Podcast

Maha Abouelenein, best-selling author and branding expert, shares her journey from secretary to CEO. We explore personal branding for everyone, the power of betting on yourself, learning from failure, and living with no regrets

Talal Tabbaa unpacks Bitcoin's bull run, ETFs, Altcoins, and GCC crypto moves. Is it too late to invest? Essential insights for skeptics and believers alike!

H.E. Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi joins me to talk about the urgent fight for ocean conservation, building a global tech platform from Sharjah, and the purpose behind his work—from rescuing turtles to reshaping the seafood industry. A must-listen episode!

I sat down with Abdullah Mutawi to unpack the brutal truths startups and investors face in today’s downturn. We explore high-stakes crises, power plays, and the collapse of Fetchr after its high-profile rescue. An essential listen if you're in startups!

Charlie Wright shares his journey from failed ventures to launching the UAE's fastest-growing electrolytes brand, with insights on entrepreneurship, overcoming challenges, and global expansion through the Huda Beauty incubator.

Farida shares stories on what makes family businesses in MENA so unique and delves into some of the challenges they face as the wealth is passed to the next generation and why there is a push to set up single family offices to manage that wealth!

Mazen recounts how an e-mail ended his 13 year career at Unilever and put him on a path to entrepreneurship. An insights packed episode on starting up, building a brand, scaling operations, and of course his Shark Tank Dubai experience!

Imad Ghandour shares insights on private equity in MENA, focusing on CedarBridge Capital Partners' approach. He discusses their successful exit from The Grooming Company Holding, management strategies, operational excellence, and crisis management

Vadim shares his learnings from being a professional Basketball athlete in Germany and the USA and how he used discipline to venture into a career as a CEO of Groupon Eastern Europe and then founding Bioniq, a global personalized supplements company!

Courtney shares insights on entrepreneurship, dealing with failure, balancing motherhood and career as well as how the 500 Global model works, what makes the perfect pitch, fundraising and so much more! A must listen for entrepreneurs and VC investors

Ronaldo Mouchawar reveals how he built Souq.com into MENA's e-commerce giant, leading to its $580 million acquisition by Amazon. Hear his personal stories, industry insights, and what's next for him.

Jonathan unpacks his learnings from his time at Rocket Internet and being a Co-CEO of 2 scale-ups, Jumia in Nigeria and Daraz in South Asia. Today, Jonathan invests in founders, helps them find co-founders and launch a startup with Antler MENAP

Dana and I go through her journey building MUNCH:ON from how she met her co-founder to figuring out governance, product testing, to fundraising, to scaling and dealing with an existential crisis to selling the business. A must listen!

What can Middle East founders learn from the China tech playbook? How can the Venture capital community come together to attract global funding? What are the winning industries for MENA? A super insightful conversation!

I sat down with Huda Al-Lawati, a veteran Private Equity executive to discuss the development of the industry in the Middle East & North Africa. Who qualifies for PE? What are the opportunities? The challenges? and what to expect from PE funds?

I sat down with Hassan Sawaf to learn about his work in AI particularly building aiXplain. Imagine GPT-4, Gemini, LLaMA and thousands more in 1 place and aiXplain would leverage them to build you a custom tool with little or no-code. Welcome to the future

I sat down with Jihad El Eit to unpack his experience building Kaykroo a hybrid kitchen startup serving 40 in-house brands across the UAE & Saudi. Jihad shares his journey, fundraising challenges and learnings! A great listen to entrepreneurs in F&B

In this special episode shot live from the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival on February 4th 2024, Steven and I discuss the power of personal branding, authenticity, entrepreneurship and more! A truly inspiring conversation

Venture capital is a long term game. Allen describes the work that Endeavor Catalyst does to support entrepreneurs globally through mentorship, investment and overall ecosystem development. He shares great advice to founders and emerging fund managers!

Elie and I discuss Anghami's transformation during the Covid/ Post Covid era. We discuss their dramatic move from Lebanon to Abu Dhabi, their NASDAQ New York listing and their recent merger with OSN+. An episode that is personal and highly informative!

Philip and I unpack the Emerging Venture Markets 2023 report recently published by MAGNiTT. We go beyond the numbers and discuss the trends that shaped 2023, the impact on the regional startup ecosystem, Saudi Arabia bucking the trend and 2024 predictions

We're looking back at 2023's most practical advice distilled from the 19 episodes shot over the year. Hear from top entrepreneurs, VCs and industry experts on confidence, culture, startups exits and investing.

