Weyland Tech Appoints Strategic Advisor for Middle East and Africa Growth

Weyland Tech (OTCQX:WEYL) has announced that it has named Mr. Ghassan R. Saade as strategic advisor for the company’s expansion into the Middle East and Africa.
As quoted in the press release:

“I am very enthused that Ghassan has agreed to join Weyland as we expand into the MEA,” said Brent Suen, CEO, Weyland Tech. “His extensive experience in the Middle East and Africa will be a key advantage in enabling Weyland’s expansion in the region.”
Mr. Saade said, “I am proud to join the Weyland Tech team and excited to engage with the small and medium sized businesses that have so much to gain from developing their mobile presence using Weyland platforms, like CreateApp, to manage and grow their engagement with clients. Throughout my career I have always sought to structure transactions that benefit all parties and am looking forward to working with mobile operators, local ISP’s, government agencies and other partners in the Middle East and Africa to bring Weyland’s platform solutions to the local entrepreneurs and help them flourish in the digital economy.
“We know from recent research put out by McKinsey and Company last October that the Middle East is teaming with a ‘tech-native and savvy youth’ while only about 20% of SMB’s have any digital presence. With respect to mobile, ‘the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain are among the top countries in the world, with more than 100 percent smartphone penetration and more than 70 percent social media adoption — even higher than the United States.’ And according to research by Ovum, smartphone penetration rate will grow at 52.9% year-on-year in Africa where there are already 293.8 million smartphone users across the continent which is predicted to rise to 929.9 million by 2021.”
Mr. Suen added, “This is a huge opportunity for Weyland. We expect these users to follow an earlier Asian trend where digital engagement is not just mobile first but in many countries mobile only. And those mobile customers want to engage with businesses natively on mobile just like in developed markets.
“This is one of the key reasons we have brought Ghassan on board to bring access to our technologies to the more than 19 million micro, small and medium enterprises that, according to the International Finance Corporation at the World Bank, call the region home.

Click here to read the full press release.