The Abez Show's Podcast

Episode 38 is one for the books. Abe sits down with the people you would want in your corner when you're making an investment or building a startup. This panel episode includes insights from our guests from the episode:

Hisham Kassim (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hisham-kassim/) : A seasoned corporate lawyer with over ten years of work experience in the Middle East. He represents a wide range of international and MENA- based clients, including some of the leading venture capital and private equity firms in the Middle East. To date, Hisham has successfully closed over 100 M&A and corporate transactions representing numerous funds and corporations throughout the MENA region, the U.S., the U.K, and Europe. Several of these deals include multi-million-dollar Series A and B transactions. 

Khaldoon Bushnaq (https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaldoon-bushnaq-a091b8a8/ ): He is the Co-Founder of Alma Health (https://www.linkedin.com/company/alma-health-platform-limited/ ), a company with a vision to simplify the lives of people with chronic conditions. Alma Health offers virtual consultations with licensed doctors and easy prescriptions-refill delivery to their doorstep. He's been in business for more than 10 years and has big brands under his belt, such as Careem, Nokia and Sadara Venture.

Walid Faza (https://www.linkedin.com/in/walidfaza/): Is a Partner & Chief Operating Officer at MSA Capital (https://www.linkedin.com/company/msacap/ ) He holds around 10 years of experience in the domain of development. The spectrum of his experience is around mobile development, mobile banking, team leading and digital transformation. He's served various companies and has working on various products/projects in all their stages which gave him the ability to learn new mobile development technologies and approaches, as well as understanding the business behind each product and its requirements. Waleed does all this and takes full responsibility of the whole development process, and having the last stand to ensure products are delivered with high quality.

Kalsoom Lakhani (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalsoomlakhani/) Is the Co-founder & General Partner at i2i Ventures (https://www.linkedin.com/company/i2i-ventures/) , an early stage VC fund for Pakistan, and the country’s first female-founded VC fund. Prior to opening the doors to i2i Ventures in 2019, Kalsoom was the Founder of Invest2Innovate, i2i Ventures' sister entity, which she founded in 2011 to support and unleash the potential of young entrepreneurs in growth markets like Pakistan. She has trained young entrepreneurs, changemakers, and civil society leaders in Kosovo, Nepal, Cambodia, Ireland, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, and has spoken at numerous venues, including the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. State Department, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and SXSW. Kalsoom is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and serves on the Board of the American Pakistan Foundation.

In this thirty-sixth episode, we have Gustavo Smidt, the Chief Product Officer of Namshi; one of Middle East's largest fashion retailer. He is one of those guests who is obsessed with growth through mind-blowing user experiences. His track record proves it. Under his belt of 13+ years of experience, Gustavo has made a name for himself with companies like Google, OLX/Dubizzle, Virgin Mobile and Namshi. Trust me, you do not want to miss out on the insights from this guy!

In this thirty-sixth episode, we have Gary Sheynkman, Co-Founder and GP of Leyden Ventures.Gary has held roles across product management, corporate development, and venture capital throughout his career. Residing in Dubai, he currently works across early stage venture and public sectors. Gary has invested in over 3 dozen companies over the past 3 years and led the launch and day-to-day management of Techstars Dubai in Partnership with GINCO. Gary has served as an advisor to The Executive Office of the Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Holding, and Abu Dhabi Media Group. Prior to moving back to Dubai, Gary was the Video Technology Product Lead at VICE Media.

In this thirty-fifth episode, we have Mark Engelhardt, CEO and Co-Founder of Fridai. Mark is a huge geek and is passionate about e-sports, superheroes, movies, games and technology. He is an avid gamer and builder in the Metaverse. Mark has found a way to combine these passions and built Fridai in 2019, based in Berlin, Germany, which is a friendly AI companion that sits in the background of your system, awaiting your command. It works with a variety of software and games, and has an ever-expanding library of skills. Today, Fridai is known as the gamer’s assistant as it continues to reshape the way people play games worldwide.

In this thirty-fourth episode, we have the second part of our talk with Steve Mackie, Founder of Business Start Up Qatar, Partner at Soutien Group, Chief Executive Officer of Solutions Four, Host of “In the Game” and Mentor for Start-Ups. He has assisted more than fifty companies to establish in Qatar and plays a role in the startup ecosystem here. He is the host of “In the Game”, Qatar’s first sports podcast, a speaker at events and initiatives, a mentor for start-ups and scale-ups and an advisor to small/medium-sized enterprises. In essence, he builds bridges between those who need help and those who can help in line with his purpose to advance, enhance and improve the ease of doing business in the State of Qatar and the Middle East & Africa.

In this thirty-third episode, we have the first part of our talk with Steve Mackie, Founder of Business Start Up Qatar, Partner at Soutien Group, Chief Executive Officer of Solutions Four, Host of “In the Game” and Mentor for Start-Ups. He has assisted more than fifty companies to establish in Qatar and plays a role in the startup ecosystem here. He is the host of “In the Game”, Qatar’s first sports podcast, a speaker at events and initiatives, a mentor for start-ups and scale-ups and an advisor to small/medium-sized enterprises. In essence, he builds bridges between those who need help and those who can help in line with his purpose to advance, enhance and improve the ease of doing business in the State of Qatar and the Middle East & Africa.

In this thirty-second episode, we have Sami Eltamawy, CTO and Co-Founder of Tribetactics, Insydo and Ripplr. Sami is a passionate Technologist, Serial Entrepreneur, Cybersecurity Expert and Self-development Enthusiast. Currently, Sami is the CTO at TribeTactics, where he’s leading the development of it’s technical product, Chopcast; that enables content creators and businesses to repurpose their content and redistribute it across all the social media channels with minimal effort. Sami is also a Co-founder at Pet With It, Brand Ripplr and Insydo. These hybrid experiences and passion are Sami’s main drivers to perform every day with excitement and to take up new challenges.

In this thirty-first episode, we have 3/3 (yes, Abe is also part of them) and the second part of an episode with The Pivotal Show; project about  pivots - in life & work.

Zohare Haider is the CEO of jalebi.io, a B2B food-tech venture and also the Founder of Digital Street - an award-winning digital agency, and is deeply involved with both UAE and Pakistan startup ecosystems. He is a registered mentor with Techstars, Startupbootcamp, Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus, and is on the board of various companies and startups.
In a past life, he led digital transformation across South Asia with British Council, launched an internet operator with Ooredoo, and an agri-tech startup in the desert with Acumen.

Zohare Haider is the CEO of jalebi.io, a B2B food-tech venture and also the Founder of Digital Street - an award-winning digital agency, and is deeply involved with both UAE and Pakistan startup ecosystems. He is a registered mentor with Techstars, Startupbootcamp, Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus, and is on the board of various companies and startups.
In a past life, he led digital transformation across South Asia with British Council, launched an internet operator with Ooredoo, and an agri-tech startup in the desert with Acumen.

In this twenty-ninth episode, we have Sami Elayan, the Co-Founder of Fine Diner, a company specializing in bringing home a unique fine dining experience. Sami has over 10 years of experience and his career has always been involved in startups and SMEs making Fine Diner his natural step forward. Specializing in Sales, Business Development and Marketing, Sami is well versed in understanding and setting up the integration of different systems to maximise corporate efficiency, allowing for business growth and project successes.