WORLD’S 5 RICHEST PEOPLE UNDER 30 WORLD’S 5 YOUNGEST SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRES
TOP 10 CREATORS 2022
2022’S YOUNGEST RECORD BREAKERS WHAT MOST CONCERNS GEN Z AND MILLENNIALS?
OCTOBER 2022 ISSUE 121
Mohsin Hani Al-Bahrani
Mustafa Abdulmoneim
Ely El Khoury Rudy Wehbe
Mohamed Algawish
Madiha Naz
Sheikha Mozah Bint Marwan Al Maktoum
Selina Ved
30 UNDER 30 MEET THE 2022 COHORT OF MENA’S MOST PROMISING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS, PIONEERS, AND CREATIVES.
OCTOBER 2022 ISSUE 121
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OCTOBER 2022
6 I Sidelines A Lesson In Ambition By Claudine Coletti LEADERBOARDS
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UNDER 30
2022’s Youngest Record Breakers
CONTENTS
10 I
From the Middle East to North America, this cohort of young individuals have broken records this year, according to Guinness World Records.
By Jamila Gandhi
12 I
What Most Concerns Gen Z And Millennials? Younger generations are attempting to strike a balance between driving societal change and meeting the demands of everyday life. By Cherry Aisne Trinidad
20 26
BILLIONAIRES
14 I
World’s 5 Richest People Under 30 Here’s a look at the world’s richest people under 30, according to Forbes data. Three of the five are self-made entrepreneurs. Billionaires had to have been under 30 years old on December 31, 2021. Net worths are as of September 14, 2022.
By Jamila Gandhi
16 I
World’s 5 Youngest Self-Made Billionaires Here are the world’s five youngest self-made billionaires according to Forbes, all of whom dropped out of college. Betting on technology, these five pioneering problem-solvers all have business operations in the U.S. Net worths are as of September 14, 2022.
By Jamila Gandhi TECHNOLOGY
18 I Marketplace Moments: Building eBay Global ecommerce platform eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers worldwide. Here’s a look at the biggest business milestones of one of the world’s largest marketplaces. By Jamila Gandhi
20 I
Top Creators 2022 These 49 social media savants—and one dog—are redefining celebrity for our connected age.. Edited & reported by Alexandra Sternlicht with Emmy Lucas SUSTAINABILITY
24 I
In Numbers: Sustainable Tourism Awareness of the climate crisis is influencing travel choices and shaping the future of tourism. Here are some figures on sustainable tourism based on insights from over 30,000 travellers across 32 countries and territories, according to booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2022.
By Samar Khouri
F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
26 I
Shaping A New Market
Hadia Ghaleb, Founder of Ghaleb Production House (GPH) and the Hadia Ghaleb Brand for swimwear, is very much a trendsetter, not a follower. Having changed the game in Egypt for influencer marketing, she’s now working to change global perceptions of modest swimwear. By Layan Abo Shkier
72 I
Thoughts On Age OCTOBER 2022
CONTENTS
2
40 I
30 I
Building Opportunities
Holidays With Heart
Muatasam Aulaqi, cofounder of Oman-headquartered adventure travel company NomuHub, is working to make sustainable tourism mainstream for Middle East travelers. As he seeks out new destinations in need of impactful giving back projects, he’s got global success on his mind. By Claudine Coletti
Ibrahim Mohamed, COO and cofounder of Egypt-based online marketplace Homzmart, has helped digitize the furniture and home supplies market in his home country, raising more than $40 million in the process. Now, he’s working on expansion. By Hagar Omran
34 I
Reaching For The Stars
Egyptian writer and astrophysicist Maryam Haytham Esmat is uncovering the secrets of the universe by asking fundamental questions about the theorized particles that make up the fabric of the world we live in. While following her passion, she hopes she can be the representation young Arab women need to see in the global field. By Rawan Hassan F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
44 I
Backing The Future
At 29, Sacha Haider of Global Ventures is the youngest female Partner of a venture capital firm in MENA. As she hunts out impactful investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, she’s rewriting what it means to take a risk. By Jamila Gandhi OCTOBER 2022
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F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
October 2022
Issue 121
•
CONTENTS
4
INSIDE
•
30 UNDER 30 30 UNDER 30 F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
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F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
SIDELINES
FORBES MIDDLE EAST
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A Lesson In Ambition This month, we reveal our Class of 2022—the latest diverse cohort of the Middle East’s most promising young prodigies. These millennial and gen-z entrepreneurs, creatives, inventors, and athletes—all under the age of 30 at the start of the year—are showcasing their abilities to impact their industries, their region, and the world. This is a great list to do because it’s so full of energy and motivation. These innovators are just starting out, and while they’ve already achieved so much, they have untold potential to do more. MENA has a large talent pool of youth, with young people making up a significant portion of the population. According to youthpolicy.org, more than 28% of MENA’s population are between the ages of 15 and 29, with UNICEF saying in 2019 that nearly half of MENA’s population was aged 24 and under. It’s also an increasingly friendly place to do business, with the U.A.E., Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, and Lebanon featuring on the World Bank Group’s ease of doing business ranking in 2020. Many of our Class of 2022 have taken advantage of this—of the 35 individuals on our 30 Under 30 list, 21 of them are founders or cofounders of their own companies. Of these, some are helping to rake in significant sums in external funding. For example, Jad Antoun cofounded proptech startup Huspy, which secured $37 million in a Series A in June 2022. And Ibrahim Mohamed cofounded ecommerce marketplace Homzmart, which announced a $23 million pre-Series B in August. Among the non-founders are scientists, investors, and digital content creators. Ahmed El-Ghandour and Mohamad Hosam are the brains behind the Egypt-based YouTube edutainment show El-Da7ee7, which teaches young people about science and technology, and had over 1.5 billion views as of September. Whereas Somalian U.A.E. resident Hassan Suleiman—known as Aboflah to his fans—had over 3.6 billion views for his YouTube show on entertainment and gaming. This year’s list also features five gen-z high achievers—born in 1997 or later. Among them are athlete Nouran Gohar, who is currently ranked the world’s number one female squash player, and astrophysicist Maryam Haytham Esmat, who can boast of working on the James Webb Space Telescope among her many accolades. Blessed as we are to be living in a region so full of highly-impressive and successful young people, we have had to make some tough decisions, with the help of external judges, to whittle the more than 400 nominations we received down to our final 30. But this is more than a list. The Forbes’ Under 30 is a community—one that we will champion again at Forbes Middle East’s first Under 30 Summit in Egypt in November. We hope you’re as inspired by these determined young ground-breakers as we are.
—Claudine Coletti, Managing Editor
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OCTOBER 2022
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Under 30
From the Middle East to North America, this cohort of young individuals have broken records this year, according to Guinness World Records.
• Bella J Dark Age: 5 Record: Youngest female to publish a book Citizenship: British At five years and 211 days old, Dark became the world’s youngest female to publish a book. The book, The Lost Cat, tells the tale of Snowy the cat, and it has sold over 1,000 copies since being published in January. The young British author is already working on a sequel.
• David Popovici Age: 17 Record: Youngest swimmer to break the record in the men’s 100meter freestyle Citizenship: Romanian Romanian swimmer Popovici became the youngest male to break an individual world record in an Olympic swimming event since Michael Phelps set the fourth of his 29 individual records in 2003. In August, Popovici broke the men’s 100-meter freestyle world record at the 2022 European championships in Italy.
• Mack Rutherford Age: 17 Record: Youngest pilot to fly the world solo Citizenship: Belgian-British Belgian-British aviator Rutherford became the youngest person to circumnavigate the world by aircraft solo, aged 17 years and 64 days. In August, he marked the end of his trip, landing in Sofia, Bulgaria. Rutherford flew across 52 countries and five continents aboard a small,
F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
single-engine aircraft and traveled for a total of six months. He comes from a family of pilots and is the younger brother of fellow pilot and record holder Zara Rutherford, who became the youngest female to circumnavigate the world by aircraft solo aged 19 years and 199 days.
• Billie Eilish Age: 20 Record: Youngest person to earn “triple crown” film music award wins Citizenship: American After winning a 2022 Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy for music created specifically for a film, American singer-songwriter Eilish became the youngest person to complete the “triple crown” of film music awards at the age of 20 years and 99 days. She earned these accolades for her James Bond theme song “No Time To Die.” At 18, Eilish was also the youngest musician to write and record a James Bond theme song.
• Yousef Al Refaie Age: 24 Record: Youngest person to climb the Seven Volcanic Summits Citizenship: Kuwaiti In May, Al Refaie became the youngest and 24th person to scale each continent’s tallest volcano, aged 24 years and 119 days. The Kuwaiti mountaineer completed his first summit in December 2015 with Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. He plans to attempt a new challenge in November—crossing the largest deserts globally, starting with the Empty Quarter.
Top 100 Arab Family Businesses 2022 • An Update • In our September magazine we revealed our ranking of the Top 100 Arab Family Businesses 2022, highlighting the Middle East’s biggest and most successful family businesses that have been sustained over generations. Following publication we received new information that led us to make an important correction: moving Saudi’s diversified Rawabi Holding Group, led by group chairman Abdulaziz AlTurki, from rank 83 to rank 51.
The full updated list can be found on our website.