We're looking back at 2023's biggest AHA moments. The common theme across all 19 episodes recorded in 2023 has been 'resilience'. Enjoy these inspiring moments and insights from some of our guests

Ali and I discuss his fascinating journey building Volt - a car pooling app - then Volt Lines - a B2B mobility platform - and the near fatal experiences he's had to endure including Volt Line's exit to Swvl. A masterclass in entrepreneurship!

Ryan and I discuss the technologies RedSea is building from the heart of KAUST in Saudi Arabia to feed the world sustainably. We go through the lifecycle of taking an idea through R&D, manufacturing, testing and into the hands of customers.

Tomaso shares his insights on running talabat, the largest food delivery platform operating in 8 Middle Eastern markets. We discuss operations, riders, revenue mix, mergers and acquisitions, innovation and we learn about Tomaso's leadership style.

GV and I discuss the state of growth stage venture capital investing with a special focus on the MENA region. We discuss Peak XV's investment strategy, what he looks for in target companies, advice for growth stage founders and early stage investors.

No is a powerful word and can be quite disheartening. Dr. Afridi and I discuss how we can prepare better and recover from rejection without letting it derail us. We also discuss the need to create safe spaces for expression in light of the ongoing war

Dr. Ali Fenwick and I discuss the impact of AI on our identity and the workforce, why does ChatGPT feel sentient, why should AIs be more human like, how he leveraged the predictability of algorithms to build a ~2million audience on TikTok and Instagram

Philip and I unpack the latest Emerging Venture Markets H1 2023 report published by MAGNiTT. We discuss venture capital investment trends, investor behavior, winning and emerging industries, artificial intelligence and Elon Musk's work ethic!

Marwan & Hassan wanted to make buying a used car, a high trust and digital first experience. They co-founded Carzaty in Oman in 2018 and exited to Kavak 3 years later. We discuss their analytical approach to founding Carzaty and their ultimate win!

Mudassir is the Co-founder & CEO of Careem, the MENAP region's biggest startup success story to date with a $3.1Bn exit to Uber in 2020. We discuss learnings from the various phases of Careem and what the future holds. Buckle up!

Zuhair & Rawan are the co-founders of Zest Equity, a platform that enables secondary transactions for startups and a host of liquidity-as-a-service products. We discuss syndications, secondaries, ESOP and the maturity of the MENA startup ecosystem.

Kareem is the Managing Partner at Modus Capital, a regional venture builder. We discuss lessons from his training as a US Marine, as an entrepreneur and we dive into the role of venture builders in supporting startup founders

I sat with Bill Connor, Founder & CEO of Three Media Consultancy to discuss the art of presenting confidently, a skill that no entrepreneur or leader can ignore. Bill shares tips on how to prepare the content, present and deliver a strong ask.

Basil is the General Partner at Nclude, a Venture Capital firm based in Egypt investing in fintech startups. We discuss the impact of the global macro environment on our startup ecosystem, specifically on Egyptian startups facing spiraling inflation.

Binod is an ex finance executive, ex founder and current executive coach and market analyst. We discuss inflation, bank failures, startup valuations and their impact on us as founders, business leaders and individuals living in the GCC

Adam founded One Moto to electrify last mile delivery across the world. He bootstrapped his way to selling ~10,000 electric vehicles/ month in 6 markets, raising $150Mn in financing and winning multiple awards. Adam shares his learnings.

Carine is a leading clinical psychologist in Dubai. On the occasion of International Women's Day 2023, we discuss the impact of inequities on women's mental health, how to raise resilient and independent girls, how to stop judging and shaming women.

Hossam is a marine oceanographer turned climate fund manager. We discuss the nature economy, regenerative farming, insect protein, food security and why our (MEA) region is particularly vulnerable vis-a-vis the Global North.

Nima is an award winning journalist. She was the presenter of The Middle East Business Report on BBC world. Nima shares tips on how we can become effective communicators and get what we want.

Philip and I unpack the latest Emerging Venture Markets 2022 report recently published by Magnitt. We discuss venture capital investment trends, winning industries, 2023 predictions and advice for founders. A great way to set the scene for 2023.

