#MENA
9 posts
Heritage as a Value Point: Building Economies around Culture and Tradition
MENA’s historical and cultural heritage, which spans millennia, provides plenty of unique value that can be tapped into in order to create experiences exclusive to the region. In this outlook, we explore how emerging businesses and regional champions can leverage cultural heritage as an economic driver. By incorporating their cultural elements into their business strategies, entrepreneurs and business owners can differentiate themselves from regional and international competitors. Entrepreneurs and businesses tend to adopt a future-forward approach for business growth. Still, […]
The 2022 Wrap-Up: MENA Trials and Prospects
We sum up some of our major themes and stories of last year, as opportunities for reflection heading into the new one: The year 2022 was filled with unequivocal lessons and unexplored potential around MENA’s innovation and entrepreneurial worlds. Naturally, emerging markets are positioned to bear the ripple effects of changes happening on a global front and strenuous economic conditions. However, certain intricacies in the makings of MENA allowed many sectors and businesses to take leading and rather pioneering roles […]
DMCC to Advance MENA Region’s USD 1.8 Billion Gaming Industry Through the Launch of the DMCC Gaming Centre
DMCC – the world’s flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – has announced the launch of the DMCC Gaming Centre in support of the increasingly growing global and regional video games industry. Currently standing at USD 1.8 billion, revenues generated by the gaming industry in the MENA region are expected to reach USD 5 billion by 2025. Launched during the Dubai Esports Festival, the DMCC Gaming Centre formalises DMCC’s efforts in the gaming […]
The Big Winners: Saudi Arabia Gaming readies to level up
What happens when the future of gaming is translated into the future of Saudi? The projected monetary gain is almost $21Bn by 2030, but with every radical shift in the Kingdom, the impact is far wider. In an interview with the Arab News, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, the president of the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports and the Arab eSports Federation– an avid gamer– projected that the gaming industry will contribute 1% of the Kingdom’s […]
DMCC, AstroLabs, and North Star hosted 200+ entrepreneurs for “Networking Under the Stars”
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: AstroLabs, North Star by Gitex Global Dubai, and DMCC, the world’s flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise, hosted a unique networking event and panel discussion as part of the North Star/Gitex Global 2022 Dubai week. Hosted by DMCC in its Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) community adjacent to the AstroLabs coworking spaces, 200+ of the next generation of inspiring local, regional, and global entrepreneurs engaged in knowledge-sharing and insight-building. ‘Networking Under […]
AstroLabs and the Italian Trade Agency partner to launch the UAE edition of the Global Startup Program
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: AstroLabs and the Italian Trade Agency, the government agency which promotes the globalization of Italian firms under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have partnered to launch the 2nd edition of the Global Startup Program in the UAE. The program will support the business acceleration and expansion of 12 technology-enabled Italian startups to the UAE, as a launchpad for expansion into MENA and beyond. For the 2022 edition of the Global Startup Program, AstroLabs is […]
Corporate Entrepreneurship in MENA: From CSR to Open Innovation
Contributed by: Roland Daher, AstroLabs CEO I vividly remember when Wamda coined the term Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility in 2013 and launched the CER movement in MENA ( Corporate Entre- a fairly visionary and advanced proposition for the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem back then. Although some early adopters (Aramex, GE, etc…) ran promising innovation programs, a decade ago working with startups or supporting the ecosystem was a show of “goodwill” rather than a business imperative for large enterprises. In its nascent stages, innovation programs […]
Fertile grounds for accelerated growth: How the UAE inspires Saudi expansion
For the UAE, future projections are leaning toward a healthy global business sector after a year of steady sector growth, with local and global players doubling down on the market. Today, the UAE Ministry of Economy officially announced its next stage of SME empowerment and business globalization at #gitexglobal2022. The UAE has introduced its vision to open the business sector to emerging and leading markets in partnership with local & global players in the ecosystem; a deep dive into the […]
AstroLabs hosts SOSV Orbit, Demo Day: On entering the UAE and eying MENA expansion
Economic pressures and fluctuating financial climates have been cataclysmic to global markets. Interestingly, the recessions and deep cuts observed in mega markets, have been met with an impressive scale-up for frontier and emerging ones. This invigorated growth put regions like MENA, East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa on top of expansion mandates, with plenty of untapped opportunities to capitalize on. To this avail, and while harboring some of the fastest growing economies in the world, the MENA region is becoming increasingly […]