BY JAMILA GANDHI
LEADERBOARD
10
2022’s Youngest Record Breakers
OCTOBER 2022
LEADERBOARD
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F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Under 30
What Most Concerns Gen Z And Millennials? Over the last few years, young people have been instrumental in steering change within the workplace and society at large. However, Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which gathered responses from 23,220 respondents in 46 countries, revealed that these generations are now exhausted of being resilient as they get caught in the waves of several global crises. Their top concerns have also shifted over the past year. Generation Z (29%), which the study defined as those born between January 1995 and December 2003, and millennials (36%), who were born between January 1983 and December 1994, assert that cost of living is their topmost concern, which highlights the widespread impact of surging consumer prices globally. In comparison, last year’s survey showed that healthcare/disease prevention and climate change were top of mind for these generations, suggesting that while they have adapted well to the changes around them, they have become more concerned about their finances. Nearly half of Gen Zs (46%) and millennials (47%) admit they live paycheck to paycheck and worry about being unable to cover expenses. Financial security is also causing a high level of stress and anxiety among the young. About 47% of Gen Zs and 43% of millennials that say they are regularly stressed and anxious say worries F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
• Top Concerns • Gen Z Sexual harassment
17%
Mental health of my generation
19%
Unemployment
20%
Climate change
24%
Cost of living
29%
Millennials 18%
20%
Crime/ personal safety
Unemployment
21%
Health care/ disease prevention
25%
Climate change
36%
Cost of living
Source: Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey
about their financial future in the long-term impacts their feelings, according to Deloitte. But young people are still proactive and shaping their future. About 43% of Gen Z and 33% of millennial respondents said they were taking on side jobs, either to address their financial concerns or acquire new skills. More significantly, having a side hustle for these generations could also be an opportunity to dive into
entrepreneurialism. Popular side jobs included selling products or services via online platforms, consulting, running their own business, and social media influencing. For Gen Zs, in particular, the 2022 Microsoft’s Small Business State of Mind report found that this generation is shaking up the workplace hustle and bucking the norm to opt for small business life, driven by the idea of early retirement, among other reasons. While unemployment
and healthcare/disease prevention were ranked third among the top concerns for Gen Z and millennials, respectively, they agree on what comes next after cost of living. These generations are worried about the environment. Climate change emerged as the second-most pressing concern among a quarter of Gen Zs (24%) and millennials (25%). The majority of them (75% of Gen Zs and 73% of millennials) believe the world is already at a tipping point in responding to climate change—and these generations are taking action in their own way and advocating for climaterelated measures within their organizations. Nine in 10 Gen Zs and millennials said they are making efforts to protect the environment in as simple a way as using recyclable and reusable everyday materials, buying second-hand items, and consuming locally or organically produced food. But it doesn’t stop there. Gen Zs and millennials want to see more action and resources from their employers to fight climate change. They want to see organizations ban single-use plastic products at the workplace, offer sustainability-oriented benefits, and provide training and incentives to make better environmental choices. Younger generations want their values and beliefs to take shape in the workplace and employers must, in return, empower them to drive change if they want them to stay connected and loyal. OCTOBER 2022
BY CHERRY AISNE TRINIDAD
LEADERBOARD
12
Younger generations are attempting to strike a balance between driving societal change and meeting the demands of everyday life.
LEADERBOARD
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F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Billionaires
World’s 5 Richest People Under 30 Here’s a look at the world’s richest people under 30, according to Forbes data. Three of the five are self-made entrepreneurs. Billionaires had to have been under 30 years old on December 31, 2021. Net worths are as of September 14, 2022.
1. Sam Bankman-Fried Age: 30 Net worth: $17.4 billion Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency Exchange Citizenship: U.S. Bankman-Fried is among the richest people in crypto, thanks to Alameda Research trading firm and his FTX exchange, which he launched in 2019. FTX was valued at $18 billion in 2021, making Bankman-Fried one of the richest people under 30 in history. In January 2022, the exchange and its U.S. operations hit a combined $40 billion valuation. The majority of his fortune—which he claims he will eventually donate to charity—is tied up in the ownership of about half of FTX and a share of its FTT tokens. The self-made entrepreneur studied physics at MIT. Before founding FTX, he was a trader on Jane Street Capital’s international ETF desk.
2. Gary Wang Age: 29 Net worth: $4.6 billion Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency Exchange Citizenship: U.S. Wang acts as chief technology officer of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which he cofounded with Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019. Built “by traders, for traders,” FTX enables the buying and selling of crypto derivatives. Wang owns about 16% of
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Atallah serves as chief technology officer of OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, which he cofounded in 2017. After a funding round that valued the New York-based company at $13.3 billion, Atallah and CEO Devin Finzer became the first NFT billionaires in January 2021. Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Coinbase, and Dapper are among the company’s backers. The self-made entrepreneur graduated from Stanford and worked as a programmer at Palantir and two startups before starting OpenSea.
Cofounders Alex Atallah (left) and Devin Finzer.
4. Jonathan Kwok
the exchange and about 18% of its U.S. operations. He graduated from MIT with a degree in mathematics with computer science. Prior to FTX, he worked at Google, building systems to aggregate prices across millions of flights.
3. Gustav Magnar Witzoe Age: 29 Net worth: $3.9 billion Source of wealth: Fish Farming Citizenship: Norway Witzoe’s fortune stems from fish farming, one of Norway’s
biggest industries. He owns nearly 50% of SalMar ASA, one of the world’s largest salmon producers, a stake gifted to him in 2013 by his father. The patriarch is the chairman of the company, which he founded in 1991. SalMar installed the world’s first off-shore fish farm in 2017. Witzoe is making his own mark by investing in real estate and tech startups.
4. Alex Atallah Age: 30 Net worth: $2.2 billion Source of wealth: Online Marketplace Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 30 Net worth: $2.2 billion Source of wealth: Real Estate Citizenship: Hong Kong SAR Kwok and his older brother Geoffrey took the reins of Hong Kong’s Empire Group Holdings after the death of their father, Walter, who started the company. Once the chairman of Hong Kong’s largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Walter was ousted by his brothers in the familyowned company. Today, the brothers own Walter’s direct stake in SHKP and are listed as beneficiaries of a third of the five large family trusts held by their grandmother. Jonathan ranks as Hong Kong’s youngest billionaire, according to Forbes. OCTOBER 2022
BY JAMILA GANDHI; SASHA MASLOV FOR FORBES
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Billionaires
World’s 5 Youngest Self-Made Billionaires 1. Alexandr Wang Age: 25 Net worth: $1 billion Source of wealth: Artificial Intelligence Citizenship: U.S. Wang is the cofounder and CEO of Scale AI, a Californiabased startup that helps companies put their raw data to work for AI and machine learning. The world’s youngest self-made billionaire owns an estimated 15% of Scale AI, which investors valued at $7.3 billion in 2021, according to Forbes. At age 17, Wang landed full-time engineering roles in Silicon Valley. He was inspired to solve machine learning infrastructure problems and accelerate the development of AI through his work at Quora, where he worked as a technical lead. At 19, after a brief stint at MIT to study machine learning, Wang dropped out to attend the Y Combinator accelerator and launch Scale in 2016.
2. Henrique Dubugras Age: 26 Net worth: $1.5 billion Source of wealth: Fintech Citizenship: Brazil Dubugras serves as co-CEO of Brex, a Fintech aiming to overhaul the corporate credit card. He met his cofounder Pedro Franceschi through a Twitter argument in 2012, when they were both high school seniors living in their home country of Brazil. Dubugras grew up in Sao Paulo and attended Stanford University with Franceschi for less than a year before they dropped out to start
F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi
Brex in 2017. Private investors valued Brex at $12.3 billion in January 2022.
2. Pedro Franceschi Age: 26 Net worth: $1.5 billion Source of wealth: Fintech Citizenship: Brazil Franceschi is co-CEO and cofounder of Brex with fellow billionaire Henrique Dubugras. The Brazilian natives’ first business was also a payment startup that the duo launched in 2013. Aimed at small businesses in Brazil, Pagar.me was later sold to a larger local rival in 2015. Franceschi grew up in Rio de Janeiro and attended Stanford University with Franceschi for less than a year before they dropped out to start Brex in 2017. Brex is backed by Y Combinator, DST Global, and PayPal
cofounders Max Levchin and Peter Thiel among others.
4. Austin Russell Age: 27 Net worth: $1.1 billion Source of wealth: Sensors Citizenship: U.S. An optics prodigy, Russell founded and runs automotive sensor firm Luminar Technologies, an idea he developed at just 17 while studying physics at Stanford University. In 2012, he dropped out of college after receiving a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship. Luminar went public in a SPAC merger in December 2020. Following the listing on Nasdaq, Russell became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at age 25. Today, the company counts China’s SAIC, Daimler trucks, Volvo, and Mercedes as its clients.
5. Ryan Breslow Age: 28 Net worth: $2 billion Source of wealth: E-commerce Software Citizenship: U.S. Breslow launched payment startup Bolt after dropping out of Stanford University in 2014. He has raised $1.3 billion for Bolt, including $355 million in January 2022, which valued the company at $11 billion. The checkout experience platform’s investors include BlackRock, General Atlantic, and SAP. In January 2022, he stepped down as CEO to become executive chairman. Outside of Bolt, Breslow has founded Eco, a digital global cryptocurrency platform for use as a payment tool for daily transactions. OCTOBER 2022
BY JAMILA GANDHI ;IMAGE BY ELIZA HAVERSTOCK
LEADERBOARD
16
Here are the world’s five youngest self-made billionaires according to Forbes, all of whom dropped out of college. Betting on technology, these five pioneering problem-solvers all have business operations in the U.S. Net worths are as of September 14, 2022.
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F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Marketplace Moments:
LEADERBOARD
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2002
Building eBay Global ecommerce platform eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers worldwide. Here’s a look at the biggest business milestones of one of the world’s largest marketplaces.
eBay acquired payments solution provider PayPal in July, marking one of the most prominent investments in the marketplace’s history.
2014 In July, eBay partnered with Sotheby’s to offer mid-priced works of art in a virtual live-auction format. A well-preserved copy of Superman was sold in August for $3.2 million on the marketplace, breaking records for the most expensive comic book ever sold at the time.
2001 A luxurious Gulfstream, a favorite private jet for the rich and famous, was sold on eBay for $4.9 million in the third quarter of 2001. At the time, this was the highest-known sale price for any product ever auctioned online.
2000 eBay Motors, the platform’s automotive marketplace, launched in April. In November, a fixed-priced feature, “Buy It Now,” was introduced, enabling users to purchase items instantly at set prices. By 2006, the automotive business had hit two million in passenger vehicle sales.
Pierre Omidyar
Meg Whitman
Devin Wenig
2017
1998
Jamie Iannone
1997 AuctionWeb was officially renamed and rebranded to eBay in September. Omidyar named it eBay after his first choice Echo Bay was already taken.
French-born Iranian-American Pierre Omidyar established “AuctionWeb” in September as a site “dedicated to bringing together buyers and sellers in an honest and open marketplace.” The entrepreneur’s first sale was a broken laser pointer. The billionaire is now a director emeritus and had an estimated net worth of $10.2 billion as of September 16, 2022.
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eBay introduced a series of digital features in 2017. After launching the personalized homepage for customers in March, the marketplace announced guaranteed delivery on 20 million items in three days or less, a price match guarantee in the U.S. as well as AI-enabled image search on listings. The platform also launched its Authenticate program, guaranteeing the authenticity of luxury bags sold on eBay.
2019
1996
1995
2015 To focus on opportunities in their respective markets, eBay and PayPal spun off as two independent companies. By July, both firms were trading separately on Nasdaq. In the same month, Devin Wenig was appointed as eBay’s new and fourth CEO.
