Ahmed El-Sharkasy is a software engineer and product manager with more than 15 years of experience working in world-class startups in the Middle East, US and Europe. He was the first engineer at Bkam, a leading price comparison website in the MENA and was also the first engineer at Onfido, the leading identify verification service in the UK and Europe (recently acquired by Entrust). After going through one of the top accelerator programs in Europe (Entrepreneur First), Ahmed was the CEO and...

Dr. Amr Awadallah is the CEO and Cofounder of Vectara, a company that is enabling organizations to leverage GenAI in business applications by reducing risks from hallucinations, bias, copyright infringement, and model weight pollution. Amr previously served as VP of Developer Relations for Google Cloud. Prior to joining Google in Nov 2019, Amr co-founded Cloudera in 2008 and as Global CTO, he spent 11 years working closely with enterprises around the world on how to ingest and extract value...

Hossam Taher, a father, serial entrepreneur, and a doctor, leverages his expertise in product management and business strategy in venture building and business growth. As the former CEO of Orcas, which he successfully exited in 2023, he expanded the company's regional presence, built an international team, and secured over $4 million in funding. Hossam now offers consultancy and mentorship in venture building, digital transformation, product strategy, and business strategy, while...

Wael Fakharany currently serves as the CEO of Edenred, leveraging his extensive leadership background. Before joining Edenred, Wael served as CEO of Omnix International and held the position of Vice President and General Manager of EMEA at Incorta. He also worked at Careem as Managing Director for Egypt and held the position of Global Senior VP for Government Relations. At Google, Wael served as Regional Business Lead at Google X and Head of Agencies for the Middle East and North Africa....

Aya is an Egyptian software engineer and entrepreneur who aims to bridge the gap between top tech talents and hiring companies. She is doing this through Talents Arena, the ultimate ‘talent marketplace’ for African job seekers and recruiters in tech. Talents Arena is re-inventing technical hiring by matching tech gurus with ideal hiring tech companies, thus cutting down time wasted in the hiring process. Aya has worked in the tech industry for over a decade, starting as a software...

Ammar Kandil is the Co-Founder of Yes Theory. Originally from Sadat City, Egypt, located two hours outside Cairo, Ammar's journey began with a profound fascination for people. Yes Theory began in the summer of 2015 when Ammar, Thomas, Derin and Matt were four strangers in their early 20s who bonded over the idea that life's greatest moments and deepest connections exist outside your comfort zone. Today Yes Theory is a community of millions of people who act on the belief that seeking...

Adel is the Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Aumet. Aumet automates the pharmaceutical procurement supply chain by providing enterprise resource planning services that provide real-time artificial intelligence-driven healthcare data to government entities and pharmaceutical manufacturers to monitor the demand and supply of medicine nationwide. Before joining Aumet, Adel worked in a spectrum of fields ranging from Transaction advisory, Investment banking to corporate banking. Adel...

In this episode, we sit down and have a conversation with Mohammed Elhorishy, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Taager, a leading e-commerce platform that is revolutionizing the industry in the Middle East. Founded in 2019, Taager is a B2B platform to supply a one-stop store for online retailers and suppliers. The platform supplies online retailers and suppliers with a set of backend and built-in providers, from operational and logistical infrastructure akin to storage and delivery...

In this episode, we're excited to share the journey of Farah and Omar Emara, the siblings behind FreshSource. Launched in 2018, FreshSource is a startup that's reshaping Egypt's agricultural sector by seamlessly integrating technology with supply chain logistics. Farah and Omar Emara are passionate Egyptian entrepreneurs who are dedicated to addressing inefficiencies in the agricultural value chain. In a country where producers face an average food loss of 45%, their work is making a real...

Shot back in October 2023, in this episode we sit down with Amr Shady (CEO of Tribal Credit). Amr spearheads a mission to help bring financial inclusion to startups in emerging markets. From ideation to fundraising, product development to operations, investor to board relations, Amr leads the overall execution of Tribal’s strategy and vision. He is a serial tech entrepreneur and data scientist with two decades of building and scaling startups. Amr co-founded Tribal Credit, a spin-off from...

Omar El Defrawy is the Founder and CEO of Sylndr, Egypt's leading used-cars marketplace. Before founding Sylndr in Q4 2021 where it raised Africa's largest pre-seed to date, he served as the CFO and Board Member at elmenus, Egypt's home-grown food delivery platform. Prior to that, Omar spent six years as part of EFG Hermes' Investment Banking team, where he handled significant transactions, including Fawry's IPO, Cleopatra Hospital Group's IPO, the capital increase of Eastern Tobacco...

Khalid Abou Kassem is the Founder of AlGooru, a Saudi-based early-stage EdTech startup. AlGooru is the first licensed tutoring platform in Saudi, founded for the purpose of matching students with qualified private tutors through long-term curated lesson plans, and is one of the smallest companies to have joined Saudi's exclusive government-backed "Unicorns Program". Khalid has built a team of 70+ people since 2021 and raised more than $4 million in seed investments from various angel and...

