Let’s be honest for a moment about the future of tech in emerging markets. We’ve glamorized the startup hustle to the point where anything not aiming for a unicorn-status, VC-fueled rocketship gets labeled as “lifestyle,” “slow growth,” or worse—irrelevant. And yet, after 5 to 10 years of building, some founders find themselves staring at their cap tables, wondering what it was all for.
Meanwhile, SMEs—the unsung workhorses of our regional economies—quietly grind away. They’re not on the tech covers, but they’re paying salaries, growing revenue, and showing up day after day. But here’s the catch: they’re often locked out of the very innovation loops that could take them to the next level.
So what if we’ve been asking the wrong question all along?
What if the future of tech in emerging markets like MENA and Pakistan isn’t about choosing between startups or SMEs, but about finding the right hybrid that works for our ecosystem?
There’s a myth we need to challenge head-on: that a successful startup journey ends in either a billion-dollar valuation or a strategic exit. Founders are often encouraged (read: pressured) to chase fast growth, raise round after round, and get out while the hype is hot.
But let’s pause here.
Does this model really serve us in markets like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or Pakistan—where infrastructure is still being laid down, capital markets are evolving, and long-term value creation matters more than quick wins?
Consider this – A founder exits after five years. Great payday. But then what? The product is shelved. The team disbands. The problem the company was solving? Still very much alive. The exit, in some cases, is just a fancy reset button.
Now contrast that with a tech-enabled SME that’s been around for 15 years, continues to grow 15-20% year on year, hires locally, and reinvests profits into R&D. It may never make TechCrunch, but it contributes to national GDP, exports services, and builds community-level resilience.
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Pakistan
So maybe we need to reframe success—not as the speed of exit, but the depth of impact.
Another toxic trait we’ve inherited from Silicon Valley culture: the belief that there’s only space for one winner.
One ride-hailing app. One food delivery platform. One logistics startup to rule them all.
But emerging markets don’t function like that. These ecosystems are messy, nuanced, and decentralized. The same country can have wildly different consumer behaviors in different cities. One-size-fits-all solutions often don’t fit anyone for long.
This is where the hybrid model gets interesting.
Instead of startups competing with SMEs, what if we designed systems where they collaborate? What if tech startups served as accelerants for traditional businesses—offering software, automation, data insights, and digital infrastructure—while SMEs offered market access, customer loyalty, and operational depth?
It’s not flashy. But it works.
Look at what’s happening in Riyadh, Dubai, and Karachi: regional innovation hubs are emerging not as zero-sum battlegrounds, but as interconnected ecosystems. Everyone—from government to corporations, from accelerators to family businesses—is realizing that the game isn’t winner-takes-all. It’s ecosystem-wins-together.
One of the biggest barriers to hybrid models in MENA and Pakistan is the funding structure. Let’s face it: VC money loves fast growth. Period.
Revenue-based financing? It’s growing, but still nascent.
Government grants? Available, but bureaucratic and often misunderstood.
Corporate partnerships? Underutilized, partly due to lack of trust between startups and incumbents.
But change is happening !
In Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030 isn’t just about giga-projects—it’s about creating systems that support long-term, sustainable value creation. Startups are getting backed not just for their disruptive potential, but for their ability to plug into broader national priorities like logistics, tourism, fintech, and health.
At the same time, SMEs are being invited into the innovation circle through digital transformation programs, procurement preferences, and sandbox-style pilot projects with startups. It’s a deliberate ecosystem engineering effort—and it’s slowly working.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, founders are beginning to question the growth-at-all-costs mentality. There’s a return to fundamentals: unit economics, retention, and business model durability. And with more diaspora capital flowing in, there’s space for flexible capital—patient, founder-aligned, and impact-conscious.
The real innovation? Might be in funding models, not just product design.
There’s a growing understanding that regional problems—like food security, mobility, climate resilience, and digital inclusion—won’t be solved by any single founder, startup, or SME. They’ll require coalitions.
Take the UAE’s push into agritech. You’ll find deep-tech startups building sensors, SMEs managing supply chains, and government entities funding climate-smart agriculture programs. It’s a mash-up of players—but it’s working because everyone’s aligned on a shared outcome.
In Pakistan, we’re seeing logistics players partner with smallholder farmers. In Saudi, fintech startups are powering SME invoicing and cash flow tools. These aren’t just commercial deals—they’re ecosystem bridges.
The future is less about heroes and more about harmony.
Let’s talk about founder psychology for a moment—because here’s where the cracks really show.
You hustle for years, build something real, raise a couple rounds, maybe even hit profitability. And then…the fatigue sets in. You’re no longer building the thing you love; you’re managing board expectations, navigating politics, and debating whether to sell or “stick it out.”
That “founder disengagement” around years 5 to 10? It’s not just burnout. It’s a misalignment between purpose and pressure.
And guess what? It’s solvable.
Hybrid models allow founders to define success on their own terms. You don’t need to IPO or get acquired to feel like you “made it.” You can grow slowly, partner with SMEs, license tech, generate real revenue, and still feel deeply proud of the value you’re creating.
The goal is to decouple “impact” from “exit.”
Because let’s be real—your community doesn’t care about your valuation. They care about whether your product made life easier, created jobs, or inspired others to build.
So…What Does the Hybrid Model Actually Look Like?
Let’s ground this in something real. Imagine this:
Is that a unicorn story? Nope.
Is that a win? 100%.
These models aren’t hypothetical—they’re already emerging.
In fact, accelerators like Flat6Labs and platforms like Startup Pakistan are actively enabling them.
We just need to talk about them more.
Let’s step back.
What if we’ve been importing startup culture models that don’t fully apply to our region? What if the copy-paste mentality from Silicon Valley—raise fast, grow faster, exit soon—is actually limiting the creativity and resilience of MENA and Pakistan’s founders?
What if the real strength of our region is not in blitzscaling but in blended scaling—where startups bring the agility, SMEs bring the grounding, and together they create businesses that actually last?
Consider this: SMEs already contribute over 40% to Saudi Arabia’s GDP, according to Monsha’at. Meanwhile, startups across MENA raised $3.4 billion in 2023, as per MAGNiTT. The gap between resilience and rapid growth? That’s the space where hybrid models thrive.
Maybe the next phase of entrepreneurship here isn’t about unicorns, but about camels (shoutout to resilience). About companies that survive, adapt, and scale in their own time. Companies that don’t just exit, but endure.
And maybe—just maybe—that’s what our ecosystems need most right now.
This isn’t a call to abandon startups.
It’s a call to reimagine them.
To see founders not just as dealmakers, but as system builders.
To support companies that solve deep, meaningful problems even if they don’t make headlines.
To fund with flexibility.
To define success by depth, not speed.
And most of all, to move past binary thinking.
Because the future of tech in emerging markets?
It’s not just startups. It’s not just SMEs.
It’s something in between.
So what are you building?
References & Resources