How CEOs in the Middle East are making innovation part of everyone’s job

Innovation can only take root when companies make it part of how they operate, from how teams work and experiment to how leaders make decisions, manage risk, and respond to change. 

Across the Middle East, a growing number of CEOs are treating innovation not as a standalone function, but as a company-wide priority. They are embedding it into strategy, encouraging experimentation, investing in new technologies, and creating environments where employees can challenge established ways of working. 

But building an innovation culture comes with its own challenges. How do leaders give teams room to experiment while managing the risks that come with it? How do they measure whether innovation is creating meaningful business impact? And how do they prepare their organizations for the next wave of disruption? 

Previous winners of Fast Company Middle East’s Most Innovative Companies, which recognizes organizations and industry leaders redefining innovation across sectors, share how they have made innovation part of the way their companies think, operate, and grow. 

DEFINING INNOVATION

Ahmed Elsheikh, CEO of PepsiCo Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan Foods, talks about what innovation means at his organization. “Innovation always starts with people. What are they looking for? How are their habits changing? How can we meet those expectations?”

In the food industry, Elsheikh explains that this might mean creating a new snack, rethinking an existing one, finding a more sustainable way to package it, or using data to understand where people’s preferences are headed. 

“The point is less about innovating for the sake of it and more about finding better ways of doing things, including turning people’s needs into foods and experiences faster than ever.”

He notes that Innovation is no longer only about R&D. Today, it connects R&D, design, marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, and our frontline teams. 

“We have more than 2,500 scientific and technical experts across 19 global R&D hubs, and over 500 multidisciplinary creatives working across 15 design hubs,” he says, noting that innovation today requires an end-to-end engine that links teams and can continue listening and responding as the world changes.

Mohammad A. Baker, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at GMG, says innovation is about building capabilities that create long-term value. “As we’ve grown, our definition of innovation has evolved beyond launching new products or adopting new technologies. Today, it’s about rethinking how we operate, strengthening every part of the value chain, and creating a business that can adapt, scale, and lead in a rapidly changing world.”

Baker explains how that mindset has shaped some of their biggest strategic decisions.

“Across the Group, we’ve continued to invest in homegrown brands, strategic partnerships and our six state-of-the-art food manufacturing and processing facilities, supported by an R&D kitchen and food laboratory,” he says. “Together, these investments enable us to innovate faster, strengthen our portfolio, and create greater value for customers across our diverse portfolio of businesses.”

INTERNAL BARRIERS

Kumar K.V., Group Chief Information Officer at Aster DM Healthcare GCC, says three barriers hinder innovation. The first is fragmentation. Multiple systems, processes, and data sources make every innovation harder to scale. “Without that foundation, AI and analytics are built on sand,” he says. The second is the pilot-to-scale gap. “Many organizations are good at launching pilots but struggle with the hard work that follows: adoption, change management, training, and governance.” 

Finally, there is the business-technology divide. Kumar says innovation accelerates when technology is viewed as a strategic business partner rather than a support function. “We’ve worked to ensure business and technology leaders solve problems together rather than in separate forums.”

Jennifer Fischer, Chief Innovation & Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe Middle East, believes the biggest barrier “is a risk more than a reality.” 

It’s the risk of adding complexity: more to review, more cognitive load for people already at capacity. She says the key is being deliberate, focusing on the few genuinely transformational areas rather than pursuing everything. “Another risk is assuming you can bolt on a tool like AI and innovation will follow. It won’t. Real innovation requires re-engineering how we work and how we think, and that asks for resilience and a genuine appetite for experimentation.”

As organizations grow, one of the biggest challenges is “maintaining the speed and decisiveness” that fuel innovation, Baker says, adding that scale introduces greater complexity, which can lead to slower decision-making if one isn’t careful.

“The pace of change over the past year has reinforced the importance of staying agile,” he says. “For us, the real barrier has never been a lack of ideas- it’s ensuring the organization can turn those ideas into action at speed.”

