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FWDstart
FWDstart episodes
- Nour Al Hassan (Arabic AI, Tarjama) on Building Arabic AI from MENA, Why Most Pilots Fail, and Hiring Only A Players
Nour Al Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Tarjama& and Arabic AI, a UAE-based AI company building Arabic-first language models, enterprise agents, and document intelligence systems for governments and large organisations.
Before Arabic AI, Nour spent more than 16 years building Tarjama& from a bootstrapped translation business into a profitable, technology-led platform serving global enterprises. That long runway of proprietary Arabic data became the foundation for the creation of Arabic AI, enabling a leap into small language models, agentic workflows, and on-prem deployments for highly regulated customers.
She joins the podcast to discuss what it takes to build technology from the region, overcoming internal doubt, why Arabic remains fundamentally underserved in AI, how human-in-the-loop systems will evolve rather than disappear, and why AI adoption fails unless it is driven top-down by leadership rather than delegated to teams.
-----------------------------------------------Timestamps:
00:00 The State of Arabic Content Online
00:46 Introduction to Nour Al Hassan and Tarjama
03:49 Nour's Entrepreneurial Journey
07:43 Building and Evolving Tarjama
21:14 The Rise of Arabic AI
25:54 Building Custom AI Solutions
26:56 The Importance of Data Quality
29:19 Challenges in Arabic AI Development
31:00 Real-World AI Applications
34:49 Sales and Business Development
38:20 Future of AI and Business Strategy-----------------------------------------------
Thank you to the partners who make this possible:
• Sarwa – An all-in-one investing and money-management platform. It brings together do-it-yourself trading in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and options with Sarwa Trade, hands-off investing with Sarwa Invest, and high-yield estimated returns with Sarwa Save.
👉 Register using this link to be eligible for a $200 bonus when you fund $5,000 across your Sarwa accounts within three months of signing up:
https://www.sarwa.co/register?promoCode=FWDSTARTPromo code: FWDSTART
Sarwa is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority. All investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
• Hubpay – A fully digital, ADGM-regulated fintech platform that gives UAE
businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
https://wearehubpay.com/pricing and scale your UAE business with confidence.-----------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6GxkYxN2hNSvQsIOjjqyse?si=4f2f8be6b7294c8e
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fwdstart/id1859499563
Subscribe on Anghami: https://open.anghami.com/mjWOJeeJ2Yb
Follow Jamie Lane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamienlane/Follow Jamie Lane on X:
https://x.com/jamienlaneFollow Nour Al Hassan on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nour-al-hassan-106778138/Follow FWDstart on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fwdstart/Follow FWDstart on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fwdstartVisit our Website:
https://www.fwdstart.me/Subscribe to our Newsletter:
https://www.fwdstart.me/subscribe-----------------------------------------------
50 min - Arya Bolurfrushan (AppliedAI) on Raising $42M for AI Before ChatGPT, The Future of Work & Why AI Needs Human Supervisors
Arya Bolurfrushan is the Founder and CEO of Applied AI, the company behind Opus, a platform enabling enterprises to design AI-native workflows. The company raised a $42 million seed round in November 2022, days before ChatGPT launched, and earlier this year closed a $55 million Series A led by G42, with Palantir and Bessemer also participating.
Before founding Applied AI, Arya developed his conviction during a Covid quarantine in the UAE, where time alone led him to conclude that AI would be the most significant shift in human productivity since hydrocarbons.
He joins the podcast to discuss why he was "doing AI before it was cool," how the company had to rebuild its tech stack post-ChatGPT, why he believes democracies will struggle with AI-driven displacement, and how Opus is designed to keep humans as moral decision-makers rather than obsolete bystanders.
