EPISODE 03: Sunil Modha (Smartly)

Sunil Modha — Client Partner for Smartly across the Middle East — joins Built for MENA, the podcast on what it actually takes to build, sell and scale AdTech and MarTech in the region. Sunil's through-line is deceptively simple, and he keeps returning to it: the global playbook doesn't work here. He realised it the moment he flew in to launch the UAE for a global CPG — "a global playbook doesn't work in this region," he told his colleagues over dinner, and it set the tone for everything since. You can't fly a few people in, run the Western template and expect to hit the ground running. You have to sit in the market, understand the ecosystem — how agencies, brands, tech partners and publishers actually work together — and hire people who can build relationships, not just operate tech. That relationship point is where he's most emphatic. Business here strips out the transactional element: before anyone talks tech or terms, the first question is who am I engaging with — their background, what makes them tick, their family values. The region rewards longevity and trust, and Sunil describes the surreal moment of walking into a meeting to find the owner — the family that runs the business — across the table, wanting the personal connection and ready to hold you accountable. He's just as sharp on the biggest outside misread: that MENA is "playing catch-up." It isn't. It's playing a different game — deliberately deciding which technology has genuine longevity rather than chasing every shiny stack. Cost almost becomes irrelevant; it's the service and the human experts behind the tech that matter. On AI — "the two-letter word everyone's avoiding" — his test is blunt: "So what?" Technology only earns its place if you know how and where to apply it. There's a lovely only-in-MENA moment too (the scale of the Under Armour store at Dubai Hills Mall — a masterclass in how global brands localise), his read that the region carries far less brand "baggage" than the West, and an optimistic close: the GCC will lead, becoming the hub of smart technology, smart services and a smart way of living. What has to happen to get there? His answer is the whole interview in three words — more people listening. Quick-fire: • Most overrated buzzword in AdTech? AI • Most underrated opportunity in MENA AdTech? Data privacy • Relationships or technology? Relationships — hands down • One skill to develop next? Continue listening