Month: January 2026

The Financing Gap Shaping Gulf Women Entrepreneurs

For women founders in the Gulf, geography shapes survival. In Kuwait, self-funding forces speed, sales, and commercial focus. In Qatar, state-backed grants make long development cycles possible. These two paths explain why women-led startups across the region look so different, and why many struggle to scale.

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From Black Gold to White Oil: Saudi Arabia’s Race to Control the Battery Midstream

As the global energy transition accelerates, control over lithium processing has become the true source of power in the battery economy. Saudi Arabia is responding by anchoring domestic refining in Yanbu, extracting lithium from oilfield brines, and securing global supply through sovereign capital. The result is a coordinated strategy to control the battery midstream, where value, resilience, and industrial leverage converge.

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Engineering for the Inferno: How the GCC Is Setting Global Standards for Heat-Resistant EVs

In the Gulf, electric vehicles are engineered for survival as much as efficiency. As temperatures push lithium-ion batteries beyond their comfort zone, the GCC is rewriting the rules of EV durability through stricter regulation, thermal management standards, and desert-tested design. What emerges is not a regional workaround, but a blueprint for electric mobility in a warming world.

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The Skyward Shift: How Dubai Is Turning Airspace into Public Transport

In March 2026, Dubai will begin operating its airspace as a functional layer of public transport. Rather than expanding roads, the city is introducing a vertical mobility network that connects the airport, Downtown, Palm Jumeirah, and Dubai Marina through commercial flying taxis. The result is not just faster travel, but predictable movement in a city where time is an economic asset.

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