Zain has sponsored the Kuwait Innovation Forum, organized by The Business Year media group in collaboration with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA). The event featured insightful discussions and expert panels to celebrate the spirit of innovation in Kuwait’s vibrant business sector.
The forum was attended by H.E. Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Dr. Anwar Al Mudhaf, KDIPA Director General Dr. Meshaal Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, H.E. British Ambassador to Kuwait Belinda Lewis, Kuwait Banking Association Chairman Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al Sabah, Zain Kuwait Chief Corporate Affairs and Relations Officer Waleed Al Khashti, as well as executives, leaders, and experts from the public and private sectors, along with entrepreneurs and startup owners.
During the event, Zain expressed its delight to continue partnering with The Business Year to bring insightful gatherings like this one to life. The company strongly believes in the powerful role such platforms play in promoting dialogue, exchanging ideas, and fostering innovation across industries in the market.
Zain also recognized the efforts of the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA), which continues its mission to enhance Kuwait’s economic diversification and position it as a global investment hub. Zain, as a national institution representing the vibrant private sector, will remain a key partner to this mission towards a ‘New Kuwait’.
The forum celebrated the spirit of innovation in Kuwait’s business sector, a topic that resonates with every company and institution. Zain believes that without truly embracing innovation, there can be no growth. And this is especially true in highly competitive industries like the ICT sector, where digital transformation plays a decisive role.
Innovation is the engine that powers growth and prosperity. By harnessing creativity, exploring untapped opportunities, and even taking risks, companies can create real-world value and bring about positive change that not only affects them as organizations, but the community as a whole.
Today more than ever, technology plays a significant role in the innovation ecosystem. It serves as a catalyst for innovation by providing the means to create value in ways that were previously unimaginable. This is evident in innovations like AI that are reshaping the way we communicate, work, and interact with everything around us.
Zain no longer considers itself a traditional telecom operator, but a digital enabler, taking the lead to empower companies and government institutions to enhance their operations, improve their efficiency and workflows, and find new opportunities to grow. The company achieves this by harnessing the power of innovations like 5.5G, AI, drones, cloud computing, and more to help organizations achieve true digital transformation.
Zain takes pride in its own digital transformation journey and how it contributed to Kuwait's business landscape throughout the years. Despite challenges, the company embraced digital innovation, putting it at the heart of everything it does. And together with its partners from the world’s biggest technology players, Zain became the number one choice for the public and private sectors to achieve digitization aspirations and plans.
The company affirmed that, to truly embrace innovation, the public and private sectors must work together to empower a vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurship and startups in the market. Zain is proud of the fact that Kuwait is home for so many success stories, some of whom joined the forum to share their journeys and experiences with the attendees.
For over 14 years, Zain worked hard to create a comprehensive ecosystem for entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners through its award-winning accelerator program, Zain Great Idea. Throughout the years, ZGI helped accelerate hundreds of startups, embrace thousands of ambitious minds, and create countless job opportunities in Kuwait and beyond. In the past 24 months alone, startups that joined ZGI raised over $17.6 million of investments, and many of them have already expanded beyond the local market.