Scaling up

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Islamabad says it’s honoring its defense pact with Riyadh

Good morning, friends, and a very happy 4Q to you all. The number to sit with is from Humain, which is directing almost 80% of its capital into building out data center capacity. The PIF-backed company is ramping up its capacity targets, even as the PIF pulls back on funding its portfolio companies and Humain raises outside money.

The labor survey is the antithesis to our chat with Humain’s Tareq Amin, in that the 2Q 2026 headline figures actually aren’t the biggest part of the story. Citizen unemployment barely moved, which is what happens when people leave the labor force rather than find work — participation fell across men, women, and both young cohorts, with women dropping out fastest. Set against a year ago, the picture is still an improvement, so this is one soft quarter in wartime rather than a reversal.

Elsewhere, Dar Global’s net income more than doubling is largely a matter of timing. Two towers hit the point where revenue gets recognized, which is a milestone rather than a surge in demand.

We’re honored to welcome Ahmed M. Sobhy as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

Ahmed Sobhy currently serves as deputy CEO at E-Finance for Financial and Digital Investments (EFIG), overseeing the investment and finance divisions with a focus on the company's growth and expansion into new business areas.

Prior to this role, Sobhy served as chief investment officer at Banque Misr, leading the bank's equities and capital markets investments, including a private equity portfolio valued at USD 3 bn, and playing a pivotal role in the bank's transformation and fintech expansion over nearly six years. Before that, he was Investment Principal at Ezdehar Fund Management, where he led several acquisition and exit transactions, including the strategic minority stake in Dsquares.

Earlier in his career, Sobhy was vice president in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley & Co., leading M&A transactions exceeding USD 31 bn across the UK, US, and Egypt, and held roles at Swicorp across the MENA region.

Registration is now closed. Thank you to everyone who registered. We look forward to welcoming you on Monday, 5 October.

War watch

Pakistan pledged to defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis using any means available to it, in accordance with its defense pact with Riyadh and Ankara, the Associated Press reports, citing statements by Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif. “When I say that we are bound by this arrangement to defend Saudi Arabia, that means whatever means are available at our disposal, they’ll be available to Saudi Arabia.”

Islamabad believes that the Houthis and Iraqi militias could now be acting independently, with Asif saying that “some of these proxies, they become rogue.” Pakistan is also pushing for negotiations to end the wider conflict involving Iran and supports reviving a negotiated agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program, Asif said.

Riyadh adds more international allies to its defense discussions: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held brief calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim Al Thani, and Sudan’s Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and discussed efforts to enhance security and stability. Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz also spoke by phone with Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov to discuss military and defense cooperation.

REMEMBER- Saudi Arabia has been seeking the support of its foreign partners against Houthi threats. UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour Al Nahyan visited the Kingdom in a reported attempt to mend the rift between the two countries. Meanwhile, France plans to send troops, radar systems, and defense equipment to protect Yanbu and the UK will dispatch a Royal Air Force Voyager to provide defensive air-to-air refueling.

Airspace alert: The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) advised air operators not to fly at any altitude over part of Saudi airspace, citing the threat of Houthi strikes, according to a safety bulletin. The advisory noted that southern and southwestern parts of Saudi airspace are vulnerable to attack, and that the Houthis retain the intent and capability to strike deeper inside the Kingdom, including in Riyadh, Yanbu, and Tabuk. The advisory is valid until 16 November unless it is revised earlier.

The CMA reforms keep coming

Saudi’s listed companies may soon have to answer to their investors out loud. The Capital Market Authority (CMA) moved on two fronts, approving tougher rules for the firms that audit listed companies, and floated draft rules that would make twice-yearly earnings calls mandatory on the Main Market — part of a push to tighten disclosure and governance.

Earnings calls would become mandatory. Under draft rules whose consultation ends Thursday, 29 October, every Tadawul-listed company would have to hold earnings calls twice a year, each within five business days of announcing results and after the close. Companies would walk through their results, give forward guidance, and take questions, then publish the deck and a recording on their websites. If adopted, the rules kick in with the 2026 annual results.

