Homegrown DXB with Omar Butti

  Bill and Michele Johnson are the husband and wife team behind Pitfire Pizza, your favorite UAE pizza joint since 2014. Despite neither of them having an F&B background, Michele and Bill developed their own unique brand of pizza somewhere between New York and Neopolitan, with Pitfire now expanding to eleven locations across the emirates and with many more on the way soon.

Bodour Al Tamimi founded the Pure Soil family farm to get artificial additives out of food, based on her own experiences with an autoimmune condition that triggered migraines. Bodour believes that pure food leads to a better quality of life, something she cares about deeply, not only for her own family but for all the people here in the UAE and around the world.

Hind Seddiqi is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Siddiqi Holdings, a legacy name in the Dubai luxury sector since 1950. She’s also the founder and CEO of Dubai Watch Week, a global platform dedicated to watchmaking heritage and fostering education. Even 76 years after the founding of the first Seddiqi luxury watch and jewellery retailer, Hind is showing that her family business is timeless.

Salam Daqqaq and Nada Darraj are the owner and general manager of Bait Maryam, a UAE culinary institution inspired by their mother and grandmother, Maryam. Much like the name, Bait Maryam, or Maryam’s Home, offers a cozy space with dishes that carry the warmth of a good home cooked meal. Now with multiple locations across multiple Emirates, Salam and Nada are bringing their unique brand of hospitality to a bigger audience than ever before.

Khawla Hammad and Inas Shashieh are the co-founders of Takalam, a platform that offers therapy and tech powered mental wellness tools to all. Inspired by Khawla’s own challenges with post-partum depression and Inas’s struggles with personal loss, Takalam tackles the social stigma here around mental health head on, aiming to ensure no one in the UAE or the region suffers in silence.

  April MayJuneFull episode linksNot every brand starts with a blueprint some start with identity. Cheb Moha is an Iraqi creative who grew up between Libya and Canada, a true third culture kid who felt that mainstream streetwear never fully reflected his identity.In 2014, alongside early support from his sister, he developed the concept for Shabab International a sports and streetwear brand inspired by the Middle East of his youth. What started as an idea abroad found its footing in the UAE, from a factory in Ajman to a retail space in Alserkal Avenue.Shabab is more than a label it’s a personal expression of Moha’s world, influences, and obsessions.Originally conceived in Calgary, the brand was born out of a search for representation something that felt familiar yet entirely new.Beyond fashion, Moha is also a multidisciplinary artist, working across photography, music, and poetry.With global recognition already in motion, including being worn by Dua Lipa, Shabab continues to expand its presence with eyes on cities like Dubai, Kuwait, Riyadh, Tokyo, Tunis, and New York.

Our guest today wants to make sure you don’t go thirsty. Sami Khoreibi is the co-founder of Wisewell, a water filtration & dispenser system that uses carbon, reverse osmosis, and mineral filters to make staying hydrated easier than ever. But this is far from Sami’s first venture. Sami took his first company Candax Energy public at the age of 25 and sold his second company Enviromena in 2017. And with regional water security at the forefront of conversations today, Wisewell looks to be yet another success.

Our guest today knows the value a good, long walk. Mohammed Kazim founded footwear and cultural brand Tamashee in 2013, but it was an idea he’d been dreaming of for years. He left a lucrative career in healthcare management to pursue his passion, even with the reservations of friends and family. But that risk bore fruit, with Tamashee now a staple of the UAE’s fashion scene and with offshoots Tamashee Soul and Tamashee Experience bringing the brand’s commitment to identity and culture to the forefront.

Our guests today are a tech legacy. Coming from Hong Kong, Jacky Panjabi came to Dubai in 1985 to open the first branch of the self-named Jacky’s. Their first shop opened up in 1988 in Al Nasser Square, one of the earliest consumer electronics shops of its kind. Ashish Panjabi, Jacky’s son, has had an active role in the family business since his youth. As COO, Ashish has helped make Jacky’s Group a global powerhouse, providing products, re-exports, and tech services from their headquarters right here in Dubai. But the recent supply chain issues amid the ongoing conflict in the Arabian Gulf has put the business to the test.