He provides strategic direction and ensures steady growth of the Media business communities, home to thousands of media companies, and tens of thousands of creative professionals. As the Managing Director of this integrated creative ecosystem which is home to many Fortune 500 companies from around the world, entrepreneurs and startups alike, Majed plays a key role in positioning Dubai as an international media hub.

Prior to this role, Majed was Managing Director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City. Under his leadership, the integrated ICT hub became a strategic partner of the Smart Dubai initiative that is driving Dubai’s transformation into one of the smartest cities in the world.

In a previous role as Director of Business Development for Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City, he was part of the team that launched in5, a dedicated platform for emerging talent that supports innovation and entrepreneurship across TECOM’s business parks.

Majed has also served as Director Commercial Operations and Director of Sales at Dubai Internet City and prior to that gained invaluable experience with Dubai International Financial Centre and Emirates Airlines.

Amongst his other responsibilities, Majed is a member of the Dubai Future Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystems and a Board Director of SmartCity Malta. He also leads in5, TECOM Group’s incubator and enabling platform for technology, media, and design startups.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 00:30 – Growing up in Dubai
• 02:00 – Pursuing MBA while being out-stationed with Emirates (in Africa).
• 03:00 – “Emirates is a school itself”
• 05:45 – Dubai’s many cities and what they are?  Majed shares the history of His Highness’ grand vision to shift away from oil dependency.
• 13:30 – On building government services on the basis of a customer experience program.
• 15:00 – How they are supporting businesses within the leading creative zones of Dubai.
• 19:30 – The role of In5 in Dubai’s startup ecosystem.
• 24:30 – In5 flying talent from across the globe come to offer expert workshops to the community.
• 29:00 – Majed’s role on the Dubai Future Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
• 32:00 – YAL as a platform has shown there are a variety of people to learn from and interact with and the benefits he sees.
• 34:00 – On attending YAL events and the network “has provided me with an angle I didn’t see before”
• 36:15 – The importance of keeping things interesting.
• 38:15 – “There are a lot of opportunities lying ahead, keep your head up and work hard”
• 41:30 – Majed’s dream initiative to create a creator’s ecosystem to enable and empower creators of all types.
• 44:00 – “Opportunities might be hidden but they are there”

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Helen is the CEO of BizWorld UAE, Egypt, and Jordan, social enterprises that teach kids entrepreneurship skills. She is also the Founder of Future Entrepreneurs, a platform that aims to empower youth entrepreneurs in MENA. Most recently, she also took on the role of Director of Entrepreneurs hip & Youth Start up, Innovation & Social Impact with GEMS Education. She was recently named one of the UAE’s 100 Smartest People and one of the 50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World. She was also a TedX Speaker on the topic of entrepreneurship education. She is also one of the founding Co-Leads of the Founder Institute, Dubai Chapter launching in summer 2020.

Helen studied Law & Government at the University of Manchester, UK and completed her executive education at Columbia University. As a believer in life long learning, she is currently enrolled at the London School of Economics reading International Development. On a personal level, Helen is a mother of 2, runner, triathlete and adventurer who believes in making dreams come to life and that anything is possible.

Enjoy the show!

Posted on September 3rd, 2020

Show Notes:

• 01:15 – Helen’s background and upbringing.
• 02:15 – Pushing the boundary since a very early age.
• 03:00 – Her childhood and education background.
• 04:00 – Helen’s continuing education through out her life.
• 07:30 – How everything in her life occurred by random chance and luck.
• 13:45 – Her first venture into entrepreneurship as CEO.
• 14:45 – What is the Future Entrepreneurs Platform?
• 19:00 – Entrepreneurship is a learning tool for children of all backgrounds.
• 23:00 – “Education is primarily delivered by educators”, the work they are doing to train teachers.
• 25:00 – Giving back is in grained in everything she does.
• 32:15 – The power of social enterprise vs. charity
• 34:00 – One of her best decisions was joining Young Arab Leaders and getting access to its network.
• 37:30 – On the opportunities to meet power players from corporates to government officials as part of YAL
• 40:00 – Opportunities that exist within experimentation.
• 42:00 – Adapting her own business to the pandemic.
• 44:45 – On having multiple role models and not a specific role model to look to.
• 46:15 – How she sets her goals at the end of the year for the following year.
• 51:00 – The importance of dreaming big
• 54:15 – Her triathlon and baking dual hobby
• 55:45 – Helen’s dream initiative for Emirates Airlines to pursue.

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Farah launched Stutter UAE in 2013 to raise awareness and support people who stutter through various workshops and events.

In 2016, Farah was featured in a book chapter titled “Game Changers: How Women in the Arab World Are Changing the Rules and Shaping the Future”.

In 2017, a short film documentary ‘Just Another Accent’ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner and Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden; shedding light on Farah’s journey with Stutter UAE.

In 2018, Farah was awarded the Abu Dhabi Award; the highest civilian medal and recognition granted by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for her positive impact in the community.

In 2020, Farah launched iStutter Center in partnership with SpeechCare Center in Portugal, an online speech therapy center focusing on treatments for stuttering.

Also in 2020, Farah co-founded Guiding Stars, an online platform guiding mothers to a more mindful way of raising twins.

Show Notes:

• 01:45 – Farah’s Emirati background
• 05:45 – What is Stutter UAE?
• 07:15 – How she overcame her own stutter.
• 10:15 – Stuttering more in our mother tongue and her struggles with Arabic.
• 12:15 – iStutter Center launched in collaboration with Speech Care Center in Portugal.
• 15:15 – Farah being awarded the Abu Dhabi Award.
• 19:15 – Launching her next venture, Guiding Stars
• 22:30 – Going through the Ma’an Social Incubator program.
• 23:30 – Why Farah decided to join Young Arab Leaders.
• 24:45 – Access to mentorship and providing guidance to the next generation.
• 26:15 – The role of Young Arab Leaders in empowering women entrepreneurs
• 29:45 – Farah’s role models; she’s even met and interacted with them
• 33:00 – Farah’s routine of reading to her children before bed every night.
• 34:45 – “What would you want to be remembered for?”
• 36:15 – How testing out the theories in a book actually started to manifest for her
• 37:45 – Her joy of writing and painting.
• 39:45 – Focusing on the fact that happiness starts from within.
• 41:45 – “Do not be afraid to take risks” and how the calculated risks she took, brought her to where she is today.

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Since 2008, Al Gurg has been Chairwoman of Young Arab Leaders UAE, where she promotes education, entrepreneurship and youth development.

Al Gurg has been advocating a greater role for women in business. In 2015 she launched the Muna Al Gurg Scholarship at London Business School, supporting female students studying in the school’s MBA and Executive MBA programme.

Al Gurg is on the board of several non-profit organisations, such as the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development where she works closely with its Chairman, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. At the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Charity Foundation, she is responsible for strategy and initiatives both in the UAE and internationally. She is a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sustainability Board, which is mandated to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to refugees in the MENA region. Finally, she is a founding board member of Endeavor UAE, a non-profit organisation promoting high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging and growth markets.

Muna Al Gurg is an active investor; one of her most publicized successes was the $3.1 billion exit from the Middle East's largest technology startup Careem which was acquired by Uber in March 2019. Al Gurg was one of the only female investors and the sole Emirati.

She started her career with Saatchi & Saatchi in Dubai, and consequently joined the family business in 2001. She holds an MBA from London Business School in the UK and is also a Fellow of the Middle East Leadership Initiative of The Aspen Institute.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:45 - Muna’s background and growing up in Deira.
• 3:45 - The Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group’s wide-ranging portfolio of companies.
• 5:00 - Becoming the head of retail during the last recession.
• 6:45 - Having a presence online and dealing with the current Pandemic
• 8:45 - Being part of the UN Refugees Sustainability Board
• 10:45 - Her learnings from Saatchi & Saatchi
• 12:15 - Expressing herself on her blog and writing for Gulf News
• 16:15 - Her ‘baby project’ in Zanzibar.
• 18:45 - About the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Foundation and various initiatives it supports.
• 20:15 - The Young Arab Leaders network.
• 21:45 - The launching of Young Arab Leaders at the Dead Sea.
• 22:15 - Young Arab Leaders’ Power Lunches and meeting prominent figures.
• 24:15 - Giving back to the community as a YAL member and impacting the youth of the region.
• 25:45 - The role of mentorship in a youth’s learning.
• 26:30 - The learnings and ‘mentorship’ she received from her own father.
• 27:15 - Her tea party at Buckingham Palace.
• 28:45 - Being a Founding Member of Endeavor UAE.
• 30:00 - “It’s a small world”
• 31:15 - The need for entrepreneurs to solve problems that aren’t as capitally intensive in the current climate.
• 33:30 - Her mentor at the time when she got started.
• 36:15 - “Change begins with you”.
• 39:15 - The Acumen Academy and it’s global network of fellows creating a domino effect of impact.
• 40:45 - Her travels exploring the continent of Africa.
• 41:30 - Her weekend passion at Al Serkal Avenue and Jameel Arts Centre.
• 43:00 - Muna’s wish for the UAE to become a leader in Intellectual Property and Research.
• 44:30 - How to make it happen by supporting the growing talent within local institutions and by having the private sector contribute.
• 47:00 - Muna’s advice on envisioning your end goals.

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In her previous role as Senior Manager at Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Najla led a team of business counselors through the due diligence process of selecting ventures for financing. She also set up and operated the Northern Emirate branch of Khalifa Fund, covering Ajman, Dubai, and Sharjah.

Najla holds an MBA from Stanford University. Prior to joining Khalifa Fund, Najla was a senior associate at McKinsey and Company’s New York office, primarily serving clients across the financial institutions sector. Her experience also includes roles within PricewaterhouseCoopers and Shell.

Najla is also founder of Khayarat, a platform that empowers young, high-potential Emiratis to make informed career choices, and enables them to succeed in the private sector. With a community of over one thousand young Emiratis, and over 100 placements in leading international private sector companies, the platform is influencing the next generation of Emiratis to raise their ambitions and fulfill their potential.

