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⚡ Summer 2026 · Hybrid / Riyadh Hub

48 Hours to
Build & Ship
the Future

RowadHacks is a high-velocity build sprint for the most ambitious engineers, designers, and founders across MENA. No slides. No fluff. Just 48 hours to ship the infrastructure others will depend on.

🔒 Registration Coming Soon
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Grants Pool
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Build Duration
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Physical Hubs

Build for the
MENA Tech Frontier

01

AI & Sovereignty

Build LLM infrastructure, specialized RAG pipelines, or AI-native tools tailored for Arabic language and MENA cultural contexts.

02

FinTech Corridors

Create cross-border payment rails, wealth-tech for the masses, or next-gen Sharia-compliant financial infrastructure.

03

Sustainable Sprawl

Software-defined infrastructure for gigaprojects. Smart energy grids, water management systems, and prop-tech for the future cities.

04

Builder Open Track

Have something radically different? Build the missing piece of the MENA ecosystem. If it's real and it ships, we want to see it.

Solve what matters.
Ship what lasts.

These aren't toy problems. These are the infrastructure gaps holding MENA back. Pick one. Ship a solution in 48 hours.

PS-001

Arabic-First AI Assistant

Build an AI assistant that truly understands Arabic dialects, cultural nuance, and regional context. Current solutions treat Arabic as an afterthought — we need native intelligence, not translated mediocrity. Support for Gulf, Egyptian, and Levantine dialects required.

PS-002

Cross-Border Payroll Engine

Design payroll infrastructure for the 15M+ migrant workers across the GCC who send remittances home. Handle multi-currency settlements, compliance across 6+ jurisdictions, and instant disbursement with fees under 1%. The current system is broken.

PS-003

Smart Water Grid

Create real-time monitoring and predictive systems for water desalination plants serving MENA megacities. Optimize energy consumption, predict maintenance windows, and reduce waste in a region where water is literally life.

PS-004

Open Source MENA Stack

Build the missing open-source infrastructure piece the region needs — whether that's a localized auth system, an Arabic NLP toolkit, a regional payment abstraction, or a dev-tools layer that doesn't exist yet. Define the gap. Fill it.

Ship from anywhere.
Sync at the hubs.

RowadHacks is hybrid. Build from home or join one of our physical pods for 24/7 energy, unlimited caffeine, and direct access to mentors.

Riyadh Pod

Primary Physical Hub
Confirmed

Dubai Pod

DIFC Innovation Center
Confirmed

Cairo Pod

GrEEK Campus Hub
Confirmed

$50,000 Pool

We don't do trophies. We provide the fuel to keep building.
  • • $15k First Prize (Equity-Free Grant)
  • • Direct Entry to RowadX Fellowship 2026
  • • $25k in Infrastructure & Cloud Credits
  • • Demo Day Pitch to top 10 MENA VCs

Registration
Opens Soon

We're finalizing the tracks, judges, and venue logistics. Drop your email below and be the first to know when applications go live.