Around the Institute

A Conversation with Chris Schroeder: How Arab entrepreneurs are transforming the Mid East

November 6, 2013

Featuring:

Chris Schroeder
Author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East, tech entrepreneur and investor

David Ignatius
Columnist, The Washington Post

Introductions by:

Walter Isaacson
President and CEO, The Aspen Institute

Christopher M. Schroeder is a seasoned internet executive, venture investor and author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Chris co-founded HealthCentral.com, one of the nation’s largest social and content platforms in health and wellness, which sold to the health media publisher, Remedy Health, in 2012. Previously he was CEO of washingtonpost.newsweek interactive and LegiSlate.com

Chris’s travels took him to Dubai, Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Istanbul and Damascus where he met thousands of the region’s emerging tech entrepreneurs. His book documents his encounters and tells the story of the less known but equally revolutionary change that has been sweeping over the region in recent years.

Since its launch in September 2010, Partners for a New Beginning has focused on supporting the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and across North Africa. Through entrepreneurship delegations between the US and the region, the Aspen Institute PNB initiative has introduced investors, business and civil society leaders as well as rising tech entrepreneurs to their counterparts from the US. This continues to facilitate knowledge transfer and provide support for the rising generation of entrepreneurs and change agents in the Middle East.