Najla is a board member of United Arab Bank, where she chairs the Board Audit Committee, and a board member of Endeavor UAE. She is also a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative. In 2019, she was selected to be an Eisenhower Global Fellow.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:30 - Najla’s beginnings and travels.
• 02:45 - Describing her first job at PWC.
• 05:45 - The genesis of Sheraa, born from an idea.
• 07:45 - Continuous cohort improvement at Sheraa.
• 08:45 - Her entrepreneurial venture with Khayarat.
• 12:30 - The bridge for Emirati graduates and the private sector.
• 14:15 - Her McKinsey story and what happened at her first interview.
• 17:00 - Endeavor’s UAE Chapter and supporting scale-ups of the region.
• 19:00 - Sheraa’s iterations, from seed to grants
• 20:30 - Access Sharjah program and thematic competitions
• 21:30 - On disbursing over$700k, Equity-free, non-dilutive grant funding
• 22:45 - Different tracks with multiple corporate partnerships for startups.
• 24:00 - Three ways you can support entrepreneurs as an entity
• 25:00 - On being the only female board member of a bank
• 26:30 - Being a part of the Aspen Institute, beyond reflection it inspires leaders to act.
• 27:30 - The regional focus of Middle East Leadership Initiative of the Aspen Institute
• 29:00 - The network effect of the Aspen Institute, the Resnick Action Forum
• 31:15 - How she manages her time with so many initiatives and organizations on her team // the importance of building a team you can trust
• 33:15 - “The first step on your entrepreneurial journey”
• 37:00 - Entrepreneurship is inter-disciplinary and Sheraa is democratizing access to entrepreneurship.
• 38:15 - On the false narratives around entrepreneurship.
• 40:45 - The COVID-19 solidarity fund.
• 41:45 - Revealing Sheraa’s yet to-be-announced initiative!
• 43:30 - The move of Sheraa’s HQ to SRTIP (Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park)
• 44:00 - What is Young Arab Leaders, in the Vice-Chairwoman’s words
• 45:15 - Supporting young Arabs to become the next generation of leaders
• 45:45 - Disheartened entrepreneurs, remember as all previous crises, it will eventually pass.
• 47:30 - “With every crisis comes new opportunities” and how 3Dinova, a Sheraa supported startup, pivoted during pandemic.
• 49:45 - “Don’t die with your music still in you”
• 51:15 - Rarely gifting business books, but instead of novels and stories that will resonate with the recipient.
• 55:45 - The UAE itself is an incubator for dreams, whether those are dreams and hopes of individuals, or organizations or even nations.
• 57:30 - The COVID19 situation and remembering that life is short and we are all interdependent.

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This episode’s guest is Robert Scoble from Infinite Retina, where he shared some highlights from his keynote talk about Spatial Computing.

These mini episodes offer insights into the trends they are seeing from their respective roles as well as their thoughts on the MENA startup ecosystem and their takeaways from the 2020 Step Conference.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guest speakers and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2020 Step Conference.

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This episode’s guest is Hasan Haider from 500 Startups, where as a regional venture capitalist, provides us some insights into the 500 Falcons Fund.

These mini episodes offer insights into the trends they are seeing from their respective roles as well as their thoughts on the MENA startup ecosystem and their takeaways from the 2020 Step Conference.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guest speakers and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2020 Step Conference.

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This episode’s guest is Alicia Sornson from Village Capital, where she gives us some highlights into their recent Finance Forward initiative in the MENA region.

These mini episodes offer insights into the trends they are seeing from their respective roles as well as their thoughts on the MENA startup ecosystem and their takeaways from the 2020 Step Conference.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guest speakers and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2020 Step Conference.

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This episode’s guest is Jeremiah Owyang from Kaleido Insights, where he provides some highlights from his keynote talk about the six digital eras.

These mini episodes offer insights into the trends they are seeing from their respective roles as well as their thoughts on the MENA startup ecosystem and their takeaways from the 2020 Step Conference.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guest speakers and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2020 Step Conference.

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Stuart is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and Alesca has been part of multiple prestigious accelerator programs including Stanford StartX, Thrive Agtech, Unreasonable Impact, Pearse Lyons, BitsxBites, and Dubai Future Accelerator as an innovator in the field of controlled environment agriculture, hyper-local urban farming, and Farming-as-a-Service.

Alesca’s focus on emerging markets and re-framing our conversation around food and agriculture is making positive changes on a global scale for all of humanity.

Stuart is an UCLA alumni and previously worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch Japan Securities in Tokyo and the emerging market business strategy team at Dell China in Beijing.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:15 – On being a second generation Japanese American, born in Colorado.
• 02:30 – Exposure to finance and technology through Merrill Lynch.
• 4:00 – Impacting the lives of many through finance mechanisms.
• 9:00 – Maintaining a healthy level of disrespect for things that are legacy.
• 9:30 – Growing up in Singapore and what life was back then.
• 13:00 – The challenge and thrill of starting over and rebuilding.
• 16:30 – On moving to China to work for DELL China.
• 20:30 – On Lenovo’s strategy of exporting China’s roadmap.
• 22:45 – Some of the major trends across every geography the research looked at, from income to technology trends.
• 25:30 – Alesca Life, an agriculture technology company, building indoor farms and farm management solutions.
• 25:35 – Bundling and unbundling of the software and hardware.
• 29:00 – If only one form of transportation, we would be severely limited to inefficient modes depending on the situation.
• 30:45 – Difference between indoor vertical farms and greenhouses.
• 35:15 – Alesca Life’s two business models – Producer & Enabler.
• 38:00 – Simulating four natural disasters to adapt taste.
• 40:00 – Defining fleets in 4s and 5s for efficiency (per Urban Grower).
• 45:00 – Everything they do is hydroponic.
• 48:15 – Fiber optics, lasers and the future of AgriTech is ambitious.
• 50:00 – Looking to cloud server management for best practices in the future of AgriTech.
• 56:00 – “We have a lot of opinions, as consumers of food, of what agriculture should look like…”
• 60:00 – On using the term agriculture and foods.
• 61:45 – The emerging market focus of Alesca Life.
• 65:45 – Showcasing the Alesca Life ‘farm’ and the Mercedes Benz cafe case.
• 66:45 – The fun things they are planning to do in R&D.
• 69:15 – Personalized customizations for growing.
• 71:45 – Exposure to new innovative business models due to his exposure to the Chinese market.
• 73:30 – Alesca’s moonshot of ‘Free Food’.
• 77:30 – Thoughts on giving food (or even money) away to people and finding life fulfillment.
• 80:30 – On never using the word ‘farmer’.
• 82:00 – Alesca’s experience with various startup accelerators and Stuart’s takeaways.
• 87:30 – On his lack of time to watch movies or TV shows since founding Alesca Life.
• 92:00 – His current role as a ‘Bible salesman’
• 95:45 – On having a VR/AR enabled pitch deck.
• 97:30 – His thoughts on colonizing the moon and growing food on Mars.
• 101:30 – The coincidence in his family name and finding his life purpose.
• 102:30 – Hard work is superior to talent.
• 110:45 – “Constellating” in R&D projects.

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Her latest work, In Transit: Botany of a Journey, is on display at the Jameel Arts Centre's Artist's Garden until May 2020. It consists of a garden grown from seeds that have travelled in the intestines of people that either live in or visit the city of Dubai. Most of the seeds we eat in our daily meals pass unnoticed and survive the process of human digestion, leaving our bodies undamaged and remaining germinable. Dubai as a global city and the business hub of the Middle East receives an average of 90 million travellers a year, coming from 270 destinations, across six continents. The culinary habits of such a heterogeneous population is incomparable; all of the seeds ingested by Dubai’s fluid and transient population make their way to the same location — the city’s main sewage treatment plant in Al-Aweer. If given the appropriate conditions, the seeds contained in the plant’s final, clean ‘sludge’ will germinate and grow into adult plants.

Asunción's Artist’s Garden is grown from the seeds that survive. The project reflects on ideas around globality, interconnectivity, mobility and cohabitation, and challenges the nature-culture divide that places human activity as a separate category from other natural phenomena; through the artist’s long-term research and the germination of the seeds, Asuncion redraws a way back to human/nature interconnectedness.

The main focus of her work is contemporary peasantry. Her understating of the figure of the small or medium farmer is not merely as food producer but as cultural agent, responsible for both perpetuating traditional knowledge and for generating new expertise. She employs installation, photography, video, sound and other media to examine the rural realm driven by a strong desire to understand the value and complexity of its cultural production, as well as the burdens that keep it invisible and marginalised.

She has produced work reflecting on land usage, nomad architecture, farmers’ strikes, bureaucracy on territory, transformation of rural labour, biotechnology and global food trade.

Molinos Gordo won the Sharjah Biennial Prize 2015 with her project WAM (World Agriculture Museum) and represented Spain official section at the 13th Havana Biennial 2019. Her work has been exhibited at venues including V&A Museum (London), Delfina Foundation (London), ARNOLFINI (Bristol), The Townhouse Gallery (Cairo), Darat Al Funun (Amman), Tranzit (Prague), ART BASEL Miami Beach (US), Cappadox Festival (Uchisar-Turkey), The Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), Museo Carrillo Gil (Mexico), MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan (Mexico), MUSAC (León, Spain), CA2M (Madrid, Spain), CAB de Burgos (Spain), Matadero (Madrid, Spain) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Spain), among others.

She obtained her B.F.A. from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she also pursued her Master in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice. She is currently studying Anthropology and Ethnography at UNED (Spain).

Molinos Gordo is represented by Travesia Cuatro gallery and lives between Spain and Egypt.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:15 - Growing up in a small rural village in Spain.
• 01:45 - What is International Peasantry?
• 3:45 - Communication without language, but through commonalities.
• 4:15 - Her background in fine arts
• 5:00 - The diversity of professions in small rural villages
• 5:45 - Moving to Egypt for a research residency.
• 6:30 - The rural theme she explores in her works.
• 7:15 - The ongoing research and artworks.
• 8:30 - Being part of the Sharjah Bienniale with her work, the World Agriculture Museum
• 10:45 - On representing Spain at the Havana Biennale, campesino campesino (from Peasant to Peasant)
• 13:30 - The knowledge sharing aspect of the project.
• 14:30 - Taking part in the V&A exhibition, “food bigger than the plate”.
• 16:15 - Crafting the CVs of farmers through hyperboles.
• 18:00 - In Transit: Botany of a Journey
• 22:30 - On working with collaborators to bring her idea to life: Dawn Ross and Nadine
• 23:45 - What they did with 2 cubic meters of fecal matter to grow a garden.
• 28:15 - Bacteria & the Star Wars Cantina.
• 29:30 - The reason why the first batch is not recommended / suitable for human consumption.
• 31:00 - Why the UAE is an ideal location for such an art installation project.
• 32:15 - Being inspired by the works of Timothy Morton.
• 35:30 - The way she learns about things is through hands-on experiences.
• 36:20 - “Each individual renders information differently”
• 37:30 - The things she has the tendency to do.
• 40:00 - The idea of nature-culture divide; interdependence and mutual recognition
• 44:30 - Documenting Darwin’s Nightmare.
• 48:15 - Companion planting in the terrace garden.

