Startups, Fund Managers Rush to Tap Oil Money as China Bolsters Middle East Ties

(DealStreetAsia) — A few days after Hong Kong scrapped its long-standing Covid-19 mask mandate on March 1, Kenneth Lai flew back to the city from a four-day business trip in the Middle East with a new mission to share with his team.

The founder of Payment Asia, a Hong Kong-based electronic payments solution provider catering to both Asia’s SMEs and multinational companies, had charted a plan to take his business to the Middle East by the second quarter of 2023 by setting up an office in Dubai.