Messe Frankfurt Middle East: Driving regional growth through strategic events

James Thorpe speaks exclusively with Nathan Waugh, Portfolio Director, Security, Technology and Production at Messe Frankfurt Middle East GmbH.

Can you tell us more about your industry background?

My career in events has taken me to numerous different sectors. I have worked in everything from financial services and food to, most recently, defence and security, which is one of the paths that has led me towards the role I am in now with Intersec.

I have spent the last 15 years based in the Middle East. Personally, I see a lot of exciting opportunities and value in the event space, and my time here has really set me up perfectly for this new role with Messe Frankfurt Middle East.

Coming into such a well-established and respected event like Intersec – one that’s a true leader in its field – has been an incredible opportunity to bring together the experience I’ve gained working across various sectors, from launching new initiatives to managing large-scale events, and apply it all to make a meaningful impact here; making the little tweaks here and there that will help deliver an even better experience for our customers and exhibitors across the board.

How does your business philosophy influence the development and management of events within Messe Frankfurt Middle East’s diverse portfolio?

I think trade shows and events in general have evolved significantly over the last decade – and have probably accelerated the most over the last five years.

Now, what we need to provide is a memorable experience for all of our stakeholders: Partners, exhibitors and key delegates.

It’s no longer satisfactory to simply provide a platform where you hope business is being done between exhibitors and visitors. You really have to curate this experience – there’s an expectation, and people want to have a memorable interactive experience when they come to these events.

They want to meet people and they want to network. They want to access great quality content and speakers. They want to be inspired to a certain extent as well as entertained.

My philosophy is about getting closer to the market; understanding and talking to as many people as possible, whether they are visitors or exhibitors.

This helps us to understand what really resonates with our stakeholders.

One of the areas I’m particularly passionate about – and I will look to develop further at Intersec – is curated meetings. People are busy, and if you can support them in curating really high quality meetings at your event, it helps them and the exhibitors.

There’s several ways that you can do this. At Messe Frankfurt Middle East events, we have the Premium Club, which is our sort of ‘top buyers’ lounge. This is a fantastic platform for people to meet and do business.

However, where I’d like to see us evolve this further is by creating a bit more of a concierge-style service, which involves working with top visitors – from both the public and private sector – to help curate experiences and deliver exactly what both our visitors and partners are seeking at the event.

Given Dubai’s status as a global business hub, how do you tailor events to meet the unique demands of this market?

Dubai is a global business hub which brings together a multitude of different regions and cultures. As an event, this is where Intersec works so well, because it sits in a strategic location. At the 2025 event, 65% of our attendees came from outside of the UAE.

We have a global network of well-established, knowledgeable sales partners across Messe Frankfurt who help us reach diverse markets and bring new brands to the event in Dubai.

What’s absolutely crucial is working closely with government stakeholders to understand how they can support these businesses – providing them not only with the information and connections they need to showcase their products to a global audience, but also helping them understand how to establish a presence here.

It’s about enabling them to create a hub for doing business out of the Middle East and beyond.

We work closely with entities like SIRA and we are continuing to explore ways of collaborating as effectively as possible to create an environment where companies can come, showcase innovations and be confident that they can understand the business landscape.

I’m looking to develop this consultative role a little bit more this year, as well as our global outreach.

I want to make it easy as possible for people to be able to spread their message. I think actually making that additional effort to try and engage with people on a face-to-face level also goes a long way.

We’re a face-to-face, international business. Whilst video conferencing definitely has a role to play, there isn’t a substitute for getting out there in-person, and that’s what we do best.

With Saudi Arabia’s rapid economic growth, what strategies do you employ to align events with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a strong and fast-growing economy. To have the Intersec brand firmly established in this region is very important. We have a lot of direct interactions with this market during the show, and we’re able to deliver a fantastic platform for our exhibitor base.

It’s equally valuable because the second largest demographic of visitors that come to Intersec in Dubai are actually from Saudi Arabia.

Naturally, we want to therefore ensure that we’re delivering plenty of high-quality interaction and content with this market directly.

There’s a very strong value proposition for brands to do both Middle East events; if you’re looking to establish yourself in the in the Saudi Arabia market Intersec KSA will give you first-hand access to that market. Looking to expand your business focus across the Middle East?

Intersec in Dubai provides access to the whole region and beyond.

That’s really interesting to hear. One last question – what’s on the horizon for the Messe Frankfurt Middle East team in 2025, 2026 and beyond?

It’s an incredibly exciting time here at Messe Frankfurt Middle East. Personally, I feel like I’m in a good position to oversee our growth, having worked across a number of companies across the Middle East, both in the public sector as well as the private sector.

It was a record year for the team last year, and the whole portfolio of events delivered extremely robust performances. We have an excellent foundation now to build on that across all of our products.

Ultimately, it’s really about making sure that we continue to enhance and develop the aspects that are particularly strong, for example, the Intersec Awards.

In my relatively short time here so far, I can already see how passionate the culture is – how truly focused it is on people, on giving them opportunities to grow.

Like anything, a rising tide lifts all boats and we want to give our people the chance to grow with us and develop their careers.

I’ve come into a team that is established, highly knowledgeable and extremely passionate. They’re genuinely invested in the events themselves, which makes it a great environment to step into.

There’s no need for wholesale changes – just small tweaks here and there that can really help elevate the overall event proposition.

It feels like we are right at the beginning of something quite exciting. The growth opportunities are significant regionally and further afield, and it’s a good time to be here.