The defense sector’s evolving import-export strategy

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Mubadala eyes more Asia exposure + more The Boring Company projects could be in the pipeline

Good morning, everyone. Today we’re diving deep into two sectors: defense and employment — both of which have been rattled by the war at a time when their internal dynamics were evolving.

First up: The war has made the UAE's defense industry look like a self-reliance story, but Edge still mostly sells abroad. Despite appearances, these two trends aren’t pulling in opposite directors, but rather can work to build scale at home while still filling the gaps in-house manufacturing can’t close yet.

On the jobs front: UAE employers have entered somewhat of a hiring freeze against a backdrop of the outbreak of war and AI evolving at breakneck speed. We spoke to experts to figure out how much of this is the war, and how much is the robots.

We’re also following news that Mubadala is looking to replicate last year’s USD 39 bn deployments, only this time with a greater focus on Asia, and of possible new projects between Abu Dhabi and Elon Musk’s The Boring Company after a recent exploratory pact.

The Gulf’s sovereign funds and largest companies are committing billions 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.

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Mubadala eyes more Asia deployments

Mubadala’s USD 39 bn investment engine isn’t slowing down. The sovereign wealth fund is planning on deploying another USD 39 bn this year, after closing out last year with USD 39 bn in investments, The National reports, citing comments made by CFO Carlos Obeid.

Looking east: The sovereign wealth fund is looking to continue its recent focus on Asia, which has seen its exposure to the market increase from 10% to 13% of its portfolio over the past years. Mubadala is targeting deploying funds in China, India, South Korea, and Japan in particular, adding to its existing presence in these markets, he said. As it stands, the lion’s share of the fund’s investments are concentrated in North America, at 44%, followed by the UAE with 24%, and Europe with 15%.

Will the strategy change? AI and advanced technology secured a significant portion of last year’s deployments. That focus area doesn’t look likely to fade to the background anytime soon, with Obeid flagging technology as a priority sector once again, along with the energy transition, shifting supply chains, and changing consumer behavior.

Asian markets present opportunities in all four focus areas, as net energy importers and production hubs for renewables equipment, changing consumer spending and consumption habits, and key manufacturers of advanced tech supplies like semiconductors. When it comes to the latter, Mubadala will likely tread carefully when it comes to Chinese investments, given heightened US scrutiny when it comes to tech.

The papertrail is already making tracks: Just last month, Mubadala took a minority stake in China’s biggest coffeehouse chain by story count, Luckin Coffee, alongside its controlling stakeholder for around USD 1 bn. Since entering the market in 2015, the sovereign wealth fund’s investments have reached USD 20 bn.

More from Musk?

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) could be doubling down on its UAE presence, after the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre (ADPIC) has inked an exploratory pact with TBC to evaluate underground transport, utility corridors, and next-generation urban infrastructure across the capital, as per Abu Dhabi Media Office.

REMEMBER- The company is already carving out the initial 6.4 km Dubai Loop connecting DIFC to Dubai Mall, backed by a massive USD 3 bn Series D round — funded heavily by UAE investors — that valued the firm at USD 23 bn and targeted over 150 km of local tunnel networks.

TBC is best known for its loop system: which uses EVs to move passengers through tunnels. The Abu Dhabi pact stays exploratory: no routes, construction timelines or project costs have been committed.

In context- The UAE’s Musk portfolio keeps growing. MGX has backed xAI, G42 has invested in Neuralink and MGX, Alpha Dhabi, and IHC have direct or indirect exposure to SpaceX. Any concrete results from the agreement would add an underground transport element to a growing UAE investment footprint across Musk’s AI, space, and neurotechnology businesses.

Sharjah wants India’s next Gulf base

With Strait of Hormuz routes crippled and Jebel Ali bottlenecks mounting, Sharjah is playing its geopolitical trump card. The emirate is leveraging a USD 2 bn expansion at Khorfakkan Commercial Terminal to target USD 3 bn in Indian FDI across 2026 and 2027, Economic Times reports. It is the UAE's only fully commercial deep-water port sitting safely outside the Strait of the Gulf of Oman.

