News

Catch A Glimpse Into The Future Of Tech At Step Dubai 2025

Scheduled for February 19-20, 8,000+ attendees, 350+ speakers, and 400+ startups will gather for the MENA’s leading technology festival.

Published

2 years ago

February 5, 2025

Nour Nasir

catch a glimpse into the future of tech at step dubai 2025

We’re excited to be part of Step Dubai 2025, the region’s premier tech festival, set to take place on February 19-20, 2025, at Dubai Internet City. Over the past ten years, Step has been a driving force behind innovation in MENA, and this year’s event is shaping up to be bigger than ever.

Bringing together more than 8,000 attendees, 400+ startups, and 350+ speakers, along with a staggering $8.5 billion in funding opportunities, Step Dubai 2025 is a must-attend event for anyone passionate about the future of technology. Held over two action-packed days, the expo will be filled with insights, groundbreaking ideas, and opportunities to connect with some of the most influential minds in the industry.

The speaker lineup this year includes notable names such as H.E. Alia Bint Abdulla Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Groq President Mohsen Moazami, Amal Dokhan from 500 Global, Elie Khouri of Vivium, Dr. Aseel Addawood from Oracle, and Dany Farha of BECO Capital. They’ll be sharing their expertise on key topics spanning startups, fintech, AI, proptech, adtech, and beyond.

As well as thought-provoking panel discussions and keynote speeches, attendees can take advantage of:

Hands-on workshops
Networking opportunities
A packed and diverse exhibition space
Meet-ups and exclusive satellite events across Dubai

Are you planning to attend Step Dubai 2025? Take advantage of an exclusive discount on your ticket by using promo code TECHMAG. If you’re part of a startup, now’s your chance to apply and showcase your innovations at one of the biggest tech expos in the region.

Places are filling fast — click here to learn more about Step Dubai 2025 and don’t miss this opportunity to be part of MENA’s tech evolution.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.