Doha, Qatar, 17th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE– As the curtains fall on Web Summit Qatar 2026, a new narrative is emerging from the Middle East—one that replaces the image of “fragility” with one of “high-capacity innovation.” At the center of this shift is EmpactUS, a venture-building ecosystem that is rewriting the playbook for post-conflict recovery. Led by social impact entrepreneur Hammam Elmasri, the organization is championing a systemic approach to economic stabilization that prioritizes digital capacity over traditional humanitarian aid.

The core thesis presented by EmpactUS is simple yet provocative: In the modern era, the most durable form of reconstruction isn’t physical infrastructure—it is the creation of self-sustaining, tech-enabled entrepreneurship ecosystems.

The Failure of the “Aid-Only” Paradigm

For decades, the global response to conflict in the MENA region—from Palestine and Lebanon to Syria and Iraq—has been dominated by a “humanitarian-first” model. While essential for immediate survival, these short-term employment programs and aid cycles often leave communities in a state of “permanent fragility.”

“Recovery is not just about reconstruction; it is about restoring economic dignity,” says Hammam Elmasri, Co-Founder of EmpactUS. “We see young populations in these regions who are already digitally native, highly skilled, and profoundly entrepreneurial. They don’t lack talent; they lack the systems that translate that talent into global market value. If we don’t build those systems, we are simply managing poverty rather than solving it.”

The EmpactUS Framework: Three Pillars of Systemic Change

During his engagement with global tech leaders in Doha, Elmasri outlined the EmpactUS Model, a three-pillared strategy designed to act as “Stabilization Infrastructure” in volatile markets:

1. Capacity First (Market-Aligned Skill Building)

Traditional education in conflict zones often lags behind global trends. EmpactUS focuses on high-intensity skill-building in the digital and service sectors—industries that are “geography-blind” and can operate even when local physical infrastructure is compromised. By aligning local talent with global market demands, they ensure that the workforce is resilient to local shocks.

2. Ecosystem Integration (Breaking Geographical Isolation)

Conflict-affected founders often operate in silos, cut off from the capital and mentorship that their counterparts in Silicon Valley or Berlin take for granted. EmpactUS acts as a bridge, connecting MENA startups to global technology platforms, institutional investors, and corporate partners. “Global integration is not a luxury,” Elmasri explains. “It is a recovery multiplier that shortens learning curves and builds international credibility for founders who would otherwise be invisible.”

3. Values-Driven Entrepreneurship (The Trust Currency)

In fragile environments, trust is the most valuable currency. EmpactUS mentors founders to prioritize governance integrity and long-term community impact over “blitz-scaling” or short-term speculative gains. This focus on sustainable growth creates businesses that act as anchors for local economic circulation and community resilience.

Startups as Engines of Peace

The broader implication of the EmpactUS model is that startups in conflict zones serve a dual purpose. Beyond generating revenue, they function as platforms for rebuilding social trust. They provide the “Digital Infrastructure” necessary for a society to transition from a state of crisis to a state of innovation.

“We are seeing founders building fintech solutions under sanctions and edtech platforms amid school disruptions,” Elmasri noted at Web Summit. “These are not just businesses; they are evidence of a new recovery narrative. When we support them through coherent systems, we shift the focus from aid dependency to economic agency.”

A Call to Global Tech Leaders

As EmpactUS scales its operations across the MENA region, the message to the global tech community is clear: The next frontier of innovation may well be in the places we least expect. By investing in “Ecosystem Design,” global partners aren’t just performing corporate social responsibility—they are participating in the creation of a more stable, integrated, and prosperous global economy.

For Hammam Elmasri and the EmpactUS team, the mission remains unwavering. Post-conflict recovery is no longer about looking back at what was lost; it is about designing a future that is stronger, more inclusive, and driven by the limitless capacity of human ingenuity.

About EmpactUS

EmpactUS is a social impact organization dedicated to building value-driven startup ecosystems in conflict-affected and underserved regions. By bridging the gap between local talent and global innovation flows, EmpactUS empowers a new generation of entrepreneurs to lead the way in regional stabilization and economic growth.

Doha, Qatar, 17th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE– Stellora.AI, a deep-tech leader specializing in agentic intelligent infrastructure, announced a strategic pivot toward Quantum-Bio Research following its high-impact showcase at Web Summit Qatar. The company, which successfully demonstrated its proprietary Agentic Multilayer RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and Quantum Flow framework during the summit, is now inviting global research institutes and impact investors to join its mission to solve humanity’s most pressing medical challenges.

Bridging the Gap Between Logic and Life

While Web Summit Qatar 2026 emphasized the commercial potential of AI, Stellora.AI used the global stage to highlight a more urgent application: the use of Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) to accelerate breakthroughs in healthcare. The company’s “Sovereignty First” architecture is now being optimized for:

• Molecular Simulation & Drug Discovery: Using quantum circuits to model complex chemical interactions that classical computers cannot process.
• Precision Medicine: Leveraging agentic AI to cross-check billions of data points for personalized treatment in fields such as oncology, neurology, and other medical disciplines.
• Longevity Research: Deploying self-tuning AI swarms to identify patterns in biological aging and disease modeling.

