The MENA SaaS market is projected to reach $5.8 billion by 2025. Yet most SaaS products fail in this region because they don't understand its unique requirements.
Payment Gateways: The First Hurdle
Stripe doesn't work in most MENA countries. You need:
- •Egypt: Paymob, Fawry, Accept
- •Saudi Arabia: Moyasar, Tap, HyperPay
- •UAE: Telr, PayTabs, Network International
Pro tip: Build a payment abstraction layer. Don't hardcode any single provider.
RTL Design: More Than Flipping
Right-to-left isn't just about text direction. Consider:
- •Navigation flows right-to-left
- •Icons may need mirroring
- •Numbers stay left-to-right
- •Mixed content (Arabic + English) needs special handling
Our approach: Use CSS logical properties (margin-inline-start instead of margin-left). Works for both directions automatically.
Arabic NLP Challenges
Arabic is complex:
- •Multiple dialects (Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine)
- •Diacritics change meaning
- •Root-based morphology
- •Limited training data for AI models
Solution: Use dialect-specific models when possible. Egyptian Arabic ≠ Gulf Arabic.
Regional Compliance
- •UAE: TDRA compliance
- •Egypt: Data protection law (2020)
The Tech Stack We Recommend
- •Backend: Node.js or Python
- •Database: PostgreSQL with proper UTF-8
- •Hosting: Regional cloud (AWS Bahrain, Azure UAE)
- •CDN: Cloudflare with Middle East PoPs
Case Study: Hotels Map
We built Hotels Map for the hospitality industry. Challenges included:
- •Multi-language support (Arabic, English, Russian)
- •Integration with local payment systems
- •Real-time availability across time zones
- •TripAdvisor API integration
Result: Platform now serves hotels across Egypt and expanding to Gulf.