Governata, Saudi Arabia’s first enterprise data management platform, has officially launched with an AI-powered solution designed specifically to help local organizations comply with the kingdom’s data regulations while leveraging artificial intelligence for decision-making.
The Riyadh-based startup, co-founded by former Foodics COO Djamel Mohand alongside data governance veterans Jehad Senan and Khalid Almudayfir, unveiled its flagship product as the first and only Saudi-made Arabic-language data governance software built to align with the requirements of the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA).
The platform is specifically designed to comply with the National Data Management Office (NDMO) standards, National Data Index (NDI), and Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), positioning it as a critical tool for organizations looking to navigate Saudi Arabia’s evolving data regulatory landscape while preparing for AI adoption.
“Data is the foundation of the present and future digital economy, and our goal is to help Saudi and global organizations manage it more efficiently and responsibly so they can take more accurate, swift and relevant decisions,” said Djamel Mohand, Co-Founder of Governata.
He brings over 16 years of experience in investment advisory and scaling technology startups in the region. He previously served as COO at Foodics, the leading restaurant management platform in MENA, where he helped scale the company to serve more than 30,000 restaurants across 25+ countries and managed over 2,000 team members before stepping down in February 2025 to launch his new venture.
The founding team combines complementary expertise with Jehad Senan, a data analytics and governance veteran with 20 years of experience across global advisory firms, and Khalid Almudayfir, an accomplished data scientist who has led national data governance and AI frameworks for over 12 years across public and private sectors.
Governata’s platform features what it says is a user-friendly Arabic interface and is built to align with the guidelines of Saudi Arabia’s National Data Management Office (NDMO). It offers automated tools to help organizations stay compliant with local data regulations, including the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). The platform also provides centralized tools for organizing and classifying data, improving data quality, and managing user access securely.
“Governata serves as the gateway for organizations to unlock the full potential of Generative AI,” commented Jehad Senan, co-founder of Governata. “Our unique strengths lie in being able to connect to a firm’s data sources, interpret technical metadata, enrich it with business metadata, and classify it completely in line with NDMO standards.”
The startup has global aspirations and plans to release additional products built on top of its foundational data governance software, including a unified AI-driven enterprise decision-making platform targeting the broader MENA region.
The platform’s Arabic-first approach and NDMO compliance focus address a significant gap in the market, as organizations across Saudi Arabia work to meet increasingly stringent data governance requirements while positioning themselves for AI adoption.
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