Revealed: Top 10 tech executives in the MENA region

Revealed: Top 10 tech executives in the MENA region

Aarti Nagraj

Sunday 12 July 2020

Digital transformation is no longer a clichéd term used at events - it's the reality for public and private sector organisations in the Middle East, especially in the Covid-19 era.

The pandemic has further propelled organisations to rapidly streamline and restructure their digital policies to ensure business continuity as remote working has become more commonplace amidst health-related restrictions.

IT spending in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is expected to total $160bn in 2020, an increase of 2.4 per cent from 2019, tech consultancy Gartner said in a March report.

Businesses in MENA are anticipated to increase their IT budgets across all segments, the report stated.

"Non-oil economic initiatives such as the Dubai Expo; the Al Qiddiya entertainment, sports and arts complex; The Red Sea Project and NEOM in Saudi Arabia are boosting business activity in MENA, which will heavily influence IT spending locally,“ said John-David Lovelock, vice-president at Gartner.

Another report by IDC released in January found that investments in digital transformation and innovation will account for 30 per cent of all IT spending in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa by 2024, up from 18 per cent in 2018. Government enterprise IT spending is increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent and will top $8bn in 2021,