The pitch is regional: companies can use Sharjah as a base to reach Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and wider Gulf markets, while staying connected to east-west maritime routes. The Sharjah FDI Office expects about USD 1.5 bn this year and another USD 1.5 bn next year — a roughly 15% surge from the previous year. Manufacturers and logistics majors are rapidly securing industrial acreage around Khorfakkan to establish export hubs serving Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq without braving maritime chokepoints.

Khorfakkan opens up: The emirate is seeing rising enquiries from manufacturing, logistics and transportation companies, and strong demand for industrial land near the port, said Mohamed Juma Al Musharrkh, CEO of Invest in Sharjah.

IN CONTEXT- Port operator Gulftainer is actively scaling Khorfakkan’s container capacity from 3.5 mn to 5 mn TEUs, eyeing a long-term 10 mn TEU target.

PSA

WEATHER- It'll stay warm this weekend, with highs of 41°C and overnight lows of 28°C in Abu Dhabi, while Dubai will see highs of 40°C before it cools to 29°C overnight, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

It’s another morning of AI and war updates leading the conversation in the international business press. The two biggest headlines this morning:

OpenAI will end the year with at least USD 70 bn in annualized revenue, the company expects, with its annualized revenue sitting at USD 50 bn at the end of September, Bloomberg reports. The end-2026 forecast, which the ChatGPT maker shared with investors as it looks to raise USD 30 bn, is calling into question previous signals from OpenAI that its annualized revenue was already around USD 70 bn in September, the Financial Times notes. The gap arose “from attempts by OpenAI’s investors to produce a direct comparison with Anthropic’s annualised revenues,” the salmon-colored paper says.

The Houthis ramped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia, with renewed strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport and elsewhere in the Saudi capital yesterday. Several airlines, including Lufthansa and Air India, have moved to suspend their flights to Riyadh after the attacks, Reuters reports.

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The defense sector’s evolving import-export strategy

The war has made the UAE's defense industry look like a self-reliance story. Iranian drone and missile attacks have put the cost of air defense front and center, and a string of new manufacturing agreements has run through state defense group Edge. But Edge mostly sells abroad: exports make up 76% of its sales, and international orders account for USD 21 bn of its backlog. Meanwhile, the UAE still imports much of its most advanced hardware.

These trends aren't pulling in opposite directions: Exports and stakes in foreign firms give Edge the scale and technology access to build more at home, while imports fill the gaps it can't yet close, and the war has made those gaps more urgent.

Still a big buyer, but buying less

The UAE remains one of the world's largest arms importers. It was the 11th largest globally in 2021-25, accounting for 2.7% of global arms imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Regionally, it ranked fourth, behind Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

But it's buying less than it used to. The UAE's arms imports fell 15% in 2021-25 compared with 2016-20, according to SIPRI, which measures the volume of deliveries rather than their dollar value. That extends a longer decline: the UAE was once the world's third-largest arms importer. It also dropped from the third- to the ninth-largest recipient of US arms between 2017 and 2021. Overall, it has seen a 40% reduction in arms imports in the ten years preceding 2025. None of this data yet covers the period since the war began.

There’s an important resilience angle at play: “The bigger change is that the UAE now buys and builds across a much wider range of capabilities than before,” EY Defence and Security Director Malcolm Lyne told us. “That reduces reliance on any single supplier or nation, and makes the country more resilient.”

What it buys, and from whom

Missiles made up the largest share of imports in 2021-25, followed by aircraft and air defense systems. The US supplied 42% of the UAE's arms imports over the period, followed by France at 18% and South Korea at 10%. According to SIPRI analyst Zain Hussein, the UAE relies particularly on the US for combat helicopters and on South Korea for surface-to-air missile systems, while France is a key supplier of combat aircraft.

All three relationships are deepening: These top three import sources have signalled that defense cooperation with the Emirates is here to stay. The UAE has inked a USD 35 bn defense pact with South Korea, set up a European headquarters in Paris, and maintained close defense ties with the US for several years now.

The gap the war exposed

Much of what the UAE imports is equipment it can't yet make itself. It can build shorter-range systems such as Edge's SkyKnight, which can intercept cruise missiles at up to 10 km, but for medium- and long-range air defense it still depends on imported systems: the US's Patriot and THAAD, and South Korea's M-SAM.

The war has shifted what it's shopping for. With intercepting missiles and drones now the priority, the emphasis has moved from platforms like combat helicopters to air defense. Most recently, the US approved a possible USD 1.04 bn worth of arms from the US of kits that turn cheap unguided rockets into guided munitions capable of shooting down drones.

