📣 Season 2 begins August 23! 

We’re thrilled to back with you for a new season of What I Did Next, starting Monday.

Season 2 is a bit less Egypt-centric, we’ve cast a wider net to include an amazing line-up of guests from across our amazing region, and across a range of industries.

We’re also excited to announce that the season will be sponsored by Marakez.

Whether you listen to the show on your walk, your commute, your workout or simply bumming around, we hope you enjoy this season! Remember to stay connected to us for the latest episodes and news.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode is Jehane Noujaim, a multi-award-winning director from the world of documentary film-making, specifically, the cinema verité genre. Jehane has captured the zeitgeist time and time again in her work. She’s the engine behind such well-known documentaries as Startup .com (2001) and Control Room (2004). More recent films include The Square (2014), the Great Hack (2019) which is available on Netflix, and the series The Vow on HBO, all produced in collaboration with her husband, Karim Amer.

Thanks to our partners Marakez for sponsoring this episode. Marakez is the leading mixed-used developer in Egypt, with an ever growing portfolio of commercial and residential projects.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is Samih Sawiris, the founder of Orascom Development Holding which operates 33 hotels with over 7,000 rooms and controls approximately 100 million sqm of land. He is perhaps best known as the person behind El Gouna, a tourist resort town on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Samih is above all, a sort of renaissance man, and a person who doesn’t define himself by his career or profession. He has a multitude of interests and he consciously prioritises the work / life balance. Now that he is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the company, he is spending time developing his passions and checking off his extensive bucket list. Our interview was recorded at the end of 2020. If you’re enjoying the show, leave us a review in Apple Podcasts, or reach out to us on Instagram.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m joined on the show today by Jalal Abu Ghazaleh & Dalia Sultan, the husband-and-wife team behind Gourmet Egypt, a company that has raised the bar for food retail in Egypt. Join our conversation to hear about their pivot points — from the cute way they met to the challenges they encountered in the evolution of their business. The conversation blends the personal and professional and we meander down memory lane to key cross-roads along their path.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on the inaugural episode of What I Did Next is Ahmed Alfi, a well-known name in the tech start-up world in both Egypt and the Middle East. From starting his career on Wall Street, Ahmed moved to Egypt in 2006, went on to co-found Sawari Ventures and is also the co-founder of Flat6Labs and the Greek Campus, a startup innovation hub in downtown Cairo. Tune in to the episode to find out all about those turning points in Ahmed’s life, who he’s inspired by, and what makes him tick.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices