Ghada Ismail

In startups, the original idea is rarely the winning one. Markets shift, customer needs evolve, and sometimes the product simply doesn’t click. The difference between failure and breakthrough often comes down to one thing: the ability to pivot.

A pivot isn’t about giving up. It’s about adjusting course to find what truly works. For founders, especially in fast-growing ecosystems like Saudi Arabia, knowing when and how to pivot can turn setbacks into opportunities and keep a startup alive long enough to thrive.

What Is a Pivot?

A pivot is not about tearing everything down and starting from scratch. It’s about keeping the vision intact while changing the route to get there. Think of it as a course correction rather than a restart.

Instagram is a classic example. Before becoming the photo-sharing giant we know today, it was a clunky app called Burbn that let users check into locations. The team noticed that people loved the photo feature more than anything else and decided to pivot around it. The rest is history.

When Should Startups Pivot?

The decision to pivot isn’t easy. Founders often wrestle with sunk costs and pride. But the market doesn’t lie. Common signals that it might be time include:

• No traction despite strong execution: The product works, but users aren’t sticking around.
• Customer behavior doesn’t match expectations: Feedback points to a different problem or need than originally targeted.
• High acquisition costs with low retention: You’re paying heavily to bring people in, but they don’t stay.
• Competitors gaining ground: A rival is growing faster with a different approach, forcing you to reconsider your model.

Listening carefully to customers and tracking metrics honestly will often reveal whether you’re on the wrong track.

Different Types of Pivots

Not all pivots look the same. Some involve small tweaks, others a major shift. A few common ones are:

• Product pivot: Focusing on one feature that resonates and dropping the rest.
• Market pivot: Targeting a new customer segment or geography.
• Revenue model pivot: Changing how you monetize—say, from subscriptions to transaction fees.
• Channel pivot: Finding new ways to reach customers, such as moving from offline distribution to digital-first.

Each requires discipline and clear communication with stakeholders, especially investors and employees.

How to Pivot Without Losing Focus

A pivot can feel like a setback if not framed well. But handled correctly, it can re-energize a startup. A few principles help:

• Protect the vision: Stay clear on the “why,” even if the “how” changes.
• Test before leaping: Run small experiments to validate the new direction before committing fully.
• Be transparent: Keep investors, team members, and early customers informed. Trust is easier to maintain when you bring people along for the ride.
• Maintain morale: Remind your team that adaptability is strength, not weakness.

Wrapping Things Up…

Startups don’t succeed by sticking rigidly to their first idea. They succeed by learning, adapting, and sometimes changing direction altogether. Pivoting isn’t a mark of failure—it’s often the very thing that unlocks growth.

For founders, the key is to treat pivoting not as a last resort but as part of the entrepreneurial journey. Because in the end, the startup that survives is the 

Kholoud Hussein 

In the evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, new models continue to emerge that challenge traditional methods of building companies. Among these, the concept of the venture builder—sometimes referred to as a startup studio, company builder, or venture studio—has gained significant traction. This model does not simply support startups; it creates them from the ground up, offering a systematic and professionalized approach to innovation. To understand how venture builders are shaping the future of startups, it is important to define what they are, how they operate, and why they have become a critical part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

What Is a Venture Builder?

At its core, a venture builder is an organization dedicated to systematically creating new startups. Unlike accelerators or incubators, which primarily support external founders, venture builders conceive, launch, and scale companies internally. They start with ideas generated within the studio, validate those ideas, and assemble founding teams to execute them. The venture builder typically provides shared resources such as technical expertise, legal and financial support, HR, marketing, and office infrastructure.

The key distinction is that venture builders are not passive supporters but active co-founders of the startups they produce. They hold equity, share the risks, and are deeply involved in the strategic and operational aspects of each venture.

How Do Venture Builders Operate?

The venture builder model follows a structured process that often includes:

• Ideation and Validation: The studio generates multiple business ideas, then rigorously tests them for market potential, scalability, and alignment with macro trends.
• Team Formation: Once validated, the venture builder recruits or appoints entrepreneurs-in-residence, technical experts, and business leaders to form the founding team.
• Resource Allocation: Unlike a standalone startup that begins with limited means, the new venture benefits from shared services—legal, finance, HR, branding—that reduce overhead and accelerate execution.
• Seed Funding: Venture builders typically provide the initial capital to kickstart operations, giving startups the momentum needed to reach product-market fit.
• Scale and Spin-Off: Once the company gains traction, it may raise external funding, often with the backing and credibility of the venture builder.

