BOARDING CALL ✈

Welcome aboard, and welcome to the Departure Brief

If you’re reading this in the cab to the airport, in the lounge, or halfway through boarding EK819, you’re exactly where we imagined you’d be.

Departure Brief was built for consultants in the Middle East who want to start their week a little sharper, without digging through the noise of the countless news sources out there. Every Monday, we’ll bring you a fast, focused update on what actually matters for you, plus a few tools and insights that will make you look good in front of your client and manager, director, partner… whoever’s reviewing your slides. And if you’ve had enough of airplanes, we’ve got you covered with the latest exit opportunities.

Enjoy your read!

SECTOR SCAN 🔭

Your weekly rundown of the most relevant business news in the region - for the sectors that matter to you

Public Sector & Government

• The IMF bumped up its 2025 MENA growth forecast to 3.2% (from 2.6%) mainly driven by stronger-than-expected output from Egypt and KSA, and more benign regional financial conditions (Learn more)

• Iraq reveals a new five-year economic plan to reduce unemployment diversify its economy away from oil - sounds familiar? Calling it a Vision could have given them good branding I guess. (Learn more)

• Saudi will open its property market to foreigners with a new law allowing non-Saudis to buy in designated zones from Jan 2026 - real estate boom incoming? (Learn more)

Energy

• Iraq’s Industry Ministry is exploring potential for green hydrogen production complementing its push to install 12 GW of solar capacity by 2030 - Looks like Iraq is getting serious about their diversification (Learn more)

• ADNOC Distribution is looking to double down on it Saudi presence, with plans to add 60-70 gas stations in the Kingdom by year-end - I find this interesting, it’s not like Saudi is lacking downstream champions (Learn more)

Financial Services

• UAE rolls out its first Open Finance platform (Al Tareq), expecting to transform the industry in the country; it’s a new system that lets you safely share your bank data with other apps and services, and it’s a big deal - long story short, your life as a banking customer is about to get a whole lot easier (Learn more)

• Revolut is looking to acquire a Middle East bank; while it’s already active in KSA and the UAE as remittance player, it’s now looking to acquire a regional bank to bypass lengthy licensing delays (Learn more)

• Kuwait’s Gulf Bank and Warba Bank hired consulstants, investment bankers, and law firms to study a potential merger to create an Islamic banking giant in Kuwait - it’s McKinsey on Gulf Bank’s side and Bain for Warba, good luck to those involved! (Learn more)

Technology, Media, and Telecommunication

• Anghami is planning a reverse stock split to meet the minimum $1 bid requirement to stay on the Nasdaq - this NOT a good news for the first Arab tech startup to be listed on the Nasdaq. Come on guys, go and help them out by getting that premium account (Learn more)

• MGX, Abu Dhabi’s state-backed AI investor, is looking to raise $25 Billion, yes, BILLION, to supercharge its AI investments - the UAE is getting really serious about becoming a global AI champion (Learn more)

Transport & Logistics

• Dubai International Airport sets a new all-time H1 record by handling 46 million passengers, despite regional airspace disruptions - yup, people are still flying through; and I still get amazed at how you almost never wait in line in that airport (Learn more)

• Riyadh Air signed a global distribution agreement with Amadeus, a global travel tech company that owns the world’s largest global distribution system, giving the airline direct access to more than 190 markets - very cool… but when is it launching?? (Learn more)

• Qatar Airways is massively expanding capacity for winter 2025; adding extra flights to over 15 destinations and setting a new record with 10 daily flights to London Heathrow (Learn more)

Others

• A number of Saudi-grown hotel brands will be introduced in Qiddiya City under a new strategic partnership between its developer and Adeera, a hospitality group backed by PIF (Learn more)

THE EXIT ROW 💼

Your bosses might not like this section, but that’s alright. Every week, we’ll provide you with a list of curated job openings for any of you that are tired of the travel routine and looking to have a life again after 7 PM - includes opportunities for all levels

A LOT OF JOBS this week guys - who says companies don’t hire during the summer?

UAE

• Dubai Holding | Senior Manager - Strategy & Value Creation Office (Apply here)

• Property Finder | Manager, Strategy & Business Operations | Dubai (Apply here)

• Talabat | Sr. Specialist Strategy | Dubai (Apply here)

• Checkout.com | RevOps & Commercial Strategy Partner | Dubai (Apply here)

• Qclub | Operations Strategy Analyst | Dubai (Apply here)

• Bel | Middle East Commercial Strategy Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• Arise IIP | Strategy Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• NymCard | Corporate Development Analyst/Associate | Dubai (Apply here)

• Neuratek Search | Head of Energy Strategy Energy Transition & Infrastructure | Dubai (Apply here)

• Amazon | Sr. Program Manager, Last Mile, Strategy & Performance | Dubai (Apply here)

• Keeta | Senior Strategy Associate | Dubai (Apply here)

• Al Futtaim Automotive | Transformation Manager | Dubai (Apply here)

• Dubai Future Foundation | Strategy & Insight Analyst | Dubai (Apply here)

• KONE | Manager, Strategy Development & Market Intelligence | Dubai (Apply here)