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He is considered one of the most influential figures in Dubai, as voted amongst the 100 most inspirational leaders in the business world for the year 2018. Driven by a passion for enticing creative performances, he travelled worldwide to renowned performance halls, going from being the Head of Operations in Royal Albert Hall in London to be the CEO of Dubai Opera.

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He believes doing business in a more ethical and sustainable way not only benefits society and the environment, but it helps companies outperform too.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 02:15 - His love for traveling and meeting new people
• 03:00 - Studying economics, realizing how lucky he was and his decision to pursue business ethics and giving back.
• 04:30 - Setting up his first business in Barcelona while being bored in university classes.
• 05:30 - On moving to London for love
• 05:45 - Moving to London and working there.
• 07:15 - At the age of 25 in London and not knowing how the corporate world works after graduating
• 06:45 - Coming from Tona in Catalonia and setting up the Itaca Cultural Space.
• 08:00 - On selling his first business
• 08:45 - His first sustainability role at Radley Yeldar.
• 10:45 - Hungry for more experiences
• 11:15 - Small world connections that lead him to Dubai.
• 11:45 - The story on how he met his wife.
• 14:00 - Joining Chalhoub Group in Dubai as part of the sustainability team.
• 15:00 - Pillars, KPIs and Objectives for sustainability.
• 16:00 - The drive and need to create something of his own.
• 17:45 - What is Companies for Good? Good on-demand.
• 19:45 - The types of engagements Companies for Good offers.
• 21:15 - Engagements all across UAE and Spain.
• 22:00 - What motivates Marc
• 22:45 - On how his role models inspired him - his grandfather and Mohammed Yunus
• 24:30 - On his thoughts on routine and being self-disciplined without routines.
• 26:00 - His hobby revolving around making someone special laugh.
• 27:45 - “Do Good” and what it means to everyone.
• 28:45 - His favorite books, from Game of Thrones
• 29:00 - Political documentaries focused on the Catalonia - Spain debate
• 32:30 - His dream initiative would be for all companies to join forces to come together for a common goal for Expo 2020
• 36:00 - The importance of taking action and doing things rather than just complaining about it. Just take action.

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Before he joined University of Maryland as a business undergrad, Oweis was being mentored by his father and unlike other teenagers he was involved in major international business deals. This hands-on experience prepared him for a leadership role, which helped in the evolution and expansion of MZ Holdings’ B2C business. From setting up the largest auto remanufacturing unit in the UAE and expanding it to seven countries, to developing exclusive auto solutions with international celebrities, to launching a joint venture with the Government of Sharjah, Oweis, at the age of 28, manages three of its companies that include OWS Auto, Tatra Middle East and Transaxle ME.

As a serial entrepreneur, Oweis established Rafid Automotive Solutions in 2017 as a joint venture between Sharjah Asset Management and OWS Auto. Today Rafid operates diverse services that includes an accident reporting app, fleet of electric cars and provides vehicle emission testing to quick service and parts supply and more. In 2017, Oweis Zahran also launched Voltron Motors in the UAE and the US with Hollywood actor Tyrese Gibson, mostly known for his roles in The Fast and The Furious franchise. Customizing cars for corporates or individuals, Voltron Motors’ clientele range from Hollywood celebrities to corporate fleets to high profile people in the Middle East.

Oweis’s philanthropic endeavors match his business ambitions. The company runs a small yet significant operation of providing clean drinking water to families in Nigeria and Ghana. Established in 2015, with the collaboration of Nigerian ambassador to the UAE, H.E. Mohammed Gello, Oweis along with his brothers, have since established six drilling rigs in Africa.

Enjoy the show!

01:15 - What it was like being born and raised in Brooklyn as an African American.

06:30 - His father’s decision to move the family to the Middle East to pursue his entrepreneurial career.

07:30 - The FMS, Foreign Military Sales business of his father’s big initial success

08:15 - Moving from Dubai back to the US for university

10:30 - On getting his GED.

12:30 - Learning from real life projects and case studies at work.

13:00 - Taking Harvard Online Business school programs to further his own learning.

13:45 - The mentorship of his father and how it played a role in shaping his own entrepreneurial journey.

15:30 - Setting up OWS Automotive with his brothers.

18:00 - Shadowing his father, including be his personal driver.

21:45 - Joint venture with Sharjah Government

27:45 - The story behind Tyrese Gibson and Voltron Motors

32:00 - His views on the luxury car market in the UAE

34:30 - Philanthropic work, clean drinking projects in West Africa

38:45 - Turning off his phone for the weekend and realizing you won’t really mis out on anything.

42:00 - The importance of being healthy and working out

44:15 - His message on a billboard, “train hard, fight easy”

46:30 - Tyrese’s Book, Getting out of my own head

47:30 - His hobby of browsing the internet and researching what’s out there

48:45 - UAE’s role and opportunity to extend its arm to support and help other emerging markets.

52:30 - His message to all entrepreneurs out there.

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A qualified digital marketer with an international career spanning across Dubai, New York, London and Australia, Briar specialises in building engaging and ‘human’ content strategises in what she refers to as ‘new-age PR.’ In 2018, Briar and her team launched a leading regional podcasting series with experts and were part of a global Amazon Prime TV series, overseeing teams of well-known entrepreneurs in the Middle East and APAC regions. Speaking on international stages, Briar delivers engaging keynotes on personal branding, “no-fluff” Instagram and LinkedIn strategies, new-age PR and digital media, and building an online-offline reputation.

Briar practices what she preaches and has built an engaged business community in Dubai of over 35,000 people - online and offline - who attend her monthly Deals in High Heels talk shows to discuss personal and professional development. She had over 2000 business women attend her talk show events in one short year.

As a young entrepreneur originally from a small farm in New Zealand, Briar is driven to inspire people to be brave, strategic and work hard to follow your dreams. Her first book, ‘Building A Reputation for Business Success’ is being launched this year, along with her new fashion fitness and sunglasses label.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 7:30 - Starting her side hustle

• 8:45 - On being fired from her last job and the lack of passion for that.

• 10:45 - Her MO for moving to cities she had never visited before.

• 13:15 - Starting her “Deal in High Heels” talk show

• 14:30 - Her strategy for Hashtags to grow her following

• 16:45 - Filming of an Amazon Prime series

• 18:45 - Looking to Oprah Winfrey & Ellen DeGeneres as role models for the talk show

• 19:45 - The power of repeat network events and building trust with others

• 20:30 - One of various series they produce

• 21:30 - Starting a sunglass and fashion label

• 23:30 - Writing a book, “Building a reputation for business success”

• 25:15 - The importance of controlling your online presence

• 26:15 - Identifying what kind of brand you want to build with your vision

• 28:15 - Documenting your life vs. ‘creating it’

• 32:15 - Challenging the status quo

• 34:45 - Her hobbies and routines

• 35:45 - Briar’s view on the great initiatives coming out of Dubai to be a leader in sustainability and technology innovation

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In the last decade, Karl has built up The Neutral Group from a two-person start-up to an international business, and is now preparing its Neutral Fuels LLC subsidiary, a company that produces biofuel from used cooking oil, for an IPO on the London AIM stock market in 2023. Simultaneously, Karl is building another subsidiary Neutral Assets LLC into an “Internet of Things” asset management company. 

Since starting his first company in 1990, and selling it to Microsoft, Karl has built and sold five companies, and led two companies to their Initial Public Offering. He has conducted business in 46 countries and has created a world first this year – a highly innovative strategy to turn human faeces into reusable energy. 

Karl mentors start-ups across industry, and was the first Adjunct Lecturer at the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi. He has worked as a Catalyst at Hult International Business School in both Dubai and San Francisco. Karl holds an B.Eng. (Hons.) in Industrial Engineering, an executive MBA, and is writing his thesis on “Psychological profiling of start-up teams.” 

As the regional expert on biofuels and their adoption in the Middle East, Karl and his company have won regional and international awards and Karl delivers keynotes on entrepreneurship, business and sustainability, all over the world. 

Enjoy the discussion.

Show Notes:

• 01:30 - On being an entrepreneur for all his life, he was just born to be an entrepreneur
• 04:45 - First startup in the UK and selling to Microsoft
• 05:45 - How Microsoft courted them to sell
• 07:15 - Joining a biker gang post exit
• 11:00 - His multiple ventures and IPOs following the biker gang years
• 14:15 - The founding of the Neutral Group
• 15:15 - What is the Neutral Group?
• 23:30 - Getting a fuel production license in the UAE
• 25:45 - Opening more facilities in other countries in the region
• 27:15 - The different types of fuels they produce at Neutral Fuels
• 30:30 - The challenge of building a great diverse team
• 32:45 - “Never meet your heroes”
• 35:00 - On being a lead singer of a rockband
• 38:45 - How Dubai is perfectly suited for an entrepreneur like Karl
• 41:00 - How redtape is seen as an opportunity in Dubai
• 42:30 - On the merits of making time everyday to think
• 45:15 - The benefits of discovering what makes you happy
• 55:15 - His ‘non-words of wisdom’ wisdom to share

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Dr Corrie Block is a leading business strategist and CEO of Paragon Consulting, Professor of Strategic Management at Monarch Business School, and certified NLP Executive Coach, with over 20 years’ experience working on more than 100 companies.

Dr Corrie has provided strategic consulting for the Council of Europe and World Bank, tech start-ups, multinationals and governments, across more than 30 continents. He’s founded 5 successful businesses in Europe and MENA and received awards for his product innovations.

As both an academic and practitioner, he completed all of his post-grad studies (including master’s in business administration & Global Leadership, a Doctorate in Business Administration and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies), all while working full time. He has been published in Gulf Business, Forbes, CEO Magazine, Entrepreneur, Business Islamica, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies and Routledge Academic Books.

As an international speaker, Dr Corrie is often asked to speak on stages around the world. He delivers workshops and deep insights on employee engagement, meaningful management, A.I, culture, tech, innovation and the organization of the future. Dr Corrie believes that “business is personal” and runs a leading, regional podcast featuring panels of experts.

As a strategic consultant to multinationals, governments and startups alike, he shared his insights into many thought provoking concepts such as the ‘work life blend’ and how business is personal.

