Rabea ataya biography

For Rabea Ataya, the quest to become an entrepreneur stemmed from a need for personal freedom.

“Entrepreneurship is a great career choice for people who value freedom greatly,” he says with a hint of passion in the boardroom of Bayt.com’s offices in Dubai’s TECOM district.

This desire has led him on a journey from founding his first business aged 25 to the inspiration for the company he leads today – the region’s largest job site.

Now celebrating its 15-year anniversary, the firm is connecting hundreds of thousands with jobs each year.

But there is a sense that this is just a milestone on a longer road for the chief executive.

And over the next half an hour – as we discuss how he got here, the jobs market and entrepreneurship – it is clear he is not done yet.

From banking to Bayt.com

It was the desire for the freedom of entrepreneurship that first led a 21-year- old Ataya to seek a career in investment banking.

He saw the industry as a logical step between his master’s in