Bold Bets: 7awi Media Group Co-Founder And CEO Anas Abbar

Editor's Note: 7awi Media Group is the UAE-based media house behind Inc. Arabia. 

It’s now been 13 years since 7awi Media Group launched in Dubai, but co-founder and CEO Anas Abbar still has the drive and momentum of someone who is just getting started.

From the outset, Abbar has never shied away from ambitious moves for 7awi (pronounced “Hawi,” Arabic for “wizard”)—whether it was with growing its operations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, or building a digital media ecosystem that now spans more than 20 platforms, including flagship titles like the publication you’re currently reading, Inc. Arabia, as well as the lifestyle- and luxury-focused Arabic magazine, Layalina.

But 7awi has also evolved beyond publishing—Abbar has also led it to build its own content management system (Casper), a media production and digital marketing agency (Social Camels), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered influencer marketing platform (SocialEye), and, earlier this year, an events platform (Social Majlis) as well. Each new venture has marked a calculated leap—and it’s been driven by Abbar’s conviction that standing still is never an option.

While polished during his years as an entrepreneur, Abbar’s business acumen was largely cultivated during his 20+ years spent in the US at global tech giant Microsoft, decades that he credits with developing his technology and business mindset. But it wasn’t until his time working at the Middle East arm of the web giant Yahoo! between 2010 and 2012 that he found his passion for media, and later set out to apply those lessons to his own business. “To me, media was a very common-sense conversation,” Abbar says. “You understand the audience, you create the content, you recognize the channels, and you connect them all. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Keep in mind that in 2012, there was a lack of Arabic content, you could count the number of publishers [on one hand] back then; so, I truly felt that we could be leaders in this space.”

One could say that Abbar’s very choice of building a business around Arabic content was one of the first bold moves that he made when he set out to build 7awi. “If I was trying to monetize by solely using Arabic content, I think we would have gone out of business, because it’s a very long-term strategy, and it requires someone bigger than 7awi,” he says. “I really believe that it needs an intervention on the level of governments. And this is my call to the powers that be, to help publishers like us [by enforcing] some type of policies on platforms to support publishers. But because this did not happen, it couldn’t be our focus; so, by all means, Arabic content is a key for us, but it’s not the key to monetizing our platforms, which is why we had to pivot from B2C to B2B.”

Therefore, instead of trying to generate revenue from its users, Abbar steered 7awi to grow its user base and its audience, and with that, become able to approach brands and help them create, develop, and push Arabic content to both a regional and a global audience. In fact, Abbar credits this very mindset of evolving and pivoting to helping 7awi weather many storms that have led to the closure of other media groups in the region. He explains how, in 7awi’s lifetime, content has evolved from being “just content” to content optimized for search engines like Google, to video content, and, even shorter form video content, and today, content that is delivered on social media channels and follows the specific algorithms of those channels.

“So, slowly, we started losing control of our readers, right?” Abbar says. “And so, it was about, how do we regain this? We pivot. And we did this every time we saw this challenge. Today, we’re also pivoting to serve a Gen Z audience that is consuming content on their mobiles, that wants multimedia content, whether it’s podcasts or videos. And that’s the B2C conversation. From a B2B [perspective], we need to think about production, and we need to think about global brands that are looking at our region—we need to think about how we can serve those brands.”

But in order to make that transition and have the B2B conversation, 7awi had to first establish itself as a premier publisher of Arabic content in the Arab world—which entailed keeping up with the fast-evolving media landscape. He points to a critical period when websites that had been built to monetize through banner ads suddenly found themselves unable to survive once social media platforms entered the scene. “There was no one there to protect us,” he recalls. “So, the biggest challenge was: how do you monetize a website that was built on the assumption that there will be ads on it, but now doesn’t have them? And the world was moving so fast that we had to rethink our strategy and repurpose our assets quickly. But the biggest advantage is that we owned our assets.”