DELIBERATE DECISIONS

Discussing the deliberate changes and decisions an organization makes to embed innovation in every team member’s job, Elsheikh says, “Good ideas can come from anyone. It could be someone in sales who notices a change in what people are choosing, someone in a factory who spots a smarter way of operating, or someone in the supply chain who sees where we’re losing time.”

He explains that this sentiment inspired their Next Big Idea competition, which invites employees worldwide to share ideas that could help them better serve people.

“The goal is creating a culture where people ask, ‘Could that be done better?” And once that becomes instinct, innovation becomes part of who we are.”

Kumar, on the other hand, talks about a filter system they have integrated, in which ideas must pass through five value pillars: patient safety, patient experience, operational excellence, cost and value optimization, and compliance and trust. Any initiative must credibly strengthen at least two of them with a measurable outcome attached, he says. “Not a narrative. A number.

“The behavior change I look for is when business leaders start applying this discipline themselves, not waiting for the technology team to validate an idea,” Kumar says. “A clinic head comes and says, ‘I want to pilot kiosk check-in because it reduces front-office load and improves patient wait time. That’s operational excellence and patient experience.” That’s exactly the mindset you want to embed.”

The second part of this is knowing when an idea or innovation is actually worth scaling. There are two signals: behavior change and pull from the business, says Kumar. “The first question to ask is “Are people doing something differently because of it?’ The second signal is business pull. When teams that were not part of the pilot start asking when they can have it, that is usually the strongest indicator of value.”

Explaining how he picks which ideas are worth developing, Baker says, “We don’t scale innovation because it’s new—we scale it because it strengthens the business.”

He adds that every initiative must demonstrate that it creates a better experience for our customers, improves how we operate, or unlocks new growth opportunities. “If it can deliver consistent results and be replicated across different markets, brands, or business units, we know it has the potential to scale.”

He stands by the belief that sustainable growth comes from building capabilities, not chasing trends. “That’s why we take a long-term view of innovation; investing in ideas that strengthen the business and continue creating value well beyond their initial launch.”

SETTING UP FOR THE FUTURE

Looking ahead, Elsheikh believes the next competitive edge will not come from technology and AI alone. “The difference will depend on how well companies understand the people they’re trying to reach, how willing they are to challenge their own assumptions, and how effectively they can collaborate on ideas.”

He says this is why PepsiCo’s Regional R&D Hub in Riyadh is so important: the organization’s global network of 19 comes together in one place for research, development, testing, and production. 

“It helps us better understand how eating and drinking habits are evolving across the Middle East, refine ideas much closer to the people they’re intended for, and respond more quickly to what we’re learning. And the ideas and insights generated here won’t stay in the region. They’ll help inform teams across our global network.”

Fischer says  Publicis Groupe is investing in talent as much as technology. “Most of our innovation isn’t actually centered on AI. It’s about how we collaborate, and how we build the context, culture, and experiences that make us stronger together.” 

Kumar emphasizes investing in a strong data foundation to leverage AI and advanced analytics and the importance of standardizing core platforms across the organization, which reduces complexity, improves interoperability, and creates the scale required for innovation.

AsterDM Healthcare has also established an AI Center of Excellence, where every AI use case is reviewed, piloted, and validated before it reaches production.

“The organizations that succeed in the next wave of disruption will not necessarily be the ones with the most advanced AI models. They will be the ones with trusted data, standardized processes, strong governance, and the discipline to turn technology into outcomes,” Kumar adds.

Most Innovative Companies returns for its fifth year in 2026. Over five editions, the list has tracked how organizations across the region turn bold ideas into lasting change, and this year is no different. 

Nominations are now open for Most Innovative Companies 2026, with Fast Company Middle East once again seeking to recognize companies building what comes next across technology, healthcare, finance, sustainability, real estate, and consumer experiences.