Ghada Ismail

What if you could build an app without knowing how to write code?

That is the idea behind vibe coding, an emerging approach to software development that uses artificial intelligence to turn natural language instructions into working code. Instead of writing every line manually, users describe what they want to build, and an AI tool generates the code, fixes errors, and helps refine the product through an ongoing conversation.

The term “vibe coding” was popularized in 2025 by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, who described a style of programming where developers rely heavily on AI and focus more on describing the desired outcome than manually writing and reviewing every line of code.

How does vibe coding work?

Vibe coding typically starts with a simple prompt.

A user might tell an AI coding assistant: “Build a dashboard that shows monthly sales, allows users to filter by region and displays the results in charts.”

The AI can then generate the underlying code. The user tests the result and tells the AI what needs to change: perhaps the dashboard needs a different design, a new feature or a fix for an error.

This creates a conversational development cycle:

Describe → Generate → Test → Refine → Repeat.

The process can allow someone with limited programming experience to turn an idea into a functioning prototype much faster than traditional development.

Why is vibe coding becoming popular?

The rise of generative AI has significantly lowered the technical barrier to building software.

For startups, this can be particularly valuable. Founders can experiment with product ideas, build minimum viable products (MVPs), and test concepts before committing significant resources to a development team.

A nontechnical founder, for example, could use vibe coding to create an early version of a marketplace or customer portal and show it to potential customers. If the idea does not work, the founder can move on without spending months and substantial capital on development.

Even experienced developers can use the approach to speed up routine tasks, generate boilerplate code, explore ideas and create prototypes.

Vibe coding is not the same as traditional coding

The biggest difference is the role of the human.

In traditional software development, programmers typically write, inspect, and understand the code behind an application. With vibe coding, the user may focus primarily on what the software should do, while AI handles much of the implementation.

That does not mean coding knowledge has become irrelevant.

AI-generated code can contain bugs, security vulnerabilities, inefficient architecture, or technical decisions that work for a prototype but create problems as the product grows.

This is why vibe coding works best when users understand at least the basics of software development or have access to someone who can review the output.

What are the risks?

The biggest risk is assuming that working code is automatically good code.

An AI-generated application may appear to function perfectly while containing security weaknesses or scalability problems. Users may also struggle to maintain a project if they do not understand how its underlying code works.

There are also concerns around data privacy, intellectual property, and reliance on AI-generated code.

For businesses, these risks become more important as a prototype evolves into a product handling sensitive customer or financial information.

What does vibe coding mean for startups?

Vibe coding could change how early-stage companies build and validate products.

Instead of raising money first and building later, founders can potentially create functional prototypes, gather customer feedback, and demonstrate traction much earlier.

It could also make entrepreneurship more accessible by allowing people with strong ideas but limited technical skills to participate more directly in product development.

But vibe coding is unlikely to eliminate software engineers. Rather, it may change what developers spend their time doing. As AI handles more routine coding tasks, human expertise could become increasingly important in areas such as architecture, security, testing, product design, and complex problem-solving.

In that sense, vibe coding is less about replacing programmers and more about changing the interface between humans and software development.

For startups and entrepreneurs, its biggest promise may be simple: turning an idea into something users can actually try, faster than ever before.

Kholoud Hussein 

A company can have a compelling business model, strong revenue growth, and an ambitious founder—and still struggle to scale if it chooses the wrong investor. In today’s competitive funding environment, finding capital is no longer the only challenge for startups and growing companies. Finding the right investor may be just as important as securing the investment itself.

The Right Investor for Your Company: Beyond the Size of the Check

For entrepreneurs, the temptation is often straightforward: choose the investor offering the largest valuation or the biggest cheque. But capital comes with more than a financial value. It can bring strategic guidance, industry connections, governance requirements, operational expertise and, in some cases, significant pressure to deliver rapid returns.

The most suitable investor, therefore, is not necessarily the one willing to invest the most money. It is the investor whose capital, experience, network and expectations match the company's stage and ambitions.

