Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has launched Moniify, a digital business and finance news platform focused on emerging markets, investing tens of millions of dollars in the venture.
The Dubai-based platform, which launched today, aims to provide business and finance news content targeting young professionals and entrepreneurs in emerging markets. The platform features a modern interface with TikTok-style short videos on its homepage and a separate tab for articles.
Former Euronews CEO Michael Peters leads the venture as CEO, while Naguib Sawiris serves as Chairman. The platform will initially cover the GCC, Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia, with plans to expand to Africa and Latin America.
The platform will generate revenue through premium paywalled content, events, and sub-brands. But the Egyptian business tycoon is not too worried about that yet.
“My motivation is to help the young people. I want to help them become rich, and even richer than me and to achieve their dreams. I can book it under my social work. So if it doesn’t make any money at the end, or if it loses money, it’s for a good cause,” he said, in a conversation with Muhammed Mekki in Money Moves, one of many digital shows by the newly launched media platform.
Muhammed Mekki, a leading regional entrepreneur who previously founded ventures like Namshi and AstroLabs, is among the big names Moniify has recruited for its early team.
The media platform plans to differentiate itself by covering emerging markets from a local perspective rather than through a Western lens.
Dr. Yaser Bishr, Advisor to the Chairman, said, “Western media giants view emerging markets through a Western lens. Emerging markets, home to over 4.3 billion people, have unique stories to tell. They accounted for 50.1% of global GDP in 2023 and 66.7% of global GDP growth over the past decade.”
“Moniify is here to change the narrative – a platform by Zillennials, for Zillennials – sharing the growth stories of emerging markets, from their own perspective,” he added.
The executive previously built the digital division for Al Jazeera, including its very popular digital sub-brand AJ+.
Moniify marks Sawiris’s return to media after his previous venture with Euronews, where he acquired a controlling stake in 2015 before selling it to Portuguese investment firm Alpac Capital in 2021.
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