is hard to believe, looking at it today, that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a only a little over fifty years old.
Just over half a century ago it was LAR considered, today it boasts a GDP of over $500 billion.
The extraordinary growth of the UAE has been detailed in a new book by British expat Tom Hudson, who has called the UAE home for the last twenty years.
Hudson says the book 'Exponential Emirates' is essentially a thesis that the UAE is the “Exponential Country for the Exponential Age”.
"I interviewed 50 people who had all been part of that amazing growth story."
Tom Hudson, Author - Exponential Emirates: The Extraordinary Growth Story of the UAE
But far from happening by accident, the growth of the UAE has been the realisation of vision by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, also known as the Father of UAE.
He was the brainchild behind the formation of the Gulf nation in 1971.
"There's a plan...there's actually a centennial plan. So 2071, which will be the hundredth anniversary of the UAE, there is a published plan as to what they think the UAE will look like then."
Tom Hudson, Author - Exponential Emirates: The Extraordinary Growth Story of the UAE
Clear in the knowledge that the key product on which the oil-rich nation has been able to develop at the rate it has, won't last forever, diversification has been a massive part of the UAE's success.
From tourism to free-trade areas - there's no doubt it's always had a back-up plan for when the liquid gold runs out.
"The current President of the UAE actually said he would celebrate the last barrel of oil."
Tom Hudson, Author - Exponential Emirates: The Extraordinary Growth Story of the UAE
"What he meant, was by then, they would have had to have reinvested in the future."
Tom Hudson, Author - Exponential Emirates: The Extraordinary Growth Story of the UAE