The Gulf’s capital markets have remained hubs of activity amid inflation, geopolitical risk and higher interest rates. The how and why of this story will be in focus on Wednesday in Dubai as the two-day Capital Market Summit gets underway.

The Dubai Financial Market is set to host government officials, investment bankers and business leaders to identify what’s driving the market and explore trends in sustainable investing, fintech, digital transformation and market resilience. 

Helal Saeed Al Marri, Chairman of the DFM, is slated to be in conversation with May Nasrallah, Founder and Executive Chair of corporate advisory firm deNovo Partners on Wednesday.

Also on the agenda are Jim DeMare, President of Global Markets at BofA Securities; Claire Suddens-Spiers, a 27-year veteran and Co-Head of Equity Market Solutions at Rothschild & Co.; and Michael Wilson, Chief U.S. Equity Strategist and Chief Investment Officer at Morgan Stanley.

The DFM reported strong quarterly earnings today, more than doubling net profit year-on-year to $24 million amid a surge in foreign investor activity. The exchange operator attracted 44,259 new investors, of which 85% were from abroad.

Institutional investors’ share of trading value reached 65%. The imminent IPO of Spinneys on May 9 on the DFM is expected to raise up to $376 million for the UAE and Oman grocery retailer.  The total number of shares offered to retail investors has been increased by 7% as of today on strong investor demand.

Abu Dhabi has signed a flurry of deals with American companies as it aims to provide autonomous transportation options throughout the UAE.

At the inaugural two-day DriftX conference now underway on Yas Island, Archer Aviation, a U.S. developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, signed a framework agreement for “multi-hundred-million dollars” with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, setting a target date to start air taxi operations in 2025.

ADIO also signed an agreement with Archer competitor Joby Aviation to offer flying taxi services between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The agreement builds on a deal the California company has made with the Dubai aviation regulator for exclusive rights to operate air taxi services in Dubai.

Joby expects to start services as early as next year after its infrastructure partner landed $125 million in investment this month.

Meanwhile, Boston-based Regent Craft signed agreements with ADIO and the Department of Transport for the trial use of electric seagliders that can carry passengers between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 25 minutes, less than half the time by car.

The Davos crowd will descend on the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh this weekend as the World Economic Forum hosts a special meeting that begins on Sunday on themes of global collaboration and energy policy amid crisis in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia will gather top officials from the U.S., EU and the Arab world on the sidelines on Monday, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to discuss Gaza, Bloomberg reports. 

Within the conference halls, the kingdom will look to drive the conversation among the crowd of key partners toward the progress it is making on its Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.

Under the wide-ranging plan, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks to transform the country by building up industries such as tourism, mining, technology and gaming.

Co-chairs of the Forum’s meeting include Ibrahim A. Al-Assaf, the Saudi Arabian Minister of State; Bill Ford, Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic; Chung Ki-Sun, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai; Anna Marks, Global Chair of Deloitte; and Shunichi Miyanaga, Chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, among other executives from shipping, energy and finance. 

Out of the 1,064 economic development initiatives that have been rolled out under the ambitious strategy, 87% are complete or on track, the state-owned Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday as it marked the eighth anniversary of the plan’s roll-out.

As of last year, Saudi Arabia recorded improvements in visitor numbers, home  ownership rates, the development of heritage sites, life expectancy and health services coverage, among other indicators. 

When it comes to tapping the UAE’s vast wealth, few people matter as much as Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, known as the “$1.5 trillion man.” The trick is access.

After conducting some four dozen interviews, Bloomberg’s Ben Bartenstein on Thursday identified the gatekeepers critical to getting facetime with the Emirati royal, who is the brother of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and runs Abu Dhabi’s largest companies and sovereign wealth funds. He is also the UAE’s National Security Adviser.

Among Sheikh Tahnoon’s key go-betweens is Sofia Abdellatif Lasky, described in the Bloomberg story as de facto CEO of Abu Dhabi-owned Royal Holdings. Other close advisers identified as having the ability to set up meetings are former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri; former U.K. diplomat Bill Murray; and Ajay Bhatia, the CEO of Abu Dhabi’s Sirius International Holding.

ADQ, one of the funds controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, is pouring a fortune, meanwhile, into Kenya to build up its industrial holdings in East Africa’s largest economy.

On Wednesday, ADQ signed a framework agreement with the Kenyan government to invest as much as $500 million in strategic sectors for both countries including food production, mining, technology and logistics.

Economic growth is the aim, according to Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, Managing Director and CEO of ADQ: “We are confident that our investment will bring forth notable opportunities that will unlock tangible value… harnessing its vast potential for development,” he said in a statement. 

In 2023, non-oil trade between the UAE and Kenya surged by 26% year-on-year to $3.1 billion. That figure is set to rise further as the two countries locked into a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) earlier this year.

Last month, Kenya signed a preliminary agreement with the UAE to develop the country’s first data center powered by geothermal energy. The 1-gigawatt facility will be built by Kenya’s EcoCloud and the UAE’s G42.