-----------------------------------------------Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
04:04 - Raising Before ChatGPT Was Cool
05:46 - The COVID Quarantine Epiphany
10:30 - From Oil to Electricity: Why Applied AI is Like General Electric
15:29 - Opus: Building the Machine That Builds Machines
22:17 - Hiring Less Than 1% of Applicants & Building an AI-Native Team
25:15 - Business Process Re-Engineering: Adding Humans to AI-Native Workflows
30:41 - The Large Work Model: Mapping 2.7 Million Business Processes
33:27 - Sharing Productivity Gains with Labour: Lessons from Das Kapital
39:51 - The $2 Trillion Investor Who Believes Humans Will Have No Work
44:57 - Building for His Son's Future in a World Where AI is Always Smartest
-----------------------------------------------Thank you to the partners who make this possible:
• Sarwa – An all-in-one investing and money-management platform. It brings together do-it-yourself trading in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and options with Sarwa Trade, hands-off investing with Sarwa Invest, and high-yield estimated returns with Sarwa Save.
👉 Register using this link to be eligible for a $200 bonus when you fund $5,000 across your Sarwa accounts within three months of signing up:
https://www.sarwa.co/register?promoCode=FWDSTARTPromo code: FWDSTART
Sarwa is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority. All investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
• Hubpay – A fully digital, ADGM-regulated fintech platform that gives UAE
businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
https://wearehubpay.com/pricing and scale your UAE business with confidence.-----------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6GxkYxN2hNSvQsIOjjqyse?si=4f2f8be6b7294c8e
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fwdstart/id1859499563
Subscribe on Anghami: https://open.anghami.com/mjWOJeeJ2Yb
Follow Jamie Lane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamienlane/Follow Jamie Lane on X:
https://x.com/jamienlaneFollow Arya Bolurfrushan on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolurfrushan/Follow FWDstart on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fwdstart/Follow FWDstart on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fwdstartVisit our Website:
https://www.fwdstart.me/Subscribe to our Newsletter:
https://www.fwdstart.me/subscribe-----------------------------------------------
48 min - Ibrahim Manna (BRKZ) on Lessons from Careem, Founder Grit & Disrupting Saudi Construction
Ibrahim Manna is the Founder and CEO of BRKZ, a Saudi construction tech startup built to address inefficiencies in construction procurement: fragmented supply chains, manual processes, and cash flow gaps faced by contractors and factories. Before founding BRKZ, Ibrahim spent eight years at Careem as one of the core architects of its expansion, launching 11 out of 15 markets ahead of the company's $3.1 billion acquisition by Uber in 2019. BRKZ has raised over $50 million in equity and debt financing, and serves 850+ contractors across major giga-projects including NEOM, King Salman Park, and Red Sea.
He joins the podcast to discuss how buying a house during the pandemic revealed a broken industry, why Saudi's 7-8 layer supply chain creates massive inefficiency, what Careem taught him about building culture and empowering operators as founders, and how BRKZ is using technology to work with — not against — entrenched contractor behaviours.
-----------------------------------------------
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction to Ibrahim Manana and BRKZ
04:02 – Ibrahim's Early Entrepreneurial Endeavours
07:35 – Lessons from Kareem
11:11 – Challenges in Market Expansion
22:37 – Leadership and Culture at Careem
26:23 – Navigating Legal and Operational Hurdles
28:59 – Stories from Iraq
32:16 – Launching and Learning from Careem Cash
34:58 – Transition to BRKZ
36:27 – Identifying Gaps in the Construction Industry
40:21 – Challenges and Innovations in Construction
47:09 – The AI Story
51:09 – Building Relationships and Customer Trust
58:12 – Regional Tech Ecosystem and Entrepreneurship
01:01:24 – Future Prospects and Final Thoughts
-----------------------------------------------Thank you to the partners who make this possible:
• Sarwa – An all-in-one investing and money-management platform. It brings together do-it-yourself trading in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and options with Sarwa Trade, hands-off investing with Sarwa Invest, and high-yield estimated returns with Sarwa Save.