This distinction is becoming increasingly important as startups move from an era of abundant funding toward a more selective investment environment. Investors are paying greater attention to business fundamentals, revenue quality, scalability and the path to profitability. At the same time, founders are becoming more careful about who they bring onto their cap tables.

Strategic investors: Capital with industry knowledge

For companies operating in specialized sectors, a strategic or corporate investor can offer advantages that go well beyond funding.

A strategic investor may bring access to distribution channels, customers, technology, suppliers or regulatory expertise. For a fintech startup, for example, an investment from a financial institution could potentially open doors to banking partnerships and a wider customer base.

The trade-off is that strategic investors may have objectives that differ from those of purely financial investors. Their priorities could include market access, technology integration or strengthening their own competitive position.

For a founder, the question should therefore be simple: What can this investor unlock that money alone cannot?

Venture capital: The growth partner

Venture capital investors are typically suited to businesses with the potential to scale rapidly across large markets.

Beyond funding, experienced VC firms can provide support in areas such as hiring senior executives, entering new markets, refining business models, and preparing for subsequent funding rounds. Their networks can also help startups connect with future investors and strategic partners.

However, venture capital is not suitable for every company.

VC funds generally seek significant growth and returns within a defined investment horizon. That can create pressure for a startup to expand quickly, raise additional rounds, and ultimately pursue an exit.

A profitable company that prefers steady expansion and greater founder control may therefore find that traditional venture capital is not the ideal match.

Private equity: For companies entering a new phase

As companies mature, their financing requirements often change. Private equity investors can become more relevant for businesses with established revenues, stronger operating structures and opportunities for expansion, consolidation or restructuring.

Unlike early-stage venture capital, private equity typically focuses more heavily on operational performance, cash flows and the potential to create value over a defined investment period.

For a growing company, the attraction may be the investor's ability to finance acquisitions, expand geographically or professionalize management. But founders should also be prepared for a more structured governance environment and potentially greater investor involvement in strategic decisions.

Family offices: Patient capital and relationships

Family offices have become increasingly relevant to entrepreneurs seeking investors with longer-term perspectives.

Their investment strategies vary considerably, but some family offices can offer more patient capital than traditional funds, particularly when they have a strong interest in a particular industry, geography or long-term business opportunity.

For founders, however, understanding the investment philosophy of the specific family office is crucial. Two family offices can have completely different approaches to risk, control, investment horizons and portfolio involvement.

The investor-founder relationship matters

Perhaps the most overlooked factor is chemistry.

An investment can last for years, meaning that the relationship between founders and investors can become one of the company's most important strategic partnerships. Disagreements over growth rates, hiring, acquisitions, fundraising or the timing of an exit can become costly if expectations were not aligned from the beginning.

Founders should therefore examine an investor's track record, including how they behaved when portfolio companies faced difficulties—not only how they supported companies during successful periods.

It is also worth speaking with founders of existing and former portfolio companies. Their experiences can reveal how an investor communicates, handles disagreements and supports management during challenging periods.

The right capital depends on the company's stage

There is no universal definition of the "best" investor.

An early-stage startup may need an investor who understands product development and customer acquisition. A scale-up entering new markets may prioritize international networks and operational expertise. A mature company may need growth capital, acquisition financing or support for a potential listing.

The company's funding requirements should therefore come before the investor search.

Founders should ask several fundamental questions: How much capital is actually needed? What will it finance? How quickly must the company grow? How much ownership is the founder prepared to give up? What level of investor involvement is acceptable? And what should the company look like after the investment?

The cost of choosing the wrong investor

The consequences of a poor investor match can extend well beyond dilution.

A misaligned investor can create conflicts over strategy, push for growth before the business is ready, restrict management flexibility or make future fundraising more complicated. In extreme cases, disagreements between shareholders can consume management time and distract the company from its core business.

That is why due diligence should work both ways.

Just as investors assess founders, founders should assess investors. The size of the fund, previous investments, sector expertise, portfolio conflicts, follow-on funding capacity and reputation should all form part of the evaluation.

