Because the know-how house turns into more and more aggressive within the UAE, many corporations are struggling to safe the funding required to drive development. However not all
Haider Khan is the CEO of proptech firm Bayut, in addition to dubizzle, an internet market. He’s additionally the top of UAE-based unicorn Dubizzle Group MENA.
Except for main one of many area’s few unicorns, Khan additionally boasts a formidable listing of expertise, having spent a short while at Goldman Sachs, earlier than spending the subsequent 14 years at Nationwide Devices and Silicon Laboratories.
Throughout this time, he labored on a variety of large-scale initiatives, from engaged on 5G know-how to sharing his experience with the Elon Musk-led house know-how firm SpaceX.
The know-how chief finally moved on to the UAE in 2014, the place he has efficiently scaled high-growth platforms, raised over $500million in funding, and led a landmark merger with OLX throughout the UAE, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon. Underneath his management, Dubizzle Group grew to become an organization valued at over $1billion.
We sat down with Khan to search out out extra about how he led Dubizzle Group to success, his engineering background, progress within the UAE, and his massive plans for the longer term.
You’ve performed a pivotal position in constructing one of many few unicorns born out of the UAE. What had been the most important strategic choices that enabled Dubizzle Group to attain a $1billion valuation, particularly in such a aggressive digital panorama?
Reaching unicorn standing was by no means the tip aim – it was a pure results of staying relentlessly targeted on fixing actual client and enterprise issues at scale. One of the pivotal choices we made early on was to double down on localisation. We didn’t simply copy-paste world fashions – we reimagined them for the distinctive nuances of the UAE.
Secondly, we embraced tech as a core differentiator, not only a assist operate. By investing closely in our AI and ML capabilities at a really early stage, launching problem-solving merchandise like TruCheck, after which scaling that with proprietary instruments like TruBroker, TruEstimate and ProConnect, and sustaining a laser deal with consumer belief and high quality, we created platforms that aren’t solely giant in attain however deep in worth.
Our acquisition technique has additionally performed a crucial position, bringing dubizzle into the fold and constructing a full-stack ecosystem throughout classifieds and proptech gave us the type of operational and knowledge synergy that few gamers can match.
Having led high-growth platforms throughout a number of nations, how do you tailor innovation methods to accommodate regional variations whereas sustaining a unified firm imaginative and prescient?
It begins with listening. Each market has its personal financial rhythms, consumer behaviours and belief boundaries—so whereas the know-how stack is likely to be scalable, the go-to-market execution have to be hyperlocal.
At Dubizzle Group, our native groups drive product-market match with autonomy, however throughout the framework of a centralised innovation roadmap. Meaning we keep true to our mission—constructing smarter ecosystems whereas giving our regional manufacturers the liberty to innovate primarily based on native suggestions loops.
Our unified imaginative and prescient acts because the North Star, however our power lies within the adaptability of our routes to get there.
From engineering options for SpaceX and 5G to now reworking classifieds and proptech, how has your technical background formed your method to digital management in MENA?
My engineering background taught me to interrupt down advanced issues and construct options from the bottom up. Whether or not it was engaged on 5G or at SpaceX, my mindset has at all times been the identical: query every thing, simplify the place doable and deal with scalable outcomes that supply actual worth.
That method has carried by means of into my work at Dubizzle Group. I at all times say this: I see know-how as greater than only a assist software. It’s part of our DNA as an organisation, and it shapes how we remedy issues for customers, how we construct belief and the way we keep forward.
We’ve embedded this considering into every thing, from constructing AI instruments like TruEstimate to introducing authentication options like TruCheck or agent recognition techniques like TruBroker. It’s about utilizing sensible tech to create higher experiences, not simply quicker ones.
Along with your involvement within the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economic system, what are your views on the UAE’s digital transformation roadmap, and the way can tech corporations higher align with nationwide financial objectives?
One of many greatest benefits of the UAE is the fixed thirst for exceeding expectations, a sentiment that I deeply resonate with. The UAE isn’t simply collaborating in digital transformation – it’s orchestrating it. What units this area aside is its proactive policymaking and willingness to co-create with the personal sector. Initiatives just like the Dubai PropTech Hub and the Digital Economic system Technique mirror a daring imaginative and prescient to make this area a worldwide tech powerhouse.
For tech corporations, alignment means extra than simply regulatory compliance – it’s about influence. We have to construct with goal: empowering SMEs, upskilling expertise, and embedding sustainability and inclusion into our platforms.
At Dubizzle Group, our investments in AI, native expertise, and ecosystem knowledge transparency are all aligned with the UAE’s ambition to be not simply digitally enabled, however digitally sovereign.
Trying forward, what does the subsequent section of development seem like for Dubizzle Group, and the way are you integrating AI, knowledge, or rising applied sciences to future-proof your platforms?
The following section is about shifting from platforms to ecosystems. We’re connecting the dots between discovery, transaction, and post-sale companies to create seamless, trust-driven digital journeys, whether or not somebody is shopping for a automobile, renting a house, or launching a enterprise.
AI is an enormous a part of that future. Our ‘Promote with AI’ software already permits customers to listing with clever options in seconds. In below a month, we’ve got had over 100,000 listings added to the platform with this sensible assistant. Bayut’s industry-leading options, like TruBroker and TruEstimate are serving to deliver unmatched transparency and effectivity to beforehand fragmented markets.
We’re additionally doubling down on our knowledge infrastructure, predictive analytics, consumer insights, market benchmarks – so that each stakeholder, from brokers to authorities our bodies, could make quicker, smarter choices.
Finally, future-proofing means staying stressed. We’re constructing for the place the market goes, not simply the place it’s at this time.
