Mustapha Hlil, Channel Director for Middle East, Turkey & Africa at F5, shares how the company has evolved from traffic management to cloud-native security, empowering partners across the region with SaaS, API protection, and MSP-driven strategies to tackle today’s complex cybersecurity landscape.
How has F5 evolved over the years?
F5’s journey began with a clear focus on traffic management and application delivery, providing solutions that helped businesses enhance the performance and reliability of their applications. However, as the digital landscape evolved and the threat surface expanded, F5 recognised a significant shift in customer priorities—specifically, a growing demand for robust, software-based security. This realisation prompted the company to expand its portfolio, initially with web application firewalls and eventually with a broader suite of security solutions, including bot protection, API security, and security capabilities designed for microservices-based architectures. As enterprises started moving toward hybrid and cloud-native environments, F5 responded by transforming its offerings to support not just traditional on-premises infrastructure, but also cloud and edge deployments. This strategic move allowed F5 to remain relevant and even more valuable to customers navigating the complexities of digital transformation, ensuring that their application security needs could be met regardless of the environment they operated in.
How has this transformation impacted your channel business?
This transformation has significantly impacted our channel strategy in a positive way. The F5 channel remains highly profitable, which is essential because partner profitability often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. We believe that if partners aren’t seeing value, we won’t remain top of mind for them. With the evolution of our portfolio, we’ve enabled our partners to not only continue generating revenue through services but also to innovate in the way they deliver those services. Our SaaS platform has been particularly instrumental in this. It allows partners to transition into more consultative roles, becoming trusted advisors to customers who are grappling with challenges like managing a sprawling application inventory or addressing the skills gap in cybersecurity. This shift has created opportunities for partners to build stronger, longer-term relationships with their clients by offering strategic guidance, rather than just technical support.
What skills should channel partners focus on acquiring?
For partners to succeed in this evolving environment, two major skill sets are critical. First, they need strong business acumen. It’s no longer sufficient to only understand technology; partners must understand the customer’s applications and their business priorities. This enables them to have more meaningful conversations that go beyond infrastructure and into areas that truly matter to the business. Second, partners need to be capable of translating these business needs into cybersecurity strategies and solutions. That requires deep knowledge of the platforms and products available, and an ability to implement them effectively in a way that aligns with business KPIs. These two competencies—understanding the business and being able to connect it to technical solutions—are what separate successful partners from the rest.
How are you enabling your partners to grow and succeed?
We’re deeply committed to enabling our partners and equipping them with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive. Our centralised platform, Partner Central, serves as a comprehensive resource for training, certification, and enablement. It offers a wide array of content that partners can access on demand. But we don’t stop there. We complement digital learning with hands-on experiences by running boot camps in key countries. These sessions use real-world case studies to bring concepts to life and make learning more practical. Beyond that, we also employ a shadowing approach, where partners get to apply their newly acquired knowledge alongside F5 teams on real projects. This blend of theoretical and practical learning ensures that partners not only understand our solutions but also know how to deploy and position them effectively in the field.
What criteria do you use to onboard new partners?
When it comes to bringing new partners into our ecosystem, we’re highly selective. The primary criterion is skills. We seek partners who possess strong cybersecurity expertise, can deeply engage with customers, and demonstrate the ability to listen and understand their unique challenges. It’s not just about reach or revenue—it’s about quality. We want to work with partners who are committed to investing in their capabilities and can grow with us over time. Because we recognise and respect the investment partners make to align with our vision, we make sure that the relationship is mutually beneficial and built on long-term success.
Which markets are you prioritising for expansion?
Our geographic focus within the MEA region includes a diverse set of high-potential markets. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa are at the forefront of our regional strategy. These countries are experiencing rapid digital transformation and increased demand for security solutions. In addition to our direct efforts in these markets, we’re also leveraging the strength of our distribution network to reach emerging and adjacent markets, enabling broader coverage and local engagement where needed. This dual approach helps us maintain a strong footprint while also scaling efficiently.