Auditors face higher bars: Separately, the CMA approved amendments to its auditor-registration rules. Registered accounting firms will need enough audit managers holding SOCPA fellowships or equivalents and proper quality-management systems, and will have to share the CMA’s final inspection findings on a listed company’s audit file with that company’s audit committee.

IN CONTEXT- These moves are part of a wider CMA drive to tidy up the market under new chairman Mazen Al Sudairi, which also includes draft rules to overhaul IPO underwriting and book building after a string of listings drew heavy oversubscription then slid once trading began.

Folk Maritime hits pause on ship purchases

PIF’s shipping line is sitting tight until vessel prices cool. Prices for new and second-hand vessels have climbed too high, so the Folk Maritime is holding off until the market cools, CEO Paul Hestbaek told Asharq Business.

None of that changes the bigger plan of roughly doubling the fleet within three to four years. It runs six ships today, owning half, and is funding its growth through shareholder equity and loans, with Hestbaek sizing the investment only as “a large amount.” By 2030, Folk is aiming for 15-20% of the trade crossing the Red Sea, the Gulf, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and East Africa.

REMEMBER- Folk Maritime spelled out this plan when we sat down with Hestbaek last November. The PIF-owned line built its Red Sea feeder network first and is now growing its own regional shipping operation into its main business by 2028, for which it aims to more than double its then-five Saudi-flagged ships and double its container fleet. He flagged even then that new vessels take up to four years to build, which has kept Folk leaning on second-hand tonnage for its near-term needs, the same market now pricing it out.

Diverted

A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia yesterday after an “altercation” on the plane’s flight deck, a spokesperson said in a statement. Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737, diverted to Tabuk after transmitting a 7500 transponder code, which signals “unlawful interference,” according to Flightradar24 data cited by Gulf News. The airline confirmed that on-duty crew aboard the flight secured the aircraft before landing safely in Tabuk.

What we know: All passengers and crew are safe and accounted for, with two replacement aircraft sent to relieve them, and the incident hasn’t affected other scheduled flydubai operations. “At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts,” the airline said.

Pre-budget figures are in

The state budget is projected to run a deficit of roughly 3.6% of GDP for FY 2027, with expenditures pencilled in at around SAR 1.39 tn and revenues at SAR 1.2 tn, according to a Finance Ministry statement. Expenditures and revenues are expected to reach around SAR 1.54 tn and SAR 1.35 tn by 2029, respectively.

Macro trends: The Kingdom’s real GDP is projected to decline by 3.6% in 2026 as a 21.8% contraction in oil activities outweighs a 3.2% growth in non-oil activities amid “economic and geopolitical developments.” The ministry also indicated that non-oil activities grew by 1.8% in 1H, while full-year 2026 inflation is estimated at 2.1%.

For the whole picture: We’ll take a closer look at the ministry’s pre-budget statement for FY 2027 (pdf) next week.

Consider them merged?

Paramount’s PIF-backed USD 110 bn merger with Warner Bros. Discovery can now proceed, after a California federal judge approved an agreement settling a challenge brought by 12 state attorneys general, Bloomberg reports. The transaction could be finalized within days, per regulatory disclosures.

ICYMI: The antitrust suit filed in July claimed the acquisition would harm competition, cinemas, television distributors, and audiences. Paramount settled the challenge last week with commitments to release 30 films a year, invest an extra USD 1.5 bn in US production over the next five years, and establish new cable distribution agreements.

PIF clinches US media foothold: The merger is backed by nearly USD 24 bn in commitments from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Abu Dhabi’s L’imad, and the Qatar Investment Authority. The Gulf funds are set to hold minority, non-voting stakes in the combined company.

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The Gulf’s sovereign funds and largest companies are committing bns to AI infrastructure at home and to AI companies in the US and beyond. EnterpriseAM AI + Innovation reports on where that capital goes, who controls it and what it is actually buying.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we also cover the startups and established firms across MENA putting AI to work, and how it is changing jobs, education and the way business runs.

It’s sharp, analytical and skeptical journalism that ignores hype and is laser-focused on informing our readers, not pleasing our sources.

The newsletter launches Monday, 5 October, at the EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum's AI edition.

