Mohammed Al Nusif’s career spans telecommunications, consumer technology investment and regional franchising, including a role in the Kuwaiti partnership helping British brand Pret A Manger expand across the Gulf.
In 2019, two developments captured different sides of Mohammed Al Nusif’s business life. Qualitynet, the internet and communications company he led, was acquired by VIVA in a transaction announced at KD28.3 million. Separately, Nizar Al-Nusif Sons Holding, identified at the time as an investment company headed by him, participated in a $3.2 million funding round for COFE App.
One involved an established provider of business connectivity. The other backed a young company seeking to change how people ordered coffee. Together, they illustrate the breadth of a career combining executive management with investment in consumer businesses.
His role as vice chairman of One PM Holding adds a further dimension. The Kuwaiti group’s partnership with Pret A Manger has brought the British chain into Kuwait and supported its expansion into neighbouring markets, connecting Al Nusif’s business interests to the commercial relationship between Britain and the Gulf.
A career built inside Qualitynet
Al Nusif’s appointment as Qualitynet chief executive was announced in February 2015. The company described a progression through its ranks, beginning in the sales team after his graduation from Kuwait University, roughly 14 years before his elevation to CEO.
By the time he took charge, he had spent more than a decade inside a business serving Kuwait’s communications needs. His route into leadership began with customers and commercial operations, providing experience of the market before he assumed responsibility for the company.
Four years later, Qualitynet became part of a significant consolidation in Kuwait’s telecom sector. NBK Capital’s transaction announcement recorded VIVA’s acquisition of the entire company from Batelco and National Bank of Kuwait, which owned 90% and 10% respectively. The announced consideration was approximately $93 million.
Al Nusif was chief executive during that period. The acquisition transferred ownership between institutional shareholders while his management career continued within the business.
VIVA adopted the stc brand in December 2019, and Al Nusif subsequently continued as chief executive of solutions by stc. His career extended through the ownership change into the development of the group’s enterprise-services operation.
From connectivity to industrial technology
In a 2023 interview with The Energy Year, Al Nusif described a business serving government and private-sector clients across banking, energy and real estate. Its services extended from connectivity to cybersecurity and information technology.
His examples showed how those services were being applied. He discussed a project with Kuwait Oil Company to install 5G-connected cameras on oil rigs, allowing information to move from remote locations. He also outlined the potential use of connected sensors to support industrial operations.
These applications concerned how businesses monitored equipment, accessed information and protected systems essential to their work. They placed telecommunications within the daily operation of industries central to Kuwait’s economy.
Al Nusif also said the company had acquired a licence to operate in Iraq, identifying regional expansion as part of its ambitions. The interview showed a business increasingly concerned with the technology requirements of other organisations, alongside the provision of connectivity itself.
Investment alongside executive leadership
Al Nusif’s involvement in consumer technology was already visible before that interview.
When COFE announced its pre-Series A financing in February 2019, Nizar Al-Nusif Sons Holding was named among the investors. Contemporary coverage described the investment company as headed by Al Nusif while he was also leading Qualitynet. The $3.2 million represented the total funding round, rather than the holding company’s individual contribution.
Founded by Ali Al-Ebrahim, COFE connected customers with coffee chains and independent roasters through a mobile ordering platform. The investment linked Al Nusif’s business interests to the use of technology in an established consumer market.
His responsibilities also extended to listed-company governance. National Investments Company’s 2020 annual report names Mohammad Nizar Al Nusif as an independent board member and chairman of its risk management committee, alongside membership of other board committees.
Those roles add investment oversight to his operating experience. They also show that his business activities developed concurrently: executive leadership in telecommunications, participation in investment decisions and responsibilities within a listed company.
The regional franchise connection
Pret’s relationship with One PM introduced another business model into this history. In November 2021, the British chain announced One PM Franchising as its new partner, initially bringing the brand to Kuwait with the possibility of expansion into other regional markets.
The first Kuwait shop opened at Al Hamra Tower in October 2022. In February 2023, One PM granted Al Mana Holding sub-franchising rights for Qatar, where the first shop subsequently opened at City Center Doha.
Al Nusif’s role was explicitly acknowledged when regional executive Nabil Al-Ghoul announced Pret’s third Riyadh branch, at King Abdullah Financial District. Al-Ghoul identified him as One PM Holding’s vice chairman and credited him alongside chairman Hamad Al-Sayer for their guidance and support.
The partnership forms part of a broader shift in Pret’s operations. In September 2024, the company reported that franchising accounted for approximately one-third of worldwide sales, while a quarter of customer spending came from outside the UK. Franchise partners had become a substantial part of how the company reached customers.
A Kuwaiti partner in British business expansion
Through One PM, Al Nusif participates in a commercial relationship that extends beyond introducing an overseas name to Kuwait. The group’s role includes supporting a British brand’s development across several Gulf markets, with different operating arrangements in each.
That regional ambition was present in the original agreement. When the partnership was announced, Al-Sayer referred to bringing Pret to Kuwait and potentially other countries. The subsequent Doha and Riyadh openings turned that intention into operating locations beyond the home market.
The broader UK–Kuwait relationship is substantial. The UK Department for Business and Trade’s July 2026 factsheet recorded £2.3 billion in British exports of goods and services to Kuwait in the year to March 2026. That national figure provides context rather than a measure of Pret’s contribution. Franchising represents a related form of commercial exchange, combining an international brand with local investment, management and operations.
Al Nusif’s place in that relationship is grounded in One PM’s development. A partnership initially announced for Kuwait has extended into Qatar and Saudi Arabia, placing Kuwaiti business leadership within the expansion of a British company across the region.
Alongside his telecom and investment experience, it gives his career a cross-border dimension: businesses serving Kuwait’s domestic economy, and partnerships through which Kuwaiti companies participate in neighbouring markets.