• AD Ports Group | Senior Specialist Strategy | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Salt | Strategy & Innovation Consultant | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Multiply Group | Strategy Analyst | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Multiply Group | Strategy Manager | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Space24 | Senior Specialist - Strategy | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Modon | Senior Manager - Strategy & Planning | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Abu Dhabi Airports | Senior Strategy Manager | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

• Tendem Search | Senior Manager - HR transformation | Abu Dhabi (Apply here)

KSA

• Amazon | Head of Marketplace Strategy | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Mastercard | Consultant Strategy & Transformation | Riyadh (Apply here)

• PepsiCo | Director, Saudi Strategy Lead | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Keeta | Sales Operations Strategy | Riyadh (Apply here)

• The Arab Investment Company | Strategy Manager | Riyadh (Apply here)

• QSAS | Strategy & Venture Leader | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Takamol Business Solutions | Senior Team Leader - Strategy Management Office | Riyadh (Apply here)

• AtkinsRealis | Senior Consultant - Finance Strategy & Advisory | Riyadh (Apply here)

• Siemens Energy | Strategy & Business Development Manager | Dammam (Apply here)

CABIN DEEP DIVE 🔎

Every week, we give a focused look on a topic, news, trend that is shaping the region; no fluff, just the insights you need.

WEALTH MAGNET - THE RICH ARE STILL MOVING IN MASS TO THE UAE, AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

Despite having a few missiles closing our airspace lately and a bit of tension in our neighborhood, the UAE is still growing as a preferred home base for the world’s wealthy. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are agressively advertising zero personal income tax, safety, stability, business-friendly laws, and high quality of life to pull in high net worth individuals, family offices, and asset managers from all corners of the world.

The ecosystem is responding rapidly. Global wealth managers (UBS, Rothschild, St. James Place, etc.) are expanding their regional footprint, with the number of firms in DIFC climbing from 350 in 2023 to 410+ by end of 2024. Luxury property prices also hit a new record in Q2 2025, with sales of homes priced above $10 mn rising to $2.6 bn between April and June, a 37% increase from Q1 - (the missiles flew in Q2).

What does it mean for you?

The good

• New projects: family offices, PE firms, real estate developers, are all big consulting clients

• Jobs: these firms also like to hire consultants, and they pay well

• Real Estate: if you’ve invested in real estate, the trend is still positive, especially in luxury properties. Can’t afford it? Go on Deed for fractional investments

• Fun: if you like to meet new people, good news people are still moving in in mass

The bad

• Inflation: yup, the rich spend a lot. So the price of your night at Zuma, your appartment in downtown, or your business class upgrade for your summer trips might become less affordable

• Traffic: well.. no brainer. But at least it’s more nice cars I guess?

LIFE UPGRADE PICK 💎

In this section, we pick one product or service that would make your life easier, or better; and we review it for you.

GENSPARK: USE IT BEFORE IT TAKES YOUR JOB

So I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad one: AI will take over our jobs (so better click on some of those Exit Row posts). The good: until then, there are tools that are going to make our lives much easier.

I recently came accross Genspark, an AI copilot that can do a bunch of stuff for you including excel sheets, word documents, videos, images, and most importantly powerpoint presentations. I focused on the latter one because you know… that’s what we do. I tried the following prompt for a market study on the Saudi Dairy market for a potential new entrant:

“I want a 10-page presentation summarizing the dairy market in Saudi Arabia. It must include market size, growth forecast, competitive landscape, key trends, and any other relevant information for a new player looking to enter the market”

Within 5 minutes of reasoning, it gave me a 10-pager on the dairy market in Saudi Arabia. You can check it out here:

Is it perfect? No… or not yet. But it is quite impressive. I’d say it can save up to 30-40% of your time on a full document. Here is a broken down review:

• Structure: 7/10 - It understood the task quite well with a pretty broad prompt. It starts with an executive summary, gives relevant data with insights, and ends with a summarized market entry strategy and key take aways. Taglines are not action-oriented but that’s something I trained it to do for later prompts, and it does it quite well.

• Research: 6/10 - It found all the necessary information and data I needed, but only from public sources. So while it does the best it can, I think you would still need to verify and update all data. It does however have a fact check option for every slide, in which it highlights the sources of every single data point.

• Insights: 7/10 - I was honestly quite impressed with the insights it provided. I loved how it summarized the key opportunities and market barriers on page 9. This would obviously not be client-ready but it really helps you get directed and provides you with ideas that you might have missed

• Writting: 7/10 - No grammatical errors (it’s AI so that’s obvious), but the bullet points are also crisp and to the point, as we like them

• Graphics: 5/10 - the slides look clean, but text heavy, which I think is good. It gives you the extra information you need for you to get the ideas and select what’s most relevant

• Price: 6/10 - $25 per month for the basic version, which allows you to make ~50 10-page presentations. Not bad in my opinion

That’s just a market report. It can also do many other things for you like summarizing a long 300-page document into a 10-page CEO presentation, or a full annual report into a brief company performance overview.

Will it take our job today? Probably not; but the pace at which these tools are evolving is very impressive. So use them while you can! Click on the link below if you want to play around with Genspark.

Genspark

And that’s a wrap…

Thank you for being onboard the Departure Brief this week. We want to hear from you so if you have any feedback, just hit the reply button. If you liked the issue, forward it to one or two colleagues so that we can grow this community, we would greately appreciate it 😊

Have a safe flight, an amazing week, and see you next Monday!