Built to localize + sell

Edge was created in 2019 to consolidate and refocus the UAE's defense industry, absorbing entities including Emirates Defence Industries Company (EDIC) and businesses from Tawazun. Its mandate, writes Lucie Béraud-Sudreau of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, was to bring defense technology, especially advanced systems, to market faster.

It has grown into a heavyweight exporter. Edge says its product portfolio grew 550% in its first five years and that it now operates in 91 countries through a network of 25 subsidiaries and a growing list of international JVs. It ranked 22nd on SIPRI's list of the world's top arms-producing companies in 2019, with sales of USD 4.75 bn. The company said the USD 2.3 bn in defense contracts it secured in 2024 was set to at least double in 2025.

Edge’s very existence came from a drive to streamline and refocus its defense sector. When it was established, the firm absorbed several other defense entities, like Tawazun and Emirates Defence Industries Company (EDIC) as part of a reform of its previous strategy centered around EDIC,. With Edge, the focus turned to bringing defense solutions, in the advanced technology in particular, to market faster.

As for its subsidiaries, “the structure lets Edge set up partnerships and JVs quickly without restructuring the wider group, so it can expand faster to capture orders,” Lyne says. Partnerships with foreign players is also easier, as they partner with the subsidiary rather than the whole firm, he tells us.

They’re also profitable in their own right: Even though export revenue is spread across different clusters, the largest contributor is platforms and systems, as they are high-value programs, Lyne tells us. However, “As the newer capability areas grow internationally, revenue should spread more evenly across the group,” he adds.

A loop, not a contradiction

Edge's foreign holdings are already supplying the UAE. Edge owns 52% of Swiss VTOL maker Anavia, which agreed in 2024 to supply 200 unmanned helicopters to the UAE's Defense Ministry. Estonia's Milrem Robotics, 50% owned by Edge, signed a contract that same year to supply 60 unmanned ground vehicles to the ministry. Edge's JVs, including with Italy's Leonardo on advanced sensors, Hungary's 4iG on non-lethal systems, and Spain's EM&E Group on remote weapons systems, target both UAE and international customers.

Even so, as it stands “very little product comes back to the UAE directly,” according to Lyne. Most exports are delivered through local partners and JVs in the customer country, but over time these partnerships could support two-way supply chains, he says.

It’s also about scale. The UAE is trying to build economies of scale in defense manufacturing, writes Béraud-Sudreau. Selling abroad spreads fixed costs over larger production runs, lowers unit costs and frees up money to reinvest, so exports serve the domestic defense base rather than standing alone. Buying into foreign firms helps the same loop: such investments “facilitate technology transfers,” she writes.

“Exports help make localization economically sustainable,” according to Lyne. “Export orders give local production lines the scale to stay viable, keep skilled teams employed and spread fixed costs.”

Where does that leave us?

Edge says 80% of its systems are built in the UAE, but it has also said that expanding its international partnerships is critical to the country's overall defense capabilities. Our read: exports look set to do double duty, expanding Edge's overseas footprint while generating revenue that can help fund the imports needed to fill remaining gaps.

“As older platforms reach end of life, more of their replacements are likely to be produced domestically,” Lyne says. “Newer, niche capabilities such as UAS and interceptors are increasingly developed and produced in the UAE and form a growing part of the export offer.”

There’s a balance to be struck when it comes to the tension between domestic needs and selling abroad, he tells us. That can be managed through prioritization rules, more production capacity, and a more diverse and locally anchored supplier bases, according to Lyne.

In the near term, the priority is the threat on the ground: strengthening the UAE's ability to intercept future missile and drone attacks, and protecting critical infrastructure such as ports, oil and gas facilities and data centers, all of which were targeted during the recent conflict.

Are a recent hiring freeze and AI gaining ground related?

A regional war sent UAE employers into a hiring freeze, and AI has given them enough reasons to not unfreeze it anytime soon. Even as headline PMI surged to 55.3 in August — its highest level since December 2024 — private-sector employment dropped for the second time in three months.

A change in tack: On the heels of war-related caution and automation tools taking up routine workflows, more and more employers are choosing not to backfill departures, fundamentally severing the link between revenue growth and headcount.