Show Notes:

* 1:30 - From Canada to Estonia

* 2:45 - 2 Masters and 2 Doctorates

* 3:00 - Arab Islamic Studies & moving to Yemen

* 6:30 - War seems like a good reason to leave a country

* 10:00 - Explaining “line of fire” to a 7 year old

* 12:00 - Coming to Dubai as the war in Yemen intensified

* 15:00 - The chemical formula for happiness

* 17:30 - “People want to be the best they can be”

* 18:45 - Business is personal

* 21:15 - Engagements with the Al Masood Family

* 26:00 - The Chicki Chunk story

* 28:15 - Emirates Macaroni Factory

* 31:45 - Resentment for the other half of a father’s life

* 35:45 - Work life blend

* 39:45 - His daily routines and the discipline to write 2 books concurrently

* 41:00 - Who Dr. Corrie looks to for inspiration or as role models

* 42:30 - His top 3 books to recommend to people

* 45:30 - His addiction to Spartan Races

* 52:15 - Dr. Corrie’s outlook on the potential of Dubai as a R&D hub for future health technologies

* 55:30 - “Do something meaningful or find meaning in something you are doing”

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Toghrul Samadov, CEO of Buglance.

Buglance is a crowd testing company that connects software testers with software development companies all over the world. We test mobile apps, games and websites for bugs, security and UX/UI issues.

Toghrul is a serial entrepreneur and growth hacker. All his businesses combine 3 ingredients: Technology, Art and Science. He has been building teams, developing products such as e-commerce websites, entertainment and productivity apps and mobile games for the past 14 years. 

Please enjoy this discussion from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Patrick Rogers, CEO of Clara. 

Clara is a SaaS platform that digitises and automates startup legal expertise. Clara empowers founders to efficiently set up and manage their legal structure to ensure their startup's venture-readiness while providing unmatched portfolio management and market intelligence to investors.

Patrick has been a previous guest on Streams of Progress, as a partner at the law firm, Support Legal. The founding team of Support Legal are the same founders behind Clara Technologies, joined alongside their CTO, Arthur Guest.

Arthur is an MIT-trained systems architect with a speciality in complex decision modelling. While at MIT, he helped conceive and design the 20-year program human spaceflight strategy known as Flexible Path for the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee in 2009. 

Arthur was also co-founder and CTO of a San Francisco-based e-commerce company, BeautyArmy, that provided personalized beauty sample subscriptions to its over 300,000 members.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Lance Lin, CEO of LuggAgent.

LuggAgent is a Global Concierge that offers the luxury of Time and Freedom. It started with the goal of eliminating the burden of luggage hassles. 

Lance is an Economics major with a deep interest in numbers and analytics. He dabbled in the insurance industry leading a team of 20 before founding LuggAgent where he excelled at networking across multiple regions and building meaningful relationships and opportunities.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Yousef Wadi, CEO of Nestrom. 

Yousef is a Computer Engineer with a significant track record in building online products and technologies to empower businesses. His experience encompasses global organizations (Microsoft and Yahoo!) and startups, mainly focused on building scalable products, niche technologies and setting up winning teams that deliver high-end results. 

He began building his expertise with online products as a contractor for Microsoft, selling online rich media products to global players such as Yahoo through his first venture. Yousef was approached by Yahoo to join as Senior Product Manager, where he spearheaded the MENA focused video-on-demand system, geo-location and geo-service products. Later joining 7awi as Product Executive, part of the founding team and key contributor to moving the offline AWI properties to online properties through managing the planning, technology, marketing, and implementation of the successful transition gaining 1 million unique users in the first 3 months.

After venturing through a successful project in 7awi, he joined as Co-founder to ArabiaWeather establishing a full-fledged B2C Product line ranging from online to mobile platforms. ArabiaWeather has then managed to achieve its first million unique users from the GCC region 3 months after the launch of the new product portfolio. Yousef built a team that created, delivered and operated the B2C products achieving 3 million unique users before moving on to his next challenge. Post to B2C he moved on to leading the core weather technology and development team as a Chief Weather Technologist focused on delivering an accurate, scalable and advanced weather core system to empower ArabiaWeather and other clients through building a professional team of system engineers, developers and data scientists. 

Currently Yousef is invested in multiple startups and has a new startup, Nestrom, for which he is currently the CEO.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Kareem Kaddoura, Regional Manager for Ottogee.

Ottogee provides IoT wearables for Industrial applications in Construction, Oil & Gas, Security and Manufacturing. Ottogee advanced data analytics enable workers and stakeholders to have real-time insights that optimize Safety and Productivity and reduce Cost to unprecedented levels.

Kareem previously worked at Lunch:On another upcoming startup in the UAE ecosystem. At Ottogee, Kareem works closely with Omar Ghazzaoui, co-founder and CEO, who is an industry expert in construction and Oil & Gas project management and a thought leader on digitizing labor intensive industries. Omar, originally from Lebanon, started his career with the Consolidated Contractors Company CCC building the iconic Dubai Mall in Downtown Dubai back in 2005. From there on, he embarked on an international experience with the Boston Consulting Group as a trusted advisor to major construction and oil & gas companies before he joined Caterpillar, the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturer as a corporate strategy leader in their famous headquarters in Chicago. 

Please enjoy this discussion from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Cedrick Tandong, CEO of Three Wheels United.  

Before starting Three Wheels United, Cedrick worked with a French company which transformed ideas from university research labs into successful businesses or patents. Cedrick also founded a previous company in Cameroon in the e-commerce space. He exited but the company is still active and profitable. Born and raised in Sub-Saharan Africa, he is particularly interested in ideas that will improve livelihoods for people trapped in informal economies. That’s why after his graduate studies in systems and information management from a French business school, he moved to India. 

Cedrick is TWU’s mastermind when it comes to operationalize the impossible as he loves organizing, coordinating and executing under unpredictable circumstances. He also holds a second graduate degree in business management and has lived and worked in 4 countries in 3 continents. 

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Parker Wells, CEO of Element 16. 

Element 16 improves energy efficiency at industrial processing facilities with heat storage technology; they cut fossil fuels in the largest emitting industries by capturing waste heat and storing energy for on demand use. Parker founded Element 16 during his graduate research at UCLA in Mechanical Engineering. 

He previously co-founded and led Overhead.fm as CEO from 2012-2015. He also holds an Sc.B from Brown University in Mechanical Engineering. 

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest for this episode is Sebastian Vaduva, CEO of Veeplay. He was never keen on running the hamster wheel. A software engineer by degree and a hustler by design Sebastian started his first technology company at the age of 18. 

Since then he has been building and selling software products to Fortune 500 companies across Europe and the United States. Sebastian’s latest venture, Veeplay, aims to help the broadcasting industry embrace the business models of the future by helping them deliver and monetize video content for over 100M users monthly.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest of this episode is Miray Tayfun, CEO of Vivoo. She is a serial entrepreneur, who co-founded successful companies in the IOT industry for consumer electronics. 

Her background is in bioengineering, mobile apps, IOT, and strategy. She also completed the Stanford University's Go To Market strategy course that was lectured by Apple's first marketing manager. 

Her passion for a good life was the seed for Vivoo. She wants to proceed on their journey by helping people make better decisions on their wellbeing journey.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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These mini episodes offer insights into what the startups are working on and the founders behind the startups. The guest of this episode is Faisal Al Hammadi, the CEO of YACOB, a nutrition recommendation engine for organizations that enables its users to select F&B products that suits their health profile.

Faisal is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Slices, a company that he co-founded that offers catering services to education institutes in 50 locations.

In his previous role, Al Hammadi was a Member of the Board of Abu Dhabi Telemedicine Centre as well as Vice President at Mubadala Healthcare. He has also served as a member of a number of Abu Dhabi Government initiatives and committees including the Executive Committee for the Abu Dhabi Economic Plan at the Department of Economic Development, and the Health Education Committee at Health Authority Abu Dhabi.

Al Hammadi holds a Master in Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School, USA, and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the American University Dubai, UAE.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2019 Techstars Dubai Program.

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By using artificial intelligence to gather and cleanse the jungle of car data online, Seez reduces the process of finding a car from 17 hours to 6 seconds. Tarek and his team also invented the world’s first A.I. car negotiation chat bot called Cesar, who finds you the best deals, estimates the fair value of the car, and even negotiates the price on your behalf.

As a testament to Seez’ success, they celebrated 250k downloads. They are also number 3 on Apple Store with over 3,000 ratings and number 5 on the Android Store.

With over 17 years of regional and international experience in strategy consulting, investment banking, private equity and VC, with industry leaders such as Deutsche Bank, Abraaj Group, Mubadala, Wamda, and Booz & Co, Tarek understands both sides of the start-up journey.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:30 - Tarek’s background in Private Equity & Venture Capital in the region prior to becoming an entrepreneur
• 3:45 - From Pre-Med to Economics
• 4:30 - Consulting to Banking
• 5:45 - The reason he became an entrepreneur after being a VC
• 8:15 - Dealership partnership for leasing plans
• 9:00 - How Cesar works?
• 10:45 - Why Tarek chose to pursue this startup?
• 13:30 - How Seez started as a side hustle
• 14:45 - Reaching out to his nephew to be his co-founder
• 15:30 - Sourcing the AI/ML tech talent from Denmark for Seez
• 16:45 - Coders, penthouse and cardboard boxes
• 17:15 - Bootstrapping note: Tinder for second-hand office equipment
• 18:15 - The uncle / nephew co-founder dynamics at play
• 19:00 - Regional expansion
• 20:00 - One of the key criteria when deciding a country to expand into
• 20:15 - The challenges Seez faced when expanding into Saudi Arabia
• 23:15 - Difficulties Tarek overcame when learning to manage a technology team
• 24:45 - Transitioning from VC to a founder role and the learnings
• 25:45 - The ability to step back and look at the bigger picture of your startup
• 26:15 - Seez’s funding journey and the pivots
• 26:45 - Scrapping all they had and starting fresh
• 28:00 - Knowing how to pitch VCs from his past experience as a VC
• 30:00 - Looking to Steve Jobs’s drive, Airbnb’s attention to design detail and Netflix’s culture for inspiration
• 32:45 - Tarek’s closeness with all his employees
• 33:30 - The importance of Dreaming Big
• 35:00 - Love for movies at the cinema
• 36:30 - Tarek’s dream of a humanity scale dream initiative
• 36:15 - “Start a startup in your 20’s”, his advice to his 20 year old self

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Michael is an experienced business leader with C-level executive experience in different industries including healthcare, entertainment, technology, and natural resources. Starting as a Computer Scientist for the US Department of the Interior he moved on to lead technology teams at the Walt Disney company and eventually become the Deputy CIO for the State of Washington where he led the first large scale implementation of Holacracy in Government in the world. He also partnered with Harvard Business School researchers and others to lead the first controlled experiment of Holacracy.

