Tech First Gulf (TFG), a leading value-added technology distributor across the Middle East and Africa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Rafiki as General Manager – Maghreb & Francophone Africa. This strategic appointment marks another significant milestone in TFG’s continued regional expansion and reinforces the company’s commitment to strengthening its footprint across Africa.

With over 19 years of experience in the information technology industry, Mustapha brings extensive expertise in business development, channel management, sales leadership, and operational excellence. Throughout his career, he has successfully built and managed high-performing partner ecosystems while driving sustainable business growth across North, West, East, and Central Africa.

Before joining Tech First Gulf, Mustapha served as Head of B2B Africa at Logitech, where he led business operations across multiple African markets, developing strategic go-to-market initiatives and strengthening channel partnerships. Prior to Logitech, he held the position of Country Manager at Canon, where he played a pivotal role in expanding the company’s presence, developing strategic alliances, and accelerating growth across key enterprise and commercial segments.

As TFG continues to expand its operations throughout Africa, Mustapha’s appointment reflects the company’s vision of investing in experienced leadership to unlock new opportunities, deepen vendor and partner relationships, and deliver greater value to customers across the markets.

Under his leadership, TFG aims to accelerate regional growth by strengthening its distribution network, expanding strategic technology alliances, enabling channel partners, and introducing innovative solutions that address the evolving needs of enterprises and public sector organizations across the region. His deep understanding of African markets, combined with his proven leadership, will play a vital role in driving TFG’s next phase of growth.

“We are pleased to welcome Mustapha to Tech First Gulf as we continue our expansion across the region. The markets under his leadership offer tremendous opportunities for growth and innovation, and we remain committed to investing in their future through strong leadership and long-term partnerships. Mustapha’s proven track record, strategic vision, and extensive regional expertise make him the ideal leader to accelerate our growth, strengthen our market presence, and deliver lasting value to our partners and customers,” said Mr. Akashdeep (Sky), Chief Strategy Officer, Tech First Gulf

Commenting on his appointment, Mustapha Rafiki said:

“I am excited to join Tech First Gulf at such an important stage of its growth journey. TFG has built a strong reputation for delivering innovative technology solutions and empowering its partner ecosystem. I look forward to working closely with our vendors, partners, and customers to accelerate growth, expand our market presence, and create lasting value across the region.”

As Tech First Gulf continues its regional expansion strategy, the company remains focused on empowering businesses through world-class technology solutions, strengthening strategic partnerships, and building a future-ready digital ecosystem across India, Middle East and Africa.

Turnitin recently announced the launch of its AI writing detection capabilities for Arabic language submissions, marking a significant step in supporting educators and students worldwide. This expansion helps equip Arabic-speaking educators with the tools necessary to safeguard academic integrity and nurture original thinking in the classroom.

As AI adoption among students becomes nearly universal, educators require solutions that promote transparency, rather than surveillance. Turnitin goes beyond simply verifying authorship, its tools support the broader learning journey, and help equip students with the critical skills demanded by today’s workforce.

“By providing Arabic-speaking educators with tools that uphold learning integrity, we ensure that they have solutions designed to support original thought and critical thinking, rather than having LLMs replace it,” said James Thorley, Vice President of APAC and EMEA at Turnitin. “While there is no substitute for knowing a student’s writing style, educational background, and institutional AI policies, this tool gives educators insights into areas where AI may have been used. Ultimately, it opens the door to meaningful, informed conversations about the responsible use of AI.”

AI writing detection for Arabic is now available through Turnitin Originality and as an add-on for iThenticate customers. Like the English, Spanish, and Japanese versions, the feature provides educators with an overall percentage of likely AI-generated content, alongside:

Detection capabilities for the leading large language models, reporting designed with educators in mind and seamless integration into existing customer workflows.

NetApp, the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, announced its participation at LEAP 2026, taking place from August 31 to September 3 at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center (RECC) in Malham, Saudi Arabia. NetApp will showcase how the NetApp Platform helps organizations make their data always AI-ready and secure so they can take on the most demanding tasks and solve the most complex problems for any workload across their hybrid-multi-cloud environments.   

With Saudi Arabia designating 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence, organizations across the Kingdom are shifting toward applying AI across business operations and building the capabilities needed to scale its use. As more enterprises advance their AI initiatives, their data spans multiple environments, creating challenges around how it is accessed, managed and secured.

“Saudi Arabia is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most ambitious AI markets, with investments that are not only transforming the Kingdom but helping shape the next generation of AI infrastructure globally,” said Suhail Hasanain, Senior Director and General Manager, MEA at NetApp. “As AI moves from experimentation to large-scale production, the competitive advantage will increasingly depend on data, how quickly organizations can access it, govern it, protect it and make it available to AI wherever it resides. NetApp is focused on helping organizations in Saudi Arabia unlock their enterprise data for AI securely and at scale across hybrid and multicloud environments.”

“Enterprises need to ensure they are always protected with AI-driven, built-in data security that autonomously detects threats and guarantees rapid recovery,” said Saeed Alzahrani, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia at NetApp. “ Security must be embedded into the data itself, not just the perimeter. NetApp provides autonomous, AI-driven defense mechanisms that detect, protect, and recover data better and faster than ever before.”

LEAP is one of the world’s largest technology events, bringing together technology leaders, businesses, investors, startups and innovators to explore developments across AI, fintech, smart cities, health technology and education technology.

Visitors can find NetApp in  Hall 1.