REMEMBER- Hiring activity in the UAE had dropped 4% q-o-q in 2Q 2026, the sharpest fall in staffing levels since August 2020.

“Clients are hiring fewer, more senior people,” Rami Naim, CEO of Guildhall tells EnterpriseAM. From late February the war froze decisions, and the effect showed in the executive search firm’s 3Q billing: placement volumes dipped over 50% q-o-q while fee value hiked 16%.

REMEMBER- Hiring activity in the UAE had tanked 4% q-o-q in 2Q 2026, the sharpest fall in staffing levels since August 2020. At the time, analysts told us a shock in confidence due to the war was a major contributor to the hiring dip.

Blame war, not AI: “The drop in hiring numbers was entirely driven by the conflict, not AI,” Cooper Fitch CEO Trefor Murphy tells EnterpriseAM. AI only helps with individual efficiencies, and is not currently synced up to run no-people processes, he says. Companies were hiring 1.7-1.8 people for every employee who left before the conflict, but that ratio has since moved closer to one-for-one, Talal Bayaa, CEO of HR and finance automation platform Bayzat tells us.

“We saw a lot of unpaid leave being given. So till today we haven’t seen mass layoffs happen,” according to Bayaa. There is a post-Covid lesson here: companies found rehiring “very painful and very costly. So they would rather just put one on unpaid leave and ride it through,” he explains.

It’s a different story for AI-related jobs: The UAE is among the world’s fastest-growing AI talent markets where AI-related job postings tripled from 1% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2025, according to PwC. At the same time, organizations anticipating AI-related job reductions dropped from 34% in 2026 to 13% in 2027, as per a Cooper Fitch report (pdf).

So far, the roles that have thinned out were mostly entry-level: including those who gathered, formatted or moved information including junior analysts, researchers, copywriters, coordinators and some first-line operations roles, both Murphy and Naim affirm.

But AI is changing what happens next: Companies are asking whether every worker, including expats who left during the war, need replacing. “What clients rarely say out loud is that a deferred junior role often isn't coming back. It gets absorbed by existing staff plus tools,” says Naim.

When corporates couldn’t hire, many found they could automate. For Nuwa Capital, this was the back office on the investor side: diligence questionnaires and investor documentation work, which are often repetitive and rule-based tasks. “Our rule is to automate where AI being wrong is cheap, and keep people where being wrong is expensive,” says Arnav Danthi, partner at Nuwa. AI has ramped up the design and production layer of personal training and fitness platform, Enhance, CEO Tarek Mounir tells us. It analyzes large-scale behavioural data to spot client engagement patterns as well as automated the trainers’ administrative work.

For SMEs, AI offers a way to grow without adding overhead: SMEs account for 59% of UAE business’ AI spending — prioritizing automation in sales, lead follow-up, operations, and administration, with finance and invoicing next as e-invoicing requirements take effect, according to Lisa Knight, CEO of Bainna AI Solutions. “With budgets tight, owners want the next salary to go to someone who earns or serves customers.”

The career ladder is suffering: While automation’s impact on senior-level executive recruitment is extremely limited, “AI is taking away the entry-level grunt work which helps young graduates develop the critical thinking needed to evaluate AI outputs,” argues Murphy of Cooper Fitch. At junior and mid-level, companies are expecting the same output from fewer people.

A premium on human judgement: Clients have “stopped paying for volume and started paying for judgement,” says Naim. It’s a similar situation at Enhance, with Mounir telling us “[w]e place increased premiums on critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to interpret insights to build stronger relationships.”

But, AI is not producing one uniform employment outcome. Some employers are embedding AI and automation skills into existing roles. At Bayzat, employees whose work once centred on finance data entry are now managing AI agents to evaluate their output.

For others, the focus is working with the machine: Nuwa’s Arnav says the investment firm has not cut planned roles; instead, AI has raised the amount of work its existing team can handle. Enhance similarly says AI allows its workforce to absorb greater volumes without reducing its commitment to hiring.

The crucial question is what happens when the war-related hiring freeze lifts. “At senior level, permanent hiring is recovering fastest. Clients want committed leaders in seat before 1Q 2027,” Naim predicts, adding that junior and mid-level process-heavy positions remain under pressure. Outright AI-related job reduction expectations have fallen sharply, even as organizations continue exploring role consolidation, according to Murphy.