Now at HolacracyOne, he is helping businesses around the world think through the executive challenges of driving this level of change in their organizations. When he’s not helping organizations with self-management concepts he’s working with self-organizing honeybees as an avid beekeeper. 

We explored what Holacracy is, how it is being implemented in the private and public sector across the globe and we explored how organizations here, in the UAE, that are using it to transform their organizations.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 02:30 - Michael’s background
• 03:30 - Introduction to complex technologies at Disney and it’s internet divisions in the early years
• 04:45 - Working in small teams at Disney
• 11:45 - On hierarchal systems
• 14:30 - His introduction to Holacracy
• 16:00 - Competing for talent in an already crowded tech space
• 21:15 - Googling “What is Holacracy?” and a 2 minute video animation
• 23:30 - What is Holacracy?
• 25:00 - The Morning Star example
• 27:00 - What does Holacracy One do?
• 33:30 - Companies and industries that practice Holacracy
• 35:15 - Self management hitting a tipping point around the time Zappos came out about it
• 37:00 - Dubai Knowledge a practitioner of Holacracy as a government agency
• 44:30 - What does Michael’s typical work day look like?
• 48:30 - The ‘no title’ business card
• 53:30 - ‘Follow my energy’ work scheduling & prioritization
• 54:00 - The right to ask anyone else when
• 55:30 - His ‘non-habit’ routine that he’s adapting to
• 58:30 - From fictional and non-fictional role models
• 63:00 - His morbidly motivational message on a billboard
• 66:15 - His concerns about the time-travel paradox and giving advice to his 20 year old self
• 68:00 - Michael’s personal purpose in life
• 68:30 - Nurturing insatiable curiosity
• 69:45 - “Don’t lose your momentum as you age, ramp it up as you have more experience and wisdom to solve more complex problems when you are older”

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Ludmila is the founder and Managing Partner of the Firm, actively managing and practicing since 2009. She is a U.S. qualified attorney, licensed by the State Bar of California. Ludmila has fifteen years of legal experience, six of which was in the Silicon Valley, plus three years of business experience in the same area.

Prior to moving to Dubai and setting up her practice, Ludmila was Associate General Counsel of a NASDAQ listed company in Silicon Valley, California – Finisar Corporation, a fiber optics company, managing high profile patent litigation and global corporate matters.

Before Finisar, Ludmila practiced with DLA Piper in the San Franisco Bay area, specializing in intellectual property litigation and bankruptcy.

Ludmila also interned at Howrey Simon & White and Legal Strategies Group, both in the San Francisco Bay area.

Ludmila grew up in the former Soviet Union and moved to the United States in the early 90s. Ludmila’s native languages are Russian and Ukrainian. She is also fluent in English and conversational in French.

Most recently, Ludmila is the host of the MENA region’s first legal podcast, Lawgical with LYLAW. On the podcast, Ludmila provides insight, commentary, and updates covering a wide variety of legal topics relating to the U.A.E. and the MENA region.

During this episode, she shared her insights into the evolving legal system of the UAE and regulations are adapting to an ever-changing global market.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 1:30 - Ludmila’s background from the Soviet Union to the United States
• 2:30 - Practicing litigation during the Dot Com bust at DLA Piper
• 4:15 - Being Associate General Counsel at Finisar, a Nasdaq listed
• 7:45 - Starting to help people with legal advice in Dubai and eventually setup a law firm
• 9:30 - On remote working culture
• 11:00 - Copyright and IP licensing agreement and royalties (Porsche example)
• 16:45 - LYLaw evolution of area of practice
• 24:15 - The Lawgical Podcast by LYLaw
• 29:00 - Legal Questions: The differences between Mainland (Department of Economic Development) and Free Zone licenses in the UAE
• 33:30 - Business activities requiring a business entity / license
• 36:45 - Selling digital software online within the UAE from abroad
• 38:30 - Blurring the legal lines when local contractors are involved
• 39:45 - The UAE’s commitment to AI and new regulations & laws around it
• 42:45 - The Dubai Now app : one app for all government services
• 46:30 - The UAE residence visa and the new longer term visas that are coming
• 49:15 - Outsourcing their development and copywriting their software
• 51:45 - Ludmila’s mentors and role models
• 54:30 - The importance of building a strong team to support you
• 56:30 - Days being dictated by young children
• 58:00 - Traveling with kids; from danger zones to kid friendly locales
• 60:30 - “Being in the thick of history in the making”
• 63:30 - Being cautious about hearing overnight success stories and expecting the same

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He shared his insights into the Venture Capital space of the region as well as how he got started in this space over a decade ago.

Enjoy the show!

Posted on February 27, 2019

Show Notes:

• 01:15 - Issa’s backstory
• 01:45 - From Jordan to Canada back to the Middle East
• 2:45 - From dinner party to Venture Capital
• 4:30 - Understanding how do they create startups when entrepreneurs themselves didn’t know what startups were
• 5:00 - The catalyst for the growth of VC in the region
• 5:45 - Looking up what Venture Capital means
• 6:00 - The first investment portfolio Issa was involved with
• 7:15 - TwoFour54 reaching out to Issa to grow their investment arm
• 8:30 - What is media?
• 9:00 - His short term consulting role at Yahoo! and developing their M&A strategy for the region
• 10:15 - The Rocket Internet of the Middle East
• 13:00 - Issa’s return to TwoFour54
• 13:30 - Launching one of the first accelerators in the UAE
• 14:00 - N2V’s model and entrepreneurs
• 14:30 - His ad-hoc role of head of sourcing for a portfolio company
• 15:00 - The Middle East’s own diversity of cultures and
• 15:30 - Not knowing what IFC was
• 16:00 - IFC - the private sector investment arm of the World Bank
• 17:45 - Indirect founder funding through funds
• 18:45 - Direct funding at later growth stages (Series B onwards)
• 19:45 - Investment question to ask, “are we going to make money?”
• 20:30 - The importance of additionally - what are they bringing to the table with their investment
• 22:00 - Venture capital by its nature being impactful
• 23:45 - The role of Public Private Partnerships
• 26:30 - Case by case initiatives per country
• 29:00 - Co-investing with funds in the ecosystem
• 29:45 - How do you invest in funds?
• 30:15 - Investing in people and what funds
• 30:45 - A look at BECO and co-investing in one of their startups, Vezeeta
• 31:30 - The evolving atmosphere of the investment ecosystem
• 35:15 - Issa’s admiration towards hard working and successful individuals who contribute back to the ecosystem
• 36:15 - His two work schedules (local and global)
• 37:15 - Taking pride in Inbox Zero
• 40:00 - Appreciation for various media from tv, podcasts and articles as well as the beach
• 40:30 - One of the great things about Dubai is the ability to travel anywhere with a direct flight
• 41:30 - On reading Startup Nation and the lessons learned
• 43:00 - The importance of giving back while taking care of yourself
• 44:15 - Putting entrepreneurship and venture related all in one place
• 45:30 - On trusting your gut and working on self development

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He is responsible for leading Project Management processes from their inception to completion, evaluating technical and commercial proposals while providing recommendations for the same.

As a Senior Manager, he works in collaboration with all of Bee’ah’s operations, supporting Integrated Waste Management, process improvement, and cost reduction initiatives to drive rapid results delivering the highest levels of performance, while following and supporting the organizations’ quality management system. Formerly, he served at the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation as a Project Management Specialist.

While working at their Project Management Office, he supervised all strategic projects, identified program risks, managed internal and the external stakeholders and controlled the corporate project management methodology framework. Mohammed held several instrumental roles in Strategy and Business Development and has managed businesses, programs and projects consisting of cross-functional teams focused on sustainable business models and cultural transformation towards entrepreneurship and innovation.

Mohammed is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration from Strathclyde University, Glasgow (Scotland). He is a graduate of the Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Leadership Program and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the American University of Sharjah.

He shared insights into Bee’ah’s various sustainability initiatives and how Bee’ah’s vision propels the UAE and the region to a sustainable future. 

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 3:30 – The waste to energy
• 6:00 – The beginning of Bee’ah
• 10:45 – The various divisions in Bee’ah
• 12:45 – a holistic overview of Ion, sustainable transport and Careem Electric
• 13:30 – From Washmen to Nespresso, empowering recycling in other startups
• 14:45 – How the partnerships come about
• 15:30 – Bee’ah’s guiding purpose
• 16:00 – Bee’ah’s environmental consultancy to support other corporate’s sustainability efforts
• 17:15 – Range of environmental consultancy services
• 17:45 – Waste to Energy project
• 21:15 – Educating the community and consumer mindset
• 22:15 – Reversed vending machine to incentivize the community to recycle
• 23:45 – Global gate fee practices
• 25:45 – Looking to Sheikh Zayed and the collaborative spirit of the Emirates
• 27:30 – Personal routine of walking
• 30:00 – on the curiosity of people when they see traffic accidents on the road
• 30:15 – People need to be mindful about others and Dubai as an example of a true multinational globalized city.
• 32:15 – Opportunity in sustainability startups

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Nada utilises her leadership capabilities to liaise with clients of Bee’ah, in order to determine and implement the exact needs of the project, drawing on her knowledge of the company and the experience she has accomplishing detailed and specific environmental targets. Leading some of the biggest projects at Bee’ah, Nada has consistently used her expertise to meet targets and satisfy the needs of the clients, acting as a driving force for transforming Sharjah into the environmental capital of the Middle East.

Prior to joining Bee’ah, Nada Taryam gained extensive experience both through her employment history and through a variety of internships and study visits.

Nada graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, United Kingdom, in 2012, with a Master’s in Architecture and Urbanism, and from the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in 2008, with a Bachelor of Architecture (with a Minor in Urban Design).