Meg Whitman joined the business in February as President and CEO. She is best known for taking the firm from $5.7 million to $8 billion in sales from 1998 to 2008. In September 1998, eBay went public, listing its shares on Nasdaq.
By June—less than a year since inception—the platform had hit $7.2 million in the total value of merchandise sold. Omidyar hired Jeff Skoll as President, and the duo rented a small suite in San Jose, California. The suite is now known as Building 6 on the current eBay campus.
2011 In a year of acquisitions, eBay invested heavily in expanding its technologies. In March, it acquired ecommerce specialist GSI Commerce, now known as eBay Enterprise. Between April to July, eBay bought a majority stake in Turkey’s principal online marketplace GittiGidiyor, acquired the ecommerce toolset Magento, and bought a mobile carrier billingbased payments platform, Zong.
In November, eBay for Charity hit $1 billion in total funds raised for charities globally, a target that was set for 2020. At the time, over 83,500 global charities were registered on the platform.
2022 In June, the eBay and GLIDE’s annual Power of One Charity Auction Lunch with investing legend Warren Buffett closed for a record bid of $19 million. The winning bid and Grand Finale of the annual lunch surpassed the previous record of $4.57 million, paid by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun in 2019. eBay also acquired KnownOrigin, an NFT marketplace, as well as announced a partnership with U.K. reality show Love Island, becoming the show’s first-ever pre-loved fashion partner. The platform recorded 138 million active buyers worldwide and approximately 1.6 billion live listings as of June 30.
2020 In February, eBay sold StubHub to viagogo for over $4 billion. Jamie Iannone took the reigns as CEO in April, having previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Walmart eCommerce. In July, eBay announced the sale of its Classified business to online classifieds specialist Adevinta in a deal valued at approximately $9.2 billion, making eBay the largest shareholder of the company.
OCTOBER 2022
BY JAMILA GANDHI, IMAGES FROM EBAY.COM, MEG WHITMAN PHOTO BY DRSERG/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
2005 eBay acquired classified-listing site Gumtree in May and internet communications business Skype in October. Four years later, Skype was sold to a group of investors led by Silver Lake, with eBay retaining a 30% stake in the business.
PRO M OTI O N Scan this QR code to open the website
Fueling the Growth of Fintech simplicity, choice, and a EEMEA’s fintech landscape flexible means to pay, which is evolving at a phenomenal is safe and secure anywhere, pace to bring more people anytime. Then, if you look at into the digital economy. SMEs, they need to bring the How is Mastercard using cost of operations down and acquisitions to fuel fintech they need to increase their growth and support the sales. With these requirements industry as it advances? in mind, we develop solutions At Mastercard, we continue to by collaborating across sectors strengthen our own in-house with different players in the capabilities and solutions, industry, including retailers, but at the same time, we do fintech, telcos, governments, a lot of acquisitions to make and banks. sure we keep up with this As part of Mastercard’s pace of growth. To give you efforts to encourage a few examples, we acquired Amnah Ajmal, EVP of Market Development for EEMEA, collaboration in the fintech a firm called SessionM, Mastercard space, the company staged its which is a loyalty provider Collaborate to Innovate event behind brands like Starbucks on 28th and 29th September. and L’Oreal. It provides The event saw 30+ leaders from women entrepreneurs. I believe real time personalization and multiple sectors across EEMEA all of us have a role to play in this, contextualization, which is so come together on one stage to and together we can get it done. powerful. We have also acquired discuss leadership and the digital Towards this goal, we are following CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency and business landscapes. Startups an innovative strategy based on intelligence firm which has insights also had the opportunity to present collaboration. We work with fintechs into 900 cryptocurrencies. their ideas to a judging panel, across 172 markets in the world and When you look at these assets and gain access to Mastercard’s help them to scale by connecting and capabilities that we have product suites and network of them to larger organizations and acquired, and you power them experts. integrating them into our products with our data, our network, and our When it comes to fintech and capabilities. This is really infrastructure, the impact that we in EEMEA, Mastercard’s role is important as when we connect the can have on digital transformation connecting people to possibilities large organizations to fintechs the and inclusion is huge. and business to opportunities. entire ecosystem comes together to provide a superior consumer What other factors are shaping value proposition and we also boost Mastercard’s strategy when it inclusion for SMEs. comes to supporting the growth of fintech in EEMEA? What tools and services does At Mastercard, we have a mission Mastercard provide for innovators to include one billion people and 50 in the fintech space? million SMEs in the digital economy First of all, consumers need by 2025, with a special focus on www.mastercard.com The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
OCTOBER 2022
19 LEADERBOARD
Amnah Ajmal, Mastercard’s Executive Vice President of Market Development for EEMEA, explains how the global payments powerhouse is supporting and accelerating the rise of fintech in the region.
Charli D'Amelio
TOP CREATORS 2022
These 49 social media savants—and one dog—are redefining celebrity for our connected age.
Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)
anyone else, but also because his restaurant concept, MrBeast Burger, is a truly entrepreneurial mechanism for the YouTuber to monetize his fame. Rather than invest in cooking equipment or delivery infrastructure, MrBeast created the ghost kitchen operation in December 2020, in which people order a MrBeast Burger online and an affiliated restaurant with extra staff prepares the order for delivery.
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2021 Earnings: $54M Total Followers: 162M Avg. Engagement: 5.99% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Stunts like spending 50 hours buried alive and attempting starvation for 30 days are well worth it when they net $54 million a year. The predictably high viewership of antics like these explains why Jimmy Donaldson AKA MrBeast has made most of his money from ads on his YouTube videos. MrBeast earned the No. 1 spot on this list not only because he’s making more than F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
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Charli D'Amelio
her own brands and partnerships. A huge part of this is D'Amelio Brands, her family's consumer product company, which nabbed a $100 million valuation as a pre-revenue, pre-employee and pre-product company, as it has publicity rights to the whole family and will make D'Ameliobranded products in areas like skincare and footwear. She and her family also launched $25 million venture capital shop 444 Capital to back nascent companies in everything from insurtech to consumer brands.
2021 Earnings: $17.5M Total Followers: 203.7M Avg. Engagement: 2.16% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 In 2021, 18-year-old Charli D'Amelio was the highestearning TikToker, making $17.5 million from her casual clothing brand Social Tourist (a joint venture with Hollister and sister Dixie), Hulu show the D’Amelio Show and deals with brands like Invisalign, Morphe and Dunkin'. While she still posts videos of dances, D’Amelio also devotes much of her content to pushing
3 Alexandra Cooper
Daddy,” with her former roommate Sofia Franklyn. After the two gained popularity, they signed a deal to produce the podcast under Barstool Sports. After parting ways with Franklyn in 2020, Cooper signed a reported $60 million deal to bring the podcast to Spotify. Cooper’s turned raunch to riches, and the podcast is currently ranked the No. 1 female-focused podcast on Spotify
4 Elliot Tebele (FuckJerry)
2021 Earnings: $30M Total Followers: 20.1M Avg. Engagement: 1.77% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Remember when the most entertaining internet content was photos with funny captions— otherwise known as memes? Well, that time is long gone, but original mass-market meme maker FuckJerry, helmed by Elliot Tebele, has diversified into games, tequila and television to stay relevant. It’s working. The company’s card game, What Do You Meme, has become somewhat of a family recreation staple–it’s currently Amazon’s 17th most popular board game. The company’s JAJA tequila, marketed as a memefied Casamigos, launched in 2018 and is sold at restaurants and liquor stores around the U.S.
2021 Earnings: $20M Total Followers: 3.6M Avg. Engagement: 15.98% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Talking about sex—her own, as well as that of friends and celebrities—has made former college soccer player Alexandra Cooper into a multimillionaire. Cooper started her fornicationfocused podcast, “Call Her
OCTOBER 2022
EDITED & REPORTED BY ALEXANDRA STERNLICHT WITH EMMY LUCAS, IMAGES FROM FORBES.COM
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PRO M OTI O N Scan this QR code to open the website
How do you plan to maintain Johnson & Johnson’s brand strength across consumer health products? For more than 130 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Through our iconic brands such as TYLENOL®, NEUTROGENA®, AVEENO®, LISTERINE®, and JOHNSON’S®, we combine the power of science with meaningful human insights and digital-first thinking to help more than one billion people take better care of themselves and their loved ones. Consumers place great value on the digital and e-commerce experience, and we have accelerated the penetration of e-pharmacy services to give our consumers easier and safer access to our products. We also know that consumers want increased transparency around the science and sustainability of products, and we are taking every opportunity to embed sustainability into our business. We’re taking decisions to switch to more sustainable ingredients, enhancing product transparency, using more recycled materials in our packaging, and powering our operations with renewable electricity. We call this our Healthy Lives Mission – our ambition, backed by an investment of $800 million, to advance human health while also protecting our planet.
Raghu Krishnan, Managing Director, AMET region, Johnson & Johnson
Where do you see the most opportunity regarding new technologies and products? Today’s consumers are savvy, digitally sophisticated, and dialed in on health. By embracing data science, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and machine learning, we will better understand consumers and be able to serve them more effectively. This year, we launched the world’s first connected over the counter (OTC) medicine to smokers: Nicorette QuickMist SmartTrack was developed with behavioral scientists and was co-created with smokers, for smokers. The development was driven by smokers’ needs and brought from inception to market in just 23 months. The pioneering product links our fast-craving relief spray to a behavioral support app that allows consumers to create a tailored quit plan and track progress.
The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
How does Johnson & Johnson promote equality in the workplace? For 136 years, the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been part of our culture. Today, society demands more from us as an organization, including greater transparency and accountability to accelerate DEI outcomes. Hearing and accepting our responsibility to use our “big for good,” we have evolved our evidence-based strategy to be even more intentional about our commitments and accelerating DEI progress for all. Our 2025 Health for Humanity Goals, and the launch of our DEI Goals for all People Leaders, further strengthen this inclusive environment. Johnson & Johnson’s Health for Humanity 2025 Goals include our ambition to engage more women science, technology, engineering, math, manufacturing, and design, with a specific goal of engaging two million girls by 2025. In 2022 and beyond, our focus is on advancing our progress by launching an evolved DEI strategy that expands our global focus and impact, and that elevates equity across our talent and business processes.
www.jnjconsumerhealth.com OCTOBER 2022
21 LEADERBOARD
A Healthy Business
Raghu Krishnan, Johnson & Johnson’s Managing Director for the AMET region, talks sustainability, technology, and equality as the healthcare multinational continues to build on a long legacy of success.
