When your business is building satellites, the idea that ‘the sky’s the limit’ no longer applies. For Biny Ninan FCCA, the finance director at UAE commercial space company Orbitworks, the hallmark of her career has been a willingness to venture into the unknown.
Originally from India, Ninan has called UAE her home for three decades. She commutes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, where Orbitworks designs, builds and operates AI-enabled satellites. Its 50,000 sq ft advanced manufacturing facility, the region’s only site purpose-built for commercial-scale satellite production, can produce up to 50 satellites a year.
‘It’s unique to be at this crux of strategy, national ambition, finance and infrastructure building’
Through its flagship Altair programme, Orbitworks offers a ‘constellation-as-a-service’ model, giving governments and commercial customers access to sovereign Earth observation capabilities and actionable intelligence without building or operating their own satellite infrastructure. Its customers can deploy payloads or software in orbit, or access data and services from existing in-orbit assets. Following its first contract with a European government, Orbitworks plans a US$1bn spend in expanding its satellite network over the next five years.
Mission-ready outputs
Altair is on course to become the UAE’s first homegrown Earth observation constellation, with its inaugural satellite scheduled to be launched from California on a SpaceX rocket in October. By the end of 2027, Altair is expected to consist of 10 linked low-Earth-orbit satellites capable of processing data and generating mission-ready intelligence in orbit.
Ninan is keen to dispel outdated ideas about high-tech manufacturing. ‘It’s often perceived as heavy industry but advanced satellite manufacturing is increasingly powered by, AI, automation, robotics and digital engineering,’ she says. ‘The stereotype hasn’t kept pace with reality.’
Ambition and discipline
Ninan describes her role as a ‘strategic partner’, working alongside engineers, technical experts and government stakeholders to shape investment, commercial and growth decisions: ‘Ambition sets the direction; discipline makes it scalable.’
Her first mandate on joining Orbitworks last year – when the company was less than a year old – was to build the finance function from the ground up, a huge undertaking during a period of rapid growth in the global commercial space sector.
Her remit extends beyond financial reporting to establishing sustainable systems and controls, programme-costing frameworks and governance, while shaping funding and investment decisions, government support initiatives, insurance and commercial strategies.
CV
2025
Finance director, Orbitworks, Abu Dhabi
2024
Head of corporate finance, Euro Mechanical, Abu Dhabi
2022
Group financial controller, Incomlend, Dubai
2013
Group finance manager, rising to head of investor relations, TVM Capital Healthcare, Dubai
2008
Audit associate, rising to assistant manager, EY Dubai
‘In a capital-intensive engineering business, finance is part of the operating infrastructure,’ she says. ‘My role is to translate technical ambition into commercially sustainable decisions and create the financial discipline needed to scale.’
That discipline is increasingly important as the sector expands. ‘The commercial satellite industry generated US$303bn in revenue in 2025,’ Ninan notes. ‘That’s around 70% of the $429bn global space economy.’
Beyond its commercial potential, the project is a source of regional pride. ‘Orbitworks is supporting the UAE’s ambition to strengthen its position as a global producer and exporter of advanced space capability,’ Ninan explains. ‘It’s unique to be at this crux of strategy, national ambition, finance and infrastructure building. The UAE is developing its sovereign space capability and strengthening its presence in the space economy by manufacturing smart satellites with national expertise.’
‘Beauty in numbers’
Ninan’s impressive CV spans almost two decades working on M&A, treasury, fundraising, and cross-border investment strategies across fintech, oil and gas, private equity and now satellite manufacturing and operations – yet finance was not her original plan.
‘I realised I liked being in the thick of the action’
‘I didn’t think of myself as a numbers person, or being involved in any sort of business!’ she laughs. ‘My first love was music but my dad suggested studying accounting, and I trained at EY in Dubai.’
A successful student, Ninan came to appreciate the transformative power of a balance sheet once she began working. ‘The penny dropped when I saw the beauty in the numbers. I saw how business activities translate into numbers and tell the story of how a business performs,’ she recalls. ‘I realised I liked being in the thick of the action. I knew this was where I would learn and grow the most.’
Solving problems
After five years at EY, Ninan joined the Dubai-based TVM Capital Healthcare Partners as group finance manager, supporting the growth and scaling of companies across its healthcare portfolio. ‘I really felt the excitement of being inside a business, taking the hard calls, building processes and fixing problems. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’
‘I don’t walk into a boardroom expecting special treatment. I expect to contribute’
She needed some convincing when asked to pivot into TVM’s investor relations function. ‘I didn’t see myself enjoying that,’ she admits. Reassured that her financial acumen would remain central to the role, she made the leap into a job that required her to work across South-East Asia, Hong Kong, the US and UAE – while navigating life with a newborn baby.
‘It actually made perfect sense’, she recalls. ‘Doing a call at 4am or whenever was fine by me; I was awake all the time anyway!’
She later spent two and a half years at Incomlend, helping scale the Singapore-based fintech’s trade finance operations into Dubai, before joining the oil and gas services provider Euro Mechanical, where she established its corporate finance function and helped execute the group’s first acquisition outside the UAE.
Paying it forward
With the baby now 10 years old and her younger sister five, Ninan is keen to support women and girls pursuing careers in finance and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the industry. As an ACCA mentor and founding member of the YP Club, she is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Her assessment is that today’s challenge does not lie in education but in job opportunities and progression.
‘The UAE has led the region, ranking first in the Arab world for gender equality and thirteenth globally in the UN’s Gender Inequality Index, while investing heavily in science and space. Role models such as Nora Al Matrooshi, the first female Arab astronaut, and Sarah Al Amiri, minister of education and former chair of the UAE Space Agency, who led the Emirates Mars Mission, demonstrate that the STEM talent pipeline is strong,’ says Ninan. ‘The next frontier is translating that talent into greater representation in executive leadership.
Women make up just 28.2% of the STEM workforce globally, despite representing roughly half of the overall workforce. ‘Breaking the glass ceiling comes through consistently delivering results, earning credibility and having the confidence to compete at the table,’ she says.
‘I don’t walk into a boardroom expecting special treatment because I’m a woman. I walk in expecting to contribute.’
