Omar Momany joined us this year in Dubai to highlight how the regions governments have pushed for new legislative reforms to improve transparency and compliance, with economic diversity and digital disruption seen as the main drivers for opportunities in the future. 

Matthew Benson from EY joined us to describe how the MENA region is in a transition from emerging too a mature market and how international private equity funds are keen to do business in the region. 

Will Seivewright from Baker McKenzie highlighted the enthusiasm that private equity has for doing deals in the MENA region and the challenges that have been encountered in terms of legal structuring and the geopolitical issues that have arisen. 

Focusing on the education sphere, we asked Kumar Verma of Scholars International Group on the opportunities in the sector and what the biggest threat moving forward are.

Catching up with Abhishek Sharma, CEO at Foundation Holdings, after the Healthcare & Education, we asked him about the fluctuating oil prices and whether this could the affect the market in the future. 

Recapping from the Saudi Opportunities Breakfast that was held at the beginning of the MENA Mergers Forum, we asked Ahmed what opportunities he was seeing in the market and the increasing involvement of local and international private equity funds in the region. Also on the agenda was the regulatory environment and how best to deal with new changes.  

Having taken part in the Healthcare & Education panel, we sat down with Ahmed Faiyaz to discuss the operations that the Dubai Health Authority conducts and the policies that are in place to pursue strategic activities, particularly investments and partnerships.