GITEX GLOBAL 2024 has just taken place in Dubai, with Tencent Cloud emerging as one of the standout participants.
The company, which says it has seen double-digit revenue growth year-on-year in the Middle East, continues to play a pivotal role in the region’s digital transformation.
And in this interview, Dan Hu, vice president of Tencent Cloud International for the Middle East and North Africa, discusses the company’s expansion, key partnerships, and its vision for driving innovation and supporting the digital economy across the Middle East.
Tencent Cloud has achieved double-digit year-on-year revenue growth in the Middle East. What do you attribute this growth to?
Tencent Cloud has enjoyed strong double-digit revenue growth year-on-year in the Middle East. This success is due to several factors, including high demand in the region for expertise in building large digital ecosystems.
Our growth is also fuelled by our fast-growing global partner ecosystem, which is crucial to our international business expansion strategy. Tencent Cloud is collaborating with local partners and clients across key markets, including the Middle East, to build large digital ecosystems.
How has Tencent Cloud tailored its services to meet the specific needs of the Middle East market? How important are local partnerships for Tencent Cloud’s success in the region, and what role do they play in supporting digital transformation?
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach when delivering digital services, especially on a regional scale.
While Tencent Cloud deploys the technical know-how, our partners provide invaluable local knowledge and insights into consumer demand, allowing us to customise our offerings accordingly. Over the years, our partners have consistently highlighted the push within the Middle East to diversify the regional economy.
This local knowledge informs the various offerings that Tencent Cloud identifies and tailors for the community. For example, in the digital entertainment industry, Tencent Cloud’s recent partnership with PlaysOut, a UAE-based global game technology company, is an early success story. Through this collaboration, PlaysOut will leverage Tencent Cloud’s Mini Program Platform to develop a modular and open digital platform, enabling developers to build and host their mini-programs and games.
Looking ahead, we see tremendous potential in the gaming sector, where our proven capabilities will foster growth and cultivate a thriving ecosystem of developers and players.
The UAE’s digital transformation market is set to grow significantly by 2029. What role does Tencent Cloud see itself playing in this growth? With cloud adoption being critical to the region’s economic vision, how does Tencent Cloud align itself with broader national goals of economic diversification and supporting public and private services?
The UAE is one of several Middle Eastern countries, alongside Saudi Arabia, leveraging the digital economy to grow their non-oil economies. The UAE’s Digital Economy Strategy has set ambitious targets to double the digital economy’s contribution to non-oil GDP from the current 11.7% to over 20% in the next ten years.
This aligns with broader regional megatrends, which project around US$62 trillion in regional consumer spending by 2025, driven by rapid digital adoption and innovative business models.
Tencent Cloud is uniquely positioned to facilitate this growth. With our track record of supporting the Weixin/WeChat ecosystem, with over 1.3 billion monthly active users, Tencent Cloud hopes to collaborate with the region to transform the public and private sectors, benefiting end users.
Can you share more details about Tencent Cloud’s new partnership with a Dubai-based digital wallet and how it will cater to the UAE’s tech-savvy audience?
Tencent Cloud’s new partnership with Balance, a leading e-wallet provider in Dubai, marks a key step in building a robust digital ecosystem in the region.
Balance will integrate Tencent Cloud’s Palm Verification capability into its payment system, providing secure and seamless identity authentication for payments. In the UAE alone, contactless payments accounted for over 70% of all point-of-sale transactions in 2023, highlighting a significant opportunity.
In the long term, Balance will explore adopting Tencent Cloud’s Mini Program Platform, allowing users to access a host of daily services and products through a single interface.
What challenges do enterprises in the Middle East face in adopting cloud technologies, and how is Tencent Cloud helping to address these challenges?
A well-defined cloud adoption strategy is crucial.
Enterprises often focus on immediate operational challenges, overlooking the importance of a scalable cloud strategy. They may lack an understanding of which cloud service models best suit their needs, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). A starting point is for businesses to map out their cloud computing requirements every few years, aligning with growth.
Another key consideration is whether to use a single cloud provider or adopt a multi-cloud environment that diversifies their tools and services.
While cloud adoption grows in the Middle East, some enterprises remain concerned about security risks. However, providers like Tencent Cloud are leading the way in cloud security services. Tencent Cloud’s EdgeOne, a one-stop edge cloud security and acceleration platform, was recently recognised by Gartner as a Representative Vendor in their “Market Guide for Edge Distribution Platforms”.
Tencent Cloud EdgeOne has received numerous accolades from clients worldwide, especially in the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa.
Tencent Cloud has participated in GITEX for three years now. How has your engagement at this event evolved, and what new developments can we expect this year?
Our participation in GITEX has mirrored Tencent Cloud’s evolving role in the region. In 2022, we introduced a comprehensive suite of cloud-based services, including digital audio and media, online game development, and hosting capabilities, as well as our popular Mini Program features.
Since then, we’ve grown significantly, engaging with several government agencies to improve public service delivery. More recently, our strong track record and regional partnerships have drawn significant private sector interest.
How does Tencent Cloud’s AI innovation strategy benefit businesses in the Middle East?
AI has been a cornerstone of Tencent’s innovation since the early 2010s. While large AI models can revolutionise industries, we believe businesses prioritise sustainable growth by focusing on specific needs.
Our goal is to help financial institutions and businesses apply AI to enhance operational efficiency and competitiveness. AI personalisation, for example, enables businesses to meet consumers’ increasing demand for tailored services. Tencent Cloud’s AI capabilities, such as Abu Dhabi’s digital ambassador “Khalifa,” engage millions of Weixin users, encouraging them to visit the UAE. Digital humans also offer exciting opportunities for virtual news anchors, interpreters, and customer service agents.
Can you elaborate on Tencent’s strategy for fostering the business-to-business (B2B) ecosystem in the region as part of your global expansion?
We are scaling up our investments and resources to collaborate with clients and partners across global markets, including the Middle East, as part of our mission to “Innovate, Connect, and Globalise.”
Tencent Cloud works closely within local ecosystems, helping private companies and government entities build large digital ecosystems and embrace digital transformation more broadly.
- Innovate: With the excitement around AI, enterprises are keen to integrate AI and unlock its potential to enhance business scenarios, reduce costs, and safeguard privacy and proprietary data.
- Connect: Businesses looking to take their digital transformation to the next level are exploring multi-cloud, asset-light PaaS and SaaS models, and advanced media and communication capabilities. Solutions like Tencent Cloud’s Mini Program Platform are transforming digital experiences across sectors, offering video content, social commerce, and live streaming capabilities.
