Redesign spec · v1.0 · Arab-world B2B marketplace · GCC + MENA

From a phone book to a dealroom for the Arab world.

The Arab World Opportunity Hub mirrors YP.com's directory utility, then pivots into a high-trust B2B marketplace across the GCC and the broader MENA region where founders, family offices, operators, and suppliers find each other through dynamic opportunities — not static listings.

Live opportunity feed · matched to your profile
● 24 new
  • Seeking PartnerRiyadh, SA

    Equity available for a technical cofounder — climate-tech, pre-seed

    Riyadh · 15% equity · 18-month runway backed by KAUST angels

    Match
    94
  • For SaleDubai, AE

    Profitable logistics firm for sale · AED 9.2M revenue · owner retiring

    Jebel Ali FZ, Dubai · 8-year track record · 24% EBITDA margin

    Match
    89
  • DistributionRemote · MENA

    Regional distributor wanted — halal-certified specialty beverage brand

    Exclusive rights · GCC + Levant · case-study kit in AR & EN

    Match
    82
  • For LeaseKAEC, SA

    Factory capacity for lease — 14,000 sqm, SFDA-compliant

    King Abdullah Economic City · 30% excess capacity · short-run friendly

    Match
    78
Intent search
⌘ K
Show me exit-ready fintech, SAR 4–12M ARR, Riyadh · Dubai
Exit strategyISIC 6419SAR 4–12M ARRGCC
Verification engine
LinkedIn identity Verified
Commercial registry (Saudi MCI / UAE MoE) Verified
Domain & email (DNS) Verified
Financial signal (Stripe · HyperPay · PayTabs) Pending
01 · The pivot

Directory utility, deal-flow soul.

Every design decision flows from one reframing: the entry in the database is no longer a business — it is an opportunity the business is willing to act on right now.

Axis
YP.com (legacy)
Opportunity Hub
Unit of value
A static listing (name, address, phone)
A dynamic opportunity (ask or offer, with state)
Primary verb
"Find a plumber."
"Find a venture, partner, or buyer."
Identity
Unverified business name
Multi-source verified persona (founder · investor · supplier)
Search
Category + PO box
Intent + ISIC/NAICS + financials + emirate/city geo + Arabic-aware semantic tags
Contact
Public phone number
In-app messaging gated by Quick-NDA when sensitive
Revenue
Ad slots + premium placement
Freemium · tiered subs · featured opportunities · lead API
02 · End-to-end workflow

Six states. One loop that improves with every deal.

Implementation notes · Step 01

Onboard & declare persona

Founder, investor, manufacturer, service provider — each gets its own schema, fields, and opportunity types.

What to build
  • Persona-specific profile schemas (Founder vs. Investor vs. Supplier)
  • LinkedIn single-sign-on + structured import of roles & deals
  • Progressive profile completion meter that unlocks more visibility
03 · Persona matrix

Four schemas. One graph. Bidirectional matching.

Each persona has its own asks and offers. The match engine scores bidirectional fit — Founder's ask meets Investor's offer, Manufacturer's offer meets Founder's ask — and re-ranks every time a deal closes.

Founders

Asks
  • Cofounder · equity split
  • Seed capital
  • First 10 customers
Offers
  • Vision · traction
  • Advisory equity
  • Case study access

Investors

Asks
  • Pre-seed SaaS in GCC
  • Vision-2030 giga-project suppliers
  • Roll-up candidates across MENA
Offers
  • Ticket $50k–$2M · AED / SAR friendly
  • Operator network across the Gulf
  • Follow-on signal

Service Providers

Asks
  • Long-term retainers
  • Exclusive referrals
Offers
  • Legal · finance · growth
  • Equity-for-service packages

Manufacturers

Asks
  • Distribution partners
  • Private-label buyers
Offers
  • Spare capacity
  • Certifications · IP
  • Lease terms
04 · Product surface

The Opportunity Feed is the homepage.

An algorithmic stream of live asks and offers, personalised to the signed-in persona. Think "LinkedIn feed × Crunchbase × a brokerage terminal" — but every card is actionable in one tap.

Seeking Partner

Equity-for-tech-lead · Riyadh climate-tech

Pre-seed · 15% equity
Match score94
For Sale

Logistics firm, AED 9.2M rev · owner retiring

Jebel Ali FZ, Dubai · 8yrs trading
Match score89
For Lease

SFDA-grade factory capacity · KAEC

14,000 sqm · short-run friendly
Match score78
Distribution

GCC + Levant exclusivity · halal specialty beverage

Case-study kit in AR & EN
Match score82
Franchising

Franchise rights · fast-casual, KSA · UAE · Qatar

8 flagship stores · 3-yr ROI
Match score71
Capital

$500k MENA syndicate open · vertical SaaS

Operator-led · follow-on ready
Match score86
05 · Search intelligence

Intent first, keyword last.

The search engine is the brain. A three-layer pipeline: structured filters, semantic intent, and geospatial proximity — all resolved in a single sub-second query via Elasticsearch plus PostGIS.

  • Structured filters
    Revenue range (USD · AED · SAR · QAR), funding stage, investment required, deal type, Shariah-compliance flag.
  • NLP-tagged sectors
    ISIC / NAICS / GCC activity codes inferred from Arabic + English profile text.
  • Geospatial layer
    Emirate, city, free-zone, or corridor queries across the GCC, Levant, and Maghreb.
  • Intent prompts
    "Vision 2030 suppliers", "exit to family office" — resolved against a bilingual vector index.
"Franchisable F&B brands, expansion in MENA, EBITDA > 20%"Intent
Structured filters
6 applied
Geo corridor
GCC + Levant
ISIC
5610 · Restaurants
Latency
187 ms
Returned 38 opportunities · ranked by bidirectional fit · 12 flagged as NDA-gated deep-dive.
06 · Trust layer

Verification · messaging · Quick-NDA.

High-stakes conversations need low-friction trust. Three primitives cover the journey from "interested" to "under NDA" without leaving the app.

Verification engine

Identity (LinkedIn + optional Nafath / UAE PASS), entity (Saudi MCI, UAE MoE, Qatar MoCI, Bahrain MoICT, Egypt GAFI), domain (DNS), financial (Stripe · HyperPay · PayTabs). Badges render next to every profile and opportunity.

In-app messaging

Threaded, end-to-end encrypted, with opportunity context attached automatically. Cold-outreach rate limits replace a public inbox.

Quick-NDA

One-click mutual NDA with a pre-drafted template, e-signature, and cryptographic audit trail. Unlocks the document vault on both signatures.

07 · System architecture

Four layers, one deal flow.

A pragmatic stack: a Next.js front-end over a FastAPI gateway, with Postgres + PostGIS as the source of truth, Elasticsearch for discovery, and Python workers for the match intelligence.

Layer 1
Client · Next.js SPA
Feed
Profile Studio
Intent Search
Messaging & NDA
Layer 2
API · FastAPI + GraphQL gateway
Auth & RBAC
Opportunity svc
Match re-ranker
Lead API (B2B)
Layer 3
Data · Postgres + PostGIS + Elasticsearch
Personas & opps
Geospatial index
Full-text + vector
Verification graph
Layer 4
ML · Python workers on GCP
NLP ISIC tagger
Intent embeddings
Bidirectional scorer
Outcome learner
08 · Monetisation hooks

Free to list. Paid to win.

Revenue is wired into the platform's own data model: tiered subscriptions unlock prospecting, featured placements monetise high-intent opportunities, and the Lead API sells anonymised supply to enterprise buyers.

Listing
Free
Get on the map.
  • Freemium listing visibility
  • Up to 3 active opportunities
  • Basic verification badge
  • Inbound messaging only
Most momentum
Power Prospector
$49 / mo
Unlimited deal-flow.
  • Unlimited outbound leads
  • Saved intent searches + alerts
  • Access to NDA document vault
  • Verification + trust score
Featured Opportunity
From $199
Ship deals faster.
  • Top-of-feed placement
  • Sector-matched boost
  • Concierge verification
  • Lead Generation API access
09 · Deliverables

What ships at the end of the engagement.

DOC 01
Technical Requirement Document
End-to-end scope, constraints, and success criteria for the MVP.
DOC 02
System Architecture Diagram
Four-layer topology with data-flow arrows and third-party boundaries.
DOC 03
Database ERD
Personas, Opportunities, Verifications, Messages, NDAs, Outcomes.
DOC 04
REST / GraphQL API draft
Auth, Opportunity CRUD, Search, Verification webhooks, Lead API.

Build the dealroom the Arab world actually uses.

Start with the six-state workflow, ship the Opportunity Feed first, let the graph learn from every closed deal across the GCC and MENA. Revenue hooks install cleanly on top — not as a bolt-on.