Wamda

Regional

How MENA's female founders thrive in an ecosystem built for men

An article by Somaiah Al Dabbagh, Founder of Maeya Starting without a playbook Being a female founder in the MENA region often feels...

oped female entrepreneurs

Regional

The shift AI startups need to win over GCC investors

An article by Farid Yousefi, Founder and CEO of Founder Group Ai Artificial intelligence is accelerating across the GCC at a pace few...

oped AI

U.A.E

The UAE’s next property boom will be powered by AI

An article by Milad Monshipour, CEO and Founder of AIR In the first half of 2025, Dubai’s real estate market recorded more than...

Proptech AI real esate

U.A.E

Is the UAE building the region's first true open finance economy?

An article by Tewfik Cassis, chief product & technology officer ay Lean Technologies The UAE’s bold move Financial...

oped Fintech Open banking

Palestine

MENA’s innovation map expands as Syria debuts, Palestine rises at GITEX 2025

At this year’s GITEX Global, the region’s largest technology exhibition, the spotlight quietly shifted to two pavilions that...

Sync Syria GITEX 2025 Expand North Star

Regional

MENA startups face a cybersecurity wake-up call

An article by Dmitry Marinov, CTO of ANY.RUN, a UAE-based cybersecurity company As the MENA startup ecosystem matures,...

cybersecurity oped

Regional

Gaming emerges as MENA’s next big venture bet

An article by Kirill Gurskiy, Managing Director at GEM Capital. Today, the Middle East and North Africa region stands at a unique...

Gaming oped gametech

Regional

Fail fast, learn faster: Lessons from Musk’s playbook

An article by Baha Hamadi, founder & MD of Keel Comms In traditional corporate culture, failure is treated like a contagious...

oped

Regional

AI goes mainstream as MENA SMEs join the race

An article by Ahmed Mahmoud, CEO, DXwand Artificial intelligence was once the preserve of large enterprises with deep pockets and...

smes AI Artificial intelligence

Regional

The balancing act of innovation and growth for scale-ups

An article by Daniel Bryant, CTO of iyris. In the GCC, scale-ups — SMEs that have proven their business models and are targeting...

oped scale-ups

Regional

GCC family offices shift from preservation to innovation investing

Family offices are becoming pivotal players in MENA’s investment landscape. Initially focused on wealth preservation, these...

family offices

Regional

MENA family offices explore the future of frontier investments

Family offices are becoming pivotal players in MENA’s investment landscape, but their strategies are evolving fast—and not...

family offices oped

Regional

The emerging VC gamble for family offices

Family offices are increasingly courted by emerging venture capital managers, drawn in by the promise of outsized returns and early access...

family offices oped

Regional

What if the unicorn obsession is holding MENA back?

An article by Imad Eddine Oubiri For over a decade, the term “unicorn” has defined what success looks like in the startup...

Unicorn oped

Regional

Inside the evolving role of advisors for MENA family offices

Following our deep dive into how MENA-based family offices are rethinking their approach to direct startup investments, this piece explores...

family offices

Regional

Time for MENA businesses to lead with digital discipline

An article by Andrey Fedorov, the Founder of Velter When I walked into my first business meeting in the UAE, I immediately...

oped

Regional

MENA founders: stop obsessing over profit, start tracking cash

An article by Moataz Mukhaimer, Strategy & Finance Advisor The income statement, often regarded as the pinnacle of financial...

oped

Regional

AI, digitisation could hold the key to MENA’s food security challenge

An article by Belal Zahran, Foodics' International Managing Director, Egypt & UAE The food and beverage (F&B) industry...

oped f&b foodtech

Regional

Why should MENA family offices rethink direct startup investments

When a family sells a company, cashes out of a long-held asset, or completes a lucrative IPO, a common question often arises: What...

family offices

Regional

Why startups can't afford to ignore customer experience

An article by Georges Al Feghali, Board Member, Executive Vice President, Consulting & Transformation at CXG In a recent...

oped customer experience

Regional

The future of MENA SMEs depends on smarter CFO tools

An article by Adnan Murudi, Associate, and Simon Sharp, Partner at Global Ventures CFOs sit at the centre of strategic...

CFO

Regional

Agentic AI is here to stay in MENA’s foodtech landscape

An article by Alexander Ponomarev, CEO of Syrve MENA, a MENA-based restaurant technology provider. The food and beverage industry, along...

f&b Agentic AI

Regional

MENA’s entrepreneurs must think in ecosystems, not silos

An article by Wael Jaber, founder & CEO, CLAN Investment Entrepreneurship used to be about solving a singular problem or offering a...

oped

U.A.E

The UAE’s formula for startup success: vision, investment and innovation

An article by Maryam A. Hassani, Head of Trends & Innovation at the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) The United Arab...

smes Investment

Thought Leadership

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