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The big story abroad

US President Donald Trump has revealed plans for South Korea to invest around USD 200 bn in US energy projects, including eight nuclear power plants and a 6-GW energy facility in Texas. The plans include a USD 54 bn pipeline for the Alaska LNG project, which would carry natural gas to a liquefaction facility for shipping to Asian markets — though Seoul cautioned that the pipeline project would proceed only if certain commercial and legal conditions are met.

Bond market turns back the clock: The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose by more than half a percentage point in September to 5.3%, its highest level since 2007, as US government bonds posted their worst month in four years. Investors warn the market is caught in a “vicious loop” of selling — a sell-off initially driven by US public debt and inflation concerns has pushed yields to levels that force some funds to sell Treasuries, sending borrowing costs even higher.

And in the AI world: As Google begins its rollout of its flagship AI model — Gemini 4 Argon — some of its employees are reportedly questioning its efficacy, Bloomberg reports, citing people with direct access. Despite strong benchmark scores, the model struggles with certain tasks when put into practice, the people said. However, a Google employee familiar with the model's development said there is "large consensus" internally that Gemini 4 is at the frontier, and Google said it would be inaccurate to say the model underperforms in areas such as coding.

Humain scales up 2027 data center target as it aims for a self-funding buildout

Humain is targeting 1.7 GW of data center capacity in 2027, CEO Tareq Amin tells EnterpriseAM. That’s a bigger number than was on the board last month, when its 250 MW build with Al Moammar Information Systems was described as scalable to 1 GW. That 250 MW is still due online by the end of this year.

The PIF-backed AI company puts the cost of building AI data center capacity at USD 10-12 mn per MW, which would put next year’s build in the region of USD 20 bn, though Amin gave no budget figure. “Almost 80% of my capital is going to the data centers,” Amin tells us.

Paying for it all: Humain’s domestic data center fund is going through regulatory approval, Amin says. The vehicle is seeking an initial USD 2.5 bn to finance its first phase of capacity, with room to scale further. BSF Capital is managing the debt-and-equity structure, as we previously reported. “When you have bankable off-take deals, raising capital for me is not an issue,” Amin says. “I try to minimize as much as possible my shareholder capital allocation.”

The playbook: Humain is effectively trying to make the AI buildout pay for itself as it scales — lock in global customers first, use those contracts to raise debt and attract outside investors, then deploy the capital into the infrastructure those customers need. That fits with Amin’s broader goal of shifting Humain away from relying heavily on its shareholders.

The build only gets bigger from here: Humain is targeting roughly 3 GW by 2030 and 6 GW by 2034, turning what is now a relatively small Saudi data-center market into the base for a much larger AI-compute business. But Amin says the company won’t build ahead of demand. “This is a balancing act between [building and securing] demand, especially around AI factories.”

The export play

The customers increasingly sit outside Saudi Arabia. Humain has signed up xAI and Amazon Web Services, Amin says, alongside several open-weight model companies. The aim is to have global tech companies run workloads in Saudi Arabia and sell that compute back out. “Global off-takers [are] coming to Saudi to really export AI tokens to the rest of the world,” he says.

A separate compute-infrastructure fund will finance the GPUs and other IT equipment inside the data centers. Amin didn’t disclose its size. “The data center build is a fraction of the cost,” Amin says. “The IT equipment, including the GPU, is where most of the capital is [going].” The fund would aim to make compute an investable asset class open to outside investors.

Two VC vehicles: Humain’s previously announced global AI fund, originally planned at USD 10 bn, will back AI-native companies internationally that fit its business. A second, Humain Limitless, will target Saudi AI companies and will launch at the Future Investment Initiative. Amin declined to give a size for either.

First wartime labor data: Women’s employment stalls as participation slips

The first wartime read on unemployment: Labor market participation slipped across every group q-o-q in Saudi Arabia, with women taking the clearest hit. Unemployment among Saudi citizens rose slightly to 6.5% in 2Q 2026, from 6.4% in 1Q, and the overall rate, including expats, fell to 3%, according to Gastat’s labor force survey (pdf). While neither headline number moved much, the underlying numbers show labor force participation fell for women, men, young women, and young men alike.