In addition to owning its assets, 7awi has, under Abbar’s leadership, also opted to diversify its revenue streams through new business lines. This expansion, which was facilitated by the company’s growing understanding of exactly what clients are looking for, has allowed it to branch out and provide complementary services that allow it to optimize its assets as well as to respond directly to client needs. “Why [do clients come to] 7awi?” asks Abbar. “It’s very simple: we managed to connect the dots. We have the publishing arm, we have the technology, we have the agency business, we have the content creator platform, we started our events business this year, and I’m sure that in 2026, we will start something new.”

So, how has Abbar got 7awi through thick and thin over the past 13 years, rising to each new challenge, and anticipating and adapting to trends to stay ahead of the curve? According to Abbar, it all comes down to focusing on the company’s bottom line, and by keeping profit and loss (P&L) front and center in every conversation. “At the end of the day, every decision we make is P&L related,” he points out, a reflection of his mindset as a self-funded entrepreneur. “We’re not just burning money, it’s our money that we’re burning, it’s the money that we generate.”

Abbar also notes that, by keeping full ownership of 7awi so far, he has been able to keep it nimble and flexible, charting new courses for the company to respond to the region’s rapidly evolving media landscape. Part of that nimbleness has come from reading the room, and understanding that focusing solely on Arabic content would not allow the business to grow, which led him to launch English language titles focused on lifestyle content for the UAE, KSA, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait under the Moments brand, as well as acquire the rights to publish Inc. Arabia in 2023.

Anas Abbar at Inc. Arabia’s Best in Business Awards Riyadh 2025.

“Media is not the transactional business that investors are looking for, but everyone needs media,” Abbar adds. “Also, I do believe that as the Middle East becomes more of a center of attention, we will see global media companies reaching out to the region.” Indeed, Abbar says that as the MENA becomes a key point of attention globally, it is creating a reverse migration effect, with native populations that have studied and lived abroad returning home, in addition to the influx of expats moving to the region. This, he tells us, re-affirms his belief that investing in English language content alongside Arabic is allowing 7awi to broaden both its audience as well as its business prospects. What’s more, responding to these trends has allowed the company to tap into Arab expat audiences abroad who are seeking a stronger connection with home. Abbar has also been quick to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) at 7awi, which, in many ways, is a reflection of his vision for the company, centered on constantly looking ahead and anticipating change before it happens.

“I’m taking it one step at a time with AI,” Abbar reveals. “It’s very rare that I say that I’m satisfied with something on a personal level, and I might not say it out loud, because I always know that we can push the limits, but I’m very happy with the type of innovation that we’ve built into our platforms to support AI over the past six months, whether it’s on SocialEye, or on Casper. So, the idea is that, truly, 80 percent, if not more of our content, should be done by AI. And the other 20 percent, this is the content that is truly editorial, news content, client-facing content. Anything that’s evergreen, AI should take over most of that content, with human intervention, obviously. I should also highlight that we just launched our AI content code of conduct at 7awi. Yes, AI is going to be embedded— and I like to use the word ‘embraced’—in our platforms, but we’re doing it responsibly.”

In addition to investing in new technologies, Abbar’s vision for 7awi also includes expanding into new geographies, and its recent inroads into Saudi Arabia is a part of his mandate to build a truly independent pan-Arab media company. “The Saudi market is obviously not just strategic,” Abbar admits. “Going back to what I said earlier, this is a conversation about P&L—we follow the money. Saudi Arabia has over 30 million people, and it’s very much about Arabic content, which is our core strength. I think for a few years to come, there will always be a demand for companies like 7awi to deliver on campaigns and create solutions.”

Here, Abbar proudly points out that Saudi Arabia is 7awi’s larger market in terms of consumers. “In the 13 years since we started, the biggest audience we had was the Saudi audience, but we didn’t have a relationship with the brands there,” Abbar says. “Today, it’s extremely strategic and conscious that we have people on the ground to reach out to the brands, and make sure that we are creating a local experience in KSA for Saudi nationals, as well as for everyone else who is living in Saudi.” This diversity has been key to the growth of 7awi as a company as well, with Abbar crediting his years of corporate experience for giving him a playbook for building a diverse team spread across multiple geographies.