This systematic approach significantly de-risks early-stage entrepreneurship by testing ideas before making large-scale commitments and ensuring professional execution from the outset.

Venture Builders and Startups: The Relationship

The relationship between venture builders and startups is symbiotic. Startups gain access to resources, expertise, and capital that would otherwise be out of reach. Venture builders, on the other hand, benefit from diversified portfolios of ventures, increasing their chances of producing a successful company.

For founders, joining a venture builder can mean reduced autonomy compared to starting independently, but it also means reduced risk, greater support, and a higher likelihood of success. For investors, venture builders serve as deal flow engines, systematically generating startups that are vetted, structured, and investment-ready.

Why Venture Builders Are Becoming More Relevant

Several trends explain the rise of venture builders globally:

• High Failure Rates of Startups: With most startups failing in their first few years, venture builders offer a model to improve survival rates.
• Need for Speed: In fast-changing markets, venture builders accelerate the path from idea to market-ready business.
• Capital Efficiency: Shared resources lower costs and reduce duplication across ventures.
• Alignment with Corporate Innovation: Many corporations are launching internal venture builders to diversify revenue streams and stay ahead of disruption.

The Future of Venture Builders in the Startup Ecosystem

Venture builders represent a new paradigm where entrepreneurship is less about individual heroics and more about structured, professional execution. They are particularly relevant in emerging markets like the Middle East and North Africa, where ecosystems are still developing and where access to resources and mentorship can make or break a startup.

By blending creativity with discipline, venture builders are redefining how startups are born. They offer a hybrid model that balances innovation with risk management, creating companies that are not just ideas with funding, but fully operational businesses with infrastructure, teams, and strategic roadmaps.

Finally, a venture builder is more than a support mechanism—it is a startup factory that systematically transforms ideas into companies. Its relationship with startups is one of co-creation, shared risk, and mutual benefit. In a world where agility, capital efficiency, and execution speed are paramount, venture builders are poised to play an increasingly pivotal role in shaping the future of entrepreneurship.

Noha Gad

Digital wallets have become central to the way consumers conduct payments and manage their finances, offering convenience and seamless digital transactions. Their widespread adoption in retail, banking, and peer-to-peer transfers has made them a preferred alternative to cash and physical cards. 

These wallets handle increasing volumes of sensitive financial data; thus, robust security measures cannot be overstated. Traditional password protections alone are no longer sufficient to combat sophisticated cyber threats and fraud schemes targeting these platforms.  

Emerging security technologies, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), decentralized identity (DID) solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and tokenization, are addressing these demands by introducing multi-layered protection methods.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA)

The MFA technology significantly enhances digital wallet security by requiring users to verify their identity through multiple independent factors before granting access. Common MFA methods in digital wallets include one-time passwords (OTPs) sent via SMS or email, biometric verification through fingerprint or facial scans, and hardware tokens that generate secure codes. This layered approach makes unauthorized access much more difficult for attackers.

Another type of factor used is certificate-based authentication, which relies on a digital certificate, also called a soft token, to identify a user, machine, or device before granting access. Most enterprise solutions already support certificate-based authentication, and many wallets, such as those by Google Pay and Apple Pay, deploy this in coordination with traditional methods such as a username and password/PIN. 

Although the integration of the MFA reduces fraud rates and unauthorized account access, challenges remain in ensuring universal adoption and maintaining user convenience without compromising security. As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, MFA represents a foundational barrier that protects users’ financial assets and sensitive information from theft and compromise. Its continued evolution and adoption will remain critical to maintaining trust in digital payment ecosystems.

Decentralized identity (DID) solutions

A decentralized Identifier (DID) is a unique identifier that can be issued by a decentralized platform and acts as proof of ownership of a digital identity. DID solutions use cryptography and distributed systems, often blockchain technology, to give individuals total control over their digital ID, which is seen as a more tamper-resistant and privacy-preserving method. 

Unlike traditional identity systems that rely on centralized authorities to issue and manage identities, decentralized identity empowers users to create, control, and manage their own digital identities without depending on any single entity. This shift reduces vulnerabilities inherent in centralized databases, which are prime targets for cyberattacks and data breaches. 