Even if the latest quarter looks softer, unemployment across the Kingdom is meaningfully lower than it was a year ago. On a y-o-y basis, citizen unemployment is down 0.3 percentage points and women’s unemployment is down 1.7 points.

Women’s unemployment may be improving, but that’s mostly down to fewer women being counted as looking for employment. Women’s participation fell 0.8 points y-o-y to 33.7%, leaving their employment-to-population ratio essentially flat y-o-y, meaning the same share of Saudi women is working as last year. Men went the other way, with unemployment up 0.5 points y-o-y to 4.8% on flat participation of 63.9%, which puts their employment rate down around 0.4 points.

The quarter in brief: Women’s unemployment rose 0.6 points q-o-q to 9.6%, youth unemployment fell 0.9 points to 19.5% for women aged 15-24, and unemployment fell 0.8 points to 13.0% for young men. Labor participation reached 16.2% for young women and 31.2% for young men.

It isn’t for want of trying: Some 96.7% of unemployed Saudis said they would take a private sector job, and 76.8% are applying to employers directly, ahead of Jadarat at 53.5% and professional networks at 48.9%. Among unemployed women, 62.2% would accept an hour’s commute against 46.7% of men, though only 70.0% would work eight-hour days or longer, versus 82.9% of men.

Dar Global posts 149% jump in 1H net income, Saudi anchors its 2026 pipeline

Dar Global’s net income more than doubled in 1H 2026, rising 149% y-o-y to USD 30.4 mn in as revenue climbed 66% to USD 258 mn, according to its earnings release (pdf). The gains came largely from revenue recognition on two projects: The Astera by Aston Martin in UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah and Neptune by Mouawad in the North of Riyadh, according to a press release.

The luxury developer’s portfolio kept expanding: Gross development value nearly doubled y-o-y to USD 23 bn, while cumulative contracted sales reached USD 3.9 bn across 4.4k units. The group closed the half with a net asset value of USD 613.3 mn and available liquidity of USD 579.3 mn.

Dar Global shored up its balance sheet in April, closing a USD 250 mn syndicated term loan from Emirates NBD to bolster liquidity, even amid regional tensions.

Saudi Arabia saw most of the action in 2026. Four of Dar Global’s five project launches this year landed in the kingdom, with Sea La Vie in Doha the only one outside it, per the earnings release (pdf). All four broke ground in the first half: Rayana in Riyadh’s Wadi Safar, and three in Jeddah — Amaya, Trump Plaza, and Padel Living Residences.

REMEMBER- Dar Global expects foreign buyers to account for about 30% of its Saudi sales as Saudi Arabia opens its residential property market to eligible international investors, CEO Ziad El Chaar previously told us. The developer already received expressions of interest for around 350 units worth USD 1-1.5 bn.

Dallah Healthcare makes its acting chief Muteab Altukeas permanent

Dallah Healthcare has made its acting CEO permanent. Muteab Altukeas (LinkedIn), chief strategy officer at the hospital operator since 2022, became CEO yesterday, about six weeks after stepping into the role on an acting basis, according to Tadawul disclosure. He joined Dallah in 2017 and brings more than 15 years in strategy, project management, and M&A

Four new rigs push Arabian Drilling to a record backlog

Arabian Drilling has secured a SAR 2 bn offshore contract from Khafji Joint Operations (KJO). The four-year contract, for four high-spec jack-up rigs, is the largest single offshore award KJO has given the company and triples its rig count serving KJO, per a Tadawul filing (pdf).

The award lifts Arabian Drilling’s backlog to an all-time-high of SAR 18 bn, with revenue starting from the end of 4Q 2026. The latest contract pushes Arabian Drilling past its previous backlog record of SAR 16 bn from last month. That matters for a company that recently slipped into a loss after offshore rig suspensions.

Yet another Masar plot sale

Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction has sold a third Masar plot in under two weeks. The developer agreed to sell a 2.8k sqm boulevard-facing plot in Zone 2 of its Masar Destination project in Makkah to Makkiyoon Urban Developers for SAR 183.7 mn, per a Tadawul filing. The buyer plans to build a hospitality tower on the land.

