UAE Tech Podcast Al Bawaba Business

In the UAE, Step Conference requires little introduction. But how did the darling of the Dubai tech scene calendar actually get started? What happened to the English and Arabic content websites? And what was it like running such a popular and successful conference … only to have COVID-19 shut down, well, pretty much everything.

Ray Dargham, CEO and founder of Step Conference provides the inside story on how a student project at AUB has transformed, over time and with a little grit, into something far grander. This is the story of Step Conference from its foundings, to today.

Yuri Dvoinos sold his company Figleaf to Aura in 2020. He currently serves as Chief Innovation Officer at the Boston based cybersecurity firm, which is backed by none other than Robert Downey Jr. We wanted to begin our interview with “so what’s it like working with Iron Man,” but apparently everyone leads with this line, and they have not met. Also, Iron Man is a fictional character, so that would be weird.

We digress. Yuri is a habitual entrepreneur. He’s workled on Kickstarter projects, digital education and has spent a decade right here in Dubai, where he bootstrapped 50M+ paying customers for Clario cybersecurity, a company he co-founded.

We caught up with Yuri to share insights into how the city can attract talent, serve a global addressable market, and also grow into a new sense of itself as a mature tech industry, rather than a plucky upstart with a loveable swagger. Whatever the future holds, we hope Dubai keeps the swagger.

Hassan Al Noon is a graduate of the National Experts Program in Abu Dhabi, a mentorship program which pairs promising Emirati leaders with established experts in industry. Hassan’s capstone project focused on the development of deep-tech, and the need to create a collaborative ecosystem to support R&D in the UAE.

If you’ve been living in Dubai it’s been difficult to avoid Yango, an app that is being noticed for impressively accurate GPS and ride-hailing services. A Netherlands registered company backed by the Russian conglomerate Yandex, the app has ambitions which go beyond getting you around the city. Yango wants to become that most fabled of creatures; not a Unicorn, but a super-app.

The recently launched Yango play features an AI assistant that doesn’t simply speak Arabic, but can talk in the local Khaleeji dialect. The service brings licensed music and movies to the app, including the Arabic blockbuster of 2023 ‘Mr. Ex’, and the sequel to ‘Awlad Harim Kareem.’ There are plans to support independent artists, and create original content.

It’s a big dream. But can a super-app work in the UAE? What are macro-trends? And who, given the range of services on offer, is the competition? We spoke with Roman Shimansky, MENA Region Business Director at Yango Play, to learn more.

Arto is an OG interested in e-gold, in Ayn Rand and early Sci-Fi. He has a compelling perspective on what technology used to be, and where it might be going. We sat down with him to discuss his latest company, Haltia.AI, and why being a blockchain refugee in Dubai is a portal into the future.

Martin Glen began tinkering with print servers back in the 1984, eventually co-founding a company that would become a world leader in network video. In 1996 he invented the AXIS 2000 and NetEye with a Carl-Axel Aim; the first network camera.