WAYA Media, a media platform dedicated to covering business and startup news in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has announced a strategic partnership with Foras.ai, a move poised to reshape how business journalism operates in the region.
The collaboration, which includes an investment in Founders Media, WAYA’s parent company, speaks more than just financial backing, it represents a shared vision for delivering deeper, more contextual, and data-driven insights to founders, investors, and operators across MENA.
“Much of the business media in our region has been either imported or disconnected from what’s really happening on the ground,” said Gamal Helmy, Co-founder and CEO of WAYA. “WAYA exists to close it.”
The partnership promises to expand WAYA’s editorial capabilities, improve its content formats, and broaden its regional reach while maintaining its mission to inform and empower the MENA business ecosystem.
Understanding WAYA Media: A Local-First Business News Platform
WAYA Media was founded with a clear purpose, to provide business and startup journalism that truly understands the dynamics of the MENA region.
Unlike media outlets that rely heavily on imported perspectives, WAYA focuses on telling stories in the language founders and operators actually use to build their businesses.
“When we started WAYA Media, the idea was straightforward: the MENA region deserves business and startup journalism that actually understands how it operates, its founders, its investors, and its operators, and speaks to them in the language they use to build,” Helmy said.
By staying attuned to the local business climate, WAYA has positioned itself as a platform that bridges the information gap for stakeholders looking for meaningful insights rather than generic headlines.
The Partnership with Foras.ai: More Than Capital
WAYA’s collaboration with Foras.ai is not just an investment, it’s a strategic alignment. Foras.ai brings both financial resources and access to a network that can amplify WAYA’s reach across Egypt, the Gulf, and beyond.
“Mohamed Aboulnaga (Nagaty) and the network behind Foras.ai bring distribution and access that extend how far our content can travel,” Helmy noted.
This partnership enables WAYA to enhance both its editorial voice and commercial platforms, including WAYA Works and WAYA Studio, ensuring a more robust and impactful media presence in the region.
Filling a Gap in MENA Business Media, Expand Editorial Depth and Innovation
Helmy emphasizes that the regional media landscape has long suffered from a disconnect. While local businesses and startups are evolving rapidly, much of the reporting remains outdated or misaligned with the realities on the ground.
“As founders, investors, and operators move faster and build at a higher level, the need for more rigorous, more contextual business journalism has only grown,” Helmy said.
By focusing on data-driven, insight-rich reporting, WAYA aims to deliver content that helps business leaders make informed decisions rather than just recounting events.
With the Foras.ai partnership, WAYA plans to invest in expanding its newsroom and producing stories that go beyond the surface. This includes structured, insight-driven content, deeper analysis of trends, and innovative storytelling formats such as video and interactive products.
Helmy explained, “This partnership allows us to go deeper editorially, build with data, and scale new formats, particularly in video and product experiences that meet the audience where they are.”
The emphasis is on delivering content that explains not just what happened, but why it matters to the people driving the region’s economy.
Growth Across MENA and Investors Confidence
The strategic partnership also supports WAYA’s expansion across multiple fronts. More stories, more depth in Arabic through WAYA Arabi, and stronger presence across key markets like Egypt and the Gulf are all on the horizon.
Helmy added, “What comes next will be tangible. More stories. Better stories. A stronger presence across Egypt and the Gulf.”
Despite growth ambitions, the platform’s core mission according to its founders, remains unchanged, to serve founders, operators, investors, and anyone seeking to understand the trajectory of MENA’s business ecosystem.
WAYA’s early backers, including HOF Capital, Onsi Sawiris, and Saoud Al-Humaidhi, continue to support the vision of a locally focused, scalable media platform.
Helmy described the partnership with Foras.ai as a continuation of that same thesis: “A region-first media platform, built properly, is both needed and scalable.”
In sum, WAYA Media’s partnership with Foras.ai represents a major milestone for business journalism in MENA. By combining local insight, data-driven reporting, innovative storytelling, and expanded reach, the platform is set to redefine how the region’s founders, operators, and investors access and engage with information that truly matters.
Talking Points
WAYA Media’s approach is a much-needed evolution in MENA’s business journalism landscape, where historically much reporting has been either imported or disconnected from the realities of local startups and enterprises.
By producing region-first, insight-driven, and context-rich content, WAYA is not just reporting events, it is helping founders, investors, and operators make informed decisions, understand market dynamics, and navigate a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
This mirrors the role of platforms like Techparley Africa across the broader African continent, which focus on bridging the information gap in tech, innovation, and digital business ecosystems. Both platforms demonstrate the critical importance of locally grounded, analytically rigorous media that empowers stakeholders with knowledge, drives transparency, and nurtures growth.
In regions/continents where access to reliable, relevant business intelligence has often been limited, such media initiatives are foundational to creating a more informed, competitive, and interconnected entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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