Some businesses across the Gulf are struggling to get growth capital despite solid fundamentals. Today, a new fund launched to close that gap — up to $100 million in GCC private credit issued as digital tokens. Joining me is Umair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Zamanat. Umair, welcome to Wall Street to Mena.
Thank you so much.
The GCC has an estimated $250 billion SME financing gap. Why are fundamentally strong businesses still being overlooked by traditional lenders?
First, you have to look at what the bank models are here. They are primarily geared towards lending to larger sovereigns, government entities, and family conglomerates — they get a lot of business from that. Under Basel III requirements on a risk-weighted basis, it is more difficult for them to lend to SMEs. The tests are also very inflexible. You need to show an operating history, collateral, and other elements. What that means is that a company with great operating cash flow and a profitable business simply does not get bank funding here. Only 2% of SMEs across the GCC get bank funding, whereas it is 27% in the OECD.
Who exactly is caught in this funding gap and what can Zamanat offer that banks and fintech lenders cannot?
Strong operating businesses with profitability and cash flows who are looking at growth capital. Fintechs focus mostly on ticket sizes between $50,000 to $400,000. Banks will not do credit analysis for anything less than $5 to $10 million. We are focusing on the gap — ticket sizes of $2 to $5 million — where companies are looking at growth capital, taking that capital, expanding their businesses, and opening new markets.
Why is private credit the right starting point for Zamanat's broader ambition?
Private credit globally is still in demand. It provides higher yields and is senior in the capital structure. In the GCC, a lot of people have been investing in private credit, but most of that has been going to the UK and the US — not home-grown businesses. Over the last 18 months, $1.2 billion has been deployed into private credit across fintechs here. However, that does not provide access to private individuals and high-net-worth families. What we are trying to do is provide access where they can invest without needing $50 million or $100 million.
Interest in the fund is issued as tokens on ZIGchain. What does tokenisation change for investors?
Two things. First, access — you can get investment access to a market at a fraction of the institutional size. You do not need $50 million or $100 million. You can get in at approximately $250,000. Second, administration. Tokenisation programs inside the token the eligibility, transfer restrictions, and governance matters — so you do not need multiple people looking after those things that were normally done by transfer agents and collateral managers. You can see your holding on the live register, which gives investors comfort. What stays the same is the underlying credit, the risk, and the business opportunity. What changes is access and the widening of the market.
How central is Saudi Arabia to your deployment strategy?
Very, very central. The Saudi market has around 1.3 million SMEs. Around 480 billion SAR was deployed into SMEs in Q1. The Kafala SME guarantee scheme has deployed around 100 billion and guaranteed those structures — but that has only reached 28,000 SMEs out of 1.3 million. You can see there is a significant gap, and that is what we are trying to address. We are exploring Saudi significantly across platforms, direct investments, and co-investment opportunities with partners.
Do you see opportunities beyond Riyadh?
We are sector-agnostic and geographically agnostic — looking at the right businesses. But yes, most of the concentration in Saudi is in Riyadh. In terms of development, there are really good operating businesses in Jeddah — very long-established trading houses. And there is also growth in Dammam and the Eastern Province as well.
What does the Disruptor.com partnership bring that accelerates how Zamanat builds and scales?
The most important thing is a founder mindset. As an organisation that has built and exited a lot of ventures, they provide a great playbook. Beyond the operational, legal, financial infrastructure and support, they are also very focused on helping us build in an AI-native manner. We are building our foundational blocks with efficiency from the very beginning. They are providing a playbook, partnerships, and an ecosystem to make that a success from the outset.
Thank you so much for all your insights today.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
