Careem co-founder named chairman of Saudi operations

Careem has named co-founder Abdulla Elyas as chairman of Saudi Arabia operations, the Dubai-based ride hailing app said in a statement on Thursday.

Ibrahim Manna, managing director of developing markets (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey) will also lead Saudi Arabia.

“As we grow and do new things at Careem, it is important for us to keep evolving our leadership structures to best align with opportunities and realities. This evolution had to kick into high gear to realise our new Vision 2022 and the aspiration to become the region’s everyday Super App,” said Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder, Careem.

Over the next two quarters, the company will begin to provide a broader range of services to customers such as financial services and expanding the on-demand delivery use cases.

In March, Careem was acquired by Uber for $3.1 billion, making it the largest buyout of a startup in the Middle East.