This modern approach enables individuals to have full ownership and control over their personal data, allowing them to decide what information to disclose, to whom, and for how long. For digital wallets, DID integration means users can authenticate themselves and verify transactions without exposing unnecessary personal or sensitive data, thereby reducing the attack surface and building user trust by preventing mass data leaks.

AI & ML in fraud detection

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) play a pivotal role in advancing fraud detection capabilities within digital wallets as they analyze vast amounts of transactional data in real time and identify patterns and behaviors that deviate from normal usage. AI and ML algorithms can adapt to evolving fraud tactics, enabling proactive detection and prevention before fraudulent transactions are completed.

AI-driven systems harness advanced techniques such as anomaly detection, risk scoring, and predictive modeling to assess each transaction's legitimacy. This dynamic assessment improves the accuracy of fraud detection compared to static rule-based systems that may either miss complex fraud schemes or generate excessive false alarms.

Meanwhile, ML models in digital wallets leverage user behavior analytics, tracking factors like device usage, login patterns, and payment frequency to establish individualized risk profiles that distinguish genuine users from potential fraudsters more effectively, ultimately minimizing disruptions caused by unnecessary transaction denials. 

Integrating AL and ML technologies into digital wallets not only minimizes fraud losses but also promotes operational efficiency by automating risk management processes. These technologies are expected to offer more advanced defenses, including real-time threat hunting and adaptive authentication that dynamically adjusts security measures based on assessed risk levels.

Tokenization 

This technology is crucial for securing digital wallet transactions as it replaces sensitive payment information with unique, non-sensitive identifiers called tokens, which carry the necessary transaction data without exposing actual card numbers or bank details during payment processing. 

Unlike traditional encryption methods, tokenization stores actual account information in highly secure token vaults, isolated from merchants and payment processors.

Digital wallet providers have widely adopted tokenization to comply with stringent security standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), enhancing consumer confidence and regulatory compliance. 

Along with protecting sensitive information, tokenization creates opportunities for innovative payment experiences, standing as a foundational security element that ensures transactions remain secure, seamless, and user-friendly.

Saudi Arabia has been significantly integrating emerging technologies to enhance the security of digital wallets, in line with Vision 2030’s goal of promoting a cashless society and digital economy. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) is a key contributor to this transformation, starting from regulating digital payment providers under comprehensive frameworks to creating an enabling environment for digital wallets to adopt advanced security technologies.

The Kingdom is actively incorporating AI and ML into the national fintech ecosystem to enhance transaction monitoring, fraud detection, and risk assessment, thereby increasing transparency and accountability while ensuring a secure cashless transaction environment.

Along with technology adoption, Saudi Arabia backs fintech innovation through significant investments supported by government entities and partnerships with regulatory bodies, aiming to stimulate the development and market reach of advanced digital wallet solutions incorporating MFA, AI, DIDs, and tokenization.

Finally, digital wallets continue to transform payments by merging convenience with cutting-edge security technologies to protect user data and ensure transaction integrity. These technologies provide a multi-layered defense framework that ensures digital wallets remain secure, seamless, and trustworthy in an increasingly digital financial environment. The integration of these multi-layered protections will definitely establish a strong foundation for sustainable digital finance growth, while prioritizing security innovation. 

Ghada Ismail

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to reshape economies and societies in ways once unimaginable. For Saudi Arabia, it is also a tool to diversify its economy, boost productivity, and advance global competitiveness. Yet alongside opportunity comes risk, represented in bias, misinformation, privacy concerns, and job displacement. Building ethical AI is not optional; it is essential. The Kingdom is uniquely positioned to balance regulation, innovation, and responsibility as it pursues this AI-driven future.

A Rapidly Growing AI Ecosystem

Since its establishment by royal decree in 2019, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has been at the center of the Kingdom’s AI strategy. Its National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI), launched in 2020, set ambitious targets: ranking among the world’s top 15 AI nations by 2030, training 20,000 specialists, attracting SAR 75 billion in investment, supporting 300 startups, and driving scientific output.

Progress is already visible. SDAIA has forged partnerships with global players like Accenture to build national cloud infrastructure, IBM for energy and sustainability AI, and Google for earth observation and environmental protection. Saudi Arabia now ranks first worldwide for open data availability, hosting more than 11,000 datasets from nearly 300 entities. SDAIA’s environmental AI projects, such as the Smart Planet Program, predict vegetation changes with more than 90% accuracy, supporting sustainable planning.