Emma Chamberlain 5
2021 Earnings: $12M Total Followers: 27.6M Avg. Engagement: 6.84% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Of all the creators on this list, Emma Chamberlain has one of the highest engagement rates, with nearly 12% of her Instagram audience engaging with her content (that’s extremely high for someone with 15 million Instagram followers). Chamberlain, who dropped out of high school before even tasting fame, is known for her wit and deadpan humor, which have helped make her a popular vlogger. She’s also the founder of Chamberlain Coffee, a premium coffee and tea brand that happens to sell a ton of merchandise and raised a $7 million Series A. She’s also done a major deal with Louis Vuitton.
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7 Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal (Rhett & Link)
2021 Earnings: $30M Total Followers: 11.8M Avg. Engagement: 1.34% Entrepreneurship Score: 3
Huda Kattan
2021 Earnings $13M Total Followers: 63M Avg. Engagement: 2.17% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Growing up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Iraqi-born parents
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Khaby Lame
2021 Earnings: $10M
Total Followers: 231.4M Avg. Engagement: 3.57% Entrepreneurship Score: 3
With more than 146 million TikTok followers, Khaby Lame is now the most-followed TikToker in the world (he surpassed Charli D’Amelio in June). The 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe honoree creates comedy skits that mock overly complicated “life hacks”—all without saying a word. Prior to establishing himself online, Lame lost his job as a factory worker in Italy at the onset of the pandemic. Now, at age 22, the Sengaleseborn creator is becoming the face of Web3, signing a deal with cryptocurrency exchange Binance in July 2022. He’s also inked partnerships with soccer club PSG and fashion house Hugo Boss. Altogether, Lame made $10 million in 2021, Forbes estimates.
Addison Rae Easterling 9
McLaughlin and Link met in 1984 during first-grade detention after writing profanities on their desks and later performed comedic sketches in grade school. Now, the North Carolina State University grads deliver sketch comedy to some 5 million YouTube fans. The two made Forbes’ 2022 Highest-Paid YouTube Stars list earning $30 million in merchandise, festival and solo show appearances, music sales and endorsements.
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They’ve also started their own $5 million accelerator fund to jump-start the careers of other creators.
2021 Earnings: $8.5M Total Followers: 133M Avg. Engagement: 6.43% Entrepreneurship Score: 3 Growing up in a trailer in Lafayette, Louisiana, Addison Rae Easterling never expected to obtain 88 million TikTok followers and make over $27 million. But trained as a competitive dancer, Easterling’s
ability to bring a song to life with her own versions of popping, locking and dropping, has made her an entertaining follow for people around the world. While other TikTokers have cross-platform chops, Easterling is a grande dame. She got partnerships with Pandora, Vital Proteins, American Eagle and a multi-million-dollar Netflix deal. She’s also the founder of cosmetics line Item Beauty, which retails direct-to-consumer and via Sephora.
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Jake Paul
2021 Earnings: $45M Total Followers: 57.3M Avg. Engagement: 1.49% Entrepreneurship Score: 2
Jake Paul has made millions switching from prankster to pugilist. Paul—who got his start with controversial YouTube spectacles like eating IcyHot and throwing water balloons at women—now makes most of his money as a boxer. The trash-talking Paul uses his social reach to build hype and drama, around his boxing and MMA matches, which he streams to his 20.4 million subscribers— converting eyeballs into massive merchandise and advertising dollars.
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in a mostly white Baptist neighborhood, Huda Kattan was frequently bullied for her ethnicity. At 12, she started wearing heavy makeup as a comfort. “I always felt like a misfit,” Kattan told Forbes in 2018. “Even now, I still struggle with this a little bit. And I think that’s what probably motivates me so much.” She’s one of the earliest creators on this list as she started her beauty blog in 2010. That led the thenfinancier to start booking clients and eventually start her own cosmetics line, Huda Beauty, launching with false lashes. The brand has expanded into skincare and all sorts of cosmetic goodies, retailing direct-to-consumer and in stores like Sephora around the world, helping Kattan reach a net worth of $400 million, making her one of the richest self-made women in the world.
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Powering Green Logistics Bachi Spiga, Head of Operations at DHL Express MENA, explains why the onus is on logistics companies to support a sustainable future – and how embracing technology can help the industry go green.
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ith countries around the world declaring a climate emergency, and governments taking an active stance against climate change, ‘green logistics’ has kickstarted a gradual, but necessary, evolution in the industry, powered by advancements in new age technology. This shift in mindset, largely accelerated by the pandemic and increased public consciousness, is forcing many logistics players to reconsider the environmental impact of their operations. Be it pressure from outside forces or a unanimous corporate decision, the switch to an eco-friendlier method of operation is no longer an option, it is a necessity. As an industry heavily reliant on transportation, logistics tops the list as one of the seven most pollutive industries in the world, with the World Economic Forum predicting that delivery-related emissions will rise by 32% by 2030 with an additional six million metric tons of CO2. The concerns of increased greenhouse gas emissions from transportation alone, is adding pressure on the industry to take drastic action to support a more sustainable future. New age technology is facilitating this shift; from cloud computing to AI-powered systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), the logistics industry is becoming impressively tech-savvy. A suite of digital devices and solutions are empowering the green
Bachi Spiga, Head of Operations, DHL Express MENA
transition, and working in tandem to reconfigure business operations and maximize efficiencies while reducing emissions across the supply chain. But as dependency on technology increases, so too must vigilance and agility. Transitioning to a cleaner mode of operation means staying on top of accelerating technology transformation, while identifying and capturing value from the next best innovation. This might sound simple, but it requires an actionable framework with the right infrastructure to support the decarbonization drive. Down the line, it pays to be green. According to an IBM research report, 57% of consumers are willing to change their e-Commerce purchasing habits and pay a premium, to help reduce their environmental impact. And their expectations trickle down to the role a shipping partner plays in facilitating that step. As demand for e-Commerce grows, logistics
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companies have no alternative but to capitalize on new and improved technology solutions to expedite the shipping process while keeping customers happy and the environment intact. Such pressures and expectations have a tremendous impact on the future of logistics, specifically in a region like ours where countries like Bahrain, the U.A.E. and K.S.A. have made bold commitments to slash their greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero within the coming few decades. The industry is already undergoing a noticeable shift and embracing a future of no emissions. New state-of-theart, environmentally-inspired logistics facilities are opening their doors, while electric vehicles and Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) are being rolled out in futuristic green cities like NEOM. And these are but a small fraction of the technology being integrated into the supply chain ecosystem. Technology has become a necessary resource to push the industry’s clean transition. Rather than viewing it as the finish line, we must consider it as a vital step in delivering a greener tomorrow, and ultimately, business success.
www.dhl.com OCTOBER 2022
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Sustainability
In Numbers: Sustainable Tourism Awareness of the climate crisis is influencing travel choices and shaping the future of tourism. Here are some figures on sustainable tourism based on insights from over 30,000 travellers across 32 countries and territories, according to booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2022.
• 81% •
• 31% •
weren’t aware that sustainable stays existed, while 29% didn’t know where to search for them.
of global travellers say sustainable travel is important to them, with 50% citing that the latest climate change developments have played a role in influencing them to make more sustainable choices.
• 33% •
• 66% •
chose to travel outside of peak season over the last 12 months to avoid crowds and would be willing to travel closer to home to reduce transport emissions. While 42% say they have struggled to find interesting touristic spots with fewer crowds.
say they seek authentic cultural experiences that are representative of the local communities while 25% would be willing to pay more for travel activities to ensure that they are giving back and connecting when travelling.
• 57% •
• 36% •
would prefer residing in a certified sustainable accommodation, but 29% said they couldn’t find sustainable accommodation in their preferred destination. 78% would like to stay in sustainable accommodation at least once in the next year.
of travellers would like online travel booking websites to use labels to help them spot sustainable trips more easily.
• 45% • agree that protecting and learning local cultures is part of sustainable travel.
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• 71% •
of global travellers expressed a desire to travel more sustainably over the next year, up 10% from a year ago, with 75% saying they would prefer to use more environmentally-friendly modes of transport in the future.
• 53% •
• 46% •
of global travellers have stayed in a sustainable property at least once over the past year, with 31% believing it treats the community better.
BY SAMAR KHOURI ; JOMNICHA/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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are more determined to make sustainable travel choices than they were a year ago.
OCTOBER 2022
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Reshaping The Future Of SMEs After crossing $3.2 billion in annualized GMV, leading regional fintech, Hala, is eyeing profitability by early next year.
H
ala, the rapidly expanding Saudibased regional fintech startup, has been undergoing significant transformation in the past year and making steady progress toward realizing its vision and validating its role as a key player in the region’s fintech ecosystem. Following its business model pivot in 2020, the focus of Hala’s team on serving SMEs has paid off, with the Esam AlNahdi and Maher Loubieh, Co-founders of HALA company achieving more than $3.2 billion Hala has hired a founding CEO to in annualized gross launch the SME lending business merchandise value (GMV) and a through a newly established entity. double-digit percentage increase in In addition to meeting the needs quarter-to-quarter GMV. of SMEs, Hala’s product offering will Through its fully-fledged soon be open to new underserved payment and cashier service segments – mainly the freelancer offerings, Hala is currently serving community, which has tremendous more than 45,000 merchants potential, given that more than 1.8 in 40 cities with more than 20 million freelancer licenses have million monthly transactions. To been issued in Saudi Arabia to date. achieve this level of growth and Co-founded by Esam AlNahdi to execute on the vision, Hala has and Maher Loubieh, Hala is attracted the best talent, filling enthusiastic about the future, C-level positions with experts and with growth continuing apace in seasoned professionals from the its core markets and plans in the banking sector, fintech sector and pipeline for the introduction of new the startup ecosystem to lead on products, entry into new market control and support functions. segments, and potential expansion Notably, with the SME segment a into new high-potential markets. major component of its strategy,
The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
As it looks to the future, Hala’s great potential is underpinned by an understanding of new market dynamics and the importance of developing profitable business models that encourage sustainable growth. Building on this sound understanding, the company is now eager to tap into the unlimited opportunities that await, capitalize on the benefits from economies of scale, and achieve profitability by the end of the first quarter 2023.
www.hala.com OCTOBER 2022
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30 UNDER 30 • HADIA GHALEB
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SHAPING A NEW MARKET
Hadia Ghaleb, Founder of Ghaleb Production House (GPH) and the Hadia Ghaleb Brand for swimwear, is very much a trendsetter, not a follower. Having changed the game in Egypt for influencer marketing, she’s now working to change global perceptions of modest swimwear.