Capital should accelerate the company's strategy—not replace it

Ultimately, the right investor is the one who understands where the company is today and where the founders want it to go tomorrow.

A strong investor-company relationship should create more than financial value. It should help the business access new markets, strengthen its management, improve its capabilities and build a more resilient organization.

For entrepreneurs, the lesson is increasingly clear: fundraising should not be treated as a race to find the biggest cheque. It should be treated as a strategic exercise to find the right partner.

The best investor is rarely the one who simply offers the most money. It is the one whose capital and capabilities can help the company achieve its next stage of growth—while allowing founders and investors to remain aligned on the road ahead.

Noha Gad

Hostile takeovers are one of the most dramatic forms of corporate conflict in the high-stakes world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It occurs when an acquirer attempts to gain control of a target company without the approval of its board of directors, often by making a direct offer to shareholders or launching a proxy fight to replace management. 

To face this pressure, target companies deploy a range of defensive tactics designed to raise the cost of acquisition, reduce the attractiveness of the bid, or find a more favorable alternative. White knight defense is one of the most constructive tactics that allows the target to accept the reality of a change in control while steering the outcome toward a more acceptable buyer, better terms, and greater continuity for management and operations.

How does a white knight defense strategy work?

A white knight defense is a takeover defense strategy in which a target company, facing a hostile bid, seeks out a friendly third-party acquirer and invites or encourages it to make a competing offer, thereby providing an alternative to the hostile bidder. This friendly buyer, or the white knight, is invited or encouraged by the target’s board to acquire the company on more favorable terms than the hostile bidder, often referred to as the “black knight.”

This strategy protects the target's management and often provides better compensation for shareholders, preventing control from passing to an unfriendly bidder.

How does it work?

1. The target company seeks another acquirer to stave off the unfriendly acquirer, who is typically called the black knight.
2. The white knight makes an offer to purchase the target, usually at a premium to the hostile acquirer's bid or with more favorable terms amenable to the target's shareholders, management, and/or board of directors.
3. Once the acquisition is complete, the white knight may choose to keep the target's management and/or board rather than replace one or both. The white knight may also choose to keep the target's business operations as is after the deal goes through.

Black, gray, and yellow knights

Along with the white knight, there are different types of so-called knights in the business world. The most common ones are: 

• Black knight. This type makes an unsolicited, hostile bid for its target. This entity does whatever it can to complete the transaction, even going over the target's board of directors. The target company does not want to be taken over by the black knights because of their selfish motivations.
• Gray knight. A gray knight is not as desirable as a white knight, but it is more desirable than a black knight. The gray knight is the third potential bidder in a hostile takeover who outbids the white knight. Although friendlier than a black knight, the gray knight still seeks to serve its interests.
• Yellow knight. A yellow knight is a company that planned a hostile takeover attempt, but backs out of it and instead proposes a merger of equals with the target company.

Advantages of a white knight defense strategy

The white knight defense offers several strategic benefits for target companies, their boards, and shareholders when facing hostile takeover pressure. This includes:

• Higher shareholder value. White knights typically offer better terms than hostile bidders, including higher premiums per share, more favorable payment structures, or clearer timelines for closing the deal. 
•  Preservation of management and strategic direction. Unlike hostile takeovers, which often lead to immediate leadership changes and strategic overhauls, white knight acquisitions usually retain existing management teams. The friendly acquirer typically shares the target's vision for the company's future, allowing for continuity in strategic plans and reducing uncertainty among employees and stakeholders. 
• Deal certainty and reduced transaction risk. White knight transactions are negotiated with the target's board and typically come with secured financing, transparent timelines, and clear post-merger agreements. This reduces uncertainty for all stakeholders compared to the protracted legal battles and defensive maneuvers that hostile takeovers often entail.

