AUB and Anghami bring a live Gen Z business case into the classroom
The Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Anghami are bringing students closer to the realities of the regional digital and entertainment industry through a live business case focused on one of the most relevant audiences for brands today: Gen Z.
The collaboration reflects OSB’s commitment to fostering experiential learning, enabling students to apply classroom concepts to real business challenges and critically reflect on their application in practice. The Anghami live case brings this learning orientation to life by engaging students in an open-ended challenge where they must interpret consumer needs, assess business opportunities, and develop recommendations that respond to an industry partner’s priorities and constraints.
"Experiential learning helps students move from understanding concepts to making informed decisions in real business contexts. Working with industry partners gives them the opportunity to test ideas, weigh constraints and trade-offs, and refine their thinking through feedback, building the judgment needed to navigate complexity and act with confidence," said Dr. Ziad El-Awad, assistant professor at OSB.
Rather than working on a hypothetical case, students will tackle a real-world challenge facing Anghami: How can the platform deepen its relevance with Gen Z and young consumers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? As younger audiences continue to reshape how music is discovered, shared, and experienced, the project will explore how Anghami can strengthen engagement and loyalty while creating new opportunities around music, artists, fandom, and culture.
"Gen Z isn’t simply an audience we want to reach; they are actively shaping how music is discovered, shared, and experienced across the region. For Anghami, this is an opportunity to bring that generation directly into the conversation and hear their perspective on the opportunities ahead. What makes this collaboration particularly valuable is that students are working on a real business challenge, with the potential for the strongest thinking to move beyond the classroom and influence what we do next," said Salam Kmeid, head of music marketing at Anghami.
The collaboration will give students the opportunity to look at the challenge from both consumer and business perspectives. They will explore areas such as community and fandom, artists and creators, campus and youth engagement, social and shareable experiences, music discovery, regional culture, and partnerships and loyalty before translating their insights into practical recommendations for Anghami.
The project began with a student briefing at AUB on October 16, with Anghami joining the session to introduce the company, its direction, and the wider context behind the business case.
Students will then work in groups to identify a meaningful Gen Z opportunity, understand the variables influencing it, and develop a solution with clear business implications and proposed measures of impact. In doing so, they will be asked to support their recommendations with evidence, question their initial assumptions, and consider the trade-offs between consumer appeal, strategic fit, and feasibility.
The first round culminated in a poster presentation and submission on October 30. Anghami will review the submissions and select five finalist teams, which will further develop their concepts ahead of the final Demo Day at AUB on November 13.
The experience will extend beyond the classroom and the final presentation. The first-place team, comprising up to five students, will have the opportunity to work with Anghami on a freelance basis to further develop the winning concept and explore bringing the idea to life alongside the relevant Anghami team.
The second-place team will receive an exclusive mentorship experience, including direct feedback from Anghami team members, industry insights, and exposure to potential career opportunities. The third-place team will be invited for a company visit, offering students a closer look at how the Anghami team works. All participating students will also receive an Anghami Plus subscription.
For students, the value of the project is not only in proposing an idea but in experiencing how a business problem moves from insight to strategy, evaluation, and potentially execution. This process creates opportunities to develop analytical judgment, collaborative problem-solving, and the ability to communicate and defend business decisions. For the finalists, mentorship and further concept development provide additional opportunities to reflect on industry feedback and refine their proposals.
Connecting application, feedback, and reflection in this way supports OSB’s experiential learning orientation and helps students draw lessons they can carry into future professional situations.
The case will be evaluated on strategic clarity and business rationale, understanding of the MENA consumer and market, feasibility, measurable impact, and the quality of the final pitch.
Through the collaboration, AUB and Anghami aim to create a more direct bridge between academic learning and the realities of the regional digital entertainment industry, while giving students an opportunity to contribute fresh thinking to a live business challenge facing one of MENA’s leading music platforms.
Source: Naharnet
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