The impact is tangible: over SAR 50 billion (~$13 billion) in cost savings across government operations, from the DEEM cloud platform to AI-assisted Hajj crowd management and the popular Tawakkalna app. AI is no longer abstract—it is woven into the daily lives of citizens and the functioning of the state.

Why Ethics Must Come First

With AI permeating sensitive domains like healthcare, mobility, and even Hajj safety, trust is the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s AI journey. Without safeguards, algorithms can entrench bias, erode privacy, or undermine fairness. Aligning AI with Vision 2030’s goals—social equity, inclusion, and quality public services—requires more than innovation. It requires ethics to be at the core of every deployment.

Governance and Guardrails

Saudi Arabia’s regulatory approach mixes centralized oversight with room for innovation. SDAIA, together with the National Data Management Office (NDMO), enforces data classification and ethical policies, balancing openness with security.

Beyond rules, SDAIA promotes dialogue through summits like DeepFest at LEAP 2025, where regulators, innovators, and academics engage on transparency, human-centric design, and responsible regulation. This positions the Kingdom not just as a user of AI but as a thought leader in its governance.

Innovation with a Cultural Core

Startups are embedding ethics into their products from the outset, supported by SDAIA’s regulatory sandboxes that allow real-world testing without stifling creativity.

One striking example is HUMAIN Chat, a chatbot powered by the locally built ALLaM-34B language model. Developed by a PIF-backed firm in collaboration with SDAIA, HUMAIN Chat is Arabic-first, supporting regional dialects while also functioning seamlessly in English. Unlike global tools, it integrates Islamic values and cultural heritage, ensuring its outputs resonate with local norms. Trained on proprietary Saudi datasets, it combines linguistic precision, cultural fidelity, and strong safety benchmarks—all hosted entirely within the Kingdom to guarantee data sovereignty.

From an ethical lens, HUMAIN and ALLaM represent an effort to define AI through local values, not imported defaults. By addressing bias, protecting user data, and embedding cultural authenticity, they show how responsible AI can reflect societal identity as much as technical standards.

To reinforce this ecosystem, SDAIA also certifies startups as ethical AI providers. Its accreditation framework awards annual “incentive tags”—from Conscious to Pioneer—that track a company’s maturity in embedding safeguards. These certifications turn abstract ethical principles into measurable progress, rewarding transparency and building public trust.

Responsibility Through People and Skills

Technology is only half the story; people complete it. Saudi universities are cultivating AI talent attuned to fairness and transparency. At King Saud University, Latifa Al-Abdulkarim, a rising leader in explainable AI and ethics, exemplifies this values-driven scholarship.

Meanwhile, SDAIA is widening access to AI careers. Its Elevate program, launched with Google Cloud, aims to train 25,000 women in AI over five years, with the first phase already reaching 1,000 women from 28 countries. Complementary programs at SDAIA Academy have certified nearly 2,000 more women in data and AI, embedding diversity and inclusivity into the Kingdom’s AI workforce.

Cultural and Religious Anchors

What sets Saudi Arabia apart is its decision to ground AI ethics not just in global norms, but also in Islamic values—justice, accountability, and transparency. This alignment enhances legitimacy and encourages societal acceptance, offering a model of ethics that could resonate across the Muslim world.

The Roadblocks Ahead

The momentum is strong, but challenges remain:

• Pace vs. oversight: Regulation must keep up with rapid innovation.
• Rules vs. enforcement: Without audits and accountability, standards risk being symbolic.
• Imported bias: Foreign algorithms, if unadapted, can embed cultural misalignment.
• Public trust: Ethical lapses in sensitive areas could erode confidence quickly.

Meeting these challenges will require continuous vigilance, independent auditing, and culturally sensitive design.

A Chance at Global Leadership

Saudi Arabia is not just participating in the global AI race; it is also shaping the conversation. Hosting platforms like GAIN and DeepFest, deploying culturally aligned AI models, and building regulatory infrastructure give the Kingdom a chance to lead by example. If it codifies regional standards and shares its framework internationally, Saudi Arabia could become the ethical AI hub of the Middle East, influencing emerging economies worldwide.

Conclusion: Ethics as an Accelerator

Far from slowing progress, ethical AI can accelerate it, ensuring that innovation unfolds responsibly, inclusively, and with social good at its heart. Saudi Arabia now has the foundations: governance, infrastructure, talent, and cultural legitimacy. The test will be sustaining enforcement, broadening public education, and adapting foreign technologies to local values. If successful, the Kingdom won’t simply join the AI elite; it could rather help define what responsible, values-driven AI looks like in the 21st century.