REMEMBER- Umm Al Qura has now sold SAR 603.8 mn of Zone 3 land to Al-Diyar Al-Arabia, two Zone 2 plots to Al Rossais for SAR 310.4 mn, and this latest one as it steadily parcels out the Makkah megaproject.

Temasek is opening a Riyadh office

Singaporean state investor Temasek wants boots on the ground in the Gulf. The company, which has backed the region from afar for years, will open offices in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi and start talks with institutions in Qatar, it said in a press release. The offices, due to be running by 1H 2027 pending approvals, will house Temasek's own teams and some portfolio companies, and act as a launchpad for agreements into Central Asia and Africa.

Temasek joins a run of global investors planting flags in Riyadh including Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Brookfield, Franklin Templeton, and PIMCO.

Brunei in the holy cities

Two PIF companies have pulled a Bruneian partner into Saudi’s holy-city developments. Rua Al Haram AlMakki and Rua Al Madinah Holding signed two collaboration agreements with Brunei’s Islamic trust fund (TAIB) per a statement. Under the first, TAIB would join Rua AlHaram AlMakki in a real estate joint venture within Makkah's King Salman Gate. The second sets up broader investment and development cooperation across Makkah, Madinah, and Brunei.

ICYMI- Brunei’s TAIB is the latest international partner Rua Al Haram Al Makki has lined up for King Salman Gate. Earlier this week it also flagged a possible SAR 21 bn transit-integrated development within the site with Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB), pairing a public bus terminal with residential, commercial, and retail space.

Temasek is putting down Gulf roots. Will the capital follow?

Temasek to build GCC presence next year: Singapore sovereign investor Temasek plans to open an Abu Dhabi office by 1H 2027 as part of a broader Middle East expansion, alongside a Riyadh outpost and deeper engagement with institutions in Qatar, according to a company statement. The offices, which are subject to statutory approvals, will also host some of Temasek’s portfolio companies and support investments across the GCC, Central Asia, and Africa. The moves take Temasek’s global office network from 13 in nine countries to 15 in 11 and mark its first physical Gulf presence after years of doing Gulf-adjacent business without one.

Why it matters: Temasek is formalizing a relationship that has been years in the making, one built almost entirely through co-investment rather than direct dealmaking in the region itself, Global SWF says in a note seen by EnterpriseAM. Temasek’s own disclosures put Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at just 12% of underlying exposure in its SGD 518 bn (USD 401 bn) portfolio as of end-March, with the Middle East not broken out separately — a footprint that looks thin next to how often Temasek’s name shows up alongside Gulf capital elsewhere in the world.

Qatar, its biggest co-investor, is not getting an office

Temasek isn’t opening a Doha office, but its ties to the Qatar Investment Authority, per Global SWF’s tally, are arguably its deepest in the Gulf. The two have repeatedly co-invested across biotech, energy, and deep tech: QIA led a EUR 250 mn Series D for French biotech Innovafeed in 2022, with Temasek participating; Temasek then led two rounds in German radiopharma company ITM, with QIA alongside it both times; the pair joined Decarbonization Partners on a USD 460 mn round for battery materials firm Ascend Elements in 2023; and in 2025 and 2026, they turned up together again in PsiQuantum’s USD 1 bn Series E, AI chip firm d-Matrix’s USD 275 mn round, and Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker Nearfield Instruments’ USD 380 mn Series D. That’s a half-decade of overlapping bets across biotech, the energy transition, quantum, and semiconductors.

The Abu Dhabi ties are already getting thicker

Temasek’s asset-management platform Seviora — which already operates an office in Abu Dhabi — signed an MoU with FAB this week to explore distributing its strategies to the bank’s wealth clients and potential co-investments. Temasek also joined BlackRock’s GIP, Adnoc, and L’imad in May on a USD 30 bn infrastructure investment platform targeting the GCC and Central Asia, and has run a separate strategic partnership with Mubadala Capital since 2024.