There will be no Max Verstappen or Fernando Alonso in the driver’s seat at races taking place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Indeed, there will be no driver at all.

The UAE capital will test the region’s supercar fandom with the launch of a brand-new racing league featuring driverless cars, offering spectators free tickets and hoping for a crowd of 10,000. 

The first race for the ASPIRE Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League is scheduled for this Saturday, April 27, with eight teams set to compete, including Code19 Racing, one of the first independent autonomous racing teams from the U.S., and Fly Eagle representing Beijing Institute of Technology and the UAE’s Khalifa University. All are vying for a prize pool of $2.25 million. 

The teams will use identical race cars from Dallara, adapting software algorithms to teach their cars how to drive and push them to the limit on the circuit.

Each car is completely autonomous and the only human intervention allowed at race time is a “kill switch” to bring the vehicle to a stop.

Former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat has also accepted the challenge to race head-to-head with one of the autonomous cars, with the engineering teams hoping to get as close as possible to the human lap time. 

Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, the government-backed parent entity of the league, and Advisor to the UAE President on research and technology said the new league is aimed at positioning Abu Dhabi as a leading hub for innovation.

ASPIRE also has plans for autonomous drone racing and races with off-road buggies and boats.

The Brits will beat a path to Riyadh next month under the banner of a trade expo between the two nations as U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak eyes the trillions of dollars Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is plowing into his Vision 2030 economic diversification plan.

A delegation of more than 750 British and Saudi executives, some from British Airways, HSBC and NEOM, will meet at Saudi Great Futures on May 14 and 15.

The event will launch a year-long campaign to showcase U.K. firms to Saudi investors with a focus on sectors that support the kingdom’s bold economic ambitions, putting a spotlight on opportunities in the kingdom for burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, tourism, gaming and fashion and push the U.K. as a potential collaborator.

The U.K. — and some of its most storied institutions — have long been a destination for Gulf capital. Legendary Knightsbridge department store Harrod’s is owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the UAE’s Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed is the owner of Premier League football club Manchester City. Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s sovereigns both own a stake in Heathrow Airport. That’s just to name a few. 

A two-way street for trade and investment flows has picked up pace in the last several years as Saudi Arabia has opened up to tourism and mega-projects like NEOM have gotten underway.

Trade between the U.K. and Saudi Arabia has increased to $20.4 billion in 2022 from $15 billion in 2018, Bloomberg reports.

The invitation is open: “We are looking for senior U.K. leaders of businesses, organizations, and educational institutions to join us in Riyadh to participate not only as delegates but as speakers, exhibitors and sponsors, presenting the very best of what the U.K. has to offer,” the Great Future website says. 

Saudi Venture Capital Co. is emerging as the driving force behind Saudi Arabia’s meteoric rise in VC investing. For the first time, the kingdom clinched the top spot last year as the most active investor in the MENA region, a sudden challenger to more mature ecosystems in the UAE and Egypt. VC capital pouring into Saudi startups has surged over 20x between 2018 – the year SVC was formed with backing from the National Development Fund – and 2023, as more deals have been done and check sizes have grown. 

A new report from SVC shows it has invested in 40 funds that have in turn invested in over 700 startups and SMEs so far. Total committed investments have reached over $700 million since its inception and total investments including partners are estimated at $3.6 billion. “This is only the beginning,” Dr. Nabeel Koshak, the firm’s CEO, said in the report. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees startups and entrepreneurship as linchpins of his economic diversification drive under the banner of Vision 2030, drivers of innovation and job creation. 

SVC is on the rise amid a global slowdown in private capital investing. “Q1 was in no way ecstatic,” Philip Bahoshy, CEO of funding data platform Magnitt, said this week. “Though there were a few big wins, our latest numbers report a decline in almost every metric.” Bahoshy will host a public meeting next week with Sharif El-Badawi, CEO of Dubai Future District Fund, to discuss the state of venture capital in the region and what may lieahead for the rest of the year. 

​​Saudi Arabia is digging deeper to capitalize on the vast mineral wealth beneath the kingdom, according to a new government report. In addition to its vast oil reserves, the country is also sitting on gold, phosphate, bauxite, copper, zinc and nickel. The mineral abundance’s value is estimated at $2.5 trillion, the latest government figures show.

To accelerate exploration and development, the country has poured $182 million in incentives through the end of 2023 with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund covering up to 75% of eligible project costs, according to Vice Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs Khalid Al-Mudaifer. The mineral wealth “presents a crucial opportunity to expand non-oil revenue streams alongside the oil and petrochemical industries,” his ministry said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-biggest oil producer, may well emerge as a critical player in the energy transition amid the discoveries as some of the minerals are linchpins in our current electrification era. As recently as 2022, the potential value of untapped minerals beneath the Saudi desert was put at $1.2 trillion.

The massive exploration efforts have more than doubled that figure in two years. Bob Wilt, CEO of the Public Investment Fund-backed mining company Ma’aden, told The Circuit in January that he believes it is the largest mineral exploration effort underway anywhere in the world. “We just had great luck,” he said.