Ghada Ismail 

Open banking is emerging as a key force in reshaping financial services across the Middle East, moving beyond regulation to become an enabler of innovation. At the forefront of this shift is Spare, a Saudi-headquartered fintech, offering account-to-account payments that are faster, more secure, and more cost-efficient than traditional card networks.

With a mission to democratize access to financial infrastructure, Spare is building seamless rails for enterprises, SMEs, and fintechs, unlocking new use cases powered by instant settlements and real-time data. By working closely with regulators and businesses, the company is helping to address adoption challenges while setting the foundation for open banking to transform industries across the region.

In this interview, we explore how Spare is driving this change, what sets its model apart, and where open banking in the Middle East is headed next.

Can you walk us through Spare’s mission and how you’re redefining open banking payments in the GCC and MENA?

Spare’s mission is to democratise access to financial infrastructure to enable growth for innovative companies that want to build world-class products for their customers using a secure, seamless, and transparent connectivity that is compliant with regulatory guidelines. We’re redefining Open Banking by making payments more accessible for businesses of all sizes, giving them access to rails that are cheaper, more secure, and above all, faster. Open Banking payments will be a game changer, as they allow businesses to access liquidity far quicker than traditional legacy systems, enabling them to grow and operate more efficiently.

How does Spare differentiate itself from traditional payment gateways, and what value does your open banking model bring to fintech and enterprise customers?

At Spare, we connect directly to banks. When it comes to payments, we move money directly from account to account, avoiding intermediaries such as card networks, which means faster settlement and lower fees. For fintechs and enterprises, we unlock real-time payments, better margins, and new customer experiences with use cases such as easy-to-set-up recurring payments and refunds. This marks a significant improvement for many businesses, particularly SMEs. Lower transaction fees combined with instant settlement not only reduce costs but also enhance financial transparency and cash flow visibility.

How does Spare ensure regulatory compliance and data security in different markets, including Saudi Arabia?

At Spare, we work closely with regulators in each market and follow local licensing frameworks. On security, all customer data is encrypted, and we meet banking-grade standards for authentication and access. In Saudi Arabia, we comply with SAMA regulations, and all our data centers are based in the kingdom. In addition, in the UAE, we received an In Principle Approval, allowing us to conduct Open Finance activities under CBUAE’s regulated framework.
 

Which fields—like SME payments, lending platforms, or BNPL—are responding most to your open banking tools in the region?

We see strong pull from SMEs who need cheaper, faster collections, and from BNPL and lending players who rely on instant account verification and payouts.  There is also significant interest from lenders and microfinance companies in the rich banking data and credit risk assessment tools we provide.
 

What have been some of the biggest friction points businesses face when adopting open banking payments, and how does Spare help overcome them?

 Many businesses are concerned about customer adoption and the complexity of bank integrations. We solve this with a simple API and a user flow that feels as easy as card checkout.  We also support our partners with creating simple bank integration journeys and with educational material and content that they can equip their teams to educate customers and build trust.  Moreover, we believe the first wave of Open Banking payments adoption will come from the B2B space. Open banking offers powerful capabilities that directly address B2B needs, such as invoice payments, bulk disbursements, and recurring transactions. As with any new payment scheme introduced to consumers, widespread adoption will take time, but the foundation being built today will unlock significant efficiencies for businesses tomorrow.

What’s your roadmap for geographic expansion?
We’re focused on deepening our footprint in the region first - we’re headquartered in KSA, licensed in Bahrain, and recently received our IPA in the UAE. We’re also working on Kuwait and Oman, as they have recently released their open banking frameworks.
 

As open banking matures in the Middle East, what additional services or products is Spare exploring next?

Open banking in the region is still at its starting stages, so there’s much more to come. We’re looking at value-added services on top of payments: smarter payouts, recurring billing, data-driven credit, and insights that help with underwriting and personalized offers. Open finance is also on the horizon, and that’s an exciting next step.
 

What do you believe is the biggest misconception about open banking in the MENA region, and how is Spare helping shift that perception?

A big misconception is that open banking is only for banks and fintechs. In reality, it can transform many industries. E-commerce, healthcare, and real estate can all benefit from instant access to financial data and customer insights. At Spare, we show businesses that open banking is a foundation for innovation across the economy, not just financial services.