Saudi is the newer, thinner relationship

Unlike Qatar and Abu Dhabi, there isn’t a comparable string of joint investments to point to. The clearest Saudi-Temasek link runs the other direction, with PIF-owned SALIC paying USD 1.24 bn for a stake in Temasek-owned Olam Agri back in 2022 — a Saudi investment into Temasek’s orbit rather than the reverse. Global SWF frames the Riyadh office as more a play on Saudi Arabia’s diversification drive and its pull for foreign capital and operating expertise — with Abu Dhabi, in its words, starting from “a denser institutional network” than Riyadh.

The test that hasn’t happened yet

None of this, per Global SWF, is proof that more Temasek capital is about to flow into the Gulf — only that the relationships now have a physical base to work from. The note frames the offices as bringing years of co-investment “closer to the markets themselves,” but explicitly leaves open whether that translates into anything more. “The next test,” it says, “is whether ties formed through global transactions lead to a larger flow of Temasek capital into the Gulf.”

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets were mixed in early trading, with Japan’s Nikkei gaining around 1.9% and South Korea’s Kospi down 0.3%. US equity futures were mostly in the green.

TASI	10,441	-0.1% (YTD: -0.5%)
MSCI Tadawul 30	1,408	-0.1% (YTD: +1.5%)
NomuC	21,307	+0.1% (YTD: -8.5%)
USD : SAR (SAMA)	USD 3.75 Sell	USD 3.75 Buy
Interest rates	4.25% repo	3.75% reverse repo
EGX30	51,895	-0.8% (YTD: +24.1%)
ADX	10,070	-0.6% (YTD: +0.8%)
DFM	5,961	-0.5% (YTD: -1.4%)
S&P 500	7,652	-0.3% (YTD: +11.8%)
FTSE 100	10,606	-0.3% (YTD: +6.8%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,269	-0.8% (YTD: +8.2%)
Brent crude	USD 98.20	+0.2%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.00	-0.8%
Gold	USD 4,177	-0.2%
BTC	USD 83,478	+0.0% (YTD: -4.7%)
Sukuk/bond market index	904.70	+1.6% (YTD: -1.6%)
S&P MENA bond & sukuk	146.78	-0.0% (YTD: -3.4%)
VIX (Fear gauge)	15.98	-0.4% (YTD: +8.2%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI fell 0.1% yesterday on turnover of SAR 4.3 bn. The index is down 0.5% YTD.

In the green: Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance (+10.0%), Armah Sports (+9.9%), and Almoosa Health (+6.1%).

In the red: National Medical Care (-6.9%), Retal Urban Development (-5.9%), and Red Sea International (-4.8%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC rose 0.1% yesterday on turnover of SAR 11.1mn. The index is down 8.5% YTD.

In the green: Mufeed (+10.0%), Osool and Bakheet Investment (+9.7%), and Balady Poultry (+7.5%).

In the red: Knowledge Tower Trading (-9.7%), Khaled Dhafer and Brothers for Logistics Services (-9.4%), and Al-Razi Medical (-7.0%).

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Tawuniya will distribute SAR 551.2k from the sale of 5.9k fractional shares arising from its capital increase, according to a Tadawul disclosure. The shareholders received one bonus share for every two shares held, at an average selling price of SAR 92.1 per share.

Lujain Abulfaraj, founder of Twothirds Design Bureau and Akwan

Many local brands were reliant on foreign agencies that didn’t understand the region, so Lujain Abulfaraj built a studio to close that gap. More than a decade after co-founding Twothirds, whose client list runs from Cartier to the Royal Commission for AlUla, she is now building Akwan, a children’s brand designed to make Arab kids fall in love with their own language through play.

Lujain Abulfaraj, co-founder of Twothirds and Akwan: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Lujain Abulfaraj (LinkedIn), co-founder and partner at Twothirds Design Bureau, founder and director of Akwan, and member of the Industrial Design Association. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: Walk us through your journey as an entrepreneur.

Lujain Abulfaraj: I started during my final year at the American University of Sharjah, when I co-founded Watad Magazine with colleagues from the College of Architecture, Art and Design. What drew me to entrepreneurship was the combination of solving a problem I believed in, building a community around it, and using design in a meaningful way. I also enjoyed the creative freedom that came with leading a project.

