Conversation with Hasan Makansi – MasterMinds

Today on MasterMinds, we meet a visionary leader and strategic growth expert whose work sits at the intersection of innovation, business, and impact. Hasan Makansi, Founder and Advisor at Innavera, has built a career dedicated to transforming bold ideas into scalable ventures — guiding startups, corporations, and public institutions through the complex journey from concept to execution.

With over a decade of experience spanning strategy, product development, business growth, and innovation, Hasan brings a rare blend of entrepreneurial spirit and executive precision. Through Innavera, his boutique consulting firm and venture studio, he has partnered with organizations across sectors — from the Government of the UAE and Saudi Electricity Company, to the Rotman School of Management and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority — helping them harness technology, AI, and design thinking to accelerate transformation.

As a Strategic Growth Executive and Advisor, Hasan’s leadership is defined by clarity, collaboration, and adaptability. He has led multidisciplinary teams, scaled operations, and built bridges between vision and execution — proving that growth is not just about expansion, but about creating sustainable value that lasts.

Driven by curiosity and a commitment to meaningful impact, Hasan continues to shape how organizations innovate, evolve, and thrive in an ever-changing world.

I define myself as a builder who turns ideas into ventures and projects that deliver tangible results. My experience across entrepreneurship and innovation has spanned multiplesectors and reinforced that success happens when a strategy is people-centered, data-informed, and technology-enabled. Today, I focus on enabling founders and organizations grow, adapt, and innovate for lasting impact and to achieve measurable results.

Those experiences gave me the foundation for everything that came later. At TECOM, I learned how ecosystems are built, from policy frameworks to innovation clusters. At Bayt.com, I saw how technology can democratize opportunity at scale. Both taught me the balance between corporate discipline and startup agility, which became essential when I started building my own ventures.

The biggest challenge is bridging the “validation gap”, moving from an idea that makes sense conceptually to one that survives contact with the market. Many founders underestimate the time it takes to build product-market fit, team resilience, and operational structure. Another challenge is scalability without dilution, growing fast but not losing the core purpose. The key is disciplined experimentation backed by a strong narrative and measurable traction.

We recently kicked off the 2025 cohort with 30 founders, in partnership with leading advisors and ecosystem players. Our collaboration with Take Off Istanbul - a global startup summit that brings together startups, investors, and ecosystem partners - has opened global exposure for our founders, while our work with entites like Emerge and Edventures connects regional innovation to global standards. Most importantly, we’re seeing founders collaborate, exchange ideas, and form partnerships that will outlast the program itself.

After years in executive roles, I wanted to work on ideas that could move faster and create a deeper impact. I saw a gap between ideation, strategy, and execution. Organizations had a vision but struggled to operationalize it. Innavera was born to bridge that gap: a platform where consulting meets venture building, helping startups, corporations, and governments turn ambitious ideas into actionable strategies, tangible products, growth, and outcomes.

Yes! AI has significant potential to transform education in the Arab world, but meaningful change depends on how responsibly and contextually it is applied. Universities and schools are already using generative AI to personalize learning, improve assessments, and streamline administration, allowing educators to focus more on creativity, mentorship, and critical thinking.

In the Arab world, we’re seeing early alignment with these trends. Governments are embedding AI literacy, adaptive curricula, and Arabic-language digital tools into national reforms to improve access, inclusion, and workforce readiness. AI can also help policymakers identify skills gaps in real time and align educational outcomes with the future of work, particularly as the region prioritizes upskilling and reskilling initiatives.

But true transformation will come when AI becomes an enabler of human potential rather than a replacement for it. That requires ethical frameworks, educator readiness, and inclusive design, ensuring that technology enhances the human and social dimensions of learning while supporting equitable, future-focused education systems across the region.

AI adoption across the Arab world, particularly in the Gulf, is accelerating quickly, though most organizations are still in the early stages of translating that momentum into full-scale implementation. Many organizations have moved quickly into experimentation, yet only a fraction have scaled AI across multiple business functions.

The challenge isn’t enthusiasm or commitment; it’s integration, embedding AI into data infrastructure, governance, and human capital. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are setting benchmarks through enterprise-level AI roadmaps and sovereign AI initiatives, supported by strong national strategies and public–private partnerships. The region is no longer behind in adoption; it is emerging as a global frontrunner in strategic AI development, but still working to close the execution gap. Sustained success will depend on how effectively companies scale talent, regulation, and technology together.

