KUWAIT: In 2025, Zain Kuwait continued to bring its ‘4WARD-Progress with Purpose’ corporate strategy (Better Lives, Lasting Connections) to life through initiatives that touched people’s everyday experiences, guided by innovation and rooted in genuine closeness to the community. Building on its role as a trusted national partner, the company ensured that its community programs and digital solutions remained a natural extension of its commitment to creating sustainable value and supporting Kuwait’s national development priorities.
Across the year, Zain pursued a fully integrated strategic approach that balanced leadership in digital services with a strong human and social role. This enabled the company to remain close to every segment of the community through partnerships and initiatives that advanced empowerment, deepened a culture of giving, supported innovation, and contributed to community wellbeing and long-term sustainability. In this report, Zain highlights the most notable milestones of 2025 that translated this commitment into tangible impact on the ground.
Zain built lasting connections and better lives in 2025.
Zain Kuwait CEO Nawaf Al-Gharabally receives one of Zain’s regional awards.
Zain Great Idea participants are seen in California during the Silicon Valley trip.
Technology leadership
Zain continued to strengthen its leadership across telecom and ICT through major investments in digital infrastructure. Most notably, the company launched 5G Advanced to meet rising demand for data, enable smart city and IoT applications, and lay the groundwork for next-generation technologies. On a national level, Zain played a role in Kuwait’s historic Guinness World Records achievement for the world’s longest-distance transcontinental robotic surgery between Kuwait and Brazil. The record was enabled by a high-capacity international connection that supported the procedure with precision and reliability, opening broader horizons for the growth of digital healthcare.
Reinforcing its shift toward smarter networks, Zain introduced an AI digital assistant for radio site engineers, the region’s first application of its kind in operations and maintenance. Powered by AI and natural language interaction, it supports fault analysis and recommends immediate solutions.
Zain also advanced its operational transformation through a major BSS digital upgrade project, designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate service growth, and elevate customer experience through more flexible and intelligent product development and management capabilities. The company also expanded the scope of network innovation by partnering with Rakuten Symphony to deploy Kuwait’s first cloud-native OpenRAN trial, improving network flexibility, efficiency, and scalability, and accelerating service delivery within a more open and reliable operating environment.
Khaleeji Zain 26 was an exceptional edition of the tournament closest to the people of the Gulf.
Zain Alshuhoor was the largest Ramadan campaign of its kind in Kuwait.
The company places youth empowerment and skills development at the top of its priorities.
Zain continued to protect Kuwait’s environment and reinforce a culture of sustainability.
Global and regional accolades
2025 marked a strong year of recognition that reinforced Zain’s leadership in Kuwait across operations, digital excellence and customer service. The company received five global Ookla Speedtest awards, reaffirming its position as Kuwait’s fastest network and best overall experience across multiple categories including performance, speed, video streaming experience, gaming experience and 5G technology.
Regionally, Zain won Best Telecom Company in Kuwait and Best Digital Transformation Company from International Finance for the sixth time, reflecting its sustained excellence in innovation and digital experience development. Zain also received three Telecom Review awards recognizing its achievements in 5G Advanced, network experience and digital transformation solutions through business support systems.
Zain further maintained its leadership in the Service Hero customer satisfaction index for the 13th time, securing first place in both the telecom operators and Internet service providers categories based on consumer votes. On the creativity front, Zain added four wins at the Kuwait Creativity Award, honoring artistic and media work that combined powerful messaging, high-quality execution and community impact.
Advancing sports
Zain strengthened its position as a leading supporter of Kuwaiti and Gulf sports through major milestones, most notably the success of its official partnership with Khaleeji Zain 26, hosted in Kuwait with exceptional momentum. Through a series of activations, fan zones and interactive experiences, Zain contributed to showcasing the tournament at the highest standards, as affirmed by the participating Gulf delegations.
Locally, Zain continued its long-standing support for Kuwaiti football through Dawri Zain, HH the Amir Cup and other competitions as part of its extended strategic partnership with the Kuwait Football Association. The company recognized top-performing players and delivered the league’s largest incentive awards to date, totaling more than KD 60,000 during the season. This support elevated competition, renewed excitement among fans and reflected Zain’s commitment to developing local sports.
In support of the national team and its fans, Zain also operated flights to Doha in collaboration with the Kuwait Football Association and Kuwait Airways to back the team during the Arab Cup. The initiative underscored the value of fans in shaping achievements and sharing the joy of qualification.
Beyond football, Zain expanded its support for diverse sports by renewing its strategic partnership with the Rafa Nadal Academy for the third time, helping develop a new generation of Kuwaiti athletes to world-class tennis standards. In padel, Zain sponsored Zain Edition tournaments in Kuwait and the BPC TOUR in Marbella, strengthening Kuwait’s sporting presence and speaking directly to youth passion, alongside supporting various equestrian events and championships.
Youth empowerment
Zain continued investing in youth empowerment and digital skills development through high-impact education partnerships, most notably its strategic collaboration with CODED Academy across specialized programs that enhanced students’ readiness for the digital job market. The year also marked the completion of the second edition of Academy X, which trained more than 500 female students.
