< Previous30 Vol. 25/11, October 202430 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3030/09/2024 13:37arabianbusiness.com 31 CONNECTED WORDS BY MATTHEW AMLÔT arabianbusiness.com 31 Meet Hatem Dowidar, the man riding the global tech wave and guiding e&’s aggressive expansion ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3130/09/2024 13:3732 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 Few could claim to stand at such a nexus of growth, transforma- tion, and innovation as Hatem Dowidar, the powerhouse Group CEO behind e&, one of the larg- est and most valuable companies in the Middle East. Leading a fir m like e& through a time of relentless transfor- mation and intensifying global compe- tition is no simple task. But during our interview, Dowidar demonstrates the restless energy and focus required to rise to such a challenge, quipping that the work always star ts ever y day, “Before I get out of bed.” Given his extensive industry expe- rience, it’s no surprise that he possesses the expertise needed to lead a strategi- cally vital firm like e&. The Group CEO has been in the telecom sector for over two decades, joining Vodafone Egypt in 1999. Over that period, he has witnessed the industr y transfor m beyond all recognition. “It’s been an amazing journey because the industry has transformed completely. Before, it was about selling safety and convenient calls. Today, it’s about selling the internet in your pocket, the ability to reach the whole world in the palm of your hand,” he says. Much is made of the technology sector and the impact it has had on society, individuals, and businesses, but this change has only been possible through the rapid transformation of the telecommunications industr y. Improving access to data has trans- formed “not only the way people live their lives, but also the way people do their jobs, the way people study, the way people entertain, and the way people connect.” In 2015, Dowidar joined e& as Group Chief Operating Officer before his appointment as CEO International in March 2016, and then Group CEO in 2020. That period is significant for the industry, with the rollout of 4G changing how people use telecommunications services. This necessitated e& moving its strategic focus from being just a telco firm to becoming a technology leader. “When I said we were going to trans- form from a telco to a tech company, it was because we saw opportunities in many other adjacencies. In entertain- ment, we became the biggest shareholder in Starzplay. Fintech became an impor- tant play; in the UAE, we have e& money, Mobily Pay in Saudi, and Etisalat Cash, which will become e& Cash in Egypt. In all our markets, fintech became very important,” he says. In other arenas, the fir m has expanded, completing its purchase of regional cybersecurity firm Help AG in early 2020 and increasing its invest- ment in the Internet of Things (IoT), best demonstrated by its projects with electric smart metres in Abu Dhabi. Dowidar lists numerous other enterprises, including cloud computing and data centres, but perhaps the more interesting developments have been the company’s move into the Web3 ecosys- tem, including blockchain technology and the metaverse. For the time being , e& is still mainly a telco from a balance sheet perspective – Dowidar admits that “more than three-quarters of our reve- nues are from connectivity,” but he expects this to change soon. “We see that while the telco part [of our business] is growing in the single digits, the non-telco part, the tech part, is growing in very strong double digits. Over the next decade, we will probably see the telco part become maybe half or less of our business,” he explains. Dowidar’s exhaustive list of sectors that the company is investing in raises one question: How does he ensure that they all become a success? The reality is – they probably won’t all be, but it doesn’t matter. “As with any big conglomerate, there will be lines of business that don’t always get the right rate of return. We believe, though, that because of our experience, the size of the company, and the great team that we have, the majority of these projects will get the returns we want,” he says. “I think in business, to move fast, especially in a new space, it’s very diffi- cult to get a 100 percent success rate. But if we get the right 90 percent success with the right growth, it will be much better than the status quo.” An example Dowidar points to is the metaverse. Beginning in 2022, e& began making big plays in the nascent sector, launching e& univer se at GITEX Global 2022. At the time, the metaverse was the talk of the technol- ogy sector – not only in the UAE but globally – after Facebook famously changed its company name to Meta in October 2021. “We made some investments a couple of years ago in the metaverse. A lot of people saw the metaverse as the next big thing. Today, we still have metaverse products, we still have a pres- ence in the metaverse, but did we get any returns? I can say, no. Did we lose a lot of money? No, we did not lose a lot of money because we tested at the right level of investment,” Dowidar says. Ultimately, Dowidar’s strategy is simple, and one he sums up in one sentence: “To be in technology, you need to make bets.” So, what’s the next bet? Unsurpris- ingly, it’s in AI. ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3230/09/2024 13:37arabianbusiness.com 33arabianbusiness.com 33 ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3330/09/2024 13:3734 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 Today, it’s about selling the internet in your pocket, the ability to reach the whole world in the palm of your hand 34 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3430/09/2024 13:37arabianbusiness.com 35arabianbusiness.com 35 ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3530/09/2024 13:3736 Vol. 25/11, October 202436 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3630/09/2024 13:37arabianbusiness.com 37 “We are investing in a lot of things in AI. Do I believe it will have the same fate as the metaverse? No, I think AI is a lot closer to the core of what we do,” he says. “We are making a big bet, and we’re investing very fast in AI to ensure that we are in the first tier of technology compa- nies around the world involved in AI.” Few technologies have evolved as quickly as AI. New versions of AI are launched constantly, with new sets of capabilities, meaning that for an individ- ual, let alone a large conglomerate, stay- ing up to date is extremely challenging. At e&, the company is heavily focused on building the talent neces- sary to power its AI ambitions. Four years ago, the company established an AI graduate trainee programme, hiring “top students in AI and placing them in different departments to see how we could apply AI. Even before ChatGPT and large language models, we knew that AI was very important for us.” On the impact AI will have at e&, Dowidar states simply: “This is going to revolutionise the way we do business.” THE GLOBAL BET Beyond its numerous technology ecosystem investments, e& under Dowidar’s leadership has also sought to grow its footprint internationally. At the time of writing, the company is currently working with the EU Commis- sion to purchase Czech PPF Group’s telecom assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia for $2.4bn. “This is a great business that both has infrastructure and a service company, providing us with a larger footprint for the telco side but a huge opportunity to expand our tech capabilities there too. We believe that when we bring things like Careem and Starzplay into these markets, we can create a much better business case,” Dowidar comments. The agreement also provides e& with a platform for further expansion in East- ern Europe, a key market Dowidar has his eye on, as it has yet to reach maturity compared to its western neighbour. The company’s expansion plans don’t end in Europe. In Pakistan, the company is also pursuing a $380m deal to acquire Telenor’s operations. The agreement, which is still pending government approval, would add almost 40 million customers to the e& empire. Combining these geog raphic expansion plans with Dowidar’s vision of transforming e& into a technology firm will be key. In one example, Dowidar explains that e&’s purchase of Turkey-based cloud services provider GlassHouse earlier this year for $60m has opened the door to the company’s other prod- ucts in the country, such as its Help AG’s cybersecurity services. “This is a great example of how you can get synergy. Because we acquire a company that’s very good at something in the geography, we can then use their channel to sell other services that we have. We can use their know-how in our existing markets, so it becomes a very synerg istic type of business and provides fast growth,” Dowidar says. The geographic expansion plan hasn’t been all smooth sailing, however. In 2021, the company increased its ownership in Maroc Telecom Group (MT) to 53 percent. Since then, MT has faced numerous setbacks in what Dowidar refers to as “a perfect storm.” Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal of Casablanca upheld a January 2024 ruling that MT would have to pay approx- imately $645m to Wana Corporate for alleged anti-competitive practices. “Morocco for us was a disappoint- ment. We have been fined by the regula- tor twice, really big fines. We believe that if anything, these fines were hugely exag- gerated. We believe this has resulted in putting pressure on the company’s ability to operate,” Dowidar comments. “It is a sad story. We are still taking legal avenues to try and appeal. We are working constructively to avoid some- thing like this happening again in the future,” he adds. THE HATEM OUTLOOK The post-Covid era has been one of boom for the UAE and e&, with the last few years marked by dramatic growth and expansion – with little sign of slowing down. However, on a more macro level, the outlook is less certain. In the US, an acrimonious presidential election could result in turbulence for the global economy, while, closer to home, ongoing conflict in Gaza risks regional instability. Dowidar, however, remains bull- ish on e&’s prospects. While he comments that the situation in Gaza remains “alar ming for us,” the company has little immediate busi- ness in countr ies that could be affected. On the subject of elections, he stated: “We are very lucky to be in a region that is not impacted.” “I believe that this year, we will continue to see the strong growth we’ve seen in the GCC. We now see economic stability coming in places like Pakistan and Egypt, where we operate, and this will likely result in an overall continuation of the strong results from the first half of the year,” he says. Looking beyond this year, Dowidar points to e&’s European expansion, noting that it will “really change the look and size of the company.” His statement does not lack authen- ticity. Between the Czech PPF deal and Telenor in Pakistan, e&’s customer base will expand from an already impressive 175 million customers to a staggering quarter of a billion. Given all of these plans, it’s no surprise that throughout our conversa- tion, Dowidar remains focused – making little comment on his personal journey and instead choosing to high- light the “great team” behind e&. While the full impact of his leader- ship style, which has clearly empow- ered individuals across the company to tackle some of the industry’s most complex technological challenges, remains to be seen, e&’s impressive track record over the past decade under Dowidar’s guidance would make it difficult for even the most sceptical observer to doubt that the result will ultimately bear fruit. $2.4BN The value of e&’s deal with Czech PPF Group to purchase telecom assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia ABE_2511_30-37_Cover story - Hatem Dowidar_13395600.indd 3730/09/2024 13:3838 Vol. 25/11, October 2024 ABE_2511_38-41_Anonymous Online_13377453.indd 3828/09/2024 18:57arabianbusiness.com39 I n the digital age, anonymity often feels like a comforting blanket, especially for those who cherish privacy. We trust tools like incog- nito mode or VPNs to cloak our identities as we navigate the web. But experts warn that these layers of protec- tion might only offer a thin veil. Beneath the surface, your digital footprint continues to leave traces that can be followed, leading some to question – can we ever be truly anonymous online? As technology becomes more advanced, the concept of dig ital anonymity is under greater scrutiny. UAE cybersecurity experts express their views about the diminishing chances of achieving complete online invisibility. In a world where every click, search, and message is logged, true online anonym- ity may be nothing more than a mirage. What does online anonymity really mean? The idea of being anonymous online can feel liberating – an ability to express yourself without fear of repercussions. But what does true anonymity mean in the context of today's digital landscape? Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, explains that online anonymity refers to "the perception of being unidentified and untraceable when interacting (surfing) the internet and its applications and services." He continues: "It’s the concept that your navigation, actions, communica- tions, authentication, and interactions can occur without revealing your real- world identity or geolocation. Concep- tually, it’s like wearing an invisibility cloak that blocks the collection of track- ing information while on the internet, allowing you to browse, communicate, and express opinions without being directly tied to your identity and computer in the real physical world." This sounds ideal – an invisibility cloak that protects your identity while allowing you to engage freely online. However, Haber stresses that this notion of invisibility is, at best, imper- fect and, at worst, misleading. Every online interaction leaves behind data, which can be collected, logged, and traced back to its origin. Karthik Anandarao, Chief Technical Evangelist at ManageEngine, supports this perspective, adding that many users strive for anonymity through pseudo- nyms or hidden identities on third-party apps and social media. However, despite these efforts, complete anonym- ity remains a challenging goal. In a hyper connected world, complete anonymity online is increasingly elusive. UAE cybersecurity experts explain the risks and realities of digital invisibility Words by SHARON BENJAMIN arabianbusiness.com39 ABE_2511_38-41_Anonymous Online_13377453.indd 3929/09/2024 10:26Next >