Nada sat down with us to discuss the upcoming Bee’ah HQ and the sustainability minded approach taken into consideration from concept to construction.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:15 – Studying Architecture in the UAE and London
• 02:00 – Her research-based studies around materials, innovation and technology in architecture
• 02:45 – The school of thought of around material research and inheriting from nature for architectural design
• 03:45 – Architecture & Other Things architectural practice
• 04:30 – Bee’ah’s HQ concept and meaning
• 06:15 – Locally sourced materials for the HQ
• 07:00 – Having a portion of the Bee’ah HQ open for the public to visit, from research lab to an auditorium
• 08:00 – Working with Zaha Hadid Architects
• 10:00 – Aiming to achieve LEED Platinum certification for the Bee’ah HQ
• 11:30 – Bee’ah’s waste management, recycling facilities and upcoming Solar PV project
• 12:45 – Looking to Zaha Hadid as a role model
• 15:00 – The environment as inspiration
• 16:45 – Coffee as the only daily standard ritual
• 17:15 – Recommending biographies to friends
• 18:45 – The importance of letting people know about the Bee’ah HQ
• 19:45 – Inspiration from Singapore’s landscape; building around the environment
• 21:00 – Thoughts on commercially driven projects
• 22:15 – Demand more from your built environments

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After graduating in 1998 Muhammad started up his first Internet startup in Munich/Germany. From 2004 to early 2011, Muhammad led McKinsey & Company’s client service teams, where he served various Fortune 500 companies in the online, financial and telecommunications sectors, both in the Middle East and Europe.

In 2011, Muhammad moved to Dubai to take the entrepreneurial plunge with Sukar.com, an online fashion platform, which was acquired by MENA’s biggest online marketplace Souq.com in 2012.

From April 2015 until August 2018, Muhammad led the Online Unit of Saudi travel giant Al Tayyar Group, developing the company’s technology arm in the online travel space. This business unit generated close to USD 1 billion total sales within three years only, catapulting its two online travel agency brands, tajawal and Almosafer, to become regional leaders.

After exiting Al Tayyar’s Online Unit Muhammad is working on launching a platform targeting Muslim Consumers worldwide, to offer an exciting user experience in booking Hajj & Umrah travels.

Fluent in Arabic, German, English and French, Muhammad is German of Syrian descent. His upbringing and professional experience in multinational organizations has seen him successfully develop brands to large cross-nation audiences.

On this episode, he shares his entrepreneurial journey with us and shares his insights into difficulties he faced along the way.

Enjoy the show!

Recording Note: Since the original recording Manal.com has pivoted to offer bespoke travel opportunities targeting Muslim travelers globally.

Show Notes:

• 01:30 – On being born and raised in Germany
• 02:30 – Accepting his first job offer straight after University
• 03:00 – Joining his true job after university 8 weeks later…
• 04:00 – His first startup – an exploration into the copycat startup model of Rocket Internet
• 05:00 – Attending an industry conference as a speaker with just 2 slides prepared
• 06:00 – On defining success for his first startup and the journey
• 07:45 – His souvenir from his first startup (which he maintains to this day)
• 09:00 – How his consulting for startups and corporates lead him to Dubai in 2003
• 10:30 – The six years with McKinsey
• 11:15 – His takeaways from working at McKinsey
• 12:45 – How health issues lead him back to the startup life
• 14:30 – On maintaining relationships when talents join and exit
• 15:45 – LinkedIn’s role in matchmaking the investor to the entrepreneur
• 16:30 – His time at Sukar.com
• 18:30 – Exiting to Souq.com then launching Desado
• 19:30 – The difficulty of marketing local designer brand vs. well-known brands in the region and the pivot
• 21:30 – Difficulty finding investors in the region at the time
• 23:00 – Having foreign investors leading the investment round
• 25:15 – Difficulties faced when originally setting up a startup legal structure at that time
• 28:30 – The corporate-backed venture approach to startups at Tajawal
• 33:30 – Bringing his tech co-founder with him for the next startup
• 35:00 – The startup experience and environment even with corporate backing
• 37:15 – AlMosafer, Tajawal and the strategic business unit
• 40:00 – On funding factors and access to funding
• 43:30 – Muhammad outlines his next upcoming venture
• 45:30 – “When you have four children, there is no switching off”
• 48:00 – Power naps and brain waves
• 48:30 – On role models and setting entrepreneurial examples
• 51:30 – The importance of routines with children and coffee
• 53:45 – His daily work routines
• 55:15 – The only book he’s ever gifted
• 56:00 – Being self-reflective
• 56:30 – Understanding we have limited time
• 57:00 – Arabs are not victims and it’s important not to think in those terms
• 57:30 – Importance of teaching children to code

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Daan is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and featured by Forbes and Good 100 as a creative change maker. Roosegaarde was also 2018’s keynote speaker at Dubai Design Week.

In this episode, he discusses his innovative practice which merges people, technology and space to create a better world. He is the creator of smart highways, virtual floods and smog sucking towers. He examines and activates solutions to improve daily life in urban environments.

Listen to learn more about his innovative works and his grand ambitions for a project for the Dubai Expo 2020.

Enjoy the show!

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Listen to learn more about his journey and his insights into starting up in the UAE.

Enjoy the show!

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Khaled comes from a career in private equity and venture capital professional with significant experience in value creation and realization. He has built unique experience in the MENA region originating, appraising, structuring, negotiating and executing private equity investments and venture capital transactions in the TMT space. He has a particular focus on digital, gaming, e-commerce, publishing, animation, TV production and social media. He has developed a strong skill base in strategy, business plan development, financial modeling, deal structuring, KPI development, governance and reporting mechanisms.

Fares also serves as Portfolio Manager at MENA Venture Investments (MVI), the region’s largest seed-stage fund. Previously he ran the region’s flagship mentorship event, Mix N’ Mentor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California.

They shared their views on the MENA startup ecosystem, their group’s active initiatives and investment philosophy and a whole lot more, so we hope you enjoy this episode of Streams of Progress.

Enjoy the show!

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Our bicycles descend from a historic lineage of the Japanese bicycle. At Chari Cycles, we up-cycle bicycle frames to promote sustainability and a clean environment while encouraging a healthier lifestyle.

WE UP-CYCLE

At Charicycles we find bicycle frames that have been forgotten and restore them into the beautiful bikes they once were, giving them a re-newed heartbeat and home, while promoting a cleaner environment.

WE CUSTOMIZE

Our bikes are fully customizable so that you can get the dream ride you always wanted. Feel free to browse our ready collection or design your own.

WE GIVE BACK

Every child feels freedom when riding a bicycle. At Chari Cycles, we want to make sure every underprivileged child has the right to their childhood and the freedom that comes along with it. We provide bicycles to children in refugee camps around the Middle East bringing some light to their days.

Hippie tales & happy trails, contact us on hello@charicycles.com or visit us on www.charicycles.com!

Enjoy the show!

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The inspiration for his startup came to him in the form of a pain point he was experiencing that was all too common for residents of Dubai.  

He validated his idea further and eventually launched MrUsta with the support of his, then girlfriend, now wife, Dunia Othman. 

Listen to learn more about his experiences and how MrUsta has pivoted and become evermore customer driven over the years.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:30 - Turkish beginnings from Istanbul.
• 02:15 - Microsoft years and Nokia cultures.
• 02:30 - Nokia Networks in Dubai.
• 03:10 - Where the name MrUsta comes from.
• 04:00 - MrUsta brand company.
• 04:15 - MrUsta’s service offering.
• 04:45 - Husband-Wife Founding Duo.
• 07:00 - The idea coming from real world problems they experienced.
• 08:45 - Doing a study to validate your own hypothesis.
• 09:45 - MrUsta’s evolving service offerings and their initial pivots.
• 11:00 - Feedback and customer service oriented in the offering.
• 12:30 - MrUsta’s incubation at In5 Dubai.
• 13:30 - The perks of being an in5 Alumni that MrUsta has experienced.
• 14:00 - Usta Academy and it’s offering to service providers.
• 16:15 - MrUsta from bootstrapping to Seed Funding round.
• 17:45 - Their $2.75 Million Pre-Series A raise.
• 19:45 - MrUsta’s average deal flow time per round.
• 21:00 - Convincing angel investors early on by being very clear and concise in your messaging.
• 22:15 - His three pieces of advice for raising funds in this region.
• 24:30 - His passion for scuba diving and how it acts as an escape from the ‘startup noise’.
• 27:00 - Looking to Elon Musk as an inspirational example on how to disrupt existing industries.
• 28:30 - The typical day of MrUsta’s CEO.
• 31:15 - How they conduct meetings.
• 31:45 - Ibrahim’s daily email habits.
• 32:45 - Adjusting and making priorities to have a work/life balance.
• 33:30 - His interests in history and mythology.
• 34:30 - Looking upto Ataturk.
• 35:15 - “Don’t give up and dream on”
• 36:00 - The unhealthy lifestyle of a dedicated entrepreneur and working to improve that.
• 37:00 - Dubai as a prime example of a city that exposes citizens and tourists to multiple cultures and diverse backgrounds.
• 38:45 - Accepting more feedback at an earlier age.

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As CEO, Talal is responsible for providing the vision, overall leadership and strategic management for the company as well as ensuring the highest quality of the services provided. Prior to setting up his own company, Talal worked for a private equity & corporate finance firm, followed by two years at an investment bank.  

Talal started Bayzat with his school friend and now co-founder Brian Habibi.

As CCO, Tarek Bayaa (Talal's brother), is responsible for establishing a world-class sales team and in delivering exceptional customer service. He has been involved in the company on an advisory basis since 2013 and joined the company full-time as the Chief Commercial Officer in April 2015.

Listen to learn more about their experiences and how Bayzat has scaled over the years.

Enjoy the show!

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program.  A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on inaugural program. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from the Techstars Dubai program and be sure to check out more episodes from the 2018 Techstars Dubai Program.

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Mona is the CEO and Founder of Mompreneurs Middle East, a B2B platform that caters to female entrepreneurs in the Middle East and enables them to promote and grow their business. The organization believes in women’s empowerment in the region through entrepreneurial education and mompreneurship.

Mompreneurs Middle East strives to educate women to raise thriving families and build successful businesses through self-mastery and self-discipline. Mona has been featured across a number of different publications and media outlets including Sky News Arabia, Dubai Eye Radio, SME Advisor, TEDx UOWD, Arabian Business, The National and many others.

Mona’s research has taken her right across the globe, and she has studied under numerous experts and mentors. She has taken part in programs led by all the greats, including Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy, and has been presented with the Young Alumni Award by the University of Wollongong in Dubai. She is an NLP practitioner and has combined her learning from all of these numerous sources into a refined program that has one single purpose: How to Have it All, through Time and Energy Management.

You can learn more about Mona at www.MonaTavassoli.com.

Enjoy the show!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Each guest was able to share with us their perspective on how the UAE will continue to be an engine for growth and development. A huge thanks to all our guests for sharing their thoughts and perspectives on the subject matter.

Please enjoy this discussion with one of our Guests from AIM 2018!

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Nadine shared the story of Sarwa’s founding and the core investment principles that guide their vision for retail investors in the UAE and across the region. There’s a ton to be learned from this episode and you can apply these concepts by opening an account with Sarwa today.

