For years, multinational companies serving the Middle East typically ran their regional operations from Dubai. Saudi Arabia wanted to change that.

Some of the UAE’s biggest business empires were built by Indian entrepreneurs. LuLu, Aster, major jewellery chains, education groups and construction businesses all grew out of the same broader pattern.

Egypt has produced an outsized share of the Middle East’s biggest fintech companies.

The Middle East has become unusually fertile ground for super apps. The reason is fairly simple: millions of consumers already live through their phones, but many of the services they use every day are still fragmented across different apps.

A few years ago, founders moving to Dubai were often treated as exceptions. Today, the pattern is much harder to miss.