Thrive accelerates Middle East growth following 120,000-user frontline enterprise deployment
Thrive, the AI-powered learning platform trusted by some of the world’s most recognised brands, is expanding its presence across the Middle East following increased demand from large, complex and frontline-first organisations across the region.
The growth includes an expanded on-site team based in Dubai Internet City, local hosting within the UAE and a rising number of enterprise customers operating highly distributed frontline workforces. The shift reflects changing expectations in the region, as organisations look beyond traditional learning management systems towards platforms that connect learning, knowledge, skills, communications and performance in one unified experience.
Growing team on the ground for a growing region
Across the Middle East, learning and performance are increasingly driven by frontline teams operating in aviation, logistics, manufacturing, retail and service environments. In these settings, speed, consistency and access to the right knowledge at the point of need are critical, often outweighing the value of static or classroom-based training programmes.
Thrive’s Dubai headquarters provides customers with direct access to on-the-ground support, product expertise and strategic input, signalling a long-term regional commitment rather than a remote or reseller-led model.
“This growth isn’t about market coverage, it’s about proximity,” said Josh Devanny, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer at Thrive.
“Our customers run complex, frontline-first operations, particularly in aviation and transport. Being on the ground allows us to work directly alongside their teams, understand how their people operate day to day, and build solutions that fit that reality.”
With further expansion planned to meet growing customer demand, Thrive continues to invest in its UAE presence, with customer-facing roles available across Account Director and Customer Success functions.
The company has continued to strengthen its regional capability through a series of local hires across both delivery and product. This includes the addition of local, Arabic-speaking implementation expertise such as Alaa Elawadi, who brings more than ten years’ experience in the learning technology sector and joined Thrive from Disprz and Ghantoot Group.
Alongside customer delivery, Thrive has also expanded its product presence in the region with the recent appointment of Linden Dance and Guy Blackhurst as Product Design Leads. Both bring extensive experience building products for large-scale, consumer and enterprise platforms across the Middle East, with backgrounds spanning organisations such as Careem, talabat and J.P. Morgan. Their focus is on shaping and designing Thrive’s product with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) requirements, user behaviours and operational realities in mind.
Together, these hires reflect a deliberate strategy to build a dedicated, in-house regional team across implementation, customer success and product, rather than relying on outsourced delivery or reseller-led models.
Supporting global frontline operations
Thrive brings learning, communications and skills together in a single platform, giving frontline teams clarity in the moments that matter most. Rather than simply receiving information, employees are supported with clear guidance on what to do and when, helping drive confidence, consistency and performance across every shift.
In the Middle East, Thrive is now working with a major aviation and transport enterprise, supporting large, highly regulated frontline workforces operating in safety-critical environments. These organisations require instant access to trusted knowledge, clear operational guidance and consistent execution across complex, distributed operations.
As part of this work, Thrive will become the primary user experience for more than 120,000 employees globally, supporting frontline teams with the right knowledge, guidance and skills at the point of need. The deployment reflects a broader shift in the region towards unified platforms capable of replacing both traditional learning management systems and standalone frontline operations tools.
Local hosting, language support and enterprise integrations
To meet regional regulatory and operational requirements, Thrive offers local hosting within the UAE, ensuring alignment with data regulations while delivering enterprise-grade performance, resilience and security.
The platform supports true right-to-left languages, adapting the user interface rather than relying solely on translated text. Built-in AI translation within Thrive’s AI Content Creator further enables organisations to support multilingual frontline workforces at scale.
Alongside local infrastructure and language readiness, Thrive has continued to invest in enterprise integration partnerships to support organisations operating complex people and HR ecosystems across the Middle East. This includes an expanded integration with SAP SuccessFactors, enabling organisations to access and complete SAP-managed learning directly within Thrive, while keeping assignments, learning records and certifications fully synchronised between systems.
SAP-managed content is surfaced within Thrive and made searchable through Kiki, Thrive’s AI Assistant, with learning activity and completion data syncing automatically to support accurate reporting and compliance.
AI-powered migration
For organisations looking to replace legacy platforms entirely, Thrive has also addressed one of the most persistent barriers to digital transformation with the introduction of Kiki Switch, a free AI-powered migration tool designed to simplify and accelerate platform change.
Rather than relying on complex data mapping and manual intervention, Kiki Switch uses intelligent automation to migrate content, learning history and user records in the background, significantly reducing disruption for operational and frontline teams.
The tool works with any existing LMS or frontline operations platform, cutting downtime and data-heavy administration during implementation and enabling organisations to modernise faster without interrupting day-to-day work.
With continued investment in local teams, infrastructure and enterprise capability, Thrive’s Middle East expansion reflects a broader shift in how organisations across the region are approaching learning and frontline performance. As demand grows for platforms that unify systems, knowledge and execution, Thrive is positioning itself as a long-term partner for organisations looking to modernise at scale.