BY LAYAN ABO SHKIER F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Hadia Ghaleb, Founder of Ghaleb Production House (GPH) and the Hadia Ghaleb Brand for swimwear.
IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST
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A
As we chat over Zoom, Hadia Ghaleb, Founder of Ghaleb Production House (GPH) and the Hadia Ghaleb Brand for swimwear, recalls the early days of her career as a social media influencer in 2012. “Back then, this was a new platform. They used to call me a ‘blogger,’ and it was just me and a few other girls,” she remembers. Today, the 29-year-old Egyptian has 2.4 million followers on Instagram and is making a living out of her passion for fashion. At the same time, GPH is working with dozens of global brands, including OPPO, Namshi, and Swarovski. Ghaleb launched her modest swimwear brand in April 2022, using around $400,000 of her own savings, and she says it is already generating millions of dollars in sales. But as she describes her journey, Ghaleb is keen to make one important clarification. “People want to put me in the category of the spoiled girl,” she says, replying to accusations of being born with a silver spoon in her mouth thanks to her wealthy family. “But I did everything myself.” For Ghaleb, GPH—the production and marketing company she established in 2014— marked her first step into the business world and one that set her in good stead to establish her swimwear brand nine years later. But even so, the beginning was not easy. According to Ghaleb, it all began when she started posting her “out-of-the-box and crazy” outfits on Instagram during her second year of college in 2012. Her style caught the attention of her peers and quickly attracted thousands of followers to her account. In 2013, as her Instagram profile grew, she became inspired by her idol, Italian digital entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni, and began to think that maybe she too could turn her success on social media into a career. At that time, social media was just starting to be used F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
by brands as a marketing tool, and the Middle East had only a handful of bloggers who marketed products for free on their platforms in exchange for free products and exclusive invites to special events. The concept of paying an individual to advertise a product on social media had not yet hit the region, but from the beginning, Ghaleb asked for payment in exchange for advertising. She faced rejection for over a year. “The market was not educated yet,” she explains. “For them, it was a new concept because I was asking them now to allocate a budget for bloggers, while everyone else was doing it for free.” Ghaleb decided that to solve the issue, she had to raise the brands’ price points by controlling the market. Aged 21, equipped with her degree in economics and the experience she gained in content creation from previously working for her university’s fashion magazine, Ghaleb established GPH, determined to transform the digital marketing scene in Egypt. At the same time, she identified ten of the most successful
want to work 3 “Iwith international and 0 influencers celebrities to promote idea that one can 3 the still look elegant while 0 being conservative.”
Egyptian bloggers and signed exclusivity contracts with them all, committing to paying them each $10,000 a year later. Each then began asking brands for a specific price in exchange for any marketing and advertising services. “The brands were forced to allocate a budget for what we call now influencers,” explains Ghaleb. “That began a transformation from PR to media buying.” Within two months, GPH had over 40 clients, including the Kuwait-based Alshaya Group. In 2016, GPH also opened a second office in Dubai, with brands including Luxottica Group, Lifestyle, Centrepoint, Landmark, Namshi, and Jollychic soon signing up. “Right now, influencer marketing has become essential in any marketing mix, more important than any other traditional marketing medium,” said Hady Hajjar, media expert and Co-founder of Humanagement. “All brands today see the effectiveness and the importance of using it in all of their core campaigns.” While GPH thrived, Ghaleb got itchy feet. She knew OCTOBER 2022
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strength of her personal brand, built over ten years of influencer marketing. When it came to marketing her new brand, Ghaleb knew exactly where to turn. “At GPH, we did influencer trips for many brands—it was something I already knew how to do. I said to myself if I’m not going to do it for my brand, when am I going do it?” she laughs. A trip to the Maldives a week later proved to be the perfect kick-starter to promote Ghaleb’s products. On May 3, 2022, social media influencers from across the Arab world, including Noor Stars, Asallah Kamel, and Maryam Al Khaldi, posted images of themselves on white sandy beaches wearing colorful and cheerful modest swimsuits and burkinis. Three months later, Hadia Ghaleb swimwear had sold out, according to the founder. As of September 2022, the brand had over 240,000 followers on Instagram and was available worldwide and sold in 32 countries, with around 25% of sales coming from Saudi Arabia, 15% from the U.A.E., 7% from the U.S., and 5% from Europe. For Ghaleb, this is just the beginning—now comes more expansion. “We want to expand vertically and horizontally,” she says. Expanding vertically through new products and new lines and horizontally through new markets. “But this time, we want to do it differently. We want to start with wholesale and find department stores to stock us.” And even though the brand already has a presence in the U.S., Ghaleb says she plans to grow further across the states, with influencer marketing being the main tool to achieve her ultimate goal: “I want to work with international influencers and celebrities to promote the idea that one can still look elegant while being conservative,” says Ghaleb. And while the market has transformed since her early days, Ghaleb is still sure she has something special to offer. “Today, there are hundreds of agencies,” she admits. “I am sure that in the next year, there will be many modest swimwear brands, and I am sure that I will have so much competition—but I am glad to have started the trend.” OCTOBER 2022
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she wanted to establish a brand of her own, but she also knew that to start a new business, she needed to perfect her profession first. Failure was not an option. “I have an illogical, irrational fear of failure,” she says. “So I wanted to learn marketing, sales, and how to sell a product and then create my own brand.” As she gained marketing experience through GPH, she began to think about what new product was needed in the market. It wasn’t a simple decision. The market was already saturated with accessories, clothing, and makeup brands. Then, in 2019, Ghaleb and a hijabi friend were denied access to a pool at a luxury resort because her friend was wearing a burkini, a modest swimsuit for hijabis. While the experience was unpleasant, it was the inspiration that Ghaleb was looking for. She set about creating a marketplace for “swimwear for all,” with the aim of redefining and remarketing modest bathing suits. “I was taking a big risk because I could have started with other products that were already trendy,” she explains. “But I thought that if I can make this a trend, then we will fix the issue of burkinis being seen as low-class and taboo. We can help solve the problem of discrimination against veiled women and burkinis.” “As influencer marketing is all about building trust between the influencer and their followers, consumers have become accustomed to seeing ‘taboo’ or ‘controversial’ products/ trends become normalized,” says Haneen S. Asfour, Influencer Marketing & PR Manager at GMG. “Influencers are perceived as highly respected experts in their fields who have the ability to influence purchasing decisions with a mere story post, simply because they’re consumers like us who built strong connections with their followers through an online platform.” Set back by the pandemic, Ghaleb waited three years to launch her brand in 2022. Working with a graphic designer who was able to reflect her ideas, Ghaleb unveiled her swimwear under her own name to both create a legacy while also capitalizing on the
• 30 UNDER 30 •
30 UNDER 30 • IBRAHIM MOHAMED
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BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES IMAGE FROM SOURCE
Ibrahim Mohamed, COO and cofounder of Egypt-based online marketplace Homzmart, has helped digitize the furniture and home supplies market in his home country, raising more than $40 million in the process. Now, he’s working on expansion.
BY HAGAR OMRAN F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Even before the global pandemic fueled a regional tidal wave towards all things e-commerce, Ibrahim Mohamed, COO and cofounder of online furniture and home supplies marketplace Homzmart, had already spotted a sizable gap in Egypt’s home furnishings sector. Mohamed founded Homzmart with Mahmoud Ibrahim in late 2019. By August 2022, the startup had closed a pre-Series B funding round for $23 million, bringing its total funding to over $40 million. Homzmart, which connects home goods and furniture manufacturers with end consumers, has managed to tap into significant supply and demand in its local market. “There wasn’t any online player in MENA’s $60 billion furniture market, but 25 million potential customers in the region were searching for ‘home’ on Google every month, and that was our main drive to capitalize on this e-commerce sector,” says Mohamed. Today, the company employs more than 550 people and has over 2,000 suppliers selling their goods across more than 70 categories, including seven main categories: home furniture, storage, office, décor, kitchen, appliances, and sports. Key investors in the company so far include MSA Capital, Nuwa Capital, STV, Outliers, and Rise Capital. The founders plan to use the new capital mainly to expand into Saudi Arabia as well as boost growth by expanding supply chains, opening more showrooms, strengthening its footprint in the market, and supporting its logistics arm. It will also be expanding its digital offering for customers, having acquired Berlin-based technology company MockUp Studio in March 2022. Using this new technology, Homzmart will enable interior F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
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“There wasn’t any online player in MENA’s $60 billion furniture market, but 25 million potential customers in the region were searching for ‘home’ on Google every month…”
The Homzmart founders funded themselves in the beginning to establish the company but quickly attracted $1.3 million in a seed round in February 2020. The pandemic outbreak in March helped fuel their growth as everyone turned to online shopping. By May 2021, Homzmart had raised its total funding to $17.2 million following a $15 million Series A. Investor Nuwa Capital was part of Homzmart’s journey from the very beginning. “We know about Homzmart since it was at the idea stage, and we were fortunate to be among the first people the founder spoke to before they began raising funds,” says Nitin Reen, Partner at Nuwa Capital. “At that time, we decided to invest in Homzmart because we liked the business model, but more importantly, we had the utmost confidence in the founders’ ability to execute quickly.” Nuwa’s other regional e-commerce investments include Eyewa, Sylndr, and Valeo. Reen believes there are a lot of upsides in the online furniture market, even though online as a percentage of total retail is still relatively low OCTOBER 2022
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designers to help customers visualize their furniture in their homes before clicking through to buy. “This year, we expect to achieve two to three times more growth in terms of revenues compared to 2021,” says Mohamed, saying their strategy for 2023 will be to focus on profitability. The market today looks different from when Homzmart first started its operations, when the furniture industry in Egypt was dominated by offline stores. The founders decided to capitalize on and digitalize this gap, supported by Egyptian consumers’ familiarity with online shopping thanks to the rise of marketplaces, including Amazon, Noon, and Jumia, where Mohamed had worked in operations and logistics, having previously spent 11 years as a professional footballer in the Egyptian League. “Homzmart is going after a fragmented and largely unbranded supplier base to give them direct access to technology and exposure to a new customer base,” explains Mohamed.