“One of the things I’m proud of is that over 52 percent of our employees are women,” Abbar shares. “I believe that diversity goes beyond nationalities, it extends to gender, it is the language, it is the upbringing. It is not just the degree that you get from school—it’s what life has taught you. The more diversified we are, the better we are as a company. Today, we have over 16 nationalities and 11 languages spoken in the company, and honestly, that gives us an edge.” But that edge, he notes, also comes with its challenges. “Yes, it means that we have different time zones, different cultures that we need to adapt to, but it truly makes us better people when we open up to more individuals and more cultures, and we learn a lot from each other,” he explains. “So, the challenge may be convenience, because sometimes I have to wake up early, or rephrase my sentence once or twice, but it is more of an inconvenience than it is a challenge, and the upside is much bigger. The upside is that we’re learning from each other.”

As for his management style, Abbar says that he is keen to work with a team that sees the glass as half-full, and then finds ways to fill it—and as such, his leadership strategy is all about empowering his employees, and holding them accountable. “I always say ‘ask for forgiveness, not for permission,’” he says, while adding that key to empowerment is having a largely flat hierarchy. He adds, “The only time I get involved is when things don’t work out, and that’s a problem, because I know that I don’t have a solution, and so, I’m [probably] going to mess it up, and I’m happy to take the blame for that. But I’ll also help to put it back on track. And how do we put it back on track? By having the right people.” That said, Abbar continues to be actively involved in building the business, but today, his role mostly entails stepping back and looking at the big picture to find ways to tap into new opportunities and new markets, as well as networking and, in many ways, acting as the face of 7awi. And he credits that management style with giving him the freedom to travel, network, and continue to explore new pathways for growth for the company.

“I believe that we’ve only tapped into the beginning of our journey,” Abbar declares. “There are so many learnings— when I travel, I learn so much, and I come back and say we should have done this, or we need to do that. So, just like there are things that worry me and keep me up at night, there are things that excite me, like what’s next, and what else can we do.” As for other entrepreneurs looking to build bold companies that are building new solutions for legacy-era challenges, Abbar advises them to come in strong—but to always keep an eye on the bottom line. “You need to have guts,” he says. “So many people come in with ideas, and the reality is that ideas are easy to come by; so, unless you’re truly building for the long term, you have to think before you put your money down... Even if you have a million dollars, you will burn through that money so fast; so, think very well about what you’re building, why you’re building it, and why you [rather than someone else] have the means to do this.”

Anas Abbar (center) with his team at 7awi Media Group.

Build For Growth(And Not Survival)

7awi Media Group co-founder and CEO Anas Abbar’s tips for entrepreneurs.

1. Have A Unique Value Proposition.

"Come up with a very unique idea that the next person cannot replicate if they have more funding and can scale it faster than you.”

2. Make Sure That You're Surrounded By The Right People.

“The right people are not necessarily those that agree with you, but they are those that are on the same wavelength. They have the same projection as what you’re thinking, but they’re also extremely positive. Do not surround yourself with negativity, because you’re going to get slammed every once in a while with things, so think about how to get out of the glass is half empty.”

3. Have A Runway.

“When you start, you need to have a year’s worth of funding. This will keep you focused on what you want to build. If three months into the business, you’re running out of cash, you’re out.”

4. Don't Rush To Fundraise. 

“If a company is healthy and generating revenue, it shouldn’t get an early-stage investor, because it will affect the company’s direction. But in some cases, startups have a clear direction and the investment is large enough to accelerate its growth.”

5. Focus On Your Finances.

“No matter how great your idea is, if you can’t prove that your revenues exceed your spending, then you’re just one of many companies doing the same thing.”

Pictured in the lead image is Anas Abbar, co-founder and CEO of 7awi Media Group. All images are courtesy of 7awi Media Group.

This article first appeared in the July 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia magazine. To read the full issue online, click here.