Despite these advantages, the white knight defense is not without significant risks and limitations, such as:

• Loss of independence. While a white knight takeover is preferable to a hostile one, it still results in the abrupt transfer of ownership to a third party. The target company becomes part of a larger entity, and its autonomy in decision-making is inevitably reduced.
• Overpayment and financial leverage risks. To outbid the hostile acquirer, white knights may overpay for the target company, leading to inflated acquisition premiums. This can result in excessive leverage for the acquiring company, which may create financial strain down the line and potentially undermine the long-term value of the combined entity. 
• Limited negotiation options and time constraints. Once a white knight is engaged, the target company may have limited options to negotiate with other potential buyers. The urgency of responding to a hostile bid often means there is insufficient time for thorough due diligence or comprehensive negotiation of terms. 

Finally, the white knight defense is less about avoiding a takeover and more about controlling its terms. By inviting a friendly acquirer, the target company can secure a higher price for shareholders, preserve management and strategic direction, and reduce the uncertainty that comes with hostile bids. However, this comes at the cost of independence and may involve rushed decisions, overpayment, and limited negotiation room. 

Ghada Ismail

Before a single road is built, a tower rises, or a railway is laid, another kind of construction is already underway high above the ground. Helicopters equipped with advanced laser scanners survey vast desert landscapes, drones capture thousands of high-resolution images over construction sites, and satellites continuously monitor coastlines, mountains, and cities. Together, these technologies create a digital blueprint of Saudi Arabia long before physical development begins. 

This is the world of geospatial intelligence, an industry that combines aerial surveying, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), artificial intelligence, and digital modeling to transform location data into actionable insights. While largely invisible to the public, these technologies have become essential to Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, supporting giga-projects, energy infrastructure, environmental conservation, and smart city development. Behind every landmark project lies an equally ambitious effort to map, analyze, and monitor the Kingdom with unprecedented precision. 

More Than Mapping

Modern geospatial services extend far beyond aerial photography. Aircraft and drones equipped with LiDAR sensors, thermal cameras, and multispectral imaging systems capture millions of measurements every second, producing highly accurate three-dimensional models and engineering-grade imagery. Once processed through GIS platforms and AI-powered software, this data becomes a digital representation of the physical world that supports planning, construction, maintenance, and operational decision-making. 

Demand for these capabilities has surged under Vision 2030. Mega-projects such as NEOM, The Red Sea, Diriyah, Qiddiya, renewable energy developments, logistics hubs, mining operations, and transportation corridors all require continuous surveying throughout their lifecycle. Rather than relying solely on traditional ground surveys, project teams now use helicopters, drones, and satellites to collect accurate spatial data in hours instead of weeks while improving safety by reducing the need for personnel to inspect hazardous locations. 

Helicopters and Drones: Complementary Technologies

Although drones dominate today's headlines, helicopters remain indispensable for large-scale aerial surveying. While drones excel at collecting highly detailed data over localized areas, helicopters are better suited for inspecting long infrastructure corridors, oil and gas pipelines, transmission lines, coastlines, and other remote areas where endurance and payload capacity are essential.

Among the companies supporting this capability is The Helicopter Company (THC), whose expanding operations across Saudi Arabia increasingly support infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, emergency response, and specialized aerial surveying. 

Drones, meanwhile, have transformed data collection by making aerial surveys faster, safer, and more affordable. Construction firms monitor project progress, mining operators calculate excavation volumes, utility companies inspect transmission lines, and environmental agencies assess vegetation and coastal erosion. Increasingly, the industry's focus has shifted from the aircraft themselves to the intelligence they generate, giving rise to Saudi companies that combine aerial operations with artificial intelligence, engineering expertise, and advanced analytics. 

Turning Data into Intelligence

Collecting aerial data is only the first step. The real value lies in transforming millions of images, laser measurements, and GPS coordinates into insights that engineers and decision-makers can use.

This is where Saudi Arabia's geospatial ecosystem is rapidly evolving. Companies increasingly provide end-to-end solutions that integrate aerial surveys, AI, GIS, cloud computing, and digital engineering rather than simply delivering imagery.

