Business & Money | Wednesday 21 December, 2016 3:48 pm |

CNN sits with the CEO of Souq.com and gains insights into Saudi Arabia’s tech industry in the latest episode of Marketplace Middle East.

Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO of Souq.com has witnessed and greatly influenced the shopping revolution in the Middle East. With more than 15 years of experience in the technology sector, Mouchawar established the first online auction site, Souq.com, in 2005 and has grown to become the region’s first ever Unicorn – a term that refers to startup that has a market value of one billion dollars.

Mouchawar opens up to CNN about the rumors surrounding Amazon’s interest in buying a stake in the online retailer, his strategy when it comes to investments and the growth of the company from a five person start up to a regional infrastructure by convincing people to shop from their seat instead of their feet – becoming the largest e-commerce site in the region.

In the episode, CNN, looked into the startup scene in the region at length, from the new emerging competition to big investments from Saudi Arabia, like STC’s 100 million dollars towards the region’s version of Uber, Careem – which made the company another Unicorn for the region.

In the wake of the plummeting oil prices, CNN talks to nationals playing major roles in Saudi Arabia’s tech industry and discusses investment resources for startups namely among female entrepreneurs who are seizing opportunities to break the boundaries of a male-dominated society.

Lateefa Alwaalan, Founder of the innovative technology company, Yatooq, which specializes in brewing technology for Arabic beverages, discusses the resources and limitations of being an entrepreneur in the Kingdom. Another female leader in Saudi’s tech industry, Deemah AlYahya, Executive Director at Microsoft Arabia told CNN about her perspective on the limitations of women in the technology workforce.

As the Middle East tackles unemployment – one of its biggest challenges to date – the regions youth are looking towards more risk taking, creating their own startups instead of joining the corporations and – most importantly – finding the fearlessness to fail.... and start again.