👋 Hello from the Middle East! 

This week we’re looking at ADQ’s $5 billion new infrastructure fund in Jordan, Saudi Arabia’s latest IPO, the expansion of indoor golf across the Gulf and the Esports World Cup this summer in Riyadh. But first, GITEX comes to Africa.

From the same people who bring more than 150,000 tech execs, founders and funders to Dubai each year for GITEX Global comes the mega-conference’s budding Africa edition in Morocco. The three-day event kicks off May 28 in Marrakesh, where startups, VCs and governments from across the continent will set up exhibitor booths and hand out swag.

Headlining the speakers list at GITEX Africa’s second annual conference are Ghitta Mezzour, Morocco’s Minister for Digital Transition; Pierre Celestin Rwabukumba, CEO of the Rwanda Stock Exchange; Microsoft Africa’s President Lilian Barnard; Babys Ogundeyi, Founder and CEO of Kuda in Nigeria; and Sarah Sabry, Executive Director of Egypt’s Deep Space Initiative.

From the Gulf, prominent GITEX Africa participants will be Dr. Mohammed Al Kusaiti, Director General of the UAE Cybersecurity Authority; Hamad Obeid Al Mansoori, Director General of Dubai Digital; and Ahmed Mohammed Alsuwaiyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Digital Government Authority.

Back in the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Energy Energy Center will play host on May 27 and 28 to the Make it in the Emirates Forum. Organized by the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC as a showcase for the country’s manufacturers, the conference’s leading sponsors include Mubadala, PureHealth, EDGE and TAQA.

As summer approaches, Saudi Arabia is getting set to put its stamp on the global gaming market when it hosts the Esports World Cup over eight weeks in July and August. Boulevard Riyadh City will be the venue for the competition’s debut from July 4 to Aug. 25. More than 2,500 players are expected to compete for a $60 million prize pool, the largest in esports history. German esports entrepreneur Ralf Reichert is CEO of the host organization, the Esports World Cup Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2023 and based in Riyadh. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said to be a devotee of the Call of Duty zombie military game, has earmarked $38 billion from the Public Investment Fund – with the aim of attracting 250 gaming companies and studios while creating 39,000 video game-related jobs in the process. The homegrown strategy builds on the kingdom’s credentials in the e-arena with investments in the biggest players like Tencent, Nintendo, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft. In March, Saudi Arabia’s National Development Fund and the Social Development Bank announced the establishment of two venture capital funds with a combined value of $120 million to back new esports companies in the kingdom.

One gaming executive who was attracted to the region is Will Dalio, the son of billionaire hedge funder Ray Dalio, who opened an outpost of his family office in Abu Dhabi last year. The young Dalio is using Abu Dhabi as a market to grow his educational game-making company, Endless Studios. He told The National’s Business Extra podcast that Gulf residents are some of the most active gamers in the world but have little hand in video games’ creation. “There’s no creation here. We believe that should be bridged,” Dalio said.

Welcome to The Weekly Circuit. Read on for the stories, deals and players at the top of the news across the MENA business landscape. Please send comments and story tips to [email protected].

BIG SWING

Five Iron Golf courts partners as it plans regional expansion of indoor golf venues

American indoor golf company Five Iron Golf is eyeing partnerships in the Gulf as it plans to open at least a half dozen locations across the UAE over the next several years, The Circuit’s Kelsey Warner reports.

Gulf boom: Golf is on the rise at both the pro and the weekend warrior levels. Elite events from the Asian Tour are now taking place in Oman and Qatar, Bahrain has joined the DP World Tour schedule and the Ladies European Tour has sanctioned Saudi’s Aramco Team Series.

Club vibes: Five Iron’s first UAE venue will open in August at the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort, a five-star hotel. The sprawling 32,038 square-foot flagship location will have 17 golf simulators that offer swing analysis as well as four bars, a nine-hole mini golf course and a members-only lounge. 

Click here to read the full story.