Bayaa also cautions against attributing too much of the current employment picture to AI: only a small minority of companies are using AI deeply across day-to-day operations with a defined company-wide strategy.

That leaves the UAE’s employment market at a critical juncture. The war may explain why companies are not hiring today, and AI could determine how many people they need when they start hiring again. As Naim puts it, “The war cost the market about two quarters. AI is changing what a team of ten looks like for the next 10 years.”

Mubadala’s USD 6.2 bn takeover of Clear Channel secures regulatory greenlight

Mubadala nears close on USD 6.2 bn advertising giant takeover: Mubadala Capital’s takeover of US-based outdoor advertising player Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings is nearing the finish line, having secured the go-ahead from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, according to a press release.

A recap: Mubadala snapped up 100% of the US-based outdoor advertising player for USD 6.2 bn at the start of the year, alongside US-based investment firm TWG Global. Under the initial agreement, Clear Channel had a 45-day period to solicit other buyers before locking in with Mubadala.

Clear Channel operates as an out-of-home advertising firm and has a weekly audience of 130 mn Americans, with products including billboards at roadside and airport locations. It currently covers over 65 locations. The firm closed out last year with USD 24.7 mn in net income, reversing a USD 175.9 mn loss for the same period last year, according to its financial statements. Despite the USD 103.7 mn in losses from continuing operations showing up on its income statement, the firm still posted revenue growth of 6.6% last year which helped to shrink operating losses by 16.2% y-o-y.

The financing mechanics: Financing is coming in the form of USD 3 bn in equity from Mubadala, as well as debt financing from a group led by JPMorgan Chase Bank and Apollo Funds. Apollo also contributed an undisclosed amount of equity financing.

Next up: The transaction is set to close around 14 October, after which Clear Channel’s shares will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Shareholders will receive USD 2.43 per share, which is a 71% premium over its share price before the takeover was announced. Mubadala’s equity backing is set to support deleveraging, fund growth, and shore up financial flexibility.

Keen on the ads: Multiply Group is another Emirati name that’s been making tracks in the advertising space in recent years. The Abu Dhabi-based investment firm launched Multiply Media Group (MMG) last year to bring its out-of-home portfolio companies under one umbrella, inked a JV agreement with Saudi players on global advertising, and acquired 100% of BlackLite Media as well as London Lites.

Agility Global locks in USD 560 mn credit facility, DP World secures Bangladesh concession agreement, PVP backs COFE Tech

Agility Global secures USD 560 mn facility

ADX-listed logistics firm Agility Global secured EUR 500 mn (c. USD 560 mn) credit facility from international lenders, according to a disclosure (pdf). The proceeds will go towards its ongoing financing requirements, and is set to mature in one year, with certain extension options in place.

The logistics player was tight-lipped on the specifics, and did not disclose the specific banks involved in the arrangement or the interest rates for the paper. The move comes after Agility posted strong 1H results as net income jumped 30% y-o-y on revenues of around USD 3 bn, up 25% y-o-y.

DP World gets 15-year Bangladesh port concession

DP World has inked a 15-year concession pact with Bangladesh’s Chittagong Port Authority to operate and maintain the newly built New Morning Container Terminal and an adjoining container yard, as per a press release. The terminal will remain state-owned while DP World does the heavy lifting — upgrading civil infrastructure, deploying digital logistics solutions, and managing daily terminal operations.

ICYMI- Last year UAE maritime players were in talks for possible investments in Bangladeshi ports, including Chittagong. At the time, options included acquiring and managing operations for a major port. DP World was previously reported to be considering investing in a new terminal at Chittagong.

But for now, Bangladesh just wants less friction: Chittagong is Bangladesh’s economic lifeline, but chronic congestion routinely slows down the country's exports. DP World will link the terminal to its wider network of ports, logistics infrastructure and supply-chain services.

PVP puts pre-IPO money into COFE Tech

Abu Dhabi-based Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) has invested in Kuwait-founded COFE District (COFE Tech), backing the intelligent procurement and commerce infrastructure provider ahead of its planned IPO, according to a press release. The investment was completed earlier this year, with PVP founder and CEO Steve Khayat joining COFE Tech’s board to represent the investor.

