Why Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum Prioritizes Technology Transfer Over Equipment

A smart classroom sits unused in rural Pakistan. Teachers received no training. IT staff cannot troubleshoot connectivity issues. Curriculum materials assume bandwidth the school does not have. Hardware depreciates while educational outcomes remain unchanged.

Failure modes like these define technology deployment in emerging markets. Equipment arrives. Knowledge does not. When contracts expire and implementation teams depart, host countries retain physical assets but lack the capability to operate, maintain, or improve systems independently.

The pattern repeats across sectors:

• Hospital equipment without trained technicians
• Power systems without maintenance protocols
• Digital platforms without local administrators

Development finance has spent decades deploying hardware while neglecting the absorptive capacity that determines whether hardware generates outcomes.

Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, Chairman of Inmā Emirates Holdings, has structured technology investments to directly address this gap. Device manufacturing facilities in Nigeria, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea include technical certification programs, supplier qualification systems, and quality control frameworks designed to function after contractors leave.

How Conventional FDI Extracts Rather Than Builds

Standard foreign direct investment in manufacturing follows a pattern: international firms establish facilities, employ local workers for assembly, and retain engineering and management at headquarters. Wage payments flow to host countries. Intellectual property and high-margin activities remain with investors.

The economics are rational for investors. Centralizing knowledge functions protects competitive advantages and simplifies operations. But the structure limits host country development. Assembly wages contribute to household income. They do not build institutional capability or create spillover effects that transform economies.

Joint ventures dissolve. Economic conditions shift. Expatriate staff depart. Knowledge required to maintain or replicate systems leaves with them. Host countries face a choice: renegotiate with the original investor, find a new foreign partner, or abandon the asset.

Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum’s manufacturing investments operate differently. West African device assembly plants include supplier qualification programs enabling local vendors to meet international component standards. Technical training extends beyond equipment operation to maintenance, quality assurance, and process improvement.

Some trained workers leave to start competing enterprises or join local firms. Inmā treats diffusion as a feature rather than leakage. The investment thesis assumes knowledge spillovers generate ecosystem value that compensates for individual firm losses.

Why Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum’s Smart Classroom Model Works

Huawei’s partnership with Inmā, which deploys Smart Classroom technology across Pakistan’s schools, bundles hardware with teacher training, curriculum development, and local technical support. The scope extends beyond installation to institutional capacity that endures.

Inmā’s technology initiatives share structural elements:

• Ongoing support contracts rather than one-time installations
• Performance metrics tied to user adoption rather than equipment delivery
• Training programs designed to enable independent system management
• Outcome-based evaluation matching multilateral lender standards

The distinction matters for accountability. Equipment delivery metrics create incentives to maximize deployment regardless of utilization. A contractor paid per unit installed has no reason to ensure units function. A contractor paid for user adoption and learning outcomes has every reason to invest in training and support.

Education technology failures often trace to misaligned incentives rather than technical problems. Hardware works. Teachers do not know how to use it. IT staff cannot fix it when it breaks. Students lack prerequisite digital literacy. Bundling capability development with technology deployment builds absorptive capacity, which determines whether hardware yields educational outcomes.

Digital Identity as Platform Infrastructure

Guyana’s National ID Program delivers a secure identity infrastructure, improving government service delivery while reducing fraud. For 1.4 billion adults globally excluded from formal banking (concentrated in rural and frontier markets), digital identity becomes a prerequisite for financial inclusion.

Platform effects follow. Once identity infrastructure exists, additional services layer without duplicating verification: credit scoring, insurance, mobile banking, and land registration. Economic value compounds as more services connect.

The platform economics differ fundamentally from project economics. A standalone IT system generates value equal to its direct function. A platform generates value equal to all services built on top of it. Identity infrastructure enabling five downstream services creates five times the value of identity infrastructure enabling one.

Turnkey IT contracts optimize for deployment speed and minimize contractor risk. Guyana’s implementation includes government staff training to enable independent system administration. Capability transfer determines whether the country captures platform effects or remains dependent on external contractors for expansion.