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well as global e-commerce companies across Latin America, Africa, and India. Homzmart boosts its suppliers in everything related to their products’ exposure online in terms of designs, marketing, and supply chain, etc. It also has vendor management and vendor relationship teams who meet with sellers and review their performance. But, despite being digital-first, Homzmart has not limited itself purely to its online platform. With this in mind, in mid-2022, the company began opening offline smart showrooms, with three open in east and west greater Cairo so far. This also allows the company to compete with offline competitors. Clients can visit the showrooms to check out the products before making orders online onsite. The products are then shipped out within seven to ten business days. Homzmart has also established an 8,000 square meter sorting center in greater Cairo. Homzmart launched operations in the Saudi market in early 2022, starting with an online presence. Offline showrooms will follow in the second phase. Despite the current global economy, growth expectations in other Middle East markets remain positive. “We can all feel a global economic recession. Healthy business growth definitions have been revised a lot, to the way we were building the company operating model since inception,” says Mohamed. “We are seeing a huge opportunity in the current economic climate and we are doubling down on our vision and expansions.” Expansion is also coming in the form of product offerings. In late 2021, Homzmart added appliances to its range, and Mohamed says that more products in categories like small textiles, kitchenware, and homeware will follow. However, while profit is a goal, it is not the only focus for the startup. “Running a business is all about profitability; this is just basics, but when and which stage are the important questions,” says the young cofounder. “The right operating model and building techniques have to be there from day zero. It is a healthy unit of economics at the end.” OCTOBER 2022
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compared to other verticals. “This is coupled with the fact that supply chain is challenging with high volumetric weight items in our region and cross borders,” he explains. “We do, however, see online players outpacing large incumbents and yielding a better customer experience, and thus driving further penetration.” Once Homzmart’s business was up and running, the founders found themselves facing two major challenges. The first was a lack of infrastructure within their supply chain, with shipping bulk products not appearing to be a key focus for logistics companies. The second was how to digitalize furniture sellers in Egypt in terms of both their willingness to shift to selling online and their ability to build their digital processes. To address the logistics issue, in November 2021, the founders launched their own logistics arm as part of Homzmart to strengthen and fill the gaps in the supply chain. Today, it has around 100 trucks and employs more than 170 people. “Strengthening our logistics infrastructure to better serve our partners is a big focus for the future,” Mohamed says. Meanwhile, suppliers’ willingness to go digital is something that seems to be evolving with time. “Egypt and the MENA region as a whole are in the very nascent stages of online adoption,” says Nazar Yasin, Founder and Managing Partner at Rise Capital. He believes there is strong potential to develop a large regional e-commerce business in the furniture vertical, taking into account success seen in other geographies. According to eMarketer, global e-commerce sales are expected to rise by 12.2% to hit a total of $5.5 trillion by the end of 2022, accounting for more than a fifth of overall retail sales. This number is expected to continue growing to touch $7.4 trillion in 2025. “We expect digital adoption to continue growing rapidly as the region matures in line with how India, Latin America, and other markets where we invest have developed over time,” adds Yasin. Rise Capital’s other investments include Kitopi and MaxAB, as
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The Power of Partnership you need players who can Mastercard is a strong fulfill those needs and fintech believer in the power of companies are rising to that partnerships. Why is that, challenge, with Mastercard and what is your approach providing vital support. to partnering with organizations in EEMEA? How can collaboration Mastercard is a encourage growth and technology company inclusion across sectors? in the global payments There is a high level of industry. What that unbanked and underserved means is that we connect in the EEMEA region. To consumers, merchants, address this, emerging financial institutions, and technology is playing a governments together key role in driving financial and enable them to make inclusion and it is important forms of digital payments. Ngozi Megwa, Senior Vice President of Digital Partners that partners come together. We do this by enabling and Enablers for Mastercard in Eastern Europe, So, whether you are a pure them to connect to a Middle East, and Africa technology company, the multi-rail platform that is government, or a private institution, of their system and make them future proofed and that contains I think we all have a role to play to more efficient. capabilities that help them drive ensure that the solutions we put consumer convenience, whilst not in the market are economically What makes EEMEA unique when it ignoring safety and security. sustainable and scalable, and that comes to the financial landscape? If you look at the partners we they meet the needs of consumers. EEMEA is a very diverse region work with, whether they’re in the That’s why, at Mastercard, we and there are a few factors that telco industry or logistics industry, place a lot of emphasis on the types make it so. First, it has the highest they share a number of broad of partnerships we have. We partner population of youth. These young needs: they want to make sure that with governments, regulators, people are innovative, and they they serve their consumers, that financial institutions, and digital want to be served differently. they’re meeting their needs, and players because I don’t think one Second, EEMEA houses both that they’re doing that in a way single partner can achieve the the richest and the poorest that’s safe and efficient. Some of goals of financial inclusion alone. communities. Third, 95% of the partners we work with have transactions in the region are still a lot of cash in their systems too, cash. When you factor all this in, it’s so operational efficiency is also no surprise that governments are important. That’s the foundation really focused on digitalizing their of our partnerships. We work with economies. What’s more, the fintech partners either to help them engage business here is booming, especially more broadly with their customers when it comes to payments. In a in a more personalized way, or we region with a melting pot of needs, partner with them to strip cash out www.mastercard.com The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
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Ngozi Megwa, Senior Vice President of Digital Partners and Enablers for Mastercard in Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA), explains why collaboration is key to building a thriving digital economy.
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REACHING FOR THE STARS Egyptian writer and astrophysicist Maryam Haytham Esmat is uncovering the secrets of the universe by asking fundamental questions about the theorized particles that make up the fabric of the world we live in. While following her passion, she hopes she can be the representation young Arab women need to see in the global field.
BY RAWAN HASSAN F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
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In July 2022, the way we view the universe and our place in it changed forever as NASA released new images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The colorful and breathtaking photos revealed stars and galaxies clearer and in more detail than they’ve ever been seen before. But these were far more than impressive pictures; images gathered by the telescope will enable scientists to uncover more data and insight F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
than ever before about our own universe. While the world sat stunned, astrophysicist Maryam Haytham Esmat was more affected than most. Having worked with the team that developed the telescope for six months, seeing her work come to life and be of use to other scientists was a surreal moment for her. “I didn’t even think I could ever work on it. Finding the internship opportunity was surreal,” she remembers. “And then, having worked on it and seen it in person, it brought tears to my eyes.” Esmat worked on the James Webb Space
Egyptian writer and astrophysicist Maryam Haytham Esmat
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Telescope from June 2019 until January 2020 while pursuing her Bachelor of Science in astrophysics and Bachelor of Arts in English creative writing. She was part of an exoplanet team and an instrumentation team at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), working on the Near-Infrared Camera instrument. This camera observes electromagnetic waves coming from the universe in the near-infrared band and can observe exoplanets, which are planets that orbit other stars existing beyond our solar system. She ended up co-presenting her research findings with the Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit Team at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Oahu, Hawaii, in 2020. Two years later, Esmat wants to bring hypotheses and theories to life and make them tangible. She is currently working on dark matter detection at Johns Hopkins University as a research assistant, as well as studying for her astrophysics PhD. “The universe today as we know it so far is made of about 4% ordinary matter like me and you and the Sun and Moon and everything that we see and interact with, and then there is about 27% of the universe built of dark matter,” she explains. “We know it exists, we know somewhat what it does to the universe, we can see its effects on other objects by observing their behaviors, but we really don’t know what it is. This is where our collaboration comes in—to understand dark matter.” In April 2022, Esmat became an International Research Fellow at the American Association of University Women, which also secured her funding for her upcoming research. “Funding is a very important and fundamental aspect of science. Its absence sets back research and the future of earth-shattering discoveries.” she adds. Born and raised in Giza, Egypt, in a family of avid readers, Esmat first ventured into physics and astrophysics during high school. She had always been fascinated with astronomy but hadn’t considered a career in the field. Science at the time was just a hobby—Esmat actually dreamed of being a writer. However, she gradually learned more about astronomy through reading, and her mother encouraged her to pursue both. At 15, she started preparing to apply for college in the U.S., hoping to get a scholarship to study astrophysics and English creative writing while simultaneously pursuing her hobbies involving theatre at a liberal arts school. Esmat ended up moving to the U.S. aged 18 after enrolling in Lycoming College, a private liberal arts college in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. By the beginning of her second year in college, she had co-founded the Lycoming College Radio F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
Astronomy Observatory on campus by building a radio telescope to observe the Sun and the Jovian System— Jupiter and its moons. This telescope is still used today by other students. By the end of her second year, she received an internship offer at STScI, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for NASA, to work on the James Webb Space Telescope. In the summer of 2019, between her second and third years in college, she interned in person on the game-changing telescope and then continued working remotely during the fall semester of her third year in college until January 2020. With a passion for mentoring while studying, Esmat also led the Society of Physics Students chapter at Lycoming College from 2019 to 2020 to help younger physicists in their undergraduate careers and got involved with the Associate Zone Councilor for the [American] National Society of Physics Students from 2020 to 2021, serving the local chapters in four states. She gave talks and presentations across America and Egypt on science and literature at the American
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“Funding is a very important and fundamental aspect of science. Its absence sets back research and the future of earthshattering discoveries.”
Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society, the Society of Physics Students, as well as the American University in Cairo, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Nile University, Education USA Egypt, and AMIDEAST Egypt. Her research for her senior honors thesis was published in 2021, titled “Multi-Messenger Constraints on the Galactic Electron Density,” at the Snowden Library at Lycoming College. In her thesis, she proposes the number of detectable pulsating neutron stars that exist in binary systems in the Milky Way galaxy that the future space-based observatory—the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)—would detect. LISA is a gravitational waves observatory led by the European Space Agency, NASA, and an international consortium, with a current expected launch date in the 2030s. Esmat fell in love with the intersection between theory and the experimental. Wanting to bring hypotheses and theories to life, she moved on to her current branch in cosmology, particle astrophysics, OCTOBER 2022
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“There are many PhDs as well as graduate students working in astrophysics and space physics with their own support or from their universities,” explains Magdy Y. Amin, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Cairo University in Egypt. “However, the support provided to them by donors is from the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology and Egypt-Japan University for Science and Technology.” Wanting to support her field in her home country, Esmat volunteered from October 2020 to May 2021 on a project for The Moon Village Association organization. The Egypt chapter of the organization collaborated with the Egyptian Space Agency, with Esmat leading the Science Mission team to create a road map to the Moon. In 2021, Esmat and Loay Essam Gouda covered the James Webb Space Telescope launch in Arabic at the Egyptian Society for Astronomy. “[We] relied on the development and launch of this telescope to initiate a country-wide campaign to educate school and university students about space exploration and astronomical research,” explains Gouda, Research Assistant at the Institute of Space Systems at the Technical University of Braunschweig and a Member of the Egyptian Society for Astronomy. “Many graduates lack the support they need to continue their research in Egypt, which causes many of them to seek opportunities abroad. However, with the increasing interest in studying astronomy, and as we get more graduates, more focus from institutions will be directed to support astronomy research in Egypt, one hopes.” As she looks at more mentoring opportunities and prepares to continue her research, Esmat is now in touch with a small community of astrophysicists and scientists in related fields online through Twitter from around the globe. “I had been part of mentorship programs before and have been approached about some upcoming programs in the future. I’m happy to engage in some more organized mentorship programs in the upcoming season,” she says. “There has been an ongoing effort from many people and organizations trying to encourage more Egyptians and Arab to pursue astrophysics and related fields, which is much needed.” OCTOBER 2022
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specializing in dark matter at Johns Hopkins University as a research assistant. “I really love what I do. I appreciate all the support from family and friends, faculty, people at work, and everyone who has helped me both directly and indirectly. I think what the science community does is super fascinating, and I just want to contribute to it as much as I can,” she enthuses. At the same time as delving into science, Esmat also never gave up on her dreams of becoming a writer. Her English Creative Writing thesis, “The Evolution of Storytelling in Egypt,” discussed the change in Egyptian society evident in the various expressions of storytelling from ancient to modern and contemporary Egypt. Moving from creative writing to astrophysics hasn’t been a drastic change for the young researcher, as a lot of her interests and passion for science arise from art. In 2017, at 18 years old, Esmat published her first novel, “The Escaping Flashback,” which she had authored two years earlier. The novel was published in Egypt by Dar El-Shorouk and sold out in the same year. Using languages, Esmat aims to bridge the gap between Arabic and English so more young Arab scientists can use their native language in their careers. “That’s part of my vision, and part of my goal is to make [language] less limited,” she explains. With that goal in mind, Esmat participated in the Egyptian Space Summit in September 2022 at Nile University in Cairo, giving an hour-long lecture in Arabic and translating scientific terms from English to Arabic on the spot. She has also edited a college physics textbook, which was published internationally in 2020. And she co-translated the James Webb Space Telescope Key Facts from English to Arabic on the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre website and was featured on a NASA video saying, “Good Luck, Webb” in Arabic. Moving forward, she hopes she can finish her PhD in the next few years while continuing to pursue both science and art at the same time. A big concern for her at the moment is the lack of Arabs, especially Arab women, that she sees studying or working in the field of astrophysics. ”For the longest time, up until my third year, I had never met any Egyptians or Arabs in the field at all,” she reveals. “I knew of Dr. Farouk El-Baz and Dr. Essam Heggy, but we had never met.”
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Transformation At Every Touchpoint Irfan Tansel, CEO of Al Masaood Automobiles, discusses the tech trends driving the automotive industry and explains how his company is staying ahead, with a strategy that places customer experience front and center. Omnichannel strategies are replacing traditional retail models across industries. How is this shift affecting the automotive business and what is Al Masaood Automobiles doing to keep up with the pace of change? The selling of vehicles and delivery of services will be radically simplified moving forward in the automotive sector. Most customers start their shopping journey online and expect continuity across channels and for the dealer to have ready access to the information they shared on that journey. Omnichannel is the future of online sales. We at Al Masaood Automobiles have taken strides in introducing multiple online services. We have launched Nissan’s first-ever e-commerce platform in the region and implemented in 2020 Nissan’s global Shop@Home – a complete online shopping program that provides customers a seamless experience. Our Al Masaood Auto app is another solution that was launched to help customers manage service appointment bookings, track the servicing of their cars in real-time, seek road-side assistance when needed, and view our new and certified pre-owned models, as well as a range of vehicle accessories and trade-ins. We have also incorporated a customer experience (CX) intelligence platform that allows our
Irfan Tansel CEO of Al Masaood Automobiles
team to get customers’ feedback and to recover dissatisfied customers, all in real time. What steps can automotive-related businesses take to provide a seamless buying journey? Booking a vehicle or a test drive, leasing different models, ordering a ride, or cancelling a service will be as easy and convenient as ordering anything on online shopping platforms. Car dealerships are moving into the future of easy mobility services by digitizing their offerings and making them available at the click of a button. Developments include, but are not limited to, upgrading
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existing showroom and service center experiences with digital services, such as touch screens for showcasing car models and car configurators that give customers a full 360-degree view of their vehicles. Other retail experiences are being supplemented with pop-up stores and satellite service centers. At Al Masaood Automobiles, we introduced the Connected Live Interactive Xperience (CLIX), which is a virtual service that allows customers to enjoy a fully interactive live showroom experience from the comfort of their homes. Meanwhile, to help with realtime customer services, we have OCTOBER 2022
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important to embrace new mobility trends such as multi-model platforms and super apps, and to diversify their offerings into multibrand marketplaces for secondhand cars and parts. All the above will require that businesses take the necessary steps towards CX digitization.
upgraded our customer success centers and launched a dedicated CX function. In another example, Al Masaood Automobiles has rolled out Nissan Service, a suite of aftersales products and services that aims to offer greater value and convenience to customers and present an innovative, seamless aftersales experience across online and offline channels. Nissan has also rolled out an innovative digital survey, designed to gauge customer fulfillment and get their valuable feedback to help our team address any concerns swiftly and efficiently. These offerings are aimed at improving every touch point in the customer journey. Electrification is a prominent trend shaping the automotive sector. How is Al Masaood Automobiles keeping up? I am proud to say that Al Masaood Automobiles’ automotive partners have always operated as industry leaders on positive change. Nissan, our primary automotive partner, has set a long-term vision called Ambition 2030. The vision aims to empower mobility and transform Nissan into a truly sustainable company, driving towards a cleaner, safer, and more inclusive world. By placing electrification at the core of the company’s long-term strategy, Nissan aims to accelerate the electrification of its vehicle line-up
and rate of technology innovation with investments of around $15.1 billion over the next five years. Based on customer demands for a diverse range of exciting vehicles, Nissan will introduce 23 new electrified models, including 15 new EVs by fiscal year 2030 aiming for an electrification mix of more than 50% globally across the Nissan and INFINITI brands. I’m also proud to note that INFINITI, another primary partner, is similarly following suit with its climate-focused agenda. With a customer-centric approach and carbon consciousness at its helm, the brand is working on future models that deliver technology through a human-first lens. INFINITI additionally announced that by 2030, the majority of its vehicles sold globally would be electrified. The automotive industry is currently undergoing revolutionary transformation. How can businesses capitalize on techdriven changes? There are challenging times ahead, but we believe there are also great opportunities to design new systems. Software is certainly the future, especially with the power of 5G; cars will become computers on wheels. Car businesses can capitalize on tech-driven changes by expanding their online channels and introducing non-conventional pricing schemes. It will also be
The inOthis F O Rthoughts B E S M I D expressed D L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
Under your leadership, Al Masaood Automobiles continues to gain global recognition for its performance. How do you intend to build on this legacy? Al Masaood Automobiles has been recognized by our principals Nissan, INFINITI, and Renault, on multiple occasions. The company was awarded the 2019 Nissan Global Award, the 2020 Nissan Award of Excellence, the 2020 Nissan Global Aftersales Award, the 2020 INFINITI Outstanding Performance Award, and the 2020 Renault Global Partners Award, in addition to other awards. I’m a true believer in the saying, “if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail,” and we are already preparing our strategy for 2023 to 2027. From customer behavior and omnichannel marketing to smart mobility and electrification, so much has changed in just under five years in the world of automotive and companies need to be nimble and agile to face this change. The team and I are determined to build a strategy that answers to the times, and we have kept innovation, customer centricity, and sustainability at the heart of our offering.
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HOLIDAYS WITH HEART Muatasam Aulaqi, cofounder of Oman-headquartered adventure travel company NomuHub, is working to make sustainable tourism mainstream for Middle East travelers. As he seeks out new destinations in need of impactful giving back projects, he’s got global success on his mind.
BY CLAUDINE COLETTI F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
Muatasam Aulaqi, cofounder of Oman-headquartered adventure travel company NomuHub
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While the green fields and white beaches of island getaways such as Bali and Zanzibar have always been a strong draw for holidaymakers, in a post-pandemic world, they are not the only elements attracting visitors to these tourism-dependent havens. Many travelers these days have new considerations in mind. “If you look at customer behavior 10 years ago, it is different now,” explains Muatasam Aulaqi, cofounder of NomuHub. “[The pandemic] really grounded people; it reassessed their priorities.” The adventure travel company has witnessed a welcomed spike in business over the last year as many young explorers, keen to travel the world sustainably, have gravitated towards breaks that also allow them to give back to the communities they’re visiting. According to data from Statista, 72% of global travelers believe that sustainable travel is important worldwide in 2022. NomuHub (“Nomu” meaning “growth” in Arabic) specializes in arranging travel packages that enable people to experience everything a tourist might want to see in a destination, plus take part in giving back activities, including building classrooms, farming, and community development through education and medical support. According to data from the company, its trips so far have resulted in more than 30,000 people having access to medical care and approximately 10,000 children receiving education, with over 200 classrooms built or renovated. Having established the social enterprise in 2017 to introduce “travel with a purpose” to the GCC markets, the cofounder says that it has since brought in more than $5 million in revenues hosting trips for nearly 5,000 travelers—and that’s even with the small matter of a global pandemic interrupting business for well over a year. Aulaqi says that NomuHub raised nearly $200,000 in funding in 2019 but has otherwise been self-funded. Income is mostly generated through the sustainable tourism package sales, and NomuHub works with host authorities and collaborates with NGOs and ministries to ensure that the projects have the intended positive impact. F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
Over the last five years, NomuHub has arranged trips in Zanzibar, Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Bali, with Zanzibar proving to be its most popular destination so far. Its audience is mostly direct customers, with ministries and corporates also using NomuHub to offer their people tangible CSR activities. One such corporate is technology company Cisco. “We’ve collaborated with NomuHub on three education projects so far where we’ve supported the construction of classrooms in multiple schools. In each trip we’ve had 10-15 Cisco colleagues volunteering for these projects,” says Amira Shaheen, Senior Customer Success Manager at Cisco. “We supported on leveling the ground, preparing the cement mix, applying the concrete to the floor and the flattening it. We’ve also enjoyed working on plastering and painting the walls of the classrooms.” It’s not all just physical work. The company also makes an effort to educate participants about who their contribution is helping. “As part of our daily program set by NomuHub, we’ve also had the chance to learn more about the different cultures and traditions, which has brought us closer to the local communities and certainly left us with unforgettable memories,” adds Shaheen.
trying to take 3 “We’re the company to a level. We think 0 global and cultural 3 wellness immersion trips will be 0 very scalable for us.”