Brewing commerce infrastructure: The company recently closed a pre-IPO fundraising at a USD 178 mn valuation and plans to go public by 2029. Founded in 2018, COFE Tech serves more than 1k businesses across the Gulf, spanning aviation, hospitality, retail and food and beverage. Its UAE customer base includes Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways and Al-Futtaim Group. For PVP, the investment fits its focus on early-stage tech businesses across fintech, healthtech, edtech, agrifoodtech, energy technology and sustainability.

War puts regional growth heads on the path to a contraction

It’s not all bad news for regional growth prospects this year, with windows of opportunity in sectors like AI offering a little light to offset the gloom cast by the conflict across our region. Globally, growth has only been shaved down to 2.5% from 2.6% at the start of the year.

Growth in our neck of the woods is likely to trail global averages, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report (pdf). Output for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region is now set to contract by 2.1% this year, reversing last year’s 3.3% of expansion.

Within the GCC, the effects will be starker, as economies are set for a 4.3% contraction, according to the World Bank. In January, it saw GCC growth coming in at 4.4% for this year. The UAE is set for a 1.6% contraction, a 2% is penciled in for KSA, and Qatar is starting down a 20.9% decline.

Surprising exactly no one, the war has been the biggest dampener of growth after it cut off the export route for one fifth of oil and LNG. Effects weren’t limited to depleted oil revenues, but put the brakes on other sectors that had been showing strong indicators of growth, like tourism, logistics, and aviation, while also weighing on business sentiment and food inflation.

There’s fragmentation within that picture as well: Alternative export routes for KSA, the UAE, and Oman helped offset some of the oil revenues losses. While on the flip side, oil-importing economies have managed to avoid much of the brunt faced by exporters, and are set to see growth rates increase to 4.3%, up from 3.9% last year.

Could AI be the saving grace? The World Bank sees AI as transformative, but notes a massive schism within the region when it comes to who is positioned to catch the upside as it stands (the UAE and KSA), and countries like Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Tunisia, that are home to growing digital ecosystems and readiness gaps simultaneously. Lagging regulation and the current lack of Arabic-trained AI models also risk hampering the region from reaping the benefits of AI.

Regional cooperation on AI is the region's biggest, and yes most untapped, opportunities, according to the report, which sees pooling resources, compute capacity, and government frameworks as leading to a more broad-based benefit.

The outlook: Heightened uncertainty, higher interest rates leading to less financial space for regional entities, and inflationary pressure are all downside risks to watch out for. If the regional geopolitical situation stabilized by the end of the year, growth would rebound to 7.8% for 2027.

But that comes with a caveat: The World Bank flags that any such growth would be chalked down to restored oil exports rather than an uptick in productivity, stressing the need for better regional resilience to hedge against future crises.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are having a mixed morning in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei opened lower, dragged down by tech stocks that tracked losses on Wall Street yesterday following disappointing revenue figures from OpenAI. The subdued sentiment on AI and tech is looking likely to carry through to the trading day in the US later today, with futures more or less flat.

ADX	9,801	-1.6% (YTD: -1.9%)
DFM	5,799	-1.7% (YTD: -4.1%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,743	-2.6% (YTD: -3.0%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.6% o/n	4.9% 1 yr
TASI	10,376	-1.6% (YTD: -1.1%)
EGX30	53,265	-0.1% (YTD: +27.3%)
S&P 500	7,765	-0.5% (YTD: +13.4%)
FTSE 100	10,442	-0.2% (YTD: +5.1%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,127	-0.9% (YTD: +5.8%)
Brent crude	USD 103.33	-0.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.14	-1.0%
Gold	USD 4,197.50	+1.0%
BTC	USD 81,988.07	-1.4% (YTD: -6.3%)
Lunate JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.52	0.0% (YTD: -1.8%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	146.45	0.0% (YTD: -3.6%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	15.41	+2.2% (YTD: +3.1%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX fell 1.6% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.3 bn. The index is down 1.9% YTD.

In the green: Invest Bank (+3.7%) and National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain (+2.8%.

In the red: Abu Dhabi Aviation Co. (-4.9%), Abu Dhabi National Takaful Co. (-4.7%), and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (-4.0%).

Over on the DFM, the index fell 1.7% on turnover of AED 658.7 mn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 2.6%.