One example is Terra Drone Arabia, which provides aerial surveying, LiDAR mapping, photogrammetry, industrial inspections, and digital twin services across sectors including construction, oil and gas, utilities, and mining. By combining these capabilities with AI-powered analytics, the company helps organizations move beyond visual inspections toward predictive asset management and data-driven decision-making. The broader trend is clear: geospatial companies are no longer selling images; they are delivering intelligence. 

Beyond Construction

While mega-projects often dominate discussions about geospatial technology, its applications extend across virtually every major industry. Energy companies use drones and helicopters to inspect pipelines, offshore facilities, and power transmission networks. Mining operators monitor excavation progress and environmental compliance, while agricultural businesses rely on multispectral imaging to assess crop health, irrigation efficiency, and soil conditions. Environmental agencies track desertification, biodiversity, and flood risks, telecommunications providers optimize network coverage, and insurers increasingly use aerial imagery to assess property damage and streamline claims.

These diverse applications demonstrate that geospatial intelligence is no longer a niche engineering discipline. It has become a foundational digital capability supporting industries ranging from energy and logistics to agriculture, telecommunications, public safety, and environmental management. 

Building Talent for a Growing Industry

Technology alone cannot build a geospatial economy. Every successful mission depends on pilots, engineers, GIS specialists, software developers, AI experts, and data analysts capable of transforming raw data into meaningful insights. Recognizing this need, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in workforce development.

DroneX Academy prepares professionals for commercial drone operations through practical training and certification programs, while the Drones Academy at the College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Jeddah integrates education, research, AI, robotics, and industry collaboration to prepare students for next-generation geospatial technologies. Meanwhile, the Drones Club at Tuwaiq Academy introduces younger innovators to drone technologies through workshops, technical challenges, and hands-on learning. Together, these initiatives reflect a shift from training drone pilots to building a complete talent pipeline for the Kingdom's expanding geospatial sector. 

The Next Frontier

Despite its rapid growth, the industry faces important challenges. Expanding commercial drone operations will require continued progress in regulation, airspace integration, and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. At the same time, protecting sensitive geospatial data from cyber threats and integrating information from drones, satellites, IoT sensors, and engineering systems into unified platforms will remain key priorities. Meeting growing demand for AI specialists, GIS analysts, remote sensing experts, and digital twin developers will be equally critical. 

Looking ahead, artificial intelligence is expected to accelerate the industry's evolution by automating image analysis, identifying infrastructure defects, monitoring construction progress, and detecting environmental changes.

A Digital Foundation for Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia's transformation is often measured through its skyline, mega-projects, and landmark developments. Yet much of that transformation begins long before construction starts. It starts with helicopters surveying remote terrain, drones capturing millions of data points, satellites monitoring environmental change, and engineers transforming spatial information into digital models that guide billion-riyal investments.

Companies including The Helicopter Company and Terra Drone Arabia contribute to this evolving ecosystem, while institutions such as DroneX Academy, the University of Jeddah's Drones Academy, and the Drones Club at Tuwaiq Academy are developing the talent needed to sustain it. Together, they illustrate that geospatial intelligence has evolved from a technical support function into a strategic capability underpinning infrastructure planning, industrial productivity, environmental stewardship, and digital transformation.

As Vision 2030 advances, Saudi Arabia is not only building new cities and industries; it is creating a detailed digital representation of the Kingdom itself. In many ways, the nation's next great transformation is taking shape first in the virtual world, where every road, pipeline, coastline, and building is mapped, analyzed, and understood before it is built on the ground. 

Noha Gad

The e-commerce landscape in Saudi Arabia is experiencing unprecedented growth, solidifying the Kingdom's position as the largest and most dynamic digital marketplace in the region. According to a recent report from BMI, a FitchSolutions company, household spending in the Kingdom will grow by a real 3.3% year-on-year (YoY) in 2026, a slight decline from 3.4% in 2025. The report anticipated household spending growth to accelerate slightly to 3.7% YoY in 2027, taking real spending to 39.4% above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. This growth is driven by digital acceleration that reshapes consumer expectations, shifting the focus from mere access to products towards a demand for efficiency, transparency, reliability, and a superior overall user experience.