Enjoy the show!

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His first foray into startups was as an entrepreneur and the Managing Director of Lime & Tonic Dubai.

After winding down Lime & Tonic Dubai’s operations, he joined Careem as the Chief Marketing Officer where he served for over a year before onto his next challenge at Fetchr to serve as the Chief Financial Officer.

Over the last two years at Fetchr, he has witnessed and be part of the company’s massive growth and expansion.

Listen to learn more about his journey and where he sees it all going.

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes:

• 01:30 – Pragmatism, University and Studying Accounting.
• 03:00 – Starting at P&G, just when it was opening up it’s office in Dubai.
• 04:00 – Moving to Dubai back in the early 2000’s.
• 05:00 – From becoming a pilot to an accountant.
• 06:15 – Climbing the corporate ladder at P&G.
• 08:00 – His first entrepreneurial venture following P&G with Lime & Tonic.
• 08:45 – A podcast & a Twitter exchange sparked his entrepreneurial journey.
• 10:00 – How he took a calculated risk when starting his first startup.
• 11:00 – The decision whether to go back to the corporate world after the first failed startup or to join an up and coming startup called Careem.
• 12:00 – His transition from finance guy to Chief Marketing Officer.
• 12:30 – Your role in a startup is solving problems.
• 14:00 – Moving from Careem to Fetchr and how he learned from every venture he was involved in.
• 15:00 – Return to his financial role as a CFO at another scaling startup.
• 16:00 – The employee growth at Fetchr since his joining.
• 17:45 – The Oman Post Joint Venture and how serves as validation for what Fetchr is achieving.
• 18:15 – Fetchr’s specialized offerings to various market segments and building customized solutions.
• 23:00 – Low barriers to entry and building for the long term with scaling.
• 25:00 – How healthy competition is for the startup ecosystem.
• 26:00 – Tariq’s optimistic outlook for upcoming Fetchr projects in the works for 2018.
• 27:00 – Walking as a health and mental exercise.
• 28:00 – Recharging himself by investing time in the people around him.
• 30:00 – On not having a role model and instead focusing on building his own story.
• 31:30 – The importance of understanding your team and connecting with them.
• 33:15 – A typical day in Tariq’s workday.
• 35:00 – A book he highly recommends to people interested in managing a team.
• 35:45 – Unleashing trapped potential by remembering that life is short.
• 36:30 – “You make your own time”
• 37:15 – He would love to see a greener Dubai, an even more sustainable city.
• 38:15 – Be more confident; things aren’t as complex as they seem as long as you break it down.
• 39:15 – His advice to potential entrepreneur’s out there about taking calculated risks.
• 40:00 – The importance of tackling big problems.

References

“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team : A Leadership Fable” by Patrick Lencioni

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

The macro economic consequences of Shale horizontal drilling in West Texas which ’caused oil to hit peak demand rather than hit peak supply; served as one of the catalysts for governments in the region to shift towards technology. Over the last few years, we have seen a lot more initiatives from the government sector to support the growth of the nascent startup ecosystem.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next…

There is a huge potential in a single market for the region, at least in terms of startups looking to scale. A 450 million person market is waiting if they are able to come together and act as one single market.  Dubai is excellent at what it does for startups, the only thing is allowing those startups to scale to additional cities overnight, as they can in the United States or European markets; allowing them to expand into the 350 million person market in the blink of an eye.  Bureaucracy and barriers to entry between the individual MENA region ecosystem markets act as a detriment to startups looking to expand in the region.

On the Step Conference…

We see a lot of cohesion in the ecosystem here, everyone knows each other and it’s very collaborative, in the sense everyone wants to do stuff together; there is competition but relative to other sectors, it’s generally a collaborative environment. There is a need for more interlocking with the corporate arena, and trend of Corporate VC is a positive trend in the market.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about VentureSouq.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

The attraction of the UAE & Dubai for people from across the globe to come setup their companies and startup has to do with both the forward thinking aspects of the government (e.g. Smart initiatives and Blockchain usage), as well as the appeal of Dubai as a great city to live in. These aspects of the city has made the appeal for entrepreneurs to setup their companies in the city very appealing over the last few years. The startup ecosystem has been rapidly growing with the advent of new technology startups.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next…

Blockchain technology in the UAE is a very attractive industry for startups as it aligns with the country’s goals to adopt the technology across various fields. We also see the potential to improve the speed of startup registration and company formation/launch over the coming years as the UAE works to improve it’s offerings for would be entrepreneurs.

On the Step Conference…

The event being divided into different verticals allows very niche-based networking for both the entrepreneurs/startups as well as investors to find the right people they are looking for.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about DTEC (Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre).

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

There has been a lot of positive change and growth in the startup sector. Opportunities have arisen around smart phone apps for entrepreneurs and startups to address problems. The number of funds in the region has increased and the ability to raise capital is a lot easier. As we have seen exits in the region, a lot of the teams involved with those exits are then re-investing in the ecosystem either as VCs and/or by starting new startups.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next and the challenges they face…

The market is big, young and very tech savvy. Startups need to continue to focus on actually solving problems. We will continue to see global eyes focus on the region, but we still see some difficulties in additional funding rounds, however overall we are on the right track.

On the Step Conference…

We see a lot of entrepreneurs at the conference and also tend to see entrepreneurs coming back again the following year; whether that means their startup has grown or their ideas have pivoted, it’s a good sign of growth in the MENA startup ecosystem.  

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Souq.com.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years… 

Angel groups and accelerators have greatly evolved from what they were before; investors are more active with startups and the market education has occurred. We have moved beyond some of the initial just ‘talk’ around investments and the overall scene is more active.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next…

The next step is focus – early on we saw a lot more ideation, but now it’s about creation and implementation of strategy. Lead angels of years ago are now heading VCs and we have more niche/industry focused approaches towards portfolios. Rather than external consultants assisting the ecosystem, entrepreneurs are starting to give back

On how Angel Investors in the region can improve…

Angel investors need to learn to trust the entrepreneurs, trust the ecosystem and community around them. New investors aren’t comfortable investing after 20 minute coffees and funding rounds at Seed and Series A can take up to two years. So there needs to be faster turn around and they need to be more active.

On the Step Conference…

Step is about the community and connecting with other entrepreneurs and the overall MENA startup ecosystem coming together.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Womena.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

The past five years have been where most of the acceleration has happened. More money, more entrepreneurs, more ideas, more exits, more of everything, there has been a very positive upwards trend.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next…

Technology companies and businesses are being more accepted as mainstream companies and everyday life usage of their solutions. As startups become larger and more mature, that leads to the creation of a bigger venture capital industry. MEVP also just announced at Step about it’s next $250 million dollar fund, which will focus on technology.

On what potential positive changes to see in the investment industry…

Walid would like to see investments become a more accepted asset class, which could drive more people to invest into the ecosystem and we will see more innovative technologies and solutions come out of it.

On the Step Conference…

Step is a chance to connect and see what is going on in the industry, meet some old friends and make some new friends.  It’s a break away from our day to day and a chance to also see trends going on.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about MEVP (Middle East Venture Partners).

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

A few years back we would’ve only seen early stage startups, where as now we are seeing exits and substantial scale ups occurring, with the advent of the region’s first unicorns (e.g. Careem) and the acquisition of Souq.com by Amazon.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next and the challenges they face…

The markets are fragmented and the amount of VC money is still behind other markets (as a percentage of their GDP); so funding and access-to-market needs to be improve to truly achieve the region’s potential. The scaling process is slowed down in such a fragmented market, we don’t see what we see in other huge markets such as United States, China or India. The role of government support also plays a factor – the research that comes from other governments also contributes to their own startup ecosystems.

On the Step Conference…

When one explores the Step Conference, one can see that this ecosystem is happening and growing. There is an energetic vibe one can sense at the Step Conference, the entrepreneurs and startups are solving problems of the market and one needs to support them. 

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Wamda Capital.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

We’ve seen people moving to the UAE to launch their startups because they see the opportunities of starting their businesses. So we’ve seen the market mature over the last few years. Fintech regulators at FSRA and DFSA are creating new frameworks for new types of startups to operate.  Regulators don’t like to regulate in a vacuum, they are looking for guinea pigs that they will craft the regulations around.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next and the challenges they face…

The sky’s the limit – Amazon creating new possibilities, official unicorn with Careem, it’s drawing talented individuals into the startup ecosystem, who might be in a high paying jobs, seeing exits and such liquidity events attract more talent in the space.

On challenges that startups in the UAE face within the legal framework that could be improved…

It’s costly to start and operate a startup within the UAE, thus the evolution of operating licenses would allow faster turn around and for a cheaper cost.  Government has recognized this and is working towards it – it takes a certain shift in mindset. 

If you truly want to become a knowledge economy hub, need to take steps and possibly sacrifice traditional drivers of the current economy.

On the Step Conference…

Being able to connect and collaborate with people who are also along the entrepreneurial path can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and Step Conference allows that entrepreneurial networking to occur.  

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Support Legal.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

It’s not only top-down innovation with governments incentivizing startups, but we are also seeing more private capital flowing into the startup ecosystem and talent leaving good jobs to explore startup careers.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next…

We have seen talent leaving good consulting, banking or government jobs, but not always technical founders, so there is a need for more schooling and attractive incentives to pull specifically technical talent and technical founders into the ecosystem.

On challenges that companies might face when scaling up…

We see a Funding Gap at Series B level or at Seed Level, thus there is a need for more funding at those stages in this ecosystem.

Additionally we need to make it easier for technology startups to scale up across region from a regulatory perspective.

On the Step Conference…

We have a chance to see everything in action at the event, the vibe and the energy of the event is so inspiring. It’s an opportunity for people on the fence to learn more and get involved with the startup ecosystem.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Shorooq Investments.

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On the MENA startup ecosystem’s entrepreneurs…

Startups that succeed in this region have been the ones that were able to make great strategic partnerships, beyond just the right investors. 

On what is needed for MENA startup ecosystem to develop…

More investors need to get involved at an early stage. We need more early stage investment for startups. These tend to be riskier bets for investors but such types of investments are part of the growth we see in places like Silicon Valley.

On the Step Conference this year…

One of the sessions this year was about thinking global and moving beyond region. From the brand, to product offering. The importance of scaling global and thinking global begins from the start.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about 360VUZ.

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On the MENA startup ecosystem’s entrepreneurs…

Entrepreneurs need to be prepared before going out to raise funds. They need to be educated about the metrics that matter and the importance of repeating customers – there is no lack of funds for good ideas with the right metrics.

