In this episode of Wall Street to MENA, powered by Fintech TV, Raghda Ibraheem sits down with Gaurav Sachdeva, co-founder of The Founders Majlis, Chief Business Officer at X Square, and Co-Chair of MFTA Qatar.
Recorded on a day of mourning for Qatar following the passing of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the architect of the country’s modern economy, the conversation traces how his legacy shaped the infrastructure now driving Qatar’s fintech ecosystem.
Gaurav breaks down Qatar’s “build first, create noise later” model against the UAE’s magnet approach and Saudi’s scale play, backed by near 100% internet penetration, fintech startups doubling since 2020, and a $3 billion QIA fund of funds. He unpacks the explosive growth of Fawran, Qatar’s real time payment rail, now handling 112 billion riyals a month in volume, and why QFC’s tokenization push with Al Bank signals a deliberate pivot away from crypto toward real world asset tokenization in real estate, sukuk, bonds and gold.
The conversation also covers what’s still broken in B2B payments across the GCC, how X Square is solving reconciliation and working capital gaps for corporates, and Gaurav’s three year outlook for Qatar: tokenization, open finance and payment orchestration.