Nadine Mezher, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Sarwa, and her 2 partners Mark Chahwan and Jad Sayegh were looking at consumer habits in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region when it comes to saving and investing and realized that we’re a region that doesn’t do well when it comes to making smart investments and managing personal finances. They wanted to change that. In 2018, they launched Sarwa with the goal to help young professionals save and invest smartly as well as remove all barriers to investing.

We talk to Nadine about Sarwa and the products they offer and what is in the pipeline. She shares tips on how to start saving and investing and why women must jump on-board. Nadine’s wish would be to see women occupy 50% of the 40,000 consumers currently registered on the platform, unfortunately it is not the case today. We’ve got work to do ladies!

We delve into Nadine’s exciting background as a fashion designer and her life before Sarwa as well as the experiences that set her up to her role today.

We wrap up the episode by discussing the launch of Sarwa and their continuous success by attracting some of the region’s top financial backers like Mubadala, Shorooq Partners, 500 Startups and more, bringing their total funding to date to US$25 Million. What was their fundraising strategy from the get-go and was it easier to fundraise given a diverse team?

SPONSORS:

This episode is sponsored by our friends at Astrolabs. Check out: www.Astrolabs.com/loulou to avail exclusive discounts on company registration in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, co-working space as well as discounts on online courses covering coding, social media, digital marketing and more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00 | Sponsor’s message and exclusive offer to listeners www.astrolabs.com/loulou

01:15 | Why you should consider “smart investing”

04:21 | How – quickly and easily – can you invest via Sarwa 

09:25 | Are you trading stocks? Would you consider a local player?

13:00 | And crypto is coming too!

14:55 | Investing is no longer a wealthy person’s privilege only. Who is investing today?

19:11 | What about real estate investing?

20:36 | How did Nadine’s background set her up for her role in Sarwa

25:35 | Being a solo entrepreneur versus having co-founders

28:26 | Having a self-funded versus a venture-backed business

32:05 | Startup fundraising advice (and what to learn from a “no”)

36:03 | Relaxing, bucket lists, a happy life and one parenting tip!

40:21 | Loulou’s closing message

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For sponsorships, guest recommendations, feedback and other requests, you can connect with me here.

To reach out to Nadine you can ping her on LinkedIn.

To educate yourself about investing, visit the Sarwa website.

You can follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter on @louloukhazen