Financial education is part of the growth strategy employed by Governments in the UAE as it goes about investing massively in digital infrastructure.

When a nation starts to worry about financial literacy then you understand that the country is getting ready to embrace the modern world. The news emanated from the Gulf States (courtesy of a report in The Gulf News Money July 31, 2016). The report remarked that lack of financial literacy was responsible for income inequality. Average consumer debt was at a record high of $95,000 in the UAE and several citizens are caught in a vicious debt trap simply because they are unaware of the implications of borrowing and do not have the understanding of financial budgeting.

Role of Managed Service Providers

The governments in UAE being aware of the need to educate the citizens embarked on a massive investment program of digital literacy. The government programs wanted the people to be educated quickly through formal and informal interactions. The benefits of learning and bridging the digital divide has started to percolate to the far corners of the Gulf States. Web hosting in Dubai is now a simple and easy click process as evidenced by the thousands of portals for services, learning and ecommerce. Managed service providers have created the proper ecosystem for simple one-click process that installs state-of-the-art apps to enhance learning and easy understanding of the processes. By taking advantage of fiber optic infrastructure hosting websites with foolproof security is as easy as a walk in the park. IT support in Dubai is playing a big role in the implementation of learning portals as well as providing AMC services in Dubai to the many legacy systems still functioning. The Emirates closely follow patterns from the Asian subcontinent as several organizations follow the Annual Maintenance Contract Services India style. Legacy systems with desktops are still prevalent in India and The Gulf. Managed service providers in Dubai take pride in serving those customers in parallel with the latest systems.

This bodes well for learning portals that teach responsible financial management so that the youth in UAE are able to build secure financial futures. The lack of formal financial education in the early days of the 21st century when the oil boom was in full progress has been replaced with several learning initiatives aided by sound information technology infrastructure backed by knowledgeable managed service providers. Business education is one of the fastest growing segments in UAE. This is proof that a nation’s growth is directly linked to financial literacy among its citizens. As non-oil economy picks up steam there is no doubt that the Gulf States are progressing in the right direction.

The link between digital and financial literacy has been clearly established. Digital literacy levels the playing field between the rich and not so rich giving all stakeholders in a nation equal opportunities to grow.