Editor’s Note: Earning It, Even in August

I’ll admit it: I’ve been caught in the “August slump”, that quiet dip in motivation as summer winds down and the return to routine looms. But this year it hit even though summer never really slowed down for us, let alone gave us a proper rest.

In July 2026, we put out two high-profile lists –The Finance Frontier 2026 and the 100 Agents Driving UAE Property Market Resilience–  both of which stirred plenty of conversation across their industries, but at the same time, brought long-overdue recognition to people who’ve earned it many times over.

So if, like me, you need a bit of motivation this month, look no further: we feature wisdom from two extraordinary entrepreneurs who built giant businesses from nothing.

On Page 40, Sir Martin Sorrell advises entrepreneurs that the competitive advantage today lies in human judgement: “the ability to know which idea, out of thousands an algorithm can produce, is actually worth backing.” That’s the what.

On Page 22, our cover story with Richard Fitzgerald, founder of Augustus Media, supplies the how. Fitzgerald backed his own idea early -building an independent, viable, highly profitable Arab media business that aimed to build specialist media communities rather than simply accumulate audiences- and what he comes back to repeatedly is that the idea alone wasn’t enough; it was disciplined execution that carried it through. 

He insists that the way forward (Augustus Media now operates across more than 30 cities, employs over 140 people, and has evolved into one of MENA’s largest independent digital media groups) is following “the same disciplined playbook that got us here.”

This month, we look at 18 tech IPOs that changed industries, from Apple to SpaceX, moments where an idea worth backing met the public markets and reshaped entire sectors (P.32). From there, we turn to two more engines of the region’s ambition: we mark Emirati Women’s Day 2026, celebrating the women driving the country’s economic story forward (P.14), and we head to Abu Dhabi to check in on a startup scene that keeps producing founders willing to bet everything on one idea worth backing (P.63).

And on the subject of ideas worth celebrating, save the date for September 17, 2026, when Entrepreneur Middle East hosts its Tech Innovations Awards, bringing together the most influential names across MENA’s tech innovation landscape.

Consider all these stories your reminder that motivation isn’t something you wait for; it’s something you build, tired or not.

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