Salim Akil

Advising first-time entrepreneurs through various programs and partners, I support startups from ideation to pre-seed stage. My role focuses on helping founders validate their ideas, build strong business models, develop go-to-market strategies, and become investor-ready—while guiding them through early-stage challenges and preparing them for scalable growth.

In this podcast, my aim is to educate new entrepreneurs on how to develop a business model, validate it in the market, and make necessary adjustments based on evolving business and market needs. We dive deep into the competitive landscape and explore the future of various business models, offering valuable insights to help entrepreneurs navigate their journeys. In the first season, we interviewed influential leaders such as Islam Zween (CEO of Argaam.com), Paris Norriss (Founder of Guy in Dubai TV Show), Idriss Alrifai (Founder of Fetchr), Rabea Ataya (Founder of Bayt), Bilal Abou Diab (co-Founder of Vault), Tariq Abu Samra (co-Founder of BloomingBox), and Ahmed Arif (co-Founder of Clara). Our upcoming sessions in 2025 feature a long list of new and exciting guests.

As a Venture Builder, I meet many startups every day who are keen to receive feedback, advice, and guidelines for their journey and products. Having founded three startups myself and partnered with more than 10 others, I understand the value of having committed advisors. Now, one of my roles is to add this missing value to the market.

Beyond 360 is a venture builder and innovation consultancy that partners with startups to build, and operation, in disruptive businesses across the Riyadh, Istanbul and Dubai. It provides end-to-end support—from ideation to execution—offering strategic guidance, operational expertise, and connect to funding networks to accelerate growth and market impact.

By sharing the vision with AB SME Hub, we co-create SME-tailored content and mentorship in collaboration with a diverse range of expert and industry partners. This approach adds value to both entrepreneurs and partners, fostering a consolidated and thriving ecosystem.

My role as a Venture Builder Advisor to Grab Grip has been instrumental in transforming an innovative idea into a scalable and profitable business. Through strategic guidance, comprehensive planning, and hands-on support, I have helped build a strong foundation, scale operations, and navigate the growth stage, ensuring Grab Grip’s position as a leader in the Saudi Arabian startup equipment rental market.

As a Mentor and Judge, I support students in the New Venture Creation Course by offering guidance in developing their entrepreneurial ideas and evaluating new venture opportunities. I also serve as a judge for student presentations, providing insights and feedback to help them refine their business strategies. This course blends entrepreneurship theory with practical applications, focusing on identifying and exploiting business opportunities. It provides non-business students with hands-on experience in creating new ventures, fostering skills in research, analysis, communication, and teamwork. Guest lectures from experienced entrepreneurs enhance the learning experience.

Successfully led the launch of an eCommerce venture specializing in electronics, expanding sales across diverse channels, including marketplaces, social media, and online stores. Established legal entities in the UAE and KSA, overseeing the recruitment of a 45-member team. Implemented data-driven decision-making processes, utilizing analytics to inform marketing and sales strategies. Achieved remarkable results, with sales reaching AED 7 million in 6 months and a notable 35% monthly growth. Orchestrated a disruptive sales expansion plan across 15 prominent online channels in the UAE, engineered and implemented a core system automating workflows, from purchasing decisions to pricing, competitive analysis, and replenishment planning, significantly boosting operational efficiency. Established and led a 25-member cross-functional team, fostering collaboration and driving operational excellence for superior business outcomes.

The Wholesale eCommerce of GCC & Africa. We at eWhale.co transform the businesses in an easy and manageable manner that makes it easy for buyers and sellers to engage with the first ever integrated e-commerce b2b eco-system that connects the GCC with African countries. The fundamental structure of technology improvisation and the detailed research will help you to market the merchant brands. The power of the internet will leverage your business to flourish and engage with customers directly. The mission can be achieved by introducing necessary tools on the platform, where users will be able to send targeted quotations, exchange products samples or buy and sell products. We have the power to enable millions of commercial and bilateral interactions between consumers and merchants with our users and of course with businesses every passing day as we intend to solve the main issues for small and medium enterprises; workflow, data management, discovering new products and transparency in pricing. This procedure enables the merchant to organize all the information that is helpful for a broader and systematic mechanism to incorporate the mutual development in business. This logistic e-commerce hub also provides the buyers and sellers to easily negotiate on different terms and through the facilitation on your application, the buyers and sellers can also track the quotation process which will help them in re-ordering with the same client from the same b2b e-commerce hub.

MENA Network LTD is a BVI holding company, HQ in Dubai Silicon Oasis, owned by the founder, Salim Akil and Silicon Oasis Founders a wholly owned entity of DSOA (Government of Dubai) and other 26 shareholders, MENA Network has branch in Riyadh - Saudi Arabia and soon in California - USA. MENA Network LTD is running the operation of the directory website called “Search in MENA .com” which helps Small & Medium Enterprises “SMEs” to create new channels to attract clients online and build a vast network of product & Service providers for Arab Enterprises in the MENA region. Search in MENA .com is a unique virtual marketplace which provides Arab business with an online business directory and search engine that supports their B2B needs. Search in MENA .com looks to solve four core issues for SMEs: discovery, workflow, data management, and price transparency. It helps merchants organize relevant information to aid in comparison, negotiating, order-tracking, and future re-ordering. Check the videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXLDcp5_8jeH8Zzzei_j_MA/playlists