48 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / August 2019TJD Series"ONE KEY FACTOR FOR OUR
NATIONAL SUCCESS IS THE FACT
THAT WE ALWAYS TRY TO REINVENT
OURSELVES, AND TRY TO FIND
WHAT IS NEW AND WHERE IT IS
WE SHOULD BE GOING, EVEN WHEN
THINGS ARE GOING WELL.”START IT UP ECOSYSTEM
David Xuereb, President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise, and IndustryIMAGE CREDIT MALTA ENTERPRISEI got to witness Malta’s efforts in
building a business-ready environ-
ment firsthand over a short trip to
the nation organized by the Consulate
General of Malta in Dubai with the
support of Malta Tourism Authority
(“the tourism industry's regulator and
motivator, its business partner and
the country's brand promoter”), Malta
Enterprise (“the country's economic
development agency, tasked with at-
tracting new foreign direct investment,
as well as facilitating the growth of
existing operations”) and FinanceMalta
(“the public-private initiative set up
to promote Malta as an international
financial center”). Now, it doesn’t
take long to understand this country’s
appeal as a tourism destination- be
it with its spectacular scenery that’s
blessed with sunshine almost throughthe year, or its rich cultural history and
heritage that spans over 7,000 years,
Malta comes across as one of those
nations that seems to have been almost
designed to cater to an almost standard
idea for a place where one would like to
take a holiday in. While tourism is cer-
tainly one of the major contributors to
Malta’s economic growth, the manufac-
turing industry has been another of the
country’s mainstays, with Malta Enter-
prise pointing out on its website thatit is also “the second largest employer
on the island.” At the same time, Malta
has also made it a priority to push
ahead with its economic diversification
plans, which has allowed the nation to
see new economic sectors develop and
grow- these include everything from
pharmaceuticals, to financial services,
to aviation, to information and commu-
nication technologies, and much more.
This forward-thinking approach
showcased by Malta when it comes to
initiating and developing industries is
what David Xuereb, President of the
Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enter-
prise, and Industry, pointed toward
when characterizing the country’s eco-
nomic achievements over the last cou-
ple of years, despite its limited natural
resources. “I think one key factor for
our national success is the fact that we
always try to reinvent ourselves, and
try to find what is new and where it is
we should be going, even when things
are going well,” Xuereb said. “Certainly,
when things aren’t going well, people
always want to reinvent themselves,
but I think what we’ve been par-
ticularly clever in doing is trying to
reinvent oneself when things are going
relatively well.” This particular ethos
is especially evident in Malta’s pursuit
of a number of new technologies and
industries that look set to shape the
future of the world as we know it.
Consider, for instance, Malta’s efforts
at making itself known as a “blockchain
island”- not only has the country been
focused on adopting the technology
(the Malta Business Registry will be
the country’s first government agency
to use a blockchain-based system),