News

MENA Digital Economy Set To Hit $400 Billion By 2030

Education and health technology sectors alone are forecast to reach a combined market size of $20 billion by 2030.

Published

4 years ago

October 6, 2022

mena digital economy set to hit $400 billion by 2030

Although COVID-19 sent shockwaves through brick-and-mortar retail businesses and decimated the travel industry, the world’s digital economy actually reaped enormous benefits from lockdowns and reduced movement.

According to newly released data, the digital economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are now estimated to be worth an incredible $400 billion by 2030.

To reach the enormous milestone in under ten years, the entire region’s economy will need to undergo rapid transformation. Sectors including food, travel and bill payment have declined in recent years. However, health and education technology appear to be booming — though predictably, online retail is driving much of the growth, increasing at a rate of 20% per year alone.

According to the report, Generation Z will fuel a great deal of the decade’s growth, and the expansion of EdTech services will require significant skill development, with schools and higher education institutions adding new technology-focused courses to their curriculums.

Also Read: Saudi Arabia To Send First Female Astronaut Into Space By 2023

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have already significantly contributed to the region’s global digital expansion. Future growth is anticipated to be more evenly spread among the MENA countries, as the two leading nations currently account for half of the area’s total digital economy.

According to the new survey, the rest of the MENA region is improving in its rate of digital adoption, with the time spent on digital channels now nearing 8 hours per day, which is a figure similar to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

News

LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE

Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.

Published

10 hours ago

June 16, 2026

Joanna Melki

luved is a new curated preloved marketplace for the uae

Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.

The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.

Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.

An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.

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“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.

The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.