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Yango Goes Global With New Office In Dubai Internet City
An agreement was signed at GITEX Global 2023, welcoming the company to the Emirate’s leading tech hub.
Yango, a tech startup dedicated to “enhancing local communities through global innovation”, has revealed plans to open a new office in Dubai’s Internet City tech hub as the company plans to take its operation global.
The strategic move represents a significant milestone for Yango, whose proprietary technologies currently power a last-mile delivery solution, ride-hailing services, and a platform helping retailers transition to an e-commerce framework.
Yango’s new office will serve as a central hub for the 20 countries served by the tech startup and pave the way for further innovation and knowledge exchanges while empowering local talent.
Speaking on behalf of Dubai Internet City, Ammar Al Malik, Executive Commercial Vice President of the TECOM Group, said: “By being based within thriving technology districts such as Dubai Internet City, mobility companies can foster collaboration with global peers, startups, and research institutions, as well as access a pool of globally experienced and skilled professionals and diversify into new markets”.
Adeniyi Adebayo, Chief Business Development Officer, Yango, commented: “Dubai’s progressive, innovation-friendly business environment, world-class infrastructure, and strategic location make it the perfect choice for Yango to embark on a global expansion and Dubai Internet City, renowned for its role in nurturing the technology and innovation sector for over two decades, emerged as the ideal location for Yango’s new global operational office”.
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Yango’s appearance at GITEX Global 2023 highlights the company’s commitment to bringing modern technologies into everyday lives worldwide. In addition to its current suite of solutions, the company is also developing an Arabic-speaking AI-powered assistant known as Yasmina that will act as an empathic companion. The new project is also being showcased at GITEX Global 2023, of which Dubai Internet City is an Innovation Partner.
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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.
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.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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