👉 Register using this link to be eligible for a $200 bonus when you fund $5,000 across your Sarwa accounts within three months of signing up:
https://www.sarwa.co/register?promoCode=FWDSTARTPromo code: FWDSTART
Sarwa is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority. All investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
• Hubpay – A fully digital, ADGM-regulated fintech platform that gives UAE
businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
https://wearehubpay.com/pricing and scale your UAE business with confidence.-----------------------------------------------
Transcript:
-----------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6GxkYxN2hNSvQsIOjjqyse?si=4f2f8be6b7294c8e
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fwdstart/id1859499563
Subscribe on Anghami: https://open.anghami.com/mjWOJeeJ2Yb
Follow Jamie Lane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamienlane/Follow Jamie Lane on X:
https://x.com/jamienlaneFollow Ibrahim Manna on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibrahimmanna/Follow FWDstart on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fwdstart/Follow FWDstart on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fwdstartVisit our Website:
https://www.fwdstart.me/Subscribe to our Newsletter:
https://www.fwdstart.me/subscribe-----------------------------------------------
1 hr 3 min - Mark Kahn (Omnivore) on GCC Food Security, India’s Venture Depth & Agritech Investing
Mark Kahn is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Omnivore, India’s leading agritech and climate-tech venture capital firm with more than $300 million under management. Backing over 45 startups transforming food, agriculture, and sustainability, Omnivore has played a defining role in shaping India’s agritech ecosystem and the country’s emerging climate investment landscape.
He joins the podcast to discuss how Omnivore is building bridges between India and the GCC, why he’s not trading India’s deep venture ecosystem for newer regional opportunities, and how food sovereignty, controlled-environment agriculture, and life sciences innovation will define the next decade of climate resilience and food security.
-----------------------------------------------
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
4:00 - Why Omnivore isn't pivoting to MENA
6:46 - India vs GCC venture ecosystems
10:00 - India's IPO advantage
14:45 - Food sovereignty vs food security
22:00 - Controlled environment agriculture: hype vs reality
28:00 - Why we avoided alt-protein
34:15 - The agribusiness-first mindset
40:15 - Mark's path from politics to agritech
45:30 - Omnivore's evolution across three funds
52:00 - The GMV trap in B2B marketplaces
59:45 - Why India missed a beat on life sciences
1:04:45 - Eruvaka exit: from shed prototype to Nutreco acquisition
1:09:00 - Exit paths in Indian agritech
1:11:00 - What value-add actually looks like
1:13:45 - Building the India-GCC food bridge-----------------------------------------------
Thank you to the partners who make this possible:
• Sarwa – An all-in-one investing and money-management platform. It brings together do-it-yourself trading in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and options with Sarwa Trade, hands-off investing with Sarwa Invest, and high-yield estimated returns with Sarwa Save.
👉 Register using this link to be eligible for a $200 bonus when you fund $5,000 across your Sarwa accounts within three months of signing up:
https://www.sarwa.co/register?promoCode=FWDSTARTPromo code: FWDSTART
Sarwa is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority. All investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
• Hubpay – A fully digital, ADGM-regulated fintech platform that gives UAE
businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
https://wearehubpay.com/pricing and scale your UAE business with confidence.-----------------------------------------------
Transcript: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1b43e0ae/transcript.txt
-----------------------------------------------
Follow Jamie Lane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamienlane/Follow Jamie Lane on X:
https://x.com/jamienlaneFollow Mark Kahn on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kahn-20490a/Follow FWDstart on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fwdstart/Follow FWDstart on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fwdstartVisit our Website:
https://www.fwdstart.me/Subscribe to our Newsletter:
https://www.fwdstart.me/subscribe-----------------------------------------------
1 hr 15 min
About FWDstart
From the publisher's feed
The FWDstart Podcast is a weekly show at the intersection of venture capital, startups, and strategic industries shaping the MENA region. Each episode features candid conversations with founders,…
investors, and operators behind the region’s most ambitious companies, from frontier AI and fintech infrastructure to climate tech, construction, energy, and space.