Annabelle Mander on Taking LEAP From Saudi Arabia to the World

LEAP may have started in Saudi Arabia, but five years into its journey, the technology platform is no longer thinking locally.

Speaking to Entrepreneur Middle East at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, Annabelle Mander, Executive Vice President at Tahaluf and Co-creator of LEAP, reflects on how the event has evolved from an ambitious Saudi technology gathering into a platform with increasingly global reach.

For Mander, however, scale alone does not define success.

The numbers are significant. At the time of the interview, more than US$15 billion in contracts had been announced around LEAP 2026. The event continues to attract global technology companies, investors, founders and policymakers, while Saudi Arabia’s position within the international technology ecosystem has become considerably more prominent.

But Mander says the real test is what happens after the exhibition halls close.

LEAP’s team increasingly focuses on tracking the tangible outcomes created through the platform: the partnerships that are formed, investments that are secured, contracts that are signed and introductions that develop into meaningful commercial relationships.

That approach reflects a broader shift in how major technology events are being measured. Attendance can demonstrate reach, but it does not necessarily demonstrate impact. The more important question is whether bringing thousands of people together actually changes the trajectory of the companies, entrepreneurs and investors in the room.

For LEAP, that has meant building a model where the event itself is only part of the story.

Connections and business outcomes are followed beyond the four days in Riyadh, giving the team a clearer picture of whether the platform is genuinely facilitating economic activity rather than simply creating visibility.

That focus has become particularly relevant as Saudi Arabia’s technology landscape changes around it.

Over the past several years, the Kingdom has moved beyond being viewed only as a market for international technology companies. Increasingly, global businesses are establishing offices, investing capital, forming partnerships and building products and operations from within Saudi Arabia itself.

Mander has watched that transformation unfold alongside LEAP.

The event’s growth has, in many ways, mirrored the development of the wider Saudi technology ecosystem. As more global companies commit to the Kingdom, LEAP has become a meeting point between international technology players and the companies, investors and institutions driving Saudi Arabia’s digital ambitions.

That relationship works in both directions.

Saudi Arabia’s increasing visibility as a global technology hub has strengthened LEAP’s international profile, while the platform has also helped introduce global companies and investors to opportunities within the Kingdom.

Now, LEAP itself is beginning to take that proposition overseas.

Its expansion into international markets signals the next stage of a brand originally built in Riyadh but designed around conversations that increasingly extend far beyond Saudi Arabia.

That evolution raises an interesting question: what makes a technology event truly global?

For Mander, it is not simply about exporting the name into another geography. The strength of the platform lies in its ability to create communities, bring the right decision-makers together and generate outcomes that continue after an event ends.

Those relationships are particularly important in an industry where major technology decisions are increasingly shaped by ecosystems rather than individual companies.

AI, cloud infrastructure, venture capital, digital transformation and emerging technologies all depend on partnerships between governments, technology providers, startups, investors and enterprise customers. Platforms such as LEAP sit at the intersection of those groups, creating an environment where conversations that may otherwise take months to arrange can happen within days.

Yet when Mander reflects on what she personally considers the clearest measure of success after five years, her answer is notably less focused on contracts, attendance or international expansion.

It is the team.

Building a platform of LEAP’s scale requires hundreds of people working behind the scenes, and Mander says one of the achievements she values most is developing a team that has stayed together, grown professionally and continued to take ownership of the platform’s evolution.

In a fast-moving events and technology environment, retention can be its own measure of success.

For Mander, creating a team that develops alongside the business matters because sustainable growth depends on people who understand not only how an event operates, but why it exists and what it is ultimately trying to achieve.

That may also explain why LEAP’s ambitions have continued to expand.

Five years after its launch, the platform is no longer only about bringing the global technology industry to Riyadh. It is increasingly about taking something built in Saudi Arabia and positioning it on the international stage.

And as LEAP enters that next phase, the metric that will matter most may remain the same one that shaped its growth from the beginning: not simply how many people show up, but what happens because they did.

Excerpt: At LEAP 2026, Tahaluf EVP and LEAP Co-creator Annabelle Mander reflects on the platform’s five-year journey, its growing global ambitions and why real business outcomes matter more than attendance.

Meta description: Annabelle Mander discusses LEAP’s rise from a Saudi tech event to a global platform, more than US$15 billion in announced contracts, international expansion and the metric that matters most to her.