The biggest challenge was balancing creativity with structure. A good idea needs to become an executable product, a capable team, and a sustainable business model. I learned to put clear systems in place and make decisions based on priorities, while preserving the creativity that drives the work.

E: Where did the ideas for Twothirds and Akwan come from?

LA: For Twothirds, my partner, Sara Alarif, and I saw a gap in the market for a design studio that understood the local context while meeting international standards. Many companies were working with foreign agencies that lacked an understanding of the region and its culture. We wanted to bridge that gap and help ambitious local brands express themselves and compete globally. That is how Twothirds began, and more than a decade later, it continues to follow the same approach. We have since worked with organizations and brands including Cartier, the Culture Ministry, the Office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, and the Royal Commission for AlUla, as well as developing the identity for Historic Jeddah.

The idea for Akwan came from noticing the limited availability of high-quality Arabic educational products that combine strong design, innovative ideas, and the joy of play. It was a personal discovery when my son’s nursery called to say he was crying and refusing to attend his Arabic class. I realized the problem wasn't necessarily the language itself, but how we were introducing it to children. That led to Akwan: designing products that speak to this generation and build a positive relationship with Arabic through play.

E: More than five years in, how has your vision for Akwan evolved, and how does it become a scalable cultural brand?

LA: The core vision hasn’t changed — to design toys that help children love the Arabic language and culture through play, while raising a globally minded generation that is proud of its identity. But I now see the opportunity as bigger than products. Akwan can become a cultural brand that builds worlds, experiences, and content around the Arab child. Scaling doesn’t just mean producing more toys; it means building strong intellectual property, a clear design philosophy, and products with lasting play value that can reach homes, schools, and global markets. The ambition is for Akwan to be an Arab-born, globally relevant brand that presents our culture in a contemporary, beautiful, and playful way — without reducing it to traditional symbols or making it feel instructional.

E: What's the hardest part of turning a creative idea rooted in Arab identity into a commercial product?

LA: The hardest part is preserving the spirit of the idea while turning it into a product that can be manufactured, priced, and sold at scale. Between the initial concept and the final product, there are decisions around materials, safety, cost, packaging, usability, and minimum production volumes. Sometimes, the product needs to be redesigned entirely to work commercially without losing its meaning. The biggest gap is that while the market may value design and identity in principle, it doesn’t always recognize the investment required to produce original, high-quality products. The ecosystem connecting designers with manufacturers, financing, safety testing, and intellectual property protection is also still fragmented. As a result, designers often have to take on roles well beyond their expertise to bring a product to market.

E: Does the Saudi market need more investment in the "design economy"?

LA: Absolutely. Design isn’t a finishing touch; it’s a tool for solving problems, increasing product value, improving user experience, and building brands that can compete globally. Investing in design means creating economic value and building intellectual property in Saudi Arabia, rather than simply improving how products look. The opportunity is to move from being a market that consumes what is designed elsewhere to one that designs, produces, and exports to the world. That requires investing not only in designers, but also in the infrastructure, funding, and manufacturing capabilities that can turn creative ideas into scalable products and businesses.

E: As a board member of the Industrial Design Association, what does the Kingdom need to build a fully integrated industrial design ecosystem?

LA: The first priority is connecting the players that currently operate in silos: designers, universities, manufacturers, investors, regulators, and R&D centers. An entrepreneur with an idea needs a clear path from concept to industrial design, prototyping, manufacturing, logistics, and market. Today, that journey can require building the network and expertise from scratch. We need an ecosystem that connects these capabilities and makes that process easier. Most importantly, support should not stop at the idea or prototype. We need to help products move through manufacturing, market entry, development, and ultimately scale locally and internationally.

E: How will AI reshape the national design industry — new opportunities, or pressure on the value of creative work?

LA: I believe it will do both. AI will significantly reduce the time needed for research, ideation, visual development, and testing different directions, giving designers and small teams capabilities that previously required much larger budgets and resources. At the same time, it will put pressure on repetitive or execution-focused work, because producing a polished image is becoming easier. This will increase the value of what AI cannot do on its own: asking the right questions, understanding people and cultural context, making decisions, and developing original, coherent ideas.