COMING HOME

Why Man City’s fourth straight Premier League win is an Abu Dhabi victory

The Premier League Trophy is coming home… to Abu Dhabi. Manchester City, owned by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, won a record fourth straight Premier League title on Sunday, beating West Ham 3-1 in the final game of the season. The Circuit’s Kelsey Warner reports.

Proud owner: The team to beat in the U.K. is in many ways the UAE capital’s soccer team as well – from a business perspective at least. City is part of a multi-club ownership structure under City Football Group (CFG), owned by Sheikh Mansour and chaired by Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Kicking goals: Since coming under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership in 2008, when he bought the club for $254 million, City has become the fifth most valuable soccer team in the world, worth just shy of $5 billion — and notably had the highest revenue of any club last year, according to Forbes.

Click here to read the full story.

🤾‍♀️ Wellness Village: Emaar Properties began construction of a $15 billion residential project in Dubai devoted to health and wellness, which will be built around its Heights Country Club & Wellness center.

🇪🇬 Business Support: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development offered a $120 million loan to the National Bank of Egypt aimed at supporting small and medium-size businesses.

💰 Buy In: U.S. investment giant Carlyle Group said on Tuesday it had raised 430 billion yen ($2.8 billion) for its fifth Japan buyout fund, its largest investment vehicle for Japan. Strong demand and backing from domestic and global investors helped it raise nearly 70% more than its previous fund, Carlyle said in a statement.

🚑 Rescue Squad: Response Plus, which owns the largest fleet of private ambulances in the UAE, completed its acquisition of U.K.’s Prometheus Medical, paving the way for its expansion in the U.K. and Nordic region.

🌎 Global Push: ADNOC plans to acquire a 10% equity stake in a major LNG development in Mozambique for an undisclosed sum, its first push into the African nation amid international expansion for the Abu Dhabi oil and gas company. 

📈 Staff Recruiter: Saudi staffing company SMASCO set the final price for its upcoming IPO at 7.50 riyals per share as it seeks to raise as much as $240 million on Riyadh’s Tadawul exchange.

🔒 Identity Manager: CyberArk, one of Israel’s largest cybersecurity companies, signed an agreement to buy Venafi, which specializes in machine identity management, for more than $1.5 billion from Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

  Arabic Tutor: IBM will help the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority train its “AllaM” Arabic language model, enabling it to understand multiple dialects of Arabic, CEO Arvind Krishna told Reuters.

💺 Fasten Seatbelts: Oman is planning to build six new airports as part of an effort to boost business travel and tourism in the sultanate, Civil Aviation Authority Chairman Naif Al Abri told Alsharq.

💰 Fintech Fund: Riyad Capital launched the 1957 Ventures fund, a closed-end investment fund backed by Riyad Bank, to drive growth in the Saudi fintech sector.

🚁 Taxi Flyer: Archer Aviation, which plans to start operating air taxis in Abu Dhabi next year, signed an agreement with Etihad Aviation Training to recruit and train prospective pilots.

🪴 Medical Marijuana: Morocco has an opportunity to capture a 10-15% share of the European medical cannabis market, Mohamed El Bouhmadi, president of the Moroccan Federation for the Pharmaceutical Industry and Innovation, told Le360.

⚡ Charging Network: The UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure agreed to form a joint venture with Etihad Water & Electricity for a network of charging stations for electric vehicles.

🖥️ Quantum kingdom: Pasqal, a Paris-based quantum computing startup, signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Aramco to install the kingdom’s first quantum computer at the oil giant.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to “reassure everyone” about the health of his father, King Salman, who is being treated for a lung infection, state television reported on Monday.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, was given a tour of Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport on Tuesday and reviewed the advanced facilities in its new Terminal A.

Asma al-Assad, Syria’s first lady, has been diagnosed with leukemia, her second bout of cancer after recovering from breast cancer five years ago, the Syrian presidency announced.