Zain also concluded the fourth season of Kuwait Codes, graduating more than 1,000 students in 2025, reflecting a growing national pathway that builds a capable base to lead digital innovation. To bridge education with real-world experience, Zain’s Summer Program in its sixth season continued to offer a distinctive training model that blended mentorship with hands-on application across multiple tracks, including placements within Zain branches and with program partners such as Kuwait News and Kuwait Times. The program also introduced an operational and technical track with its new partner V-Thru, alongside skills development workshops in partnership with INJAZ Kuwait.
Zain also celebrated 10 years of supporting the KON social entrepreneurship program, as part of its long-standing partnership with LOYAC spanning more than 21 years, reinforcing its commitment to early pathways for innovation and social responsibility among students. The company further concluded the fourth edition of KON-tinue through an intensive training journey that helps transform ideas into scalable business models with real impact.
Building on a 20-year partnership with INJAZ, Zain supported the Company Program competition with the participation of 200 students, while continuing to expand its sustainability and entrepreneurship focus through the Sustainability Heroes initiative, which aims to equip 150 university students to turn environmental and social challenges into scalable entrepreneurial opportunities.
Zain Alshuhoor
During the Holy Month of Ramadan, Zain renewed its community presence through its annual Ramadan campaign Zain Alshuhoor, one of Kuwait’s largest and most wide-reaching community initiatives. The campaign ran daily through Eid Al-Fitr, delivering a range of volunteer, charitable, humanitarian, and faith-based programs that reflected the values of generosity and unity.
Campaign activities included community, humanitarian and cultural initiatives, with Zain Alshuhoor iftars providing more than 40,000 meals to fasting individuals across multiple locations throughout the month. This was complemented by food basket distributions delivered through official partners to support families in need.
The campaign extended to programs that celebrate identity, values and joy through Zain’s Girgeaan and its various activities, reaching children and people with disabilities across care homes, hospitals and specialized centers. Zain also organized a Quran recitation competition that attracted around 500 participants.
These initiatives concluded with the exceptional musical Zain Who Knows No Fear at The Arena Kuwait during Eid Al-Fitr, which offered a large-scale visual and musical experience on the world’s largest circular children’s stage, delivering entertainment with educational meaning that speaks to families and supports local content.
Driving innovation
Zain further cemented its role as a key engine for innovation and entrepreneurship in Kuwait and the region through its flagship tech startup accelerator Zain Great Idea (ZGI), which received international recognition in Paris with the Corporate Rising Star award by the International Chamber of Commerce and Mind the Bridge. The award reflected the program’s legacy of more than 15 years in accelerating technology startups.
The program’s regional expansion in 2025 marked a major milestone, opening participation for the first time to entrepreneurs from six markets, supported by Zain Ventures and ZainTECH to enable stronger pathways for mentorship, funding and scale. This built on the program’s cumulative impact, having empowered more than 7,000 entrepreneurs, organized more than 110 bootcamps, and attracted investments exceeding $135 million over the past five years.
Reinforcing its commitment to future skills and preparing a generation to lead digital transformation, Zain continued strengthening educational and tech partnerships under the Innovation Nation (IN) umbrella. The company supported the Kuwait National Robotics Competition (KNRC) for the second consecutive year, with participation exceeding 800 students, and several teams qualifying for the VEX World Robotics Championship in the US.
Zain also partnered with the TechEdge program in collaboration with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), and the National University of Singapore (NUS), helping develop Kuwaiti talent in fields such as AI, data science, cybersecurity and cloud computing. Zain also concluded the third season of the Innovation Nation (IN) Summer Camp, empowering around 2,600 children through interactive experiences in robotics, AI, 3D printing, electronics and renewable energy.
On the inclusion and women empowerment front, Zain continued developing its Women in Tech initiative as a core pillar of the Group’s sustainability, diversity, inclusion and equity strategy. The initiative attracted more than 550 participants in 2025 through training, mentorship and practical application tracks, with direct outcomes including career transitions into tech roles, employment opportunities, and international cybersecurity certifications, alongside inclusive participation that welcomed female students with special needs.
Advancing sustainability
Zain continued advancing sustainability through practical solutions that combined technology with national partnerships, translating awareness into measurable environmental impact. This included deploying the smart beach-cleaning robot BeBot for the second consecutive year, an innovative renewable-energy-powered solution that rakes sand and captures buried waste.
Zain also became the first telecom operator in Kuwait to adopt DHL GoGreen Plus, reducing emissions from air freight through the use of sustainable aviation fuel. This supports Zain’s pathway toward reducing environmental impact and its commitment to net zero by 2050.
Zain also strengthened circular economy ecosystems through its partnership with the ECO incubator under the initiative Together for Schools Free of E-Waste, in collaboration with government and national entities. The initiative promoted responsible environmental behaviors in schools and turned old devices from an environmental burden into recoverable and recyclable resources within a broad collaborative model.
As part of long-term institutional partnerships that support quality of life and biodiversity, Zain implemented an environmental mission in cooperation with the Kuwait Dive Team on Umm Al-Maradim Island. The mission included installing eco-friendly marine moorings, monitoring coral reefs and cleaning beaches, within a strategic partnership spanning more than 28 years, during which Zain has supported the team with resources enabling hundreds of environmental missions.
Zain also joined the Kuwait Green Building Council (KGBC) to enhance energy and water efficiency and waste management across its facilities, supporting sustainability agendas in the workplace and the wider community. The year concluded with the signing of an MoU with the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to expand collaboration in awareness, community engagement, data exchange, technical expertise, and national initiatives related to pollution prevention and sustainability.
