Q&A with Careem CEO Mudassir Sheikha on the MENA ride-hailing giant becoming a super app, the spinout of its non-ride-hailing services from Uber, AI, and more
• DUBAI, THE UAE — Mudassir Sheikha likes to tell the story of Careem's growth in chapters. Bluesky: @anup Bluesky: Anup Kaphle / @anup : I met with Mudassir Sheikha, the CEO and co-founder of Careem, to talk about why it's an exciting time to be a tech company in the Middle East, what Western companies get wrong in emerging markets, and how he plans to turn Careem into “everyone's digital butler.” — restofworld.org/2025/careem- ...
Context & Ripple Effects
Careem’s strategy is unfolding after a planned ownership split in which Emirates Telecom would take a majority stake in the super-app business while Uber retained ride-hailing; the CEO’s discussion of a non-ride-services spinout puts that earlier separation plan at the center of its next chapter.
The company is also balancing regional expansion ambitions with uneven local execution: related coverage documented its decline from ride-hailing leadership in Pakistan after the market was deprioritized. That makes a broader MENA product strategy consequential, not merely a branding change.
First-order effects
- Careem’s non-ride-hailing products gain a clearer path to operate separately from Uber’s ride-hailing business, while Careem’s leadership can prioritize a super-app roadmap around those services.
- Careem’s product teams can test AI-enabled assistance as part of the proposed “digital butler” experience, tying automation more directly to its consumer-service strategy.
Second-order effects
- A more independent non-ride business could require Careem to differentiate its customer experience and service bundle from Uber’s retained ride-hailing operation, rather than relying on a single combined platform identity.
- The split raises the importance of execution across individual MENA markets: weaker performance in deprioritized markets can limit the cross-service customer base that makes a super-app model more valuable.
Third-order effects
- If Careem can separate mobility from adjacent services while retaining customer engagement, regional platforms may increasingly organize around locally tailored multi-service apps rather than a single global ride-hailing product.
- AI assistants could become a new interface layer for super apps, but their durable value will depend on whether they improve completion of real services rather than simply add a conversational feature.
The trend: Careem is one example of regional consumer platforms separating business lines while using AI and bundled services to deepen their role in everyday transactions.