AI will not eliminate the designer, but it will change what defines a good designer. The value will increasingly lie in vision, creative judgment, and the ability to direct these tools — not execution alone. For Saudi designers, that creates an opportunity to develop a contemporary design language rooted in our own context rather than replicating what comes from elsewhere.

E: What are your ambitions for the future?

LA: Our ambition is for Akwan to become a leading brand for contemporary Arabic educational play, reaching children at home and in schools across the region and beyond. We want to build products, experiences, and intellectual property that help children engage with Arabic language and culture through play, while showing that Arab-designed products can be beautiful, innovative, and globally relevant.

E: You described yourself as a mother first and an entrepreneur second. How do you start your day, and how do you balance work with your daily responsibilities?

LA: Motherhood changed the way I see the world and shaped many of the questions that led to Akwan. I don’t believe in a perfect or fixed balance. Some days my children need me more; on others, work takes priority.

I usually start my day with exercise, then breakfast and planning. I prefer to handle strategic or focused work from home before going to the office, and I make a point of having lunch with my children and maintaining a clear routine at home. For me, balance is not about giving everything equal time every day, but being present where I am needed and understanding the priorities of each stage.

E: Which books or shows have influenced you?

LA: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success had a significant impact on me, although there are now questions around its author. I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam helped me manage my time after becoming a mother of two, while Traction by Gino Wickman is one of my favorite business books and led me to Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz, which I also love.

E: Outside of design, what is your favorite hobby?

LA: I love sports, particularly cardio activities such as running, skipping, and boxing. When I was at school, I competed in 100-meter races and was also captain of my school’s basketball team, so sport has always been a big part of my life. I also enjoy drawing, journaling, and junk journaling, using scraps, images, and anything that inspires me. I really enjoy spending time with my children too — having spontaneous, unstructured conversations or reading together. And, of course, I love reading.

CALENDAR

28 September-1 October (Monday-Thursday): The International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV), Prince Sultan University, Riyadh.

OCTOBER

11-15 October (Sunday-Thursday): Riyadh Energy Week, Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center, Riyadh.

14-17 October 2027 (Thursday-Sunday): Red Sea Yacht Show, Jeddah Yacht Club, Jeddah.

21 October - 30 December (Wednesday-Wednesday): Riyadh Season, Riyadh.

25-26 October (Sunday-Monday): The Global Proptech Summit, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): ACHEMA Middle East, Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.

26-29 October (Monday-Thursday): The Future Investment Initiative, King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, Riyadh.

28-29 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Procurement and Supply Chain Futures Forum, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

28-29 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Real Estate Supply Chain Forum, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

30 October-1 November (Friday-Sunday): The New Global Sport Conference, Sofitel Hotel & Convention Centre, Riyadh.

NOVEMBER

11-12 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Aluminum Arabia, The Arena, Riyadh.

16-19 November (Monday-Thursday): Cityscape Global, Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre (Malham), Riyadh.

29 November-1 December (Sunday-Tuesday): The UN Trade and Development Global Supply Chain Forum, Riyadh.

29 November-1 December (Sunday-Tuesday): The Global Logistics Forum, King Abdulaziz International Convention Centre, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2026:

2H: Sabic’s USD 6.4 bn Fujian project in China to start production;
November: The Esports Nations Cup, Riyadh;
The World Economic Forum’s Global Collaboration and Growth Meeting, Jeddah;

2027

FEBRUARY

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Energy Regulators Regional Association annual conference, Riyadh.

MARCH

21-25 March (Sunday-Thursday):The World Water Forum, Riyadh.

22–24 March (Monday-Wednesday): Capital Markets Forum, Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh

APRIL

26-29 April (Monday-Thursday): World Energy Congress, Riyadh.

JUNE

1-3 June (Tuesday-Thursday): The Saudi Entertainment and Amusement Expo, Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Center.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

The Ocean Race finishes in Amaala on the Red Sea;
Riyadh-Kudmi transmission line to be completed;
Aero Middle East and Sand & Fun takes place in Thumamah Airport, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2Q 2027:

The Hail Region Water Networks Project is expected to be completed.

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