Building the digital economy and a social enterprise in Sudan

Keywords

Resilience – Vision – Innovation – Sudan – Digital Economy – Social Enterprise

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Aziz Musa, a transformative leader in the digital marketing realm, talks about his story which led him from Blackpool, to Dubai, Sudan and finally Egypt.

As the youngest public company CEO in the UK, Aziz had already made significant strides in the corporate world. However, in 2017 against a backdrop of political unrest and war, he founded Cush.Digital with the vision of building both a social enterprise and the digital economy in Sudan, 

In this podcast Aziz shares his experience of living through a civil war in Sudan and of having to relocate to Egypt. The process of leaving Sudan during the war was difficult and he discusses how he approached some of the decisions he had to make for his family and employees. This includes evacuating people from a war zone, going through military checkpoints, crossing the border, providing employment and support for families.  He also shares some of the background to his business life and talks about growing a digital agency through client satisfaction and how his company trained over 4,000 people in Sudan in digital marketing, on a pro bono basis.

Main topics

• The importance of making deliberate decisions and having a higher purpose when facing adversity.
• Planning ahead and being proactive in managing anxiety and building resilience.
• Creating a social enterprise alongside a business
• The 10th Man Experiment
• Why we need backup plans and to be prepared for changing scenarios.
• The importance of having a plan to manage anxiety and build resilience.
• The process of using logic and expertise to determine the real threats.

Timestamps

1: Introductions (00:02-01:41)

2: Aziz's Background and Work (01:41-04:01)

3: Aziz's Experience of War (04:47-09:00)

4: Escape from Sudan (09:18-14:37)

5: Building Resilience and Managing Anxiety (14:37-19:17)

6: Planning for Unlikely Scenarios (19:52-23:15)

7: Aziz's Work and Contact Information (23:58-27:33)

 Action items

• Follow Aziz on LinkedIn
• Find out more about Cush Digital at www.cush.digital