The 100: Maaz Sheikh, Co-Founder and CEO, STARZPLAY Under his leadership, STARZPLAY became a platform that balanced Hollywood hits with Arabic originals and live sports, including major regional events.
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This article forms part of The 100, Entrepreneur Middle East's annual guide spotlighting the most influential people across the GCC.
Maaz Sheikh is one of the pioneers of the streaming revolution in the Middle East, a leader who understood early that entertainment would shift from scheduled television to personalized screens. As co-founder and CEO of STARZPLAY, he has built one of the region's most successful subscription video platforms, transforming how millions of viewers access movies, series, and sporting events.
Born in Pakistan and raised with a curiosity for technology, Sheikh studied engineering before moving into telecommunications and digital services. His career took him across the United States and the Gulf, where he became deeply involved in the evolution of pay-TV and digital media. Those experiences provided the foundation for a future he could clearly see: entertainment becoming borderless, on-demand, and consumer-controlled.
In 2015, Sheikh co-founded STARZPLAY with a clear mission — bring global-quality streaming to the Middle East, tailored to local tastes and infrastructure. Launching a startup in a market dominated by piracy and slow internet speeds was a bold challenge. But Sheikh believed in innovation over limitation. He developed advanced compression technologies, flexible pricing, and regional content strategies that quickly won over households hungry for new options.
Under his leadership, STARZPLAY became a platform that balanced Hollywood hits with Arabic originals and live sports, including major regional events. He forged partnerships with international studios, telecom operators, and payment providers — unlocking access for millions of users across the MENA region. His focus on customer experience helped build loyalty in a rapidly competitive marketplace.
Sheikh is known for his analytical mindset paired with creative ambition. He sees entertainment not merely as content distribution, but as cultural connection — stories that reflect who people are and who they want to become. He champions local talent, supporting productions that give Arab storytellers a global voice and audiences characters they can identify with.
Despite growing success, he remains entrepreneurial in spirit — agile, curious, and unafraid of disruption. He frequently speaks about the future of streaming in the region, from gaming integrations to personalized viewing powered by AI. To him, the story of digital entertainment is still being written, and STARZPLAY intends to be one of its authors.
Maaz Sheikh's journey proves that innovation thrives where ambition meets insight. He continues to push boundaries — building a platform that doesn't just show stories, but shapes the entertainment culture of tomorrow.