Sufyan Al Issa, Ph.D heads the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the UAE. We discuss the IFC's multibillion dollar investments based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a key focus on inclusiveness and reducing the gender gap

Dr. Druggan is an experienced educator and leader, he is currently the Superintendent at the American School of Dubai. We discuss the role of the school today and in the future, how we raise kids that are whole and how we deal with mental health

Dr. Raf Fatani is spearheading Amazon Alexa in Arabic globally. We discuss the challenges of building voice technology in Arabic from the ground up, what is the utility of a virtual assistant today and what does the future look like

Dr. Noah Raford is a globally respected futurist with extensive experience helping governments think big and translate ideas into policy. We discuss the future of gaming, why we need to care and what we should be doing about it

Christian Eid is one of the few who played a critical role in Careem's early days that lead to its eventual $3.1Bn sale to Uber. We discuss Careem's secret sauce, the role of culture and his unconventional approach to talent matching via NoBueno

We've all heard of the metaverse, but what does it truly mean and should we care? I speak to Fares Akkad, Meta's regional director for MENA about his company's $10Bn push into the metaverse. We also discuss the commercial opportunities for MENA creators.

We talk to Basel Anabtawi about his transition from podcaster and host of Basel Meets to entrepreneur and co-founder of Rising Giants Network. We discuss the challenges of starting up, monetizing podcasts and working with brands.

We talk to Sara Chemmaa about stumbling into entrepreneurship inspired by her toddler's unusual mealtime needs. We discuss entrepreneurship, manufacturing, fundraising for a non-tech startup and building a global brand.

Kamal Dimachkie and Eddie Maalouf are veteran marketing and communications experts and partners at newly launched Tough Love Advisors. We discuss the challenges of new beginnings, brand building, marketing, social media and more.

We talk to Feras Jalbout about his jump from employment to entrepreneur to build Baraka, an investment platform for the MENA region's young generation. We discuss his experience with Y Combinator, the world's top accelerator and how to navigate volatility

We talk to Ralph R. Debbas about pioneering the automotive industry in the Middle East. A 15 year journey that saw him create some of the world's most exquisite high performance luxury cars. This is the story of Ralph's W Motors.

We talk to Dr. Lambert about positive psychology, happiness and meaning, in life and at the workplace. We wrap up with insights from Dr. Lambert's research (a podcast scoop!) on the impact of school systems on our children's wellbeing.

We talk to Rashid Al Ghurair about building Cafu, the first on-demand fuel delivery company in the Middle East. We discuss fundraising, growth, sustainability and the future of fuel and mobility.

We talk to Omran Sharaf about leading one of the most significant projects the UAE has undertaken, the "Hope Probe". We discuss what it takes to deliver such a project, what we can learn from Mars and the impact of this mission for generations to come.

We talk to Jonathan Labin about taking a one year sabbatical from a high powered career at Facebook followed by a shift to startups as he joins Unifonic, a Saudi born startup. We discuss scale-ups, culture and 2022's tech trends!

We talk to Talal Tabbaa about his entrepreneurial journey and his passion for crypto having co-founded Jibrel and CoinMENA. We touch on ICOs, the business of exchanges, the disruption that crypto will create and Bitcoin at $600,000!

We talk to Shant Oknayan about building the regional footprint of one of the fastest growing startups globally. We zoom in on culture and our digital lives. We close with a deeply personal story and we learn about its impact on Shant's leadership style.

We talk to Mohamad Ballout about his remarkable journey building Kitopi, a UAE cloud kitchen unicorn with a vision to satisfy the world's appetite. We learn about Kitopi's operations, challenges, company culture, fundraising journey, investors and more.

We talk to Nadine Mezher, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at Sarwa about the importance of saving and investing early as well as smartly. We also discuss Nadine's journey as an entrepreneur and her tips on fundraising

We talk to Dr. Afridi about unlocking our potential as individuals and business leaders. She offers great tips on listening to our spirit, taking back our power, unleashing creativity and healing both our body and mind.

We talk to Emaan Abbass about facing taboos head on and launching Ketish, a luxury feminine and sexual wellness brand under the Huda Beauty umbrella. We cover Emaan's personal health challenges, chasing her dreams and working with the Kattan sisters.