Founding editor
Nisha Varman
Founding Editor of SilQRoute Times
Nisha Varman is the founding editor of SilQRoute Times, writing from Doha on the corridor that runs from the Gulf to South Asia and Southeast Asia. She covers sovereign wealth, the GCC, and the business of soft power.
From Doha, Nisha Varman reports and writes on the institutions, investment decisions and economic relationships connecting the Gulf with South Asia, Southeast Asia and the wider world.
SilQRoute Times is a Doha-based publication on the corridor that runs from the Gulf through South Asia to Southeast Asia. It follows sovereign wealth, the GCC, sport, and the business of soft power, with a reader who is busy and senior and prefers a clear sentence to a long one.
Nisha also runs Silk Route Consulting, an advisory practice for founders and family offices working the corridor, and writes longer-form pieces at thenishavarman.com.
Elsewhere
Selected editorial
Editorial
A Tale of Two Capitals
Doha spent twenty years proving a sequence. On 3 September, Tashkent signed for it. Five years, to 2031.
Showcase Feature
Two Countries Are Trading in Something Older Than Oil
Two Uzbek exhibitions open at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. Read alongside a strategic partnership, a mosque restoration grant and 7.7 per cent growth, the cultural corridor looks economic.
Guide
Art Is Not a Portfolio Line, It Is a Long Position on Being Right
The global art market reached an estimated $59.6 billion in 2025. What art does as an asset, what it costs to hold, and the questions to ask before a first purchase.
Analysis
Doha Did Not Buy an Art Fair, It Bought a Calendar Slot
Art Basel Qatar opened with 87 galleries, 17,000 visitors and no booths. The debut read as a cultural capital strategy rather than a sales report.
Explainer
The Gulf Stopped Selling Residency and Started Selecting For It
From LEAP to Web Summit Qatar and Dubai's creator summits, the events calendar has become a residency funnel. What each instrument grants and what it does not.
Field Guide
The Licence Is Not the Hard Part, the Sequence Is
Setting up a company in Saudi Arabia in 2026: the MISA licence, the corporate form, the registration order, the headquarters programme and where founders lose months.
Analysis
The Mall Is Not the Point, the Footfall Is
Majid Al Futtaim grew net profit 41 per cent and Saudi retail trade rose 3.2 per cent. What the Gulf consumer economy says about who is actually here.
Explainer
The Gulf Is Not Selling Holidays, It Is Selling Familiarity
Saudi Arabia counted around 123 million tourists, Dubai 19.59 million international visitors, Qatar 5.1 million. Visitor numbers read as economic policy.
Explainer
Nobody Buys a Flat, They Buy a Jurisdiction
Dubai cleared AED 917 billion of property transactions in 2025 and Doha's sales volumes jumped by half. Gulf property in 2026, read as a relocation story.
Explainer
The Gulf Stopped Selling Barrels, It Started Selling Certainty
Aramco earned $104.7 billion in 2025 and Abu Dhabi built an LNG trading business. What Gulf hydrocarbon revenue is being converted into, and who is contracted to buy the molecules.
Analysis
Someone Just Tripled the Bet on Doha.
$3 billion. Five new funds. One name every founder should learn before they land.
Analysis
The Gulf Decided Compute Is Infrastructure
PIF's Humain, MGX and G42, and Qatar's data centre build. Who is funding the region's artificial intelligence capacity in 2026.
Route map
Follow One Container From Mundra to Trieste
The IMEC route leg by leg. Which ports, which rail, which hand-offs, and where a box actually changes hands.
Tracker
Three Years of IMEC, and the Honest Scorecard
A section by section status report on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. What is built, what is funded, what is still a study.
Explainer
Qatar Sold the Decade Before It Built It
The North Field expansion read as a corridor story. The 142 million tonne target, the buyers already contracted, and what the revenue funds.
Field notes
Inside the Qatar Economic Forum 2026: What Allocators Heard
Three days in Doha with the Bloomberg-curated Qatar Economic Forum. The themes allocators took home.
Playbook
The Founder's Relocation Playbook: London or Bangalore to Dubai, Riyadh or Doha in 2026
Visas, tax residency, banking, schooling and the order of operations for founders moving from the UK or India to the Gulf.
Reader's guide
How to Set Up a Family Office in DIFC, ADGM and QFC: A 2026 Comparison
A neutral, side-by-side reader's guide to the three leading Gulf jurisdictions for single family offices in 2026.
Explainer
The IMEC Corridor Explained: India, the Middle East and Europe in 2026
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor in plain English. Who signed it, what it connects, where it stands, and why the Gulf is the hinge.
Corridor dispatch
How Gulf Capital Became the Story of FIFA World Cup 2026
Aramco, PIF and Qatar Airways now sit at the top of the World Cup 2026 sponsor tier. The corridor in one tournament.
Long read
From Doha 2022 to Saudi 2034: What the Gulf is Building
Qatar set a template for hosting the FIFA World Cup. Saudi Arabia is set to scale it. The Gulf hosting playbook in 2026.
Analysis
Qiddiya, NEOM and the Stadium as Sovereign Wealth Asset
Why the Public Investment Fund put Qiddiya City and Savvy Games Group on FIFA World Cup 2026 boards.
Reading list
The Best Geopolitics Newsletters for 2026
Six geopolitics newsletters worth your inbox in 2026, reviewed from a Doha desk.
Explainer
What is the New Silk Road in 2026, a Plain English Guide
Belt and Road, IMEC, the Middle Corridor and the corridor economy explained without jargon.
Long read
Doha to Singapore: The Corridor Economy Explained
How capital, energy and software move along the modern Silk Road, and why the corridor is the story of the decade.
Reader's guide
GCC Sovereign Wealth Funds: A Reader's Guide to PIF, QIA, ADIA and Mubadala
Who they are, what they own, who runs them, and how to read their moves.
Media literacy
Geopolitics News Today: How to Read the Headlines Without Getting Played
A short field guide to sources, framing and the difference between analysis and noise.
Reading list
The Best Business Newsletters in the Middle East for 2026
The newsletters founders, operators and allocators in the Gulf actually open.
Reading list
A Gulf Founder's Morning Reading List: Doha, Riyadh and Dubai
An editor's roster of the business and geopolitics reads worth your morning in the Gulf.