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, witnessed the signing of an agreement on Monday between UAE defense conglomerate EDGE Group and Italy’s Fincantieri, one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world. The deal launches MAESTRAL, an Abu Dhabi-based shipbuilding joint venture between both companies.

Condolences to Iranian leadership on the passing of President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation poured in from regional leaders. Among them were UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Ahmed bin Salman Al Musallam, Bahrain’s Speaker of the Council of Representatives.

➿ On the Circuit

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in the UAE on Tuesday with Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, President of the COP28 climate summit, Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology, and CEO of the ADNOC oil company. Dr. Al Jaber “expressed his appreciation” for Clinton’s contributions to the COP’s Gender-Responsive Just Transitions and Climate Action Partnership, according to a statement. Also present at the meeting was Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, the Director-General of COP28.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the UAE Executive Affairs Authority, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Group CEO of Mubadala, signed a collaboration agreement on Wednesday on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council with the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty to collaborate on AI development. The agreement was co-signed by Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.

Klaus Schwab, the 86-year-old founder of the World Economic Forum, is to step down as executive chair in January after more than 50 years leading one of the most talked-about and lucrative business conferences in the world. Schwab will assume a new role as chair of WEF’s board of trustees. Børge Brende, president of the WEF executive board and a former foreign minister of Norway, will take over as chair. 

Dave Chappelle said he expects Abu Dhabi to be “a bit more buttoned up” than the Dubai crowd he performed in front of in 2018, his first show in the region. The American comedian was spotted sipping double espressos at a cafe on Saadiyat Island today, ahead of his sold-out performance tomorrow night at Etihad Arena for the city’s Comedy Week. “We’re excited to be here. We’re going to have fun,” Chappelle told The Circuit. 

Mohammad Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, received an honorary doctorate from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business over the weekend. Al Gergawi talked about the power of choices in his commencement speech, sharing a personal story about how one of his own decisions brought him into the path of the then-Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.

Jamie Dimon told investors on Monday that his replacement as CEO of JPMorgan Chase was “on the way” as he will look to step down within the next five years. 

Najwa Aaraj will succeed Ray O. Johnson as CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of the government-backed Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) in Abu Dhabi. Aaraj was previously Chief Researcher in the cryptography and autonomous robotics labs of TII. Johnson, a former Lockheed Martin executive, was the institute’s first CEO. He remains an Operating Partner at California venture capital fund Bessemer Venture Partners, according to LinkedIn.

🎶 Culture Circuit

📽️ New Chapter: The inclusion of “Norah,” Saudi Arabia’s first movie in the Cannes Film Festival official selection is the start of a remarkable chapter in Saudi Cinema, according to Jomana Al Rashid, CEO of Saudi integrated media group SMRG and Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Festival. Director Tawfik Alzaidi’s debut film was picked for Un Certain Regard, a category of the festival that showcases unusual, innovative and non-traditional films.

📷 Photo of The Day

🗓️ Circuit Calendar

May 18-26, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Abu Dhabi Comedy Week. Standup comics Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari, Bassem Yousef and Chris Tucker headline the first annual festival. Etihad Arena.

May 25-26, Dubai, UAE. Summer Blessings. Dubai festival celebrates the palm tree as the UAE’s national icon with live performances, date-themed events and artisan marketplace. Shindagha Museum.

May 27-28, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Make It In The Emirates Forum. Organized by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development and ADNOC, the forum offers a networking and knowledge exchange platform for the industrial community, both locally and internationally. Abu Dhabi Energy Center.

May 29-31, Marrakech, Morocco: GITEX Africa. The second edition of the biggest tech and startup gathering in Africa. Place Bab Jdid. 

June 5, Hong Kong: Bloomberg Wealth Event. A gathering to bring actionable intelligence to portfolio managers and other dealmakers and analysts from asset managers and owners, family offices and hedge funds. Conrad Hong Kong. 

June 23-26, National Harbor, Maryland: SelectUSA Investment Summit. The highest profile event in the U.S. to facilitate business investment by connecting thousands of investors, companies, economic development organizations and industry experts to make deals. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.