Justyn Cánovas is turning his idea of a good weekend into a festival business

Justyn Cánovas (LinkedIn) started in events at 16 and worked his way to the London 2012 Olympics. Now he’s turning his idea of a good weekend into a business. The South African-raised event designer is building MOC27 — the Motor, Outdoor & Camping Festival — around the UAE’s winter outdoor season.

The business depends on turning those weekend adventurers into festivalgoers. MOC27 combines an exhibition with entertainment that gives visitors a reason to stay. Exhibitors will be required to run live demonstrations, with visitors able to test equipment before buying — including pitching a rooftop tent or taking a 4x4 over sand with an instructor, according to its launch announcement (pdf). Cánovas estimates an initial investment of AED 4-5 mn, several times what he would normally start with. The first edition is scheduled for 14-17 January 2027.

First, he has to sell people on an event they haven’t experienced yet. Cánovas says the team spent roughly six months establishing the brand and adapting its European festival concept to the UAE.

Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of business questions just for fun. This week, we spoke with Cánovas, CEO and senior partner of MOC27 and JBCM Event Architects, about the economics of launching a festival and finding a daily rhythm when the hours keep changing. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: Take us back to the beginning. How did you get from working as a technician to building an outdoor festival?

Justyn Cánovas (JC): My parents are Spanish, but I was born and raised in South Africa where there’s a big outdoor lifestyle. At about 16, I got into events and started as a technician. I dreamt of working on the Olympics and at London 2012, I managed to have a major role. I also moved into large-scale events like FIFA World Cups and Formula One, and festivals.

I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors. We saw an opportunity to create an environment where like-minded outdoor and adventure people could come together. We started similar programs in Europe, called Four Points Festivals. When I moved to the region with my family a few years ago, we saw the opportunity to do something similar here.

E: Why Dubai, and what makes you confident there’s a market for it?

JC: Dubai has a lot of lifestyle festivals, but we saw a gap in the market for outdoor adventure and camping. More families are looking at local travel now, and getting out of the city, particularly where there’s uncertainty around international travel.

E: How does the business model work — and how much does it take to get the first edition off the ground?

JC: Festivals are generally a high-risk environment. You’re counting on three main areas of revenue: visitors paying for tickets, sponsors, and exhibitors. Rather than having just a few of those components, we have everything: the exhibition, music, ticket-paying guests, and sponsors.

We’re going big on purpose. Normally, we’d look at about AED 1 mn to get everything started but for this, we’re probably four or five times that amount as an initial investment because it’s much bigger than normal.

E: What does Oryx Signature bring to the partnership?

JC: At JBCM Event Architects, we’re event designers, festival designers, and IP designers. We do the market research and build the concept. That’s our strength. When we come to a new region, we look for a partner with the same passion, but also deep local knowledge: suppliers, venues, laws, and an understanding of the market. The partnership is probably the most important thing in the entire business setup. We probably spend more time trying to find the right partner than looking for a venue.

E: What has Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism’s involvement meant in practice?

JC: They’ve become a major supporter and brought MOC27 onto the Dubai Shopping Festival calendar. They’re trying to attract families and get people to explore the UAE more and, after a number of conversations, they came on as our principal sponsor.

E: What happens after January?

JC: We intend to make it an annual festival and the highlight of the outdoor season in the UAE. We’re also developing two more MOC properties. One is MOC RV, focused on vans, caravans, and camping — a three-day festival with music and actual camping. The other is MOC Marine, for outdoor lifestyle on the water.

E: What takes up most of your day — and what’s been the hardest part of launching?

JC: My number one role is developing and looking after the brand. Every supplier and everyone working on marketing, media, production, artists, entertainment, and food needs to be in line with it. Our job is to make sure what’s selected fits.

In year one, more than half our time is spent meeting people face-to-face: local brands, suppliers, venues, government, police — everybody from a small exhibitor to the major brands. People think that if they advertise an event on social media, they’ll reach their market, but we’ve learnt it starts with meeting the players and building relationships.

E: Tell us about your morning routine. How does your day begin?

JC: I’m an early riser, although sometimes we have events happening late at night. First, a cup of coffee. Then I like to look through the day and identify when I need to be focused and on the ball, and when I can sit down and do admin.

