KUWAIT: Driven by its purpose, "Better Lives, Lasting Connections”, Zain continued to lead the telecommunications and digital innovation sector throughout 2024, solidifying its longstanding market leadership in Kuwait. The company also dedicated increased efforts to advancing its social mission by supporting various sectors within the community in alignment with Kuwait’s developmental goals.
Since the beginning of the year, Zain has adopted a comprehensive strategic approach, launching diverse initiatives to achieve its sustainability goals, including empowering Kuwaiti youth digitally, supporting sports and athletes, promoting volunteerism and humanitarian work, fostering innovation and creativity, and empowering tech startups.
This report highlights Zain’s key initiatives and projects in 2024 that supported the aspirations of the Kuwaiti community:
Telecom leadership
In 2024, Zain maintained its market leadership by spearheading advancements in technology, telecommunications, and digital innovation. Early in the year, the company achieved a landmark technological breakthrough, reaching speeds of 10 Gbps through 5.5G technology after successfully testing it on its network. This milestone made Zain the first company in Kuwait to achieve this significant feat.
Zain also celebrated the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series by hosting a special event at its headquarters, attended by senior executives from Zain, Samsung Gulf and Al Babtain. The company also signed a strategic MoU with Samsung during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which aimed to expand their collaboration to deliver advanced solutions and innovations for consumers and businesses in Kuwait.
Further emphasizing its commitment to innovation, Zain established the Zain Data Office, which focuses on data governance to ensure that data management practices are deeply integrated across its operations. The company also collaborated with Huawei to launch an AI Excellence Center, which aims to enhance AI-driven services and automate 5G network infrastructure. Zain contributed to a significant national project by inspecting and evaluating Kuwait’s primary road networks for the Ministry of Public Works. This initiative marked the first phase of a comprehensive infrastructure evaluation using AI-powered drones.
Throughout the year, Zain earned numerous accolades from local, regional, and international organizations, affirming its leadership in technology and community service. These included awards such as Best Telecom Company from International Finance, ranking first in the Best Mobile Operator and Best ISP categories in the Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index, Best Corporate Social Responsibility Project from the GCC General Secretariat, Digital Transformation Enabler of The Year from The Energy Year, Best 5G Business Development Strategy award from the GSMA, Outstanding Mobile Broadband Network Quality award from SAMENA Council, and Best Industry Digitalization award for the Energy Sector at the Huawei B2B Innovation Summit.
Supporting sports
In 2024, Zain took its support for sports to entire new heights through its title partnership with the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup (Khaleeji Zain 26), held under the esteemed patronage of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
Since announcing its partnership with the tournament in September 2024, Zain mobilized all its resources and expertise to ensure the success of this prominent regional event. The company contributed to key elements, including creating the tournament’s brand identity, developing the official mascot (Haydo), supporting the draw ceremony, and producing the widely celebrated "Hala Walla” TV commercial. Zain also collaborated with Kuwait Airways, hosted the trophy’s promotional tour, and engaged fans daily through contests, prizes, and fan zones across Kuwait.
During the year, the company also maintained its long-standing partnership with the Kuwaiti Football Association, sponsoring the Kuwaiti Premier League (Dawri Zain) and the First Division League. Under this partnership, Zain supported the prestigious Amir’s Cup and provided record-breaking rewards exceeding KD 60,000 per season — the highest prize value in the league’s history — to motivate players and engage fans.
Zain Alshuhoor campaign
The company’s comprehensive Zain Alshuhoor Ramadan campaign reinforced the values of generosity, compassion, and peace that the holy month embodies. The campaign featured a range of initiatives reflecting Kuwait’s heritage of helping others and promoting goodwill, collaborating with six strategic partners from the public and private sectors. Through these partnerships, the company presented a plethora of volunteer, humanitarian, charitable, social, religious, and sports programs that continued throughout the holy month.
As part of the campaign, Zain distributed over 1,000 food baskets to underprivileged families and a total of 42,000 iftar meals for fasting individuals. The campaign also included visits to care homes and hospitals, hosting iftar gatherings, and cultural activities such as the annual Ramadan Challenge at Al Shaheed Park, which attracted over 800 participants. Additionally, Zain organized its employee Ramadan football tournament with 16 teams and held the first-ever Zain Quran Recitation Competition in partnership with the Grand Mosque of Kuwait.
Driving innovation
In 2024, Zain intensified its efforts to enhance innovation, foster creativity, and support entrepreneurship within the community, particularly in the fields of technology, engineering, science, and mathematics (STEM). These efforts were carried out through various programs under the umbrella of its Innovation Nation initiative.
At the start of the year, Zain announced its role as the strategic partner of the Kuwait National Robotics Competition (KNRC), organized by the Computer Science Department at the College of Science, Kuwait University. This initiative aimed to ignite the passion of Kuwaiti students for technology. Additionally, Zain supported the "Girls Power” workshop, one of KNRC’s key activities, which focused on investing in the digital capabilities and skills of girls and young women.
Zain also signed an MoU with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) to launch training programs aimed at preparing and empowering young national talents. Further partnerships included an MoU with the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL) to establish a strategic collaboration for driving the development of Kuwait’s creative economy and another MoU with Kuwait University to contribute to the growth of the country’s knowledge economy.
The company supported the summer technology camp organized by the Computer Science Department at the College of Science, in addition to hosting the second Innovation Nation summer camp, which attracted over 1,600 young technology enthusiasts. The camp offered 126 training sessions and interactive workshops covering the principles and fundamentals of various modern technological topics.
The year 2024 also marked the launch of the all-new Zain Great Idea (ZGI) tech startup accelerator program, which provided limitless opportunities for Kuwaiti entrepreneurs to expand, grow, and prepare their startups for an AI-driven future.
The program featured several key stages, beginning with a bootcamp led by an elite group of local, regional, and international experts. This was followed by the Super Saturday event, where finalists presented their startups before a judges panel to qualify for the next phase — the global acceleration phase in Silicon Valley, US.
The global acceleration phase featured an extensive program that included masterclasses, one-on-one consultations, and visits to major tech companies. The aim was to give participants an up-close look at the dynamics of entrepreneurship by interacting with leading experts and specialists in business, innovation and technology.
Commitment to sustainability
Throughout the year, Zain intensified its efforts to implement its corporate sustainability strategy. The company installed a solar panel setup at the outdoor car park in its headquarters to promote the use of clean energy to contribute to powering the company’s buildings and reducing its carbon emissions.
Zain also launched the Sustainability Week initiative, aimed at fostering a culture of sustainability among its employees. The week featured a rich program of awareness and educational activities, which garnered remarkable engagement from employees across various departments and divisions, with active participation from the executive management.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Zain spearheaded a national campaign to raise awareness about the Child Protection Hotline (147). This hotline, established by Zain for the Ministry’s Child Protection Office since 2016, provides a direct and confidential point of contact for reporting all cases of violence and abuse against children in Kuwait.