We need to move from “education for qualification” to “education for capability.” The future job market demands adaptability, digital fluency, and emotional intelligence, skills that go beyond degrees. The region needs more agile, industry-aligned education models, where learning is continuous, data-informed, and connected to real economic outcomes. That shift requires stronger collaboration between governments, the private sector, and innovators.

AI is reshaping how startups in the Middle East are designed, built, and scaled. Founders can now prototype faster, reduce development costs, and access advanced capabilities that were once limited to large enterprises. With governments across the Gulf investing heavily in AI infrastructure, policy, and talent, the region is becoming a hub for innovation and cross-border collaboration.

The Middle East is also evolving from being a consumer of global technologies to a creator of AI-driven solutions designed for local and regional needs. The competitive edge today is no longer about resources, but about how effectively startups combine data, domain insight, and execution speed to solve real problems. The next generation of successful founders will be those who integrate AI strategically, using it to create value, not just efficiency.

ReimaginED’s strength lies in our ability to invest directly in the startups we support while also connecting them to a trusted network of investors and industry partners. At this stage, we focus on investing in high-potential founders from our accelerator while leveraging relationships with investors, funds, and institutions that recognize the quality of startups coming through our program.

This dual model, combining investment and ecosystem trust, allows founders to access not just capital, but strategic partners who can help them grow and scale beyond the region.

Trust and credibility take time; they’re built through consistency, not just results. We made sure every project delivered measurable outcomes and aligned with strategic national priorities, whether in digital transformation, AI adoption, or startup programs and eco-systems. Our cross-border experience between North America and the Middle East helped us speak both “innovation” and “implementation”, a combination that governments, corporate, and investors value when seeking scalable, responsible growth.

I would say applied AI and human-centered innovation. Not just coding, but understanding how tech & AI solve real problems in education, food security, climate, and healthcare. The future belongs to those who can translate technology into impact. Whether as entrepreneurs or policymakers, young people who build solutions that enhance human capability will lead the next decade.

Education, healthcare, and government services are at the top of that list. They all involve complex data and human-centered decisions. We’ll also see transformation in logistics, energy, and financial services through predictive and autonomous systems. But perhaps the biggest disruption will be cultural: organizations that adopt AI mindsets, curiosity, experimentation, and data-driven thinking will outpace those that see it as a technology project.

Innavera is a hybrid between a consulting firm, technology partner, and venture studio. We support organizations and founders from concept to market success, designing business models, developing digital products, implementing AI systems, and accelerating growth.

Our model is built on three pillars: consulting for strategy and execution, technology and AI for innovation and efficiency, and venture building for co-creating startups. Over the past decade, this approach has allowed us to work with clients across healthcare, education, government, and tech, delivering measurable transformation.

ReimaginED Collective was created to shape the future of human potential and innovation in education across the MENA region. While most initiatives focus on building individual EdTech products or services, ReimaginED focuses on the ecosystem itself, connecting founders, investors, policymakers, and educators to accelerate collaboration and scalable impact.

Through our accelerator program, Unlocking Human Potential, we’re supporting startups from 13 countries in our current cohort that are redefining how the region learns, works, and grows. It’s more than an accelerator; it’s a movement to build the human potential economy.

Innavera’s greatest achievement is longevity through evolution, staying relevant by continuously adapting to new technologies and markets. We’ve co-built platforms with healthcare, consulting, corporate, and education partners, developed technology and AI roadmaps for government entities in the UAE, and supported institutions like the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in their digital transformation. What stands out most is the trust we’ve built with partners across regions and sectors, from Toronto to Dubai.

Entrepreneurship in the Arab world has evolved dramatically. There’s a hunger to build, a growing pool of talent, and more government support than ever. What’s still developing is the ecosystem maturity, the depth of mentorship, access to early capital, and tolerance for failure.

Compared to North America, where systems and investors are more established, MENA offers something equally powerful: energy, speed, and ambition. That mix makes it one of the most exciting regions to build in right now.

Start small, think long-term, and stay authentic. Don’t chase trends; solve real problems with integrity and consistency. Surround yourself with people smarter than you, measure impact, not vanity metrics, and don’t fear iteration. The region needs builders who play the long game, those who see entrepreneurship not as an exit, but as a contribution to something larger than themselves.