Saudi Arabian travel group Al Tayyar made headlines last week when Careem, a Dubai-based transportation company, was acquired by Uber. Al Tayyar was one of the first corporate investors in the ride-hailing application and earned a gross profit of $478 million on their investment. Founded nearly 40 years ago, Al Tayyar is one of the largest travel companies in MENA, with over 400 branches across the region. I caught up with Abdulrahman Mutrib, Executive Vice President of Technology at Al Tayyar Group, at StepConference in Dubai in February to speak about creating a travel booking platform for the Gulf market, and the unique challenges they faced. AT: I know one thing that has been difficult with startups in the region has been online booking and paying online.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 31, 2019 13:52 UTC