Nafez Dakkak (Anara Capital) on Why AI Tutors Will Fail, Is MENA EdTech’s ”Sleeping Giant” & Solving the Arabic Literacy Crisis

Nafez Dakkak is the Founding Partner of Anara Capital, a $50 million impact fund investing in early-stage startups across learning, climate, and wellbeing in the MENA region. Designed to be intentional and scalable, the fund backs founders solving critical infrastructure challenges across the Levant, GCC and North Africa.

Before launching Anara, Nafez was the Founding CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation’s Edraak, the Arab world's largest massive open online course (MOOC) platform, which today reaches over 10 million learners. His transition from operator to investor also includes establishing BLDR, a venture studio focused on the the potential of the learn to earn cycle across MENA.

He joins the podcast to discuss why AI tutors will fail the 80% of students who lack motivation , the "Game Boy Principle" of innovating through constraints rather than shiny new tech , why Arabic literacy is fundamentally broken by diglossia , and the critical difference between a founder who is passionate versus one who is truly obsessed.

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Timestamps:

00:03:00 — Is MENA EdTech Still a Sleeping Giant?
00:06:42 — Why EdTech Doesn't Scale Like SaaS (The Civil Engineering Analogy)
00:10:18 — From Neurosurgeon Dreams to Education Strategy
00:13:14 — Growing Up Palestinian: Education is All You Have
00:14:38 — The Story Behind Edraak & The "MIT of the Arab World"
00:19:49 — Lessons on Content Localisation & Completion Rates
00:22:28 — The Game Boy Principle: Innovation Through Withered Tech
00:24:10 — Why AI Tutors Will Fail (The Motivation Problem)
00:27:59 — "Vibe Learning" & The Manchester United Transfer Fallacy
00:30:17 — The Conflict Between Retention Metrics & Real Learning
00:33:20 — The Arabic Language Crisis: Understanding Diglossia
00:37:30 — Lessons from the Builder Venture Studio
00:40:10 — Anara Capital: Differentiating Impact Investing from Philanthropy
00:44:35 — The Exit Landscape for MENA EdTech
00:48:13 — Nafez’s "Favorite Problems": Climate, Mental Fitness & Motivation
00:50:25 — The Dangers of Cognitive Offloading with AI
00:53:26 — An Alternative Career as an Arabic Teacher
00:54:05 — Rapid Fire: Gamification is "Chocolate Covered Broccoli"

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