I don’t believe you can run at 1,000% all day, every day. You have to be at your best when you need to be, and know when to relax. I like to understand my day before it starts, do the family routine if I can, and then let the day begin.

Events aren’t nine-to-five. Sometimes you’re up at 5am or finishing at 2am. You work weekends and holidays. If I’m on-site for three weeks for a major festival, there’s no morning routine. It’s a question of what we’re dealing with today and which big decisions need to be made.

E: How do you stay on top of so many moving parts without getting overwhelmed?

JC: I like the analogy of small stones and big stones in a jar. If you put the small stones in first, you won’t fit the big ones. It’s about highlighting the big things that have to be done today. I’ll often ask my team: is that a today problem or a tomorrow problem? We work to very firm deadlines. There’s no pushing the project to next week or next month. Sometimes there are 50 decisions in a day, but you have to make sure you’re making the right ones.

And you have to keep calm. If someone cancels your entire transport plan, how do we fix it? If a massive storm is coming, what do we do? You have to take it piece by piece and approach it calmly.

E: When the work is done, how do you disconnect?

JC: My absolute favorite is going for a ride on the motorbike. That’s my quick disconnection. For a longer break, I like to go camping, either solo or with the family. Go into the mountains or to the beach for two or three days and disconnect.

Justyn’s recommendations

A book he returns to: The Art of War. I know it’s a cliché, but read it as a business book. When you see “army,” think “company”; when you see “general,” think “CEO.” I probably read it once a year as I find it helps me look at a situation and understand the problem.

Best advice he’s received: Don’t make your dream your job. Make your job your dream. Find out what you’re good at and what you enjoy, then build that into your dream life. I realized I love doing events, so the goal became getting to the point where my job was the life I wanted.

CALENDAR

OCTOBER

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 October (Thursday-Friday): Climate Forum, Conrad Hotel, Abu Dhabi.

12-14 October (Monday-Wednesday): Airport Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

14-15 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Sharjah Investment Forum, Jawaher Reception and Convention Center, Sharjah.

13-15 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, Dubai.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

21 October (Wednesday): Reuters NEXT Gulf, St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

30 October (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

2-5 November (Monday-Thursday): Adipec, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

2-6 November (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

4 November (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Sofitel, Abu Dhabi.

9-10 November (Monday-Tuesday): Annual government meetings, Abu Dhabi.

9-12 November (Monday-Thursday): EMEA Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference, Dubai College of Tourism, Dubai.

9-13 November (Monday-Friday): World Congress of Military Med, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

10-12 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Dubai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition & Conference, Dubai World Trade Center.

16-18 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Police Summit, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

18-19 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Touchdown Middle East 2026, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

25-26 November (Saturday-Sunday): Doers Summit, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

4-6 December (Friday-Sunday): Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association Show, DWC, Dubai Airshow Site.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

1 January: Deadline for large businesses to implement e-invoicing;
14-17 January (Thursday-Sunday): MOC27 Motor, Outdoor & Camping Festival, Dubai Sevens Stadium, Dubai.
1Q 2027: Completion of the first phase of Hassyan seawater desalination project;
1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): World Governments Summit;
31 March: Small businesses with annual revenues of less than AED 50 mn are obliged to contract with an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
31 March: Government entities are required to appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
21-22 April (Wednesday-Thursday): Token2049, Dubai;
31 May-2 June (Monday-Wednesday): RailX Dubai, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.
1 July: Deadline for small businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1 October: Deadline for governments to implement e-invoicing;
Abu Dhabi’s solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage, is set for commissioning.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2028:

Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2029:

Sibos 2029 organized by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Dubai;
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi;
The commissioning of the seventh phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

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Today at a glance

THIS MORNING: Mubadala eyes more Asia exposure + more The Boring Company projects could be in the pipeline

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Related

This publication is proudly sponsored by

The defense sector’s evolving import-export strategy

Related

Related

Are a recent hiring freeze and AI gaining ground related?

Related

Related

Mubadala’s USD 6.2 bn takeover of Clear Channel secures regulatory greenlight

Related

Agility Global locks in USD 560 mn credit facility, DP World secures Bangladesh concession agreement, PVP backs COFE Tech

Related

War puts regional growth heads on the path to a contraction

Related

Justyn Cánovas is turning his idea of a good weekend into a festival business

Related

CALENDAR

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