How emerging economies are banking on their massive young populations to become innovation hotbeds to rival Silicon Valley

The way Saudi entrepreneur Mohammed Aldossary sees it, innovators are animated by the same motivations whether they are in Silicon Valley, the Arabian peninsula or in South Asia: they want to solve vexing problems at scale.

“What excites talent, what excites the community is to go build around those needs,” Aldossary told the Fortune Global Forum on Sunday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

He is the cofounder and CEO of SILQFi, the result of the merger in April between Saudi business-to-business marketplace Sary...