Saudi Arabia's Serial Start Up Founder

Since starting his first company at the age of just 19, Hatem Kameli has been at the heart of Saudi Arabia's startup ecosystem. The digital entrepreneur is now planning to launch his first IPO.

WHEN A YOUNG HATEM KAMELI founded his first internet startup 20 years ago, right in the wake of the dotcom crash, his family and friends told him to concentrate on university studies and find a safe government job.

Two decades and half a dozen businesses later, Hatem has become one of Saudi Arabia’s best-known entrepreneurs, and is now the CEO of Resal, the Middle East’s largest platform for making digital gifts.

“In all my companies, I have always tried to use new technologies in ways that make a real difference to the economy and have a positive impact on people’s lives,” he says. Whatever I do, I want to add value to the community.”

Things were not always easy in the beginning. Hatem shuttered two early online businesses because of a lack of venture capital. After selling the most successful of his earliest companies, he decided to gain more management experience by working on digital strategy for well-known banks and airlines. He also completed an MBA.

In 2016, when Saudi Arabia launched its Vision 2030 plan for transforming its economy, Hatem was ideally positioned to surf a new wave of opportunity.

“Everything changed with Vision 2030,” he says. We now have incubators and accelerators for startups, plentiful venture capital, and multiple financing programs. The ecosystem is incredible.”

Hatem himself has played a role in growing this ecosystem, helping to develop one of the country’s first technology incubators and building new connections between investors and the startup community.