Managing Director of “Capital Incap” for “Al -Nahar”: The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the most attractive and developed markets for startups for startups
Abdullah Al-Haqim 
The economies of the Middle East region, specifically the Gulf states, are witnessing positive expectations and promising indicators about the future of startups and entrepreneurial ideas, in light of the rapid technological developments, and the introduction of artificial intelligence tools in the markets, to reflect positively on the growth of these companies. Governments in the Gulf countries play an important role in stimulating this growth by supporting innovation, whether through government policies supporting small and medium enterprises, or by pumping huge investments in information and communications technology, in addition to directing investments towards artificial intelligence, huge data and digital solutions, and this reflects the interest of these countries in promoting the digital economy and moving to the knowledge economy.
Rafik Dalla, Managing Director of the Capital Financial Consulting, told Al -Nahar: “startups are witnessing strong competition to attract them from the Gulf states, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, in light of the interest of those countries in supporting this segment of companies, and developing promising entrepreneurial ideas, especially in the field of technology and artificial intelligence, through stimuli and strong facilities.” He adds: “Investing the Gulf states in technology infrastructure makes this region a fertile environment for the growth of startups that can innovate and affect global markets.”
In the following text of the dialogue:
Strong transformations and rapid technological developments witnessed by startups globally. What is your assessment of the future of these companies in the Middle East and Africa region?
The economies of the countries of the region are witnessing positive indicators in terms of the growth and development of startups and various entrepreneurial ideas, specifically in the Gulf countries with the support of several ingredients, which are the strong technological development in those countries and government interest in introducing artificial intelligence tools in the markets, with the aim of opening broad prospects to support leadership and innovation in various sectors and in a way that is strongly reflected on the indicators of the targeted economic growth. In general, startups and entrepreneurial ideas, especially those related to the technological field, are related to the ability to translate ideas on the ground in a successful way, which is what we are currently witnessing in light of the areas of the company’s work from the start of implementing ideas and activity of startups in the Egyptian market and then transformation, growth and expansion in regional markets, especially Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.
What are the most prominent elements of success that you see in the Gulf markets to support the growth of startups?
The ingredients for success are strongly available in the Gulf, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, in light of the governmental interest in that segment of companies and strong competition to attract them by setting strong economic stimuli, with the aim of achieving the vision of these promising countries in terms of developing certain sectors in artificial intelligence and technology in different sectors.
Constant geopolitical tensions, what is your assessment and their impact on the flow of foreign investments to the countries of the region?
There is no doubt that geopolitical tensions directly affected the flow rates of foreign investment to a number of surrounding markets, including Egypt, in light of investors’ evaluation of the nature of available opportunities and the size of the surrounding risk. Egypt is considered one of those countries that witnessed the decline in the flow of investments to and their limitation to the investments of sovereign funds under political guidance, in light of the high size of the surrounding risks, especially the Gaza war, from the point of view of investors and foreign institutions, in parallel with an internal economic challenge also related to the instability of the currency exchange rate, which represents a strong challenge to the ability to attract more investors during the current period until the stability of the situation. Despite these challenges, whether in the Egyptian market or other markets of the region, investment opportunities are still strong, awaiting the stability of the surrounding conditions, and there are other successful markets in overcoming these challenges and even achieving strong growth rates during recent periods.
What are the most growing and most able markets to overcome the challenges in the region?
The UAE and Saudi Arabia lead the scene as the most developed and attractive markets for foreign investments and also attracting the segment of startups and supporting entrepreneurial ideas, with the support of the current technological development and interest in introducing artificial intelligence tools, in addition to the great change in the economic system witnessed by the Saudi economy and the continuing stories of the UAE’s continuous success over the past years. Egypt comes third because of the continuous political and economic challenges, which once it ends and stabilizes Egypt will witness the flow of investments again, especially since Egypt has promising opportunities from the stability of the surrounding political conditions represented in the targeted reconstruction plans, which will represent a vital field for Egyptian companies in the surrounding countries and then contribute to gradually stabilizing the exchange rate.
What about the most prominent features of the company’s strategy and current deals?
The company’s strategy and its work is divided into two basic fields, the first for the technological aspect through T-Six, which started with the beginning of 2024, and specializes in investing in startups in the field of technology and providing it with a package of services designed to allow it to combine the strategy, the financial model, the offer to provide investment, and help in collecting capital for investment tours. Currently, we are present as shareholders in about 12 emerging companies in the financial technology sectors, e -commerce and health technology, in addition to space technology, and a share ranging from 3: 10% with the aim of helping and developing these companies, and during recent periods there are a segment of those companies that began to expand after starting the Egyptian market to the UAE and Saudi markets to benefit from the elements of success and motivations in those markets. Regarding the second field of the company’s work for the major deals managed, the management of about 8 deals in the market has currently reached companies that fall between the field of food, beverages, logistics, surveillance systems, etc., in sizes ranging between 200 million pounds to 1.5 billion pounds, for companies looking to increase their capital or target a partnership contract with a Gulf investor to open these markets.
Do you target the “Capital” to expand in the markets in the region?
We aim to expand the markets of the region by starting the Saudi market through the presence of one of our partners and then being in the Emirati market, by holding partnerships with entities working in those countries, in light of the development and diversity of various fields in those markets and the multiplicity of available investment opportunities.
