Middle East business under real-world pressure.
Business Extra is a business news interview show rooted in the Gulf and wider Middle East. Its recent episodes connect war, energy shocks, AI infrastructure, start-up funding, food security, water systems, and sovereign economic questions to the way economies actually function.
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Business Extra covers business as a live system, not a spreadsheet. Its recent run is shaped by conflict, energy volatility, capital flows, infrastructure risk, and the question of who gets to control the economic future. The show’s center of gravity is the Middle East, especially the Gulf, but its subjects travel through Washington, Houston, Palestine, and global supply chains. Episodes often start from a major geopolitical shock and then ask what it means for prices, companies, public services, and long-term development. The Iran war becomes more than an oil story. It affects airlines, tourism, insurance costs, food prices, fertilizer, water systems, and confidence in global markets. CERAWeek is treated as a room where energy figures are forced to speak under the shadow of the Strait of Hormuz. IMF and World Bank meetings become a gauge of how uncertainty, war, and capital movement are changing who shows up for economic diplomacy. The show also pays attention to corporate transformation inside the region, including Borouge’s growth, dividends, innovation center, and manufacturing platforms. Technology is handled as power. Its sovereign AI coverage frames data centers, chips, energy grids, vendor lock-in, and national strategy as economic sovereignty questions rather than simple tech enthusiasm. Business Extra can be sharply political when economics requires it. Its Gaza episode looks at trade, taxes, borders, movement, and outside investment through the mechanics of an economy without sovereignty. The show also makes space for founders and funding gaps, including UAE-based women building companies in birth care, fashion software, and technology. Interviews are direct. Roundtables bring in correspondents, editors, and analysts when a story needs several angles at once. The register is serious, current, and explanatory, with a habit of turning broad headlines into specific vulnerabilities. It suits listeners who want business news with geopolitical context and regional texture. The result is a practical economic briefing for people who follow the Middle East as a place where energy, technology, finance, and politics are inseparable.
Made for: Business Extra is for listeners who follow Gulf and Middle East economies, energy markets, regional politics, and technology policy. It also suits founders, investors, analysts, and globally minded news listeners who want economic consequences explained clearly.
What sets it apart: The show keeps geopolitics and business in the same conversation, moving from war and diplomacy to water, food, airlines, AI infrastructure, start-up capital, and prices. Its Middle East perspective gives global economic stories a sharper regional read.
As one of the world‘s most influential business hubs, the Middle East requires expert attention. Business Extra provides those experts, as well as news and insights from The National‘s esteemed team of business editors and reporters, who are on top of the markets, technology, the energy sector and more.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at the energy, compute, and vendor risks behind sovereign AI.
Business Extra frames sovereign AI as a struggle over the infrastructure that will sit beneath future economies and national power. It moves from policy papers, infrastructure deals, and national strategies in Washington, Beijing, and the Gulf to the sharper issue of who…
A focused look at how sports media turns fan interest into a wider business model.
Business Extra looks beyond scores and standings to the business engine behind professional sports. Adam White, founder and CEO of Front Office Sports, explains the demand for sharper information about athletes, agents, franchises, and owners, then moves into how a sports media…
A UAE startup makes the case for floating farms and electricity-free water, with a clear look at both promise and cost.
Business Extra follows a UAE startup exploring whether ocean evaporation can become a practical water source for farms without using electricity.
This episode discusses Oman's new personal income tax, its implications for expats in the Gulf, and whether other Gulf states might follow suit.
This episode explores LinkedIn's evolution from a job platform to a major social media player, featuring interviews with LinkedIn executives.
Host Cody Combs interviews Dr.
Adam White, founder of Front Office Sports, discusses how his platform covers the business side of sports, from athlete contracts to media rights.
Schneider Electric’s Waleed Chetta says power engineers are becoming IT engineers as solar rooftops, storage, and AI complicate electricity grids.
The IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings focus on global economic uncertainty amid geopolitical tensions like the Iran war.
This episode explores the immediate and future economic impacts of the Iran war beyond oil, focusing on rising consumer costs and potential global recession.
CFO Jan-Martin Neuffer discusses Borouge's innovation-led growth, the Borouge4 megaproject, and how high-performance materials drive value creation.
A discussion on how the U.S.-Israel war on Iran is reshaping the global energy conversation at CERAWeek in Houston.
This episode of Business Extra explores how the Iran war threatens water and food security in the Gulf region, focusing on desalination vulnerabilities and agricultural risks.
Carol Glynn says to separate financial reality from fear before changing spending or investments.
Business Extra host Salim As-Saeed asks Ahmed Abdallah to define sovereign AI as government, telecom, or enterprise control over compute, data, operations, and legal frameworks.
AI is merging roles rather than eliminating them: 90% adopted it, but only 7% reported job loss.
This episode examines whether Donald Trump's proposed Gaza economic plan can improve Palestinian well-being without granting sovereignty, featuring an interview with economist Raja Khalidi.
This episode explores the challenges women founders face in the Middle East startup scene, highlighting funding disparities and featuring interviews with three UAE-based women entrepreneurs.
Anis Sajjan and his sons discuss the founding and growth of Danube Group, driven by family values and overcoming early challenges.