On what is needed for the MENA startup ecosystem investor community…

A mindset shift is required – investors need to take risks in this region. There tends to be a focus only on later stage investments and safer bets; for the ecosystem to further develop they need to make investments at the earlier stage (pre-seed and seed stages).

On the Step Conference…

It’s more than entrepreneurs and investors. One can find audience/customers and corporates, not just the ecosystem traditional players, but the fact it’s open to all types of people as well, to network and even find co-founders.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about 1776.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

We’ve seen the MENA region growing aggressively from all fronts, hence the reason why Techstars decided to recently launch Techstars Dubai in the region.

On the increased deal flows in the MENA startup ecosystem…

The startups involved in these deal flow appear to be within hot industries that align with the government’s vision for the future. There is a lot of demand for their market solutions from consumers as well as investors.

On the Step Conference…

As a newcomer to the MENA startup ecosystem, Vijay was able to make new connections and get a pulse of the MENA startup ecosystem at the Step Conference.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Techstars Dubai.

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On how the MENA startup ecosystem has evolved over the last few years…

There has been a development in the type of ideas that are coming out of startups coming from startups. The market is maturing more and there are more thought leaders entering the regional ecosystem. There is a great mix of local and international thought leaders.

On where the MENA startup ecosystem is heading next and the challenges they face…

Dubai’s potential in becoming a ‘brain port’ where many international thought leaders will be living in Dubai and these thought leaders will be exporting their ideas to nearby countries and neighboring markets.

On challenges that companies might face with new disruptive technologies…

People need to accept the innovative solutions on the way and how the job landscape will completely revolutionize the markets. It’s important for leaders to be in tune with new technologies and innovations.

On the Step Conference…

Startups need to come into such events with zero expectations, but they should take a chance to network with Venture Capitalists, Private Equity players, other entrepreneurs and startups and see what comes from all the networking.

Check out more episodes from the 2018 Step Conference Series and learn more about Intelak Incubator.

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Rana’s education at Oxford University and Harvard Business School gave her a strong foundation to solve problems and negotiate effectively, but nothing could have prepared her for the tough reality that women face as they rise through the corporate world.

Over the course of her 17-year corporate career spanning McKinsey & Company’s London Office, the Dubai Government and GE Capital, Rana has pioneered new markets, launched new products, led diverse and sometimes virtual teams, won business all over the world and developed strong relationships. She also led the charge in rewriting corporate policies that impact women, championed pay parity and helped women rise in their professional and personal lives.

Rana is a mother of two and a wife of one, she is the creator and host of the podcast When Women Win, sharing inspirational stories and tools that boss ladies from all walks of life have used along their journeys, and is the chapter president of Ellevate, a global organization that brings professional women together.

Rana has been featured in the press, on TV and on radio. She has spoken in front of diverse audiences on a variety of topics, and has been labelled a “thought-provoking”, “fact-driven” and “inspiring” speaker.

You can keep up with the latest from Rana on her website at RanaNawas.com.

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He was raised in the UK with Iraqi origins, Philip obtained an MBA from INSEAD in 2013 and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

During his time in Dubai, Philip worked at Oliver Wyman in the Financial Services practice for three years, followed by nearly three years at Barclays Wealth working as Chief of Staff to the CEO advising on strategic initiatives.

Philip has lived in the UAE for more than nine years and is passionate about developing the MENA startup ecosystem.

Listen to learn more about his experiences and how MAGNiTT has evolved over the years to become the gateway for the MENA Startup Ecosystem.

Show Notes:

• 1:30 – Growing up in the UK.
• 02:00 – His time at Oliver Wyman in 2007.
• 02:30 – His first exposure to the Middle East.
• 03:00 – Transitioning to Barclay’s Wealth.
• 03:30 – His travels during his MBA experience.
• 04:00 – His experience as a “Chief of Staff”
• 06:15 – Learning how to actually implement strategies and honing his skillset.
• 07:30 – The importance of learning to present the message.
• 08:30 – How his MBA helped him refine the hustle.
• 09:00 – How a startup bootcamp acted as a catalyst for him to pursue his startup ventures.
• 10:15 – The surprising number of responses he received from Alumni for his idea validation.
• 11:30 – The first version of MAGNiTT
• 12:00 – Pivoting MAGNiTT’s value proposition to becoming a data-driven platform.
• 13:15 – MAGNiTT’s business model.
• 14:15 – Building relationships with startups and institutions.
• 14:45 – The variables that make up MAGNiTT’s analytics offering.
• 15:30 – MAGNiTT’s application offering for reduce the barriers of entry for startups to apply to institutions.
• 17:00 – The larger vision for what MAGNiTT is trying to create.
• 18:00 – Trends that have occurred over the last couple years in the MENA startup ecosystem.
• 20:15 – The potential next wave of startup solutions.
• 22:00 – The FinTech space and solving pain points.
• 24:15 – Challenges that MENA startups face.
• 25:45 – How the challenges can act as opportunities for first movers in markets.
• 26:45 – Middle East for the World vs. Middle East for the Middle East
• 30:00 – Views on Regional M&A’s & IPOs
• 33:00 – The most important characteristic in startup founders.
• 36:15 – Being able to internalize and listen to feedback is crucial.
• 37:15 – An undervalued tool for startups to be successful.
• 39:30 – His Dubai-based mentors and advisory board.
• 40:45 – The importance of patience.
• 43:00 – The art of freebies and importance of appreciation.
• 44:45 – How daily routines change when transitioning to the startup world vs. the corporate.
• 46:15 – Computer detox day.
• 46:45 – What Philip’s typical day looks like.
• 47:45 – His fascination with biographies and the learnings from them.
• 49:45 – Understanding the hearts and minds through marketing and brand.
• 50:45 – His dream vision for the Middle East.
• 52:45 – “Experiment and drive for things outside the norm”
• 55:15 – How his introduction to entrepreneurship at INSEAD changed his life trajectory.
• 56:15 – The maturing MENA startup ecosystem.

References

INSEAD – The Business School of the World

Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East by Christopher Schroeder

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Ahmed Al Akber is the CEO of HelloChef and takes the lead on strategy implementation and marketing, helping to grow and scale the business. Ahmed is a dynamic leader that loves to create ways to provide more value for HelloChef’s customers so they can save time, money, and eat amazing meals by using the service. Ahmed is also a published author and had a successful 15-year career as marketing professional prior to joining HelloChef full-time.

Enjoy the show!

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He is also the co-founder and a partner at Spider Frogs, a future technology consultancy agency working with corporations.

Listen to learn more about how he started his venture and his bold vision for where Step is going next!

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His first successful entrepreneurial venture began with 7 Days, the UAE's first free tabloid newspaper. After successfully exiting this venture, he pursued another venture in sustainability and green technologies before starting up Beam Wallet, the popular mobile payment and wallet application. Beam Wallet came into existence well before the "Fintech" buzzword had caught on.

Lately, Shezan has been fascinated with the potential of blockchain technology and sees many opportunities for incumbents and newcomers who embrace the technology into future solutions.

Listen to learn more about his journey and where he sees it all going.

Enjoy the show!

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Enjoy the show!

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Before founding Beehive, Craig was a Founder & COO of Butterfly Software, a data analytics and migration software company acquired by IBM in September 2012.

Prior to Butterfly his experience included various sales, consulting and finance roles at various multinational companies such as Dell, EMC, Hitachi and HSBC with an emphasis on shaping effective go to market and value propositions.

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Isobel taught at the Dubai Infants School for several years before her involvement in setting up Al Ittehad Private School and soon after co-founding Magrudy’s, a bookshop chain, in 1975.

In addition to Magrudy’s, Isobel actively set about publishing children’s books in Arabic and English that have relevance to children from, and living in, the region. Together with the support of the Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum Foundation, Isobel initiated a new reading and teaching scheme in Arabic, called Bustan Al Qusas, which empowered teachers to write and use their own stories.

In 2008 Isobel founded and is Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, bringing people of all ages together with authors from across the world to promote education, debate and, above all else, reading. The Festival won the Best Festival title at the Middle East Event Awards in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and in 2016 was declared Best Family Friendly Day Out at the Time Out Dubai Kids Awards.

Awarded the Cultural Personality of the Year by Dr HH Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah in 2010, an OBE by HM Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain in 2012, Cultural Icon of UAE by The 3rd Petrochem GR8! Women Awards-Middle East 2013, one of the Watani Humanitarian Awards in 2013 and more recently, the Al Owais Cultural Award 2014 and the Time Out Kids Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Award, Isobel has received official recognition for her tireless campaign to improve literacy and a love of books, particularly for children.

In May 2013 and 2014, Middle East Business selected Isobel as one of the most influential Brits and the most inspirational woman living in the UAE. She was also selected at the 2015 Femina Middle East Awards ceremony as an ‘Unstoppable Woman’.

On the eve of the 2013 Festival, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, The Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and also the Festival patron, issued a Decree forming the Emirates Literature Foundation, naming Isobel as one of the trustees on the Board. In addition, Isobel also holds the position of CEO of the Foundation.

Isobel was appointed a Trustee for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014, the premier prize for novelists in Arabic.

As the co-host of ‘Talking of Books’, broadcast weekly on Dubai Eye 103.8 FM, Isobel has now found an enjoyable way to spend Saturday mornings discussing the latest titles and interviewing authors from around the world.

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In 2015, InternsME was ranked amongst the top 100 SMEs in Dubai and recognized in the top 3 most innovative SMEs. In 2016, InternsME was awarded “Digital Startup of the Year” by Entrepreneur magazine. The company is now active throughout the GCC and planning further expansion and product launches in 2018.

Jean also manages Eternal Venture’s fund which has made 3 portfolio investments within its first year of operation. He has assessed hundreds of business plans and market opportunities.

Jean was educated in the UAE, followed by a Masters degree from Kings College in London. He founded his first startup in 2007 and successfully launched the world’s fastest PC in the UAE. He has since worked in a number of multinational organizations and in late 2013, structured a shareholder exit of his family retail & wholesale business. His specialties include entrepreneurship, innovation, digital startups, employment & recruitment, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, team management and growth strategy.

Enjoy the show!

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In this episode, Amel shares a powerful story about how she experienced a very tough time of uncertainty in her life and how she broke through to start fresh with a new vision of what success looks like, both professionally and personally.

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Jad is a passionate guy who gets right to the point and helps us explore how to effectively bootstrap your way to growth. In this episode, Jad shares how his social network and community around him helped to propel him to entrepreneurial success.

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