Three structural barriers block the super app model in Western markets: antitrust laws prevent service consolidation under one platform, gig-economy costs squeeze the thin margins that Q-commerce depends on, and legacy single-product infrastructure was already deeply entrenched before the super app concept emerged. The Middle East, by contrast, came online mobile-first — leapfrogging the desktop-and-website era entirely — and could build ecosystem-level platforms from day one.
When WeChat and similar platforms were assembling their ecosystems in China, Western markets had already locked in a different architecture. Consumers had decade-old habits around standalone apps — a single app for rides, another for food, another for payments. Displacing that infrastructure isn't a product problem; it's a cultural and regulatory one.
Antitrust and competition law add a hard ceiling. Consolidating payments, logistics, and consumer services under one umbrella raises immediate scrutiny in the US and Europe in a way it simply doesn't in other regulatory environments. A platform that looks like an efficiency play in Dubai can look like a monopoly risk in Brussels.
The gig economy model, dominant across Western delivery platforms, structurally inflates costs. Higher per-delivery expenses compress margins on already thin-margin businesses like quick commerce — the very verticals that make a super app stickier and more profitable. Farhat's point is direct: the unit economics that make Q-commerce viable in the Middle East don't translate cleanly to Western labor markets.
The Middle East leapfrogged the website era and came online mobile-first. That meant no incumbent desktop infrastructure to defend, no legacy payment rails to migrate away from, and a consumer base that adopted smartphone-native habits from the start. For a company like Kareem — founded in 2012 with the explicit purpose of simplifying and improving people's lives — that mobile-first baseline made ecosystem-level building not just possible, but natural. You can hear Farhat unpack this dynamic in full on Listenly.
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Strategies could be great on paper, but unless you really fix the operating model, the incentives, the entire culture of the company, the values of the company, I think that's the make it or break it."
Nourhan Farhat — VP of People, Strategy and Ventures, Kareem
Farhat trained as an engineer before spending a decade in management consulting, including at Roland Berger — the firm whose presentation she credits as the moment she first understood what consulting actually was. She joined Kareem as Head of Corporate Strategy and Chief of Staff, drawn by a desire to move from advising companies to running parts of one herself. Her remit has since expanded to cover People and Ventures, a scope she describes as having evolved far beyond its original brief.
Kareem's super app consolidates ride-hailing, food delivery, grocery delivery, and other services into a single app, unifying identity, payments, and the broader user experience across verticals. Farhat explains why the regional context makes this model structurally viable in ways it isn't elsewhere.
Recent events have naturally brought sectors like defense, food security, supply chain, and logistics to the forefront of capital allocation discussions in the Gulf — reshaping where and how regional investors are committing resources.
Gulf sovereign capital will remain globally active, but its role is shifting. The first phase — where sovereign vehicles like PIF funded domestic priorities — is giving way to a more selective, returns-driven posture on the international stage.
This answer comes from an episode of Beyond the Deck. Hear Nourhan Farhat and host Dorival Bettencourt go deeper on super apps, the Middle East's mobile-first advantage, and Kareem's strategy.
Listen to the episode on Listenly