AB Majlis podcast: e& bets on fintech and super apps in digital push
'UAE is a mixed population. We have the white-collar, blue-collar, we have the youth,' Khalifa Al Shamsi, CEO of e& life and e& international, said in an interview on the AB Majlis podcast at the World Government Summit last week. 'There are a lot of segments that are net-serve or underserve.'
Three years after rebranding from Etisalat, e& has expanded to 19 countries from 16, while restructuring into four units: e& UAE, e& international, e& enterprise, and e& life – the latter focusing on consumer digital offerings.
The company's fintech platform, e& money, now offers IBAN accounts and prepaid Mastercards to anyone with an Emirates ID.
'We're going to be enriching that with lending solutions, microfinance. You don't need to have a big salary to get a loan,' Al Shamsi explained. 'You're not going to get a hundred thousand loan, but you might get a five thousand loan.'
Central to e&'s digital transformation is its recent Careem Technologies acquisition. The platform has evolved beyond ride-hailing to include food delivery, groceries, and home services.
'We never sit relaxed till we are number one,' Al Shamsi said, noting the service is already number two in Dubai for food and grocery delivery, with expansion underway in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
The company's entertainment division has achieved significant penetration, with its IPTV service reaching 80 per cent of UAE homes. Last year, e& launched STARZPLAY, an ad-funded streaming service now operating across 22 countries.
AI features prominently in future plans, with e& developing what Al Shamsi calls 'agentic AI' – personalised concierge services that could, for example, recommend comfort food when a user's favorite sports team is losing.
Looking ahead, Al Shamsi indicated potential moves into insurance and health tech, leveraging the company's existing assets from point-of-sale networks to regulatory relationships.
'We have a lot of untapped opportunities,' he said. 'How about we leverage the same assets to sell financial services, cybersecurity, internet of things?'
The digital push comes as UAE companies increasingly look to diversify beyond their traditional business lines. For e&, success in this transformation could provide a template for other regional telecom operators seeking new growth avenues.
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