Q&A: Innovo’s CEO Bishoy Azmy on the company’s growth and innovation journey in the Middle East

“When people feel safe, supported, and valued, they bring their best selves to work”, says CEO Bishoy Azmy

Founded in 2021, Innovo has quickly grown into a multi-market player, active across construction and real estate development. Today, the company operates in ten countries, balancing core strengths in building with an expanding development portfolio.

At the centre of this growth is CEO Bishoy Azmy, who outlines how Innovo is leveraging technology, embedding sustainability, and shaping its long-term strategy across diverse markets.

Innovo operates at the centre of construction and real estate development. How do you see the balance between these sectors evolving? Where will the biggest growth opportunities lie?

At Innovo, we view our business as two interconnected pillars. Construction remains our core strength and foundation. In parallel, we are expanding our real estate development footprint across the UAE, Egypt, the UK and Canada, building a diversified global presence.

Exciting growth also lies in technology, an enabler embedded across all our businesses. It shapes how we operate and also drives continuous innovation in the built environment, strengthening and elevating both of our core pillars.

Although still at an early stage, we believe AI, robotics, and data analytics will help address some of the sector’s most pressing challenges like affordability of housing, sustainability of materials, energy efficiency, security, and overall human wellness. Ultimately, every aspect of our lives is shaped by the built environment, whether in the homes we live in, the workplaces we operate from, or the hospitals and universities we depend on.

For Innovo, the future lies in combining our traditional strengths in construction and real estate with tech that can fundamentally transform how people experience the places they live and work.

How do you replicate success across markets while adapting to local needs and regulations?

Construction is fundamentally local, influenced by distinct supply chains, regulatory environments, and customs. As a result, success cannot be replicated uniformly across different locations.

Today, four years since our establishment, we are active in ten countries. Our strategy is to deepen our presence in our core markets – UAE, Egypt and the UK – while maintaining smaller offices across Africa, including Luanda in Angola and Dakar in Senegal. This balance allows us to remain agile: when one market slows, another accelerates, ensuring long-term stability and growth.

The UAE is one of the world’s most competitive construction markets. How do you maintain quality in such a high-demand environment?

The UAE is a uniquely demanding environment, with high expectations on speed, scale, and quality. To deliver consistently, we’ve had to rethink how construction is approached. Every project is different, which makes standardisation a challenge, but by embedding digital tools, we are bringing a new level of discipline to the process.

Digital Twin technology gives us a virtual replica of each project, allowing us to detect issues early, reduce costs, and keep progress on track with fewer surprises. At the same time, robotics is helping us close the productivity gap that construction has historically struggled with.

For us, quality and speed aren’t trade-offs; they are outcomes of smarter methods.
By combining digital oversight with automation, we are building faster, safer, and more reliably in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

Innovation and sustainability are becoming defining factors in the industry. How is Innovo embedding these priorities into its projects?

Innovation and sustainability are embedded in how we deliver every project, not treated as add-ons. Our approach is to reduce the environmental impact while raising efficiency, combining responsible construction practices with advanced technologies.

On sustainability, we track our carbon footprint, resource use, and social impact across projects, integrating measures such as recycling materials, low-carbon procurement, waste segregation, and optimised water and energy systems. Innovation is what allows us to scale impact. We use BIM and digital project management platforms to cut rework and streamline logistics, while the BEN system enhances safety and productivity through real-time monitoring. We are also trialling robotics and new AI-powered safety tools with partners like Quantavist, which will help redefine how risks are identified and managed on complex sites. What’s more, we continue to partner with global technology giants on the future of technology usage in the built environment.

You’ve often framed employee and worker welfare as a strategic priority. How does this mindset contribute to long-term productivity, talent retention, and client trust?

Welfare is not a box-ticking exercise; it’s one of our core commitments. Our people are the foundation of every achievement, and by investing in their well-being, we are investing in long-term resilience, productivity, and quality.

For our frontline workforce, that means more than compliance with legal requirements. We’ve introduced programmes like Innovo Safe Access, which provides shaded and cooled rest areas, backed by dedicated welfare teams on-site. Our commitment to these welfare measures has been recognised by the Dubai Government with the Taqdeer Award, which honours excellence in labour relations.

For employees, we’ve created an environment that prioritises health, balance, and professional growth. The Innovo Life Employee Care Programme offers counselling, coaching, and continuous learning opportunities, while our office design itself promotes wellbeing and collaboration.

Ultimately, when people feel safe, supported, and valued, they bring their best selves to work. That leads to higher productivity, stronger loyalty, and deeper trust with our clients.

Looking ahead, how do you define success?

For us, success is measured in the impact we leave behind, not just the balance sheet. It is about the projects that stand the test of time, the communities that thrive because of them, and the opportunities we create for the people who build and use them.

Guided by our mission to pioneer construction and real estate development, we are strengthening Innovo’s presence in our core markets. In each of these, our goal is the same: to combine local expertise with global standards and to be the trusted leader in applying technology to the built environment.

We define success by whether we’ve built responsibly, empowered our people, and delivered value that endures, with projects and communities that make life better long after construction is complete. That is the legacy we want Innovo to stand for worldwide.

Source: constructionweekonline.com