Within this dynamic and competitive landscape, Kanaa, a Saudi-born digital e-commerce platform, officially launched in the Kingdom in April 2026, introducing a curated commerce model designed to simplify product discovery while maintaining high standards of quality and trust. 

Sharikat Mubasher held an exclusive interview with Kartik Bhatt, CEO of Kanaa, to dive deep into the company’s business model, strategy, and technology, as well as its ambitions to expand and strengthen its presence across the Kingdom.

Kanaa officially launched in Saudi Arabia in April, introducing a curated commerce model to simplify product discovery while maintaining quality and trust. Can you tell us more about this model and what sets Kanaa apart from established marketplaces and specialty omni-retailers?

Saudi Arabia's e-commerce market has matured significantly over the past few years. Customers already have access to millions of products, fast delivery, and seamless payment options. However, all of that came with a lot of noise from endless choices, inconsistent content, bad reviews, and unpredictable service. This has made most customers insecure about whether they are making the right purchasing decision or not. They may feel that they are not getting the best deal, service, or product.

That is the thinking behind Kanaa's curated commerce model. We focus on offering the right products, presented with reliable information and backed by a consistent customer experience. Every product is carefully selected, supported with quality content and held to the same standards for pricing, fulfilment, and service.

Our model combines our own retail assortment, direct partnerships with leading brands, exclusive product collections, and a carefully managed marketplace. Each plays a specific role, but together they create a shopping experience customers can trust.

Today, our focus is on families, children, youth, and modern Saudi consumers across toys, books, gaming, hobbies, and lifestyle categories, with additional categories planned as we continue to grow.

Since launching in November 2025, we have achieved 44-fold growth in sales and a 30-fold increase in order volume. Those results confirm that we are solving a real customer need. Customers are not just looking for more products. They also need real confidence in what they are buying and where they are buying it from.

How does Kanaa plan to implement its strategy that is centered on curated selection, operational efficiency, and customer trust?

As I mentioned earlier, curation is only one part of the equation. Delivering a great customer experience depends just as much on how consistently you execute behind the scenes.

We start with the assortment itself, making sure every category has a clear purpose: everyday essentials, seasonal collections, exclusive partnerships, or marketplace offerings. Every category earns its place, and we are careful not to let the catalogue grow just for the sake of it.

Operational excellence is equally important. Customers remember whether an item was in stock, whether it arrived on time, and how quickly an issue was resolved. That is why we have invested heavily in inventory accuracy, delivery performance, returns management, and customer support. Today, we provide same-day delivery in Jeddah, are expanding that capability in Riyadh, and consistently deliver more than 98% of orders on time.

Technology underpins every stage of that experience, from search and stock visibility to personalized recommendations and a seamless checkout process. At the same time, we continue to build customer trust through transparent product information, clear policies, and responsive service.

Sales growth and traffic matter, but repeat purchases, customer loyalty, and our ability to build lasting relationships are what tell us this is actually working.

Does Kanaa integrate AI and machine learning into its business model — for search and discovery, fraud detection, pricing optimization, or logistics planning?

Absolutely. AI is already an important part of how we operate, especially in helping customers discover the right products more conveniently.

For example, a parent looking for a suitable gift or a teenager searching for gaming accessories rarely use precise search keywords. It is mostly broad categories, brand variations, use case-related keywords, etc. AI allows us to better understand customer intent and provide recommendations that feel more relevant and personalized, much like the guidance customers receive from an experienced sales advisor in a physical store.

Behind the scenes, we are also applying AI across demand forecasting, fraud detection, catalogue quality management and returns analysis. As the business grows, we will continue expanding its use across pricing optimization and logistics planning.

