I was privileged to be invited to the unveiling of the results of the Second Annual Asda'a Buson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey on March 7, 2010 at The Address Hotel. The survey looked into attitudes to the financial crisis, technology, media consumption, social media networking, travel attitudes, spending habits, brand perceptions, education and future expectations.

I will not go into the details of the survey findings, but would rather focus on some of the surprising elements. It is, however, worth noting that a rather distinguished panel was present to discuss the findings:

• HE Ms Najla Al Awadi (UAE FNC Member, Deputy CEO of DMI)
• Abdul Rahman Al Rashed (General Manager, Al Arabiya Television)
• Mustafa Abdel-Wadood (Managing Director, Abraaj Capital)
• Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi (Chariman of Young Arab Leaders, UAE Chapter and Media Columnist)
• Lubna Qassim (Lawyer and Legal Reform Specialist)
• Ali Mostafa (Independent Film Maker)

Everyone seemed upbeat. Everyone put on a brave face and lauded how great it was to have the Arab Youth so optimistic about the future. There were even those who believed that Arab youths had every right to be optimistic, giving an example of the oil wealth the GCC has.

The only panelist who seems to realize the gravity of the situation was Abdul Rahman Al Rashed who cautioned that expectations may be too high. That, I believe, is a serious understatement. The survey findings should send alerts to all government bodies across the Arab world: we have a catastrophe in the making. The youth have seriously unrealistic expectations and there is a direct correlation between that and media freedom. Unfortunately, governments who shelter their citizens from the harsh realities tend to end up with citizens who expect everything to be rosy. After all, they have been told so! Strangely enough, all research indicates that people in the Middle East trust what they read in the papers (more so than their counterparts in the West).

The most compelling question I had was: What role does the self-censored media play when it comes to the region's youths unrealistic expectations, given how much trust the Arab Youth put on regional media?

One of the other discussions that took place that I found rather interesting was about entrepreneurship and governments' roles in them. Sultan Al Qassemi summed it up by saying that governments should just stay out of it and he was then "educated" on how much regional governments have contributed to the encouragement and support of entrepreneurial activities. I don't think anyone is denying governmental roles in 'initiating' activities in certain industries (a point Mustafa Abdel-Wadood articulated bette than I can hope to). The issue here is that governments continue to have a heavy-handed approach to start-ups. An example often cited is how difficult it is to start a business in the region without a lot of funds, office space, etc. It most certainly gives some food for thought.