Nadim Nagui is the CEO of Partment, a proptech platform simplifying real estate through co-ownership solutions. In 2022, he co-founded Partment with Ahmed el Raggal and Chinmaya Das, marking a new chapter in his entrepreneurial journey. Recognized with the Forbes 30 under 30 award in 2022, Nadim's strategic prowess and contributions stand out. Prior to Partment, he was the Head of Business Development DACH at Uber, helping expand global rides, meals, and deliveries. Nadim was also...

Mohamed Jawabri is the Co-Founder and COO of Lendo | ليندو. Lendo is a shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding marketplace. They have recently closed a $28 million Series B round led by Sanabil Investments. Lendo enables SMEs to digitally pre-finance their outstanding invoices. The platform also offers SMEs a limited option to borrow cash quickly and short-term options to gain higher returns for investors/lenders. Lendo has also recently crossed a significant milestone, facilitating more than...

Sharif El-Badawi is the CEO of Dubai Future District Fund, an evergreen venture fund of funds and direct investment vehicle of the emirate of Dubai. The fund is anchored by Dubai Future Foundation and the Dubai International Financial Centre to invest in the Future of Finance and Future Economies with the aim of bolstering economic development in Dubai, the UAE and the broader region. Previously, he co-founded and managed Plus Venture Capital (+VC), a leading seed stage investment firm in...

In this episode, we speak to Abdel-Azim Osman, one of the leading marketing experts in the MENA region. He is the Co-Founder & CMO of Nawy and the Co-Founder of Lynkrs. Under his leadership, Nawy became Meta's most sophisticated real-estate client in the world! This led him to hold roles on Meta's EMEA Advisory Board Panel and Meta's MENA Advisory Board. Additionally, he has been selected as an Endeavour Entrepreneur. After graduating from MIT, he started his career as a Consultant at...

Entrepreneurs are storytellers and Taher is no different. Taher is a distinguished author, aspiring filmmaker and a former co-writer of El Da7ee7. In this episode, he offers a masterclass in the art of storytelling, taking us into the world of El Da7ee7 and his experience as a writer. During his 240-episode journey there, the show amassed nearly a billion views. Following this success, Taher pursued an MBA at Harvard Business School, where he co-authored a case study on Mohamed Salah. As the...

Youssef Salem is Swvl’s Ex-CFO and current advisor. He currently serves as the CFO of both AIQ (ADNOC AI joint venture with G42) and ADNOC Drilling. ADNOC Group is one of the world’s leading energy producers based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. During his time at Swvl, the company got listed in Nasdaq through a SPAC merger, making Youssef the youngest CFO in Nasdaq’s history and Swvl “the Middle East’s first $1.5 billion unicorn to list on Nasdaq.” Since its all time high, Swvl faced many unfortunate...

In this episode, we sit down and have a conversation with Mohamed Khaled, the Founder and CEO of Hotdesk, a revolutionary co-working space solution. Hotdesk, the Airbnb of office spaces, has reshaped the corporate landscape by introducing the world’s first productivity app, which seamlessly connects entrepreneurs, freelancers and SMEs ready-to-use workspaces globally, offering unparalleled flexibility. Mohamed's journey into co-working spaces started during his six-year tenure at PwC,...

In this episode, we sit down and speak with Ahmed Abaza, the Co-Founder and CEO of Synapse Analytics, a company that is reshaping the business landscape through the power of AI. At Synapse Analytics, Ahmed and the team are helping enterprises build, manage and scale AI solutions to optimize operations and foster sustainable growth. Ahmed’s journey in the world of technology began as a Business Development Engineer, who then expanded his horizons at Oracle, serving as a Technology Sales...

Kanzy El Defrawy, better known as The Flying Daf, is one of the Arab’s world’s most established and recognisable squash extraordinaries, boasting 220 professional accolades stretching across a 15-year career and culminating in a world ranking high of 21. Securing youth titles all over the world, Kanzy’s professional career took of Stateside when she won the USA National Squash Championships in 2016, securing the country’s top ranking. Kanzy launched The Flying Daf Squash Academy – the first...

In this episode, we have the honour of sitting down with Khaled Talhouni, the Managing Partner at Nuwa Capital, a radical investment platform located in the UAE that is redefining the future of founder-capital relationships. Having previously served as the Managing Partner at Wamda Capital, Khaled's impact on the MENA startup ecosystem is undeniable. He began his journey at Dubai International Capital, where he played an important role in supporting the development of the MENA region's...

In this episode, we sit down and have a conversation with Youssef Rizk, the Co-founder of Wondercraft, the first end-to-end podcast builder, voted number 1 for product of the day and week at Product Hunt. Wondercraft is revolutionizing the podcasting world by effortlessly turning existing content into captivating podcasts using realistic A.I. voices. Join us as we explore Youssef's entrepreneurial journey, from leaving Palantir, where he served as a Forward Deployed Software Engineer, to...

In this episode, we have the honor of hosting Wael Leheta, the Co-founder and Managing Director of MaxAB, a company that is transforming the retail sector. Wael's expertise lies in utilising the potential of e-commerce in the B2B food and grocery sector, but his journey at MaxAB began long before that. Previously, he served as the VP of Growth and Head of Customer Experience, where he played a pivotal role in driving the company's expansion and enhancing the overall customer journey. He has...