Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 6 of 6 - In the sixth and final episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into how ecosystem builders in the region can better engage their diaspora and incentivize talented expats to move to the region to start and invest in startups.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv/ (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 5 of 6 - In the fifth episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into the different types of capital available to entrepreneurs in the MENA region.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv/ (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 4 of 6 - In the fourth episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into the Israel and UAE economic normalization, what it means for the country's startup ecosystems, and how tech can be a force for connection between Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Jews.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 3 of 6 - In the third episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz hands the mic over to Joy Ajlouny, the Cofounder of Fetchr in Dubai and Viola Llewelyn, the Cofounder of Ovamba Solutions in Cameroon for a candid discussion on what it's like being a woman leader building a tech scaleup in the Gulf region and in Africa.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 2 of 6 - In the second episode of our 6 week community activation, we tell the inside stories of the entrepreneurs laying down the foundation for the payments, logistics, and artificial intelligence industries in the region.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 1 of 6 - In the first episode of our 6 week community activation, we tell the inside stories of Yahoo's acquisition of Maktoob.com, Amazon's acquisition of Souq, and dive into how technology inspired the Arab Spring uprising.

This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th.

Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit (https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit)

Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv (https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv)

A special thanks to our presenting partner https://www.exim.gov/mena (The Export-Import Bank of the United States). As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

The Global Startup Movement is launching the Ecosystem Arabia mini-series on January 5th, 2021. With this mini-series, we will dive into key themes and topics relevant in the Middle East and North Africa startup ecosystems through key industry stakeholders in an engaging, narrative-driven format. In addition to a weekly podcast, we will broadcast Pitch MENA Live! on The Global Startup Movement's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn channels. This will be a live pitch competition featuring 16 MENA startups competing to win the opportunity to pitch a panel of MENA sharks. We will end the 6 week series with a gathering of the audience for an interactive virtual summit to engage in breakout sessions, attend engaging panel discussions, and watch the 2 finalists of Pitch MENA Live! pitch to a panel of sharks for an investment in their startup. Register your email at https://ecosystemarabia.tv to reserve your spot at the virtual summit!

David Casey catalyzes ecosystems to engineer systemic change and has co-founded four companies and helped scale another to 8 digits revenue. His work has centered around movement-building, and leveraging blockchain technology for socioeconomic transformation. His current focus is redirecting flows of capital towards the regenerative economy of 2100, and addressing the tragedy of the commons inherent in the 21st century transnational economy. He has spoken publicly in over 20 countries on the future of work and living, sustainable development, decentralization and blockchain technology. He is the co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of NuMundo, a platform that connects people and impact centers (land-based projects for regenerative living), encouraging resource sharing on the web and on the ground to catalyze planetary regeneration and individual transformation. Among other things, David is also the founder and co-producer of Cosmic Convergence, an annual gathering of art, music, tribal technology, education for conscious living, and Maya culture on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. David successfully bridges the worlds of technology startups, permaculture, international development, and retreat and festival production.

On this episode you'll learn:

What is mutual credit? [12:15]

How does the concept of decentralized mutual credit differ at a local, national, and international level? [14:08]

How does mutual credit fit into the boarder decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem? [17:30]

Kago Kagichiri is the Global Head of Innovation for Sokowatch a tech company that revolutionizes access to essential goods and services by connecting small shops to the digital economy. It enables informal retailers to order products at any time via SMS ormobile app, and receive free same-day delivery to their store. This makes it easier for shopkeepers to source goods and helps manufacturers ensure that their products are consistently available to consumers.

He was previously the cofounder of Eneza Education, a learning platform supporting millions of 10-25 year olds, because I believe that young people are denied opportunities to leverage their technical skills, hunger to learn, their lack of bias and natural desire to change the world.

Kago has dedicated his life to implementing solutions that automate solutions to people's problems at scale, especially for those will little or no prior technical skill. I've focused on plug-and-play solutions around "legacy" but extremely familiar technologies like SMS/USSD and Voice.

On this episode you'll learn:

The story of Kago's departure from Eneza and his journey to connecting with Daniel Yu from Sokowatch. [2:50]

What are the key problems Africa's SMEs face that the Sokowatch platform solves? [9:05]

A dive into market sizes in East and West Africa. [16:01]

Aviv Shalgi is the CEO of energy tech startup, Solar Simplified, a platform that matches renters and homeowners who care about the environment and want to save money on the electricity bill with local solar farms. For 6+ years he's been a Board Member, Mentor and Advisor for multiple startups and not-for-profit organizations. He previously led Dormigo’s business and corporate development efforts (until its acquisition), driving organic and inorganic growth, and was responsible for partnerships, alliances and bringing innovation to the real estate and hospitality industries. He served for 4 years as in IDF’s Visual Intelligence Corps (9900, Israel’s “Eyes in the sky”) as a Captain, where he founded a unique cross-branches innovation team, earning the Major-General of Intelligence Corps award for Creative Thinking, and trained 100+ trainees in satellite operations.

On this episode you'll learn:

1. What technologies and public policies have advanced over the past decade that has allowed for the introduction of new business models in solar? [3:35]

2. What is Community Solar? [8:22]

3. What can we realistically expect from solar power generation in the 2020's [16:12]