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Over the past six years, Grant Thornton UAE has tracked the progress of women in leadership across mid-market companies, multinational corporations, and the public sector. ‘Women in Business 2025’ highlights notable advances in female representation at senior levels, while also identifying the structural, cultural, and regulatory shifts driving change.

The Women in Business project has explored what helps, and what hinders, women in the workplace through a period that’s offered plenty of challenge. Global mid-market companies have navigated the financial crisis of 2007-08, worked through the pandemic and currently contend with the impact of geopolitical tension and conflict.

We are pleased to share the latest edition of our quarterly F&B publication, offering insights into the economic outlook and key trends in the regional F&B sector for 2025 and beyond.

Our Discovery Series is an opportunity for us to give back to the community and country in which we serve, through the provision of business insights. We hope that these insights will enable and inform enhanced business performance and innovation across the UAE. The first report in our Discovery Series is Women on Audit Committees in the UAE 2024, and provides baseline data for female representation that we intend to track and benchmark across other regions and markets in subsequent reports. As a firm, we are committed to advocating for gender diversity at senior leadership levels and want to keep the spotlight on this important topic so that change and progress is being made.

We are pleased to announce our latest publication on the F&B sector, offering industry insights and expert commentary on F&B in the region, including its financial outlook. The UAE’s Food and Beverage (F&B) sector is projected to achieve revenues of USD 38.3 billion by the end of 2024. In particular, food tech is attracting government and investor attention, in alignment with the UAE’s National Strategy for Food Security. In this edition, we also spoke with Khaled Fadly (https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaledfadly/), CEO of Epik Foods (https://www.linkedin.com/company/epikfoodss/), the UAE and KSA-based F&B group, to learn about his journey from the corporate world to becoming a successful F&B entrepreneur. Khaled shares his journey into the F&B sector and the challenges faced and successes achieved along the way. He also discusses key considerations for companies looking to expand internationally and outlines Epik Foods’ future plans.

The Women in Business project has explored what helps, and what hinders, women in the workplace through a period that’s offered plenty of challenge. Global mid-market companies have navigated the financial crisis of 2007-08, worked through the pandemic and currently contend with the impact of geopolitical tension and conflict.

The Food and Beverage (F&B) sector has continued to grow and show resilience to macro-economic headwinds in 2023, evidenced by strong deal flow and capital raisings in the UAE and broader GCC. Following on from our Q1 2023 update, we are delighted to share our latest F&B edition, summarising key themes, issues and activity in the sector.

The Food and Beverage (F&B) sector has continued to grow and show resilience to macro-economic headwinds in 2023, evidenced by strong deal flow and capital raisings in the UAE and broader GCC. Following on from our Q1 2023 update, we are delighted to share our latest F&B edition, summarising key themes, issues and activity in the sector.

The regional logistics sector has had a positive start to 2023, primarily driven by a stable macro-economic environment, proactive government policies, increasing demand for logistics services and growing investor confidence in the sector's long-term potential. As a result of these factors, the sector continues to see increasing levels of deal activity, with many high-profile acquisitions, partnerships, and collaborations taking place.

The logistics sector has had a positive start to 2023, primarily driven by a stable macro-economic environment, proactive government policies, increasing demand for logistics services due to the growth of e-commerce, technological advancements, and growing investor confidence in the sector's long-term potential.

M&A continued to prosper in the first five months of 2022 after a record-breaking year in 2021, although the 16 June 2022 US Federal Reserve Bank interest rate increase coupled with increased macroeconomic uncertainty marked a significant turning point for the global deal market.

Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) has been casting a light on the issue of gender diversity in senior management at mid-market businesses for 19 years, exposing barriers and identifying facilitators of change.

In spite of the global downturn in the capital markets, the UAE has not only resisted this trend but has even shown record levels of IPO activity. This trend is likely to continue and provide organisations and shareholders new avenues for growth.

The regional economy performed strongly in the fourth quarter of 2022 owing to a successful FIFA World Cup, a booming tourism season, and favorable trade agreements being signed by energy exporters. Furthermore, the quarter saw an influx of new capital as international and domestic investors opened new offices in the region.

Heading towards the new year, food security remains on top of the agenda for the region, while enhancements in food tech, and the continued rise of meat and dairy alternatives providing have proved to be a nifty tool to combat lingering supply chain and labor shortages and addressing food security.

M&A activity in the regional logistics sector continues to be buoyant, fueled by the proliferation of trade agreements, a growing expat population and the continuing e-commerce boom.