The real opportunity is the insights that come with connecting such capabilities. When demand shifts around a product, season, or occasion, AI can help us respond more quickly by improving inventory planning, product content, and stock allocation. That is what supports our next phase of growth, including marketplace expansion, new strategic partnerships, and our planned entry into the UAE.

A recent study conducted by Visa showed that 91% of consumers in Saudi Arabia embrace AI as part of their shopping journey. In your opinion, how do AI technologies revolutionise the shopping experience in the Kingdom?

These findings mirror current market behavior. Saudi Arabia is home to some of the most tech-forward shoppers globally, and they have already outgrown traditional e-commerce. They expect platforms to understand context and intent, bringing a level of personalization that standard catalog search simply cannot deliver 
AI helps deliver that in a few ways. It simplifies product discovery by understanding what customers are actually looking for rather than relying only on keywords. It also personalizes the experience, recognizing that someone shopping for children's toys has very different needs from someone looking for gaming products or gifts. Just as importantly, AI strengthens the experience in ways customers may not always notice directly. It improves product information, helps detect fraud more effectively, and enables faster customer service, all of which contribute to a smoother, more reliable shopping journey.

For years, online shopping missed something obvious: that helpful salesperson in the store who actually gets what you are looking for. AI finally lets us bring that human touch online, in both Arabic and English, at scale. We are not interested in AI hype for the sake of it; for us at Kanaa, it is just about making shopping easier, faster, and genuinely helpful.

What strategic partnerships are you pursuing to accelerate growth and enhance customer experience?

No platform succeeds in isolation. Our model is built entirely on smart partnerships. We deliberately chose not to build a bloated, open marketplace with lots of unverified sellers. We curate our brand and retail partners strictly because customers deserve reliable quality and pricing, not endless scrolling through questionable listings.

We take the same approach across the board. We are partnering with AI leaders to strengthen discovery, personalization, and fraud prevention capabilities that would take years to build in-house at the same quality. Logistics and last-mile partners are just as critical as merchandising ones. A platform can win a customer through marketing, but it keeps them through delivery and service.

We are also building relationships beyond conventional commerce, with schools, malls, creators and family-focused communities, because category education and gifting inspiration matter almost as much as the transaction itself. 

What are Kanaa's plans to expand its footprint within and beyond Saudi Arabia, driven by its mission to shape the next phase of e-commerce growth? What regional or international markets do you target next?

Our priority right now is the Kingdom. We want real depth here before we look anywhere else, which means strengthening our category leadership and continuing to invest in technology, fulfillment, and data. 

We still see significant demand across Saudi families, youth, and digitally native consumers who want a platform that understands their language, occasions, and service expectations.

Looking beyond the Kingdom, the GCC is the natural next step. UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman all share the digital adoption and purchasing power that fit our model, and our current plan is to enter the UAE in 2026.

We would rather take a Saudi-born platform to the region once we have proven it here than expand early and lose what makes Kanaa trusted in the first place.

As a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of experience scaling large-format retail and e-commerce businesses, how do you assess Saudi Arabia's e-commerce sector? What does the sector need over the coming years to continue growing?

Saudi Arabia's e-commerce sector has made remarkable progress over the past decade. The industry successfully addressed the fundamentals by expanding product availability, strengthening logistics, and giving consumers the confidence to shop online. That created strong and sustained growth across the market. I have watched a few markets go through this same shift, and Saudi Arabia is moving through it faster than most.

The next phase is really about the quality of the customer experience. Promotions and discounts can generate short-term sales, but long-term success depends on service reliability, customer retention, strong category expertise, and sustainable growth.

I also believe the industry has an opportunity to invest more in merchandise planning and product content, so customers get relevant assortments, accurate information, and a better overall shopping experience.

Finally, the sector needs to become even more locally relevant. That means reflecting Saudi shopping habits, family occasions, gifting traditions, and Arabic-first customer experiences in a more meaningful way. That is the shift I would tell any new entrant to prepare for.

Ultimately, I believe the companies that succeed over the coming years will be those that consistently earn customer trust through every interaction rather than those that offer the largest catalogue.