“Stellora.AI was never built just for technology—it was built for humanity,” said Michal Charvát, Founder of Stellora.AI. “We have the production-ready systems and the real-world quantum test results. Now, we are looking for the partners who have the heart to help us scale this vision to research hospitals and scientific labs worldwide.”

The Technical Edge: Agentic Orchestration

Unlike standard AI models, Stellora’s Multilayer RAG engine utilizes a “swarm” of specialized agents that iteratively validate outputs, ensuring 100% accuracy—a non-negotiable requirement for medical research and drug formulation. By integrating this with Quantum Flow, Stellora.AI can generate and troubleshoot quantum code on live hardware (such as IBM Quantum or AWS Braket), effectively bridging the “computation gap” in modern science.

A Call for Strategic Partnership

Recognizing that the path to curing serious diseases requires massive computational and financial resources, Stellora.AI is officially opening its doors to Impact Investors and Venture Capitalists.The company seeks to expand its R&D team and make its quantum-accelerated tools accessible to non-profit research institutes that share their “Humanity First” ethos.

Looking beyond Earth, Stellora.AI also teased its long-term ambition: providing the intelligent computational backbone required for human expansion into the cosmos, ensuring that human health and data sovereignty remain protected as we move toward a multi-planetary future.

About Stellora.AI

Stellora.AI (formerly LunaPro.AI) is an EU-born, multilayer RAG engine designed for speed, precision, and trust. By combining agentic AI orchestration with quantum-capable flows, Stellora.AI provides hallucination-free intelligence for high-stakes industries, including Healthcare, Deep-Tech, and Space Exploration.

Website: https://stellora.ai/

Designer Pool Covers KZN has been featured in the April 2026 issue of a national home and lifestyle magazine that profiles residential design, architecture, and outdoor living trends.

Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, 17th Feb 2026 – Designer Pool Covers KZN has been featured in the April 2026 issue of a national home and lifestyle magazine that profiles residential design, architecture, and outdoor living trends. The feature places the KwaZulu-Natal operation within the broader conversation about how South African homeowners are rethinking the role of swimming pools in modern homes, with emphasis on safety, efficiency, and cohesive outdoor design.

Growing focus on safe, designed outdoor living

Residential pools in South Africa increasingly serve as multi-functional spaces where safety, maintenance requirements, and visual integration with the home all carry equal weight. The April 2026 feature aligns with this shift, foregrounding solutions that position pool covers as part of a considered design strategy rather than as an afterthought.

In many suburban and coastal properties, pools remain exposed to weather, debris, and high evaporation, while also presenting potential risks for children and pets. Industry commentary has noted that automatic and safety-focused covers are becoming a preferred measure to mitigate these risks, particularly as homeowners look to manage water usage, electricity costs, and compliance with evolving safety expectations.

KwaZulu-Natal’s climate—characterised by humidity, coastal winds, and seasonal storms—makes these considerations especially relevant. In this context, the appearance of Designer Pool Covers KZN in a national home and lifestyle magazine underscores how regional conditions inform product choices and installation approaches.

A KZN operation within a national specialist network

Designer Pool Covers KZN operates as part of the wider Designer Pool Covers brand, which has supplied automatic and manual pool cover systems to South African homeowners for more than a decade. Across the national footprint, the brand has been associated with trendsetting in areas such as integrated automatic covers, Pet and Child Safety Covers, and custom-fitted systems for irregular pool shapes.

The KwaZulu-Natal team focuses on supplying and installing pool covers suited to coastal and inland conditions within the province, including Durban, Durban North, Umhlanga, Ballito, Pinetown, Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas. Installations draw on design and product options from the broader Designer Pool Covers range, including PoolDeck Slatted Automatic Covers, Automatic Vinyl Safety Covers, thermal blankets, and safety-focused solutions that support children and pets.

By featuring the brand in April 2026, the magazine situates the KZN operation within a national network of specialists that has engaged with architects, builders, designers, engineers, and homeowners on projects ranging from compact urban pools to large residential and hospitality environments.

Integrating safety, efficiency, and aesthetics

The magazine article highlights how contemporary pool covers simultaneously address safety, efficiency, and aesthetics in a single intervention. Automatic and manual systems, when integrated early in the design or renovation process, can influence decisions about pool shape, deck layout, and circulation routes around outdoor entertainment spaces.

Across the national brand, cover systems are typically manufactured from robust, weather-resistant materials designed to cope with UV exposure, debris, and shifting weather patterns. In several product lines, covers are engineered to support significant weight, contributing to child and pet safety when correctly specified and installed.

