Anghami Restructures Board, Appoints New Chairman Amid Strategic Growth Plan

Editorial Team

Last updated 27-01-2026

3 min

Anghami appointed Meshal Abdullah Mohammad Ali as chairman, reshuffling leadership for its next growth phase.

Outgoing chair Sheikha Adana Al-Sabah steps back, while remaining OSN Streaming chair.

Two new directors add “numbers-driven discipline” and “storytelling savvy” to the board.

Changes follow OSN+ integration and the Warner Bros.

Discovery partnership across MENA.

The revamped board aims to “unlock value” and keep Anghami ahead in streaming.

Anghami has quietly but decisively reshuffled its top table, appointing Meshal Abdullah Mohammad Ali as chairman of the board and welcoming two new directors as the company positions itself for its next stretch of growth in a fiercely competitive streaming market.

Ali steps into the role previously held by H.E. Sheikha Adana Nasser Sabah Al-Sabah, who has chosen to step back to rebalance her board commitments. She remains chair of OSN Streaming Limited, Anghami’s parent company, so this isn’t really a goodbye. More like changing seats while staying in the same car, well… I mean, that’s how it looks from the outside. Eman Al Awadhi and Moustapha Chami have also joined the board, adding heavyweight experience from communications, finance and regional investments.

The timing is spot on. Over the past year, Anghami has been reinventing itself following the integration of OSN+ and a strategic partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. That deal keeps HBO, Max Originals and a slate of international hits exclusive to OSN+ audiences across the Middle East and North Africa. For anyone building in media or content tech in the region, this kind of consolidation feels familiar. I remember chatting to a founder at a Dubai event who joked that streaming here is “never boring, just a bit of a faff to get right”, and he wasn’t wrong.

Ali, who has been on Anghami’s board since April 2024 and currently serves as interim CEO of OSN Group, described the transition as a natural next step. He thanked Sheikha Adana for her leadership and pointed to the updated board as a group better equipped to support management, unlock value for stakeholders and push into new markets. On the flip side, leadership changes can be unsettling, but in this case the continuity with OSN should calm any nerves.

The two new directors bring very different, but complementary, perspectives. Chami wears several hats as deputy group CFO at KIPCO, overseeing finance, operations and taxation, alongside board roles spanning Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan and Turkey. Al Awadhi, meanwhile, brings more than two decades of experience in corporate communications, investor relations and media, and also serves as vice chair of Gulfsat Communications. I reckon that mix of numbers-driven discipline and storytelling savvy is no accident, especially for a consumer-facing platform.

Anghami today reaches more than 120 million registered users, with around 3.5 million paying subscribers, and works with 47 telecom operators across the region. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with offices from Beirut to Riyadh, it operates in 26 markets. That scale matters, and believe it or not, governance details like board composition can genuinely influence how fast companies move. I’m not a fan of flashy announcements for the sake of it, but this one feels grounded in strategy rather than noise.

For entrepreneurs across MENA who follow Anghami’s journey on Arageek, there’s a familiar lesson here. Growth phases demand different leaders, sharper focus and sometimes uncomfortable changes. If this new board can balance global partnerships with local taste, they might just keep Anghami ahead of the curve. Definately one to keep an eye on.

🚀 Got exciting news to share?

If you're a startup founder, VC, or PR agency with big updates—funding rounds, product launches 📢, or company milestones 🎉 — AraGeek English wants to hear from you!