How does F5 differentiate itself from competitors?
F5’s differentiation lies in our laser focus. We don’t claim to be a jack-of-all-trades. Instead, we specialize in securing applications and APIs—two of the most critical components in today’s digital economy. Our strategy is to ensure complete protection, starting from the traditional firewall and extending to cover sophisticated threats like bot attacks, malicious API calls, data exfiltration, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incidents. This focused approach enables us to deliver proactive and precise security, tailored to the modern enterprise’s needs, rather than offering generic solutions that don’t go deep enough.
How has your channel program evolved recently?
Our channel program has evolved in tandem with our business. One of the key enhancements is the introduction of specialised tracks for different partner types, such as managed service providers (MSPs), resellers, and cloud providers. This specialisation ensures that partners can align their capabilities and go-to-market strategies more closely with our offerings. We’ve also streamlined the partner experience, making it easier to register deals, access training, and monitor performance. The goal is to give partners more autonomy and better visibility into their own ROI, while still providing the support they need to grow and succeed within the F5 ecosystem.
How is the MSP business shaping up for F5?
The managed service provider segment is a key area of focus and growth for us. We’re currently piloting several MSP engagements in the region, co-developing offerings that are tailored to market needs. These pilots involve close collaboration on designing the service, setting the right price points, and identifying the most suitable customer segments. We’re learning a lot through this process—what works, what doesn’t—and once we refine the model, our plan is to industrialise it and scale it across markets. This will be a major engine of growth for us, enabling F5’s capabilities to be delivered in a more flexible, service-oriented manner.
What’s the status of your cloud business?
Cloud adoption is accelerating rapidly, and we’re right in the middle of that wave. Today, every customer is either actively exploring SaaS options or trying to decide how to integrate cloud into their broader strategy. We’re seeing strong momentum, especially because SaaS offers faster time-to-value and easier go-to-market alignment. Our cloud business is growing in the double digits, which reflects both the maturity of our solutions and the readiness of customers to embrace this model. However, success in cloud isn’t just about hyperscalers. It’s also about having regional presence and trusted local MSPs who can provide tailored support—something we’re heavily investing in.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for partners?
There are several compelling areas where partners can add real value. One major opportunity is in tech refresh initiatives, where customers need to move away from outdated legacy systems. Another is in recovery—customers who feel abandoned by other vendors and need reliable, secure alternatives. Perhaps the most exciting is the SaaS opportunity, where partners can help customers navigate their migration to cloud-native services like F5 Distributed Cloud. In all these scenarios, the partner’s ability to guide, advise, and support becomes indispensable.
How do you view the Turkish market?
Turkey presents a promising growth opportunity for us. The market is driven by a large and young population, combined with strong activity in sectors such as telecommunications, financial services, e-government, and e-commerce. Each of these sectors requires advanced security capabilities to keep up with digital demands, making F5’s offerings highly relevant. We’re committed to deepening our presence in Turkey through continued investment and local engagement.
What about Africa—what potential do you see there?
Africa represents one of the most exciting regions for growth. Countries like Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, and Egypt are making significant technological strides, often leapfrogging traditional development stages. This rapid digitisation creates a parallel demand for modern security solutions, especially as more services move online. We see tremendous potential in Africa and are aligning our efforts accordingly to be part of that digital evolution.
What’s your message to partners?
Our message to partners is simple: stay close to your customers. Understand the critical nature of their applications, listen to their pain points, and help them prioritise their needs. In an environment of constant cyber threats, the value of a partner who truly understands the customer’s business and can offer actionable, strategic advice is higher than ever. That’s the kind of partnership we aim to foster at F5.
What are your big plans for the region?
We’re continuing to invest heavily in the region, with new offices and expanded teams in countries like Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. We’re also relocating more of our regional functions and support operations to be physically closer to the customers we serve. This not only enhances responsiveness but also reinforces our commitment to the region. Our goal is sustainable, long-term growth built on local engagement and mutual success.