Now, Aulaqi is aiming to expand the company through new destinations and new projects. Plans are underway to head to the Masai Mara in Africa in 2023, and NomuHub’s first wellness-focused trip to Bali is already available online, which offers a giving opportunity by donating a percentage of sales to support local female entrepreneurs through women empowerment programs. “We’re trying to take the company to a global level. We think wellness and cultural immersion trips will be very scalable for us,” says Aulaqi. “We always look to G Adventures as role model with its valuation of $400 million while leaving major impact through its social enterprise model; I see NomuHub going in that direction.” G Adventures is a global Canada-based adventure travel company founded in 1990 by Bruce Poon Tip, specializing in small group packages. Aulaqi seems keen to compete. G Adventures’ next nine-day wellness trip to Bali in January 2023 will set you back OCTOBER 2022
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medical, and construction. Each of these projects focuses on different aspects of helping build sustainable societies within multiple villages,” explains Mohsin Mohammedali, Chairman of the Tumaini Society. “NomuHub has been an excellent partner, and working with a team of like-minded individuals is always a great idea. Feedback is generally always positive, which is a great sign.” Once a project is complete, it is handed over to the local authorities to maintain. NomuHub’s first trip was a learning experience, with challenges popping up unexpectedly. “I remember a bus was set to come at one time, and all of a sudden he drops the traveler somewhere and leaves, and I had to find another bus,” recalls Aulaqi. “There are a lot of people you need to trust, and I realized I maybe trusted the wrong people. But it was the best learning.” Destinations are assessed and chosen based on how accessible they are in terms of flights and cost, how much they have to offer in terms of tourism activities, and how in need they are of help. “It’s always the countries on the islands, they have five-star resorts along the beaches, but if you look in the backyard, there is extreme poverty happening,” explains Aulaqi. “Take Zanzibar, Bali, the Maldives. We wanted to [fill] the gap in-between.” As well as looking at other destinations in Africa, Aulaqi is also planning a trip to Nepal, having identified it as somewhere with strong potential. “Every airline goes to it, it has potential impact, it offers a lot of adventures and tourism at the same time, and it’s been relatively untapped by the GCC market,” he adds. While the company was of course hit badly by the onset of the global pandemic, with all trips coming to an abrupt halt in March 2020, Aulaqi says that business is now back in full swing, with its first postpandemic trip in August 2021 proving popular with a new socially-focused audience. The cofounder is aiming to hit a $25 million valuation within five years and says that NomuHub has so far hit all its targets for 2022. “We look at NomuHub as a travel company that is shaking the industry by making it impactful,” says Aulaqi. “Our success has always been bringing purpose into the equation.” OCTOBER 2022
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$1,699. NomuHub’s first two-week wellness trip to Bali in December 2022 was, at the time of writing, being advertised at $1,341 per week. Aulaqi is himself an avid traveler. Once he completed his Master’s dissertation in chemical engineering at the University of Manchester in Muscat, he set off on a gap year traveling and volunteering across Europe, Africa, and India. “The moment I went to Zanzibar, I was like wow, this place is really heaven on earth if you can bring people here with the concept of traveling with a purpose; this is where the idea really struck,” he recalls. “When I came back, I thought there has to be a sustainable way of traveling. We are talking about an extremely rich industry—$50 billion was being spent annually by GCC travelers abroad.” Returning home to Oman in 2016, Aulaqi partnered with a university friend and began creating online and social media platforms for the new venture while also preparing for its first trip. He took 500 dirhams and paid for an advert on Instagram. “That’s the best investment I’ve ever made. It was extremely effective,” he laughs. “The moment that we ran the ad, a week later we were receiving a lot of calls. I started to craft the concept and tailor it as questions came up.” The team started small, planning the first trip to Zanzibar and giving themselves roughly four to six months to arrange everything. It launched in 2017. To book a spot, travelers were asked to pay a $300 deposit, which the team used to fund the trip. “If you think about it, it’s basically a company set up through crowdfunding,” says Aulaqi. “With such a business model, it’s not capital intensive because what we’re doing is providing a service; we’re not building a full product.” To create their packages, NomuHub works with local authorities with an established presence on the ground, such as NGOs and ministries, to identify projects and acquire the right licenses and insurances. “They know the right elements of the need of the city, and they offer a lot of support,” says Aulaqi. One such NGO in Zanzibar is the Tumaini Society. “NomuHub hosts programs around community development,
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BACKING THE FUTURE
At 29, Sacha Haider of Global Ventures is the youngest female Partner of a venture capital firm in MENA. As she hunts out impactful investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, she’s rewriting what it means to take a risk.
BY JAMILA GANDHI F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
OCTOBER 2022
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On September 20, 2022, Nigeria’s Remedial Health secured seed funding of $4.4 million—fresh capital that will accelerate the West African healthtech startup’s plans to digitize pharmacies and bring efficiency to the pharmaceutical supply chain. The latest round was led by Global Ventures, a Dubai-based venture capital (VC) firm that co-led its pre-seed round, with participation from Tencent and Y Combinator, among other investors. Owing to a long-standing battle with counterfeit drugs, the market opportunity to serve community pharmacies in Nigeria and across Africa is pronounced. “In Nigeria alone, 500,000 communities drive over 80% of a $70 billion market in annual pharmaceutical sales,” says Sacha Haider, the deal principal and Partner at Global Ventures. “The team at Remedial Health is proactively addressing challenges including price opacity, poor drug quality control, and a very fragmented supply chain through a tech-enabled, pharmacycentered healthcare network that has allowed over 25% in cost reductions at the point of care.” The capital injection is one of Haider’s current priorities for wrapping up allocations for the company’s second fund, including decisions to follow up investments into the existing portfolio. “It’s a crucial reflective thesis-building exercise where we ask ourselves:
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Where are the growth going to start seeing VC opportunities? What are investments pick up in less the enablers? What big developed regions of the macroeconomic shifts world, including in places are happening in our like Africa, the Middle markets?” she adds. Global East, and South America,” Ventures first invested forecast Jonathan in Remedial Health in Lavender, Global Head at February. KPMG Private Enterprise, At 29, British-Pakistani in a statement. Haider is the youngest For Haider, investing female Partner of a in an exponential growth Remedial Health founders Samuel Okwuada and Victor Benjamin VC firm in MENA, business combines leading the Sub-Saharan deciphering unmet market African investment team. needs and delivering Established in 2018, Global long-lasting impact. “The Ventures backs growth-stage Middle East and Africa and tech-focused founders together account for the in emerging markets world’s youngest and fasting globally with a ticket size growing population at of $3 million or less. So far, around 1.5 billion people, the firm has deployed an so it’s imperative we think estimated $104.2 million about who is building the across more than 40 infrastructure for the next companies, 12 of which are billion consumers,” explains in Africa. On average, the the venture capitalist. team of 27 people across An advocate for impactful Valeo founders Nadine Karadag and Sundeep Sahni seven geographies and 17 work, Haider has a history nationalities screens around of innovative leadership. 250 companies monthly, with Haider speaking to Joining Global Ventures in 2020 as employee number about five per week. five, she introduced the firm’s investment process, In 2021 alone, Haider led the firm’s investments in a framework she picked up from her institutional Nigeria’s fastest growing merchant network TeamApt, finance background. Six months into her tenure, driver services platform Max, and Pakistan’s first Haider began a virtual internship program that digital earned wage access product, Abhi. Other kickstarted during the pandemic, with 23 individuals transactions Haider has led include Kenya’s Ilara located in 14 cities across the world. “A lot of young Health, U.A.E.-based Valeo, and Nigeria’s Klasha people don’t understand what ‘venture capital’ means, and Helium Health. “Our Series A goals included and there’s not been that much exposure to the validating our new business lines and exploring new venture capital landscape in this region,” she adds. The markets,” says Adegoke Olubusi, Cofounder and internship has just completed its third iteration. CEO of Helium Health. “With Sacha’s guidance and Majoring in history and politics at the University support, we accomplished all of the above and more, of Warwick, Haider has taken an atypical path including a first-of-its-kind acquisition of a GCCfor someone with no finance background. In her based firm by a West-African-led company.” penultimate year, out of sheer interest, she applied Africa has gained increased VC attention over the and landed an internship at Louis Vuitton’s private past few years. After a record-breaking first quarter, equity arm, L Catterton, in Singapore, working on Africa crossed the $2 billion mark in the first six luxury retail mid-cap deals of $30-50 million for the months of 2022, with 20 African startups announcing Asian market. After graduating, Haider joined a global exits in the same period, according to MAGNiTT analyst program at the Abraaj Group in 2015, working data. MENA recorded $1.68 billion in VC funding in at its $990 million Sub-Saharan African fund based H1 2022, driven by a record-breaking first quarter in Kenya, handling large-cap investments of $20-70 and 33 total exits. “Over the next year (2023), we’re million. “My colleagues in this program were mostly
of my biggest 3 “One learning journeys has trying to find a 0 been that is authentic 3 voice to me and holds its 0 gravitas.”
While reaching out to professionals in the investment ecosystem, Haider met with Noor Sweid, managing partner and cofounder at Global Ventures. “Noor was introduced as a mentor, and following an initial informal conversation, she offered me a job at the company after she had just raised Global Ventures Fund I, which is $50 million,” recalls Haider. “After working at large organizations, being a part of Global Ventures’ early stage gave me the freedom to experiment; if you saw something wasn’t working or needed to be built, you could lead on it.” She made Partner in January 2022 after nine months of acting as Senior Associate, followed by one year as Principal. Finding value-aligned purposeful work is one of the top considerations for the next generation of meritocratic job seekers. Kearney’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 2022 survey indicated that Generation Z was 1.7 times more likely to want a leadership position than Generation X. “The next generation of professionals is ambitious, eager to expand their knowledge through training, eager to get exposed to challenging projects, eager to grow, and eager to be recognized,” says Isabel Neiva, Lead Partner of Transactions and Transformation Practice at Kearney Middle East.
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As Haider continues to rewrite venture capital rules, she is also actively engaging with shareholders to understand and address structural challenges female founders face. At Lahore-based LUMs’ National Incubation Centre, she serves on the Foundation Council to facilitate Pakistani startups that address a large commercial opportunity and attract investment for growth. Currently, