MEC, one of the largest media agencies in the world and Wamda have signed a partnership to give MENA businesses access to innovation from the region’s startup community.

With this partnership MEC can offer its clients a unique opportunity to meet and work with entrepreneurs and startups in order to create marketing transformation for brands. In return, Wamda provides its community of new companies access to corporations who can bring scale and expertise to bear on their businesses.

“We are truly excited about this partnership, matching our clients to the startups and emerging companies that will bring innovation to life and help to transform their brand marketing,” said Marc Ghosn, MEC General Manager UAE. “From hackathons to specific brief requirements, we are confident that this partnership will enable our clients and the industry to thrive.”

The Middle East and North Africa region is rich in ideas and creative thinking, and there is no shortage of problems for enterprising entrepreneurs to take on. However, long-standing issues like access to expertise, talent and markets continue to hamper their efforts.

“The MEC - Wamda partnership comes at a time where innovation is happening so rapidly that corporations and startups can best advance their interests by working together," said Habib Haddad, Wamda’s founding CEO. "Startups typically have difficulty accessing markets rapidly. On the other hand, corporations often are not nimble enough to capitalize on rapidly changing market conditions.  We’re excited for our community to have such access in the future.”

MEC represents some of the most successful corporations in the world and region, such as Emaar Group, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Landmark, Nestlé and Vodafone.