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Google Launches Largest AI Initiative In The MENA Region
Introduced in Dubai, the program focuses on AI skill-building, funding, and infrastructure, aiming to unlock $320 billion in growth.
At the AI Connect event in Dubai, which saw participation from Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for AI, as well as other regional leaders and entrepreneurs, Google introduced its AI Opportunity Initiative for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The program is the most extensive AI endeavor in the region and is aimed at expanding access to essential AI skills, research funding, and AI-driven products.
Google.org, the company’s philanthropic division, will allocate $15 million from this year through to 2027 to regional organizations. The funding is intended to broaden AI’s reach, ensuring it supports diverse communities across MENA and includes resources in skill development, research, infrastructure, and product launches in Arabic:
- AI Skill Development: Google is committed to making AI education inclusive and widely available. New educational programs are being launched, focusing on providing an AI Curriculum in Arabic, along with support for underserved communities. In addition, an AI safety education program for young people (ages 11-14) will be funded via a grant to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
- AI Research & Local Solutions: Since 2005, Google has invested over $400 million globally in research. In the MENA region, Google is supporting local institutions through the startup accelerator startAD to develop AI applications supporting healthcare, education, and climate.
- AI-Powered Tools In Arabic: Google’s Gemini, an AI-powered assistant that understands over 16 Arabic dialects, launched in July 2023. New Arabic features include personalized guidance in learning and career advice, plus language-specific conversational and image-generation tools.
- Infrastructure Investment: Google has reasserted its commitment to cloud infrastructure in MENA, with data regions in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. A partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will support this effort with an AI hub to expand AI research and to boost digital skills for regional job growth.
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Commenting on the project, Ruth Porat, President of Alphabet and Google, stated, “Google’s long-standing investments in the Middle East and North Africa have helped equip people and organizations with the connectivity, innovation, and skills required to thrive in the global digital economy”.
News
Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power
Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.
Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.
On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.
Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.
That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.
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Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.
The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.
Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power
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