Mustafa Khan left accounting to build Draper with Sakib Ahmed. The agency now works with more than 50 founders and executives and says its clients have generated over 350 million LinkedIn views.

After helping educate thousands of software developers through MohirDev, Mukhammad Khalil realized that talent alone wasn’t enough. Today, through Startup Garage, he is building the entrepreneurial infrastructure that could transform Uzbekistan into one of the world’s next great startup ecosystems. For decades, countries have been known for the natural resources they export. Saudi Arabia exports oil. Australia exports minerals. Brazil exports agricultural products. But what if a country could become known for exporting something far more valuable—entrepreneurs? That is the vision driving Mukhammad Khalil, Founder of Startup Garage, a venture studio that is quietly reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape of Central Asia. While many organizations focus on helping individual startups succeed, Khalil is thinking on an entirely different scale. His ambition is to build an ecosystem where creating successful technology companies becomes a repeatable capability rather than an occasional success story. It is an ambitious mission. Yet it is rooted in a simple observation. Great founders rarely emerge because of talent alone. They emerge when talented people are surrounded by mentors,…

For more than a decade, Joud Khattab has worked at the intersection of data, innovation, and human development. But despite witnessing extraordinary talent across the region, he repeatedly encountered the same challenge: brilliant ideas existed everywhere, yet the systems needed to support them often did not. That realization ultimately led him to launch Bidayah, a Syria-based venture builder designed to help founders transform ideas into scalable businesses while supporting the country’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem. At a time when Syria is entering a new phase of recovery and economic reopening, Bidayah represents more than another startup support organization. It reflects a growing belief that entrepreneurship can become a powerful engine for rebuilding economies, creating jobs, and restoring hope. From Data Scientist to Ecosystem Builder Khattab describes himself as a data scientist, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder from Syria. Over the years, he built a career within the humanitarian and development sector, working across multiple United Nations agencies where he led initiatives focused on information management, digital transformation, analytics, and data-driven decision-making supporting…

Egypt’s largest fintech success story is entering a new chapter. MNT-Halan has reached a valuation of $1.4 billion following the first closing of a new investment round led by Al Ahly Capital, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt. A second closing is expected as part of the ongoing round, further strengthening the company’s balance sheet as it accelerates expansion across Egypt and regional markets. The transaction marks another milestone not only for MNT-Halan, but also for Egypt’s rapidly evolving fintech sector. It highlights a growing trend across emerging markets where established financial institutions are increasingly partnering with technology companies to drive financial inclusion and digital transformation. From Microfinance to Fintech Unicorn Founded by Egyptian entrepreneur Mounir Nakhla, MNT-Halan began its journey with a mission to improve access to financial services for underserved populations. Over time, the company evolved into one of the Middle East and Africa’s most comprehensive digital financial ecosystems, offering consumer and business lending, payments, e-wallets, savings products, investment solutions, and e-commerce services through a…

For years, conversations about Middle Eastern startups have largely centered around the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. But a new generation of Iraqi founders is quietly building technology companies designed to solve local challenges, attract private capital, and reshape key sectors of the country’s economy. That momentum was underscored this week as two Iraqi startups, Mabiati and Al Jabal Agriculture, announced separate six-figure investments from Iraqi investors and strategic partners. Both companies are backed by Orange Corners Baghdad and the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF) Iraq, signaling growing confidence in Iraq’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem. The investments represent more than just growth capital. They offer evidence that Iraqi founders are increasingly capable of building scalable businesses that address real market needs while attracting institutional support. Mabiati Is Building Iraq’s Digital Commerce Infrastructure Founded by Iraqi entrepreneur Mohammed Al Sultan, Mabiati is tackling one of the biggest barriers facing aspiring entrepreneurs in Iraq: the difficulty of launching and operating an online business. The platform allows individuals and small businesses to create and…

After moving from Dubai to Dallas, Sheriff found it surprisingly difficult to discover meaningful Muslim events and stay connected to community life in a new city. The events existed, but discovery was fragmented. Organizations were doing important work, but they were often relying on scattered systems to reach people and manage operations. That frustration became the beginning of Qariyb. A Founder Built At The Intersection Of Community And Systems Before launching Qariyb, Sheriff spent years in change management, learning design, and technology strategy, including work at Oracle Health and Accenture across the United States and the Middle East. Across healthcare and government, he led programs impacting more than 20,000 employees. His work required more than technical knowledge. It required helping people adopt new systems, communicate clearly, and move through change. Before Qariyb, he also built an edtech startup shaped by his background in instructional design. In many ways, Qariyb brings those worlds together: community, product, learning, operations, and systems thinking. It is not just another event listing platform. It is…

A Gap Hidden in Plain Sight The global gaming industry is valued at over $200 billion, shaping how millions of young people understand mythology, identity, and heroism. Yet within that ecosystem, one of the world’s largest populations—Muslims—has remained almost entirely absent from the highest tier of storytelling. Muhammad Bilal, Founder and Creative Director of Jinn Studios, sees this not just as a market gap, but as a civilizational one. For decades, global entertainment has normalized Western mythologies, embedding them deeply into the cultural imagination of audiences worldwide. Meanwhile, Islamic narratives—rich in depth, history, and philosophical complexity—have largely remained outside mainstream interactive media. “1.8 billion Muslims exist without seeing themselves reflected in the highest form of interactive storytelling,” Bilal observes. Jinn Studios was founded to change that. From Engineer to World Builder Bilal’s journey into gaming did not begin in entertainment—it began in engineering. Raised in Lahore, Pakistan, he studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering before building a global career across Europe and Asia. His work ranged from ERP transformation projects at…

In the world of enterprise finance, complexity is the norm. Spreadsheets, fragmented systems, manual reconciliations, and compliance-heavy workflows continue to define how companies operate—despite decades of technological progress. Furqan and Sarfraz, the founders of Plouton AI, saw this inefficiency firsthand. What they’re building today is not just another automation tool—but a new operating layer for finance teams. From Fintech Foundations to AI-Driven Systems Furqan’s journey sits at the intersection of finance, technology, and execution. Before founding Plouton AI, he co-founded and exited a licensed fintech company, YPay Financial, which focused on expanding financial access for young investors. He later led AI and automation initiatives across fintech and enterprise environments through ASF Tech Partners, building solutions for global startups and regulated businesses. “My work has always been about combining technical depth with commercial execution,” Furqan explains. His early experience at Deloitte, working on IFRS implementations, further grounded him in the realities of financial systems and compliance. Sarfraz, now CTO of Plouton AI, brings deep technical expertise shaped by years of building…