Automatic cover configurations—such as slatted systems that retract into concealed mechanisms—are often selected for projects where a discreet technical solution is preferred. Vinyl-based automatic safety covers, which operate along track systems, are positioned for applications where rapid opening and closing, as well as long-term durability, are priorities.

For KwaZulu-Natal, storm protection, evaporation control, and corrosion resistance are recurring design considerations. The KZN team engages with these constraints by aligning product specifications with coastal conditions and by coordinating with project professionals on detailing, integration with decks, and allowance for access, drainage, and storage.

Reflecting broader trends in South African home design

The April 2026 magazine feature appears at a time when South African homeowners pay close attention to utilities, water management, and long-term maintenance planning. Recent industry discussions have noted that pool covers can reduce evaporation, help stabilise water chemistry, and support temperature management, resulting in reduced chemical and heating demands over time.

In design terms, pools continue to function as focal points in many South African homes, especially in warm regions such as KwaZulu-Natal. The integration of covers into these spaces allows designers to maintain visual continuity between interior and exterior spaces, particularly where decks, patios, and landscaped areas are designed as extensions of open-plan living rooms and entertainment areas.

The feature reflects this convergence of practical and aesthetic drivers by framing Designer Pool Covers solutions as components of a holistic approach to outdoor living. Coverage links pool cover technology with broader themes such as family safety, responsible resource use, and the long-term performance of residential assets.

Collaboration with architects, builders, and homeowners

Designer Pool Covers KZN commonly works in collaboration with architects, builders, pool contractors, and landscape designers across the province. These collaborations support early design decisions, including how recesses, pits, coping, and structural allowances will accommodate either automatic or manual systems.

Within the broader brand, technical teams provide guidance on structural and dimensional requirements for different products, enabling project professionals to coordinate detail drawings with engineering and municipal approvals where needed. As a regional implementer of this expertise, the KZN operation contributes site-specific insight, including assessments of access constraints, proximity to the coast, and patterns of use within each property.

Homeowners typically engage with these solutions at various points in the life cycle of a pool—during new construction, renovation, or in response to changing household needs, such as the arrival of young children or shifts in occupancy. The April 2026 feature illustrates these decision points by highlighting real-world residential contexts in which pool covers have been integrated as part of broader upgrades or new builds.

Regional particularities: KwaZulu-Natal context

KwaZulu-Natal’s subtropical climate brings high humidity, temperature variation, and storm activity, which can influence pool water quality, debris accumulation, and structural wear. In addition, coastal environments raise considerations around corrosion, wind loads, and the need for durable fixings and mechanisms.​

Designer Pool Covers KZN adapts national product options to these conditions by working with materials and configurations suited to the province’s environment. In many cases, this includes attention to drainage, cover tensioning, and ease of operation for households that use their pools frequently throughout the year.

The editorial feature positions these regional adaptations within a national discourse on climate-responsive residential design. By foregrounding KZN projects, the magazine presents an example of how local conditions inform technical choices without compromising the visual ambition of contemporary homes.

Position within the South African pool cover market

Designer Pool Covers as a brand has contributed to the development of pool cover standards and expectations in the South African market since around 2012, with thousands of installations implemented nationwide. The company’s offerings span automatic, manual, thermal, and safety-oriented solutions, each designed to align with international trends and local regulatory frameworks.

Within this ecosystem, Designer Pool Covers KZN represents the KwaZulu-Natal presence of a national specialist group that combines local project delivery with broader technical and product support. The April 2026 magazine appearance reflects this dual identity, presenting the KZN operation as both a regional service provider and a participant in a wider South African conversation about pool safety, efficiency, and aesthetics.

Industry observers have noted that South African homeowners are increasingly receptive to solutions that are less about short-term convenience and more about long-term resilience, comfort, and compliance. In this context, the editorial profile underscores how pool cover systems have moved from niche accessories to standard components in many new-build and renovation projects.

About Designer Pool Covers KZN

Designer Pool Covers KZN is a KwaZulu-Natal-based operation within the Designer Pool Covers network, specialising in the supply and installation of automatic and manual pool cover systems. Operating for more than a decade as part of a national brand, the operation provides pool cover solutions for residential and commercial clients, including homeowners, architects, builders, and hospitality operators.

The company’s work spans child and pet safety covers, automatic slatted and vinyl systems, thermal and solar solutions, and custom-fitted covers for pools of varying size, shape, and setting. Designer Pool Covers KZN engages with projects across Durban and the wider province, aligning cover specifications with the region’s coastal and inland conditions.

Further information about Designer Pool Covers KZN and its role within the South African pool cover market can be found through publicly available resources that profile the brand’s national activities and regional operations.

Media Contact

Organization: Designer Pool Covers Kzn

Contact Person: Loraine

Website: https://designerpoolcoverskzn.co.za/

Email: Send Email

Contact Number: +27319404070

City: Durban

State: Kwa-Zulu Natal

Country:South Africa

Release id:41527

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