Hatem Dowidar

Under his leadership since 2021, the company underwent a comprehensive rebranding from Etisalat to e& and pivoted its strategy from being a Middle Eastern telecom operator to a global technology and investment group with operations in 16 countries across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Dowidar's most visible strategic moves include the acquisition of a significant stake in Vodafone Group (making e& the UK telecom giant's largest shareholder), which positioned e& as a player in global telecom consolidation. The company also expanded its fintech, cloud, and cybersecurity businesses under the e& enterprise and e& life banners, seeking to capture digital services revenue beyond traditional connectivity. With the UAE's domestic telecom market being highly mature and profitable (e& and du form a duopoly), Dowidar's growth strategy depends on extracting value from international investments, growing digital services, and leveraging the Vodafone stake. His key challenges include generating returns on the Vodafone investment amid challenging European telecom economics, managing diverse operations across emerging markets with varying regulatory environments, and building credible technology businesses beyond telecom. His decisions on capital deployment, Vodafone strategy, and digital transformation investment are the primary stock drivers on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.