E16: Mishaal Al Gergawi on turning his thirst for learning into a startup

I-m excited to have Mishaal Al Gergawi on the show this week, one of the UAE-s top thinkers and intellectuals. Mishaal-s journey is quite fascinating as he started his career in finance yet quickly became renowned for his writing, a passion that fueled the launch of The Delma Institute, a think tank that he ran between 2012 and 2018. His work was centered around providing analysis and insights on West Asia and North Africa to governments and corporates. At that point, his curiosity to learn about the world peaked and he decided to undertake his first deep dive and learn about the world-s modern history, a gigantic task that took him 3 years to complete. He wrote a summary about his learnings on [medium](https://medium.com/thingsilearn/history-1453-2001-a1bbc16f455e)]. He is currently on his second deep dive and tackling both the world of sci-fi and crypto currencies. Mishaal wants to be an eternal student, the most well rounded person he can possibly be. His curiosity about the world and his wish to make an impact led him to launch [AXIS](http://axis.xyz), a startup with an audacious goal to build the world-s best graph for companies to understand the MACRO forces impacting their business and help them make informed decisions. I-d love to hear what you-re reading-you can tag me on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/louloukhazen) and leave me a review in Apple Podcasts and IMDb. For sponsorship opportunities, collaborations or guest recommendations, you can [email me](mailto:[email protected]) for details.
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Lessons from building LinkedIn's presence in MENA with Ali Matar

Ali Matar, LinkedIn-s Head of EMEA Emerging Markets, Middle East - Africa talks about the disruption that COVID has had on the MENA region and how people are coping with the new work dynamics, job losses and the need to re-think their careers, particularly women. We build on Ali-s experience as the first employee tasked to build the LinkedIn presence in MENA and how a misconception he had ended up being one of his biggest career learning opportunity. A great discussion if you-re currently managing people and looking for practical tips on building a thriving workplace.
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E15: Lessons from building LinkedIn's presence in MENA with Ali Matar

Ali Matar, LinkedIn-s Head of EMEA Emerging Markets, Middle East - Africa talks about the disruption that COVID has had on the MENA region and how people are coping with the new work dynamics, job losses and the need to re-think their careers, particularly women. We build on Ali-s experience as the first employee tasked to build the LinkedIn presence in MENA and how a misconception he had ended up being one of his biggest career learning opportunity. A great discussion if you-re currently managing people and looking for practical tips on building a thriving workplace.
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Let's talk about sperm, with Khaled Kteily of Legacy

I-m joined by my friend Khaled Kteily, the Founder and CEO of [Legacy](http://givelegacy.com), - a startup he founded at the Harvard Innovation Lab - that provides from-home fertility services for men with the aim to change the outdated view that fertility is a women-s issue. The UAE is part of Legacy-s first phase of international expansion and Khaled is hoping to kick off at the earliest given the region-s struggle with infertility in general. Khaled and I talk about the similarities in our journies--we both left home at 17, we both started business from scratch as first-time entrepreneurs at 29, we both won startup competitions - believe in creating momentum to make things happen. We also talk about his own identity and the start of his career at Oliver Wyman followed by the World Economic Forum. A quick disclaimer: I-m a super proud investor in Legacy and fully believe in their mission to become the Fatherhood company helping over 100M men on the journey of becoming a father.
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E14: Let's talk about sperm, with Khaled Kteily of Legacy

I-m joined by my friend Khaled Kteily, the Founder and CEO of [Legacy](http://givelegacy.com), - a startup he founded at the Harvard Innovation Lab - that provides from-home fertility services for men with the aim to change the outdated view that fertility is a women-s issue. The UAE is part of Legacy-s first phase of international expansion and Khaled is hoping to kick off at the earliest given the region-s struggle with infertility in general. Khaled and I talk about the similarities in our journies--we both left home at 17, we both started business from scratch as first-time entrepreneurs at 29, we both won startup competitions - believe in creating momentum to make things happen. We also talk about his own identity and the start of his career at Oliver Wyman followed by the World Economic Forum. A quick disclaimer: I-m a super proud investor in Legacy and fully believe in their mission to become the Fatherhood company helping over 100M men on the journey of becoming a father.
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How a blast injury inspired Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram to create Proximie

Nadine Hachach-Haram is Lebanese reconstructive plastic surgeon based in London and the founder of Proximie, an augmented reality platform allowing surgeons to remotely guide local clinicians through complex procedures in real-time. She joins me on the show this week to talk about growing up in post-war Beirut in the early 90s, her first exposure to the world of surgery to her mission with Proximie to provide top-class healthcare across the world. We also discuss the importance of multitasking and finding a balance as a surgeon, entrepreneur, wife and mother of 3!
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E13: How a blast injury inspired Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram to create Proximie

Nadine Hachach-Haram is Lebanese reconstructive plastic surgeon based in London and the founder of Proximie, an augmented reality platform allowing surgeons to remotely guide local clinicians through complex procedures in real-time. She joins me on the show this week to talk about growing up in post-war Beirut in the early 90s, her first exposure to the world of surgery to her mission with Proximie to provide top-class healthcare across the world. We also discuss the importance of multitasking and finding a balance as a surgeon, entrepreneur, wife and mother of 3!
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Sky Kurtz on spearheading technology, sustainability & food security with Pure Harvest

In an increasingly digital world, you have to appreciate people who work with their hands-artists, tailors, buildings, designers, cooks. I-m joined on this episode by Sky Kurtz, co-founder - CEO of Pure Harvest, a new breed of tech startups that has raised $50 million to build high-tech greenhouses. We talk about how he got started with entrepreneurship after graduating from Stanford, moving to the UAE and eventually setting up Pure Harvest with a -demo- farm based on which he raised his first $5.8 million from 31 investors. I believe Sky is on a path to build a unicorn in the region (a business valued at over $1 billion). Listen in to hear why he believes education was his ticket to get somewhere in life and how he-s looking to send the elevator back down and give back.
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E12: Sky Kurtz on spearheading technology, sustainability & food security with Pure Harvest

In an increasingly digital world, you have to appreciate people who work with their hands-artists, tailors, buildings, designers, cooks. I-m joined on this episode by Sky Kurtz, co-founder - CEO of Pure Harvest, a new breed of tech startups that has raised $50 million to build high-tech greenhouses. We talk about how he got started with entrepreneurship after graduating from Stanford, moving to the UAE and eventually setting up Pure Harvest with a -demo- farm based on which he raised his first $5.8 million from 31 investors. I believe Sky is on a path to build a unicorn in the region (a business valued at over $1 billion). Listen in to hear why he believes education was his ticket to get somewhere in life and how he-s looking to send the elevator back down and give back.
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Jalil Allabadi on how COVID has created an inflection point for health tech

Jalil Allabadi started working on Altibbi.com, a health-tech startup out of Jordan in 2011. It was the first attempt to digitize an Arabic-Arabic medical dictionary published by his father, a prominent Jordanian surgeon. What started off as 15,000 terms is now 100,000 medical terms across 2 million pages. In 2016 he saw an opportunity to change his business model and decided that the real opportunity is in telehealth - the ability for patients and doctors to connect online and on demand - a feature that has witnessed mega growth at the onset of COVID with 1 million online consultations performed in 6 months! Jalil shares his journey into entrepreneurship, his challenges with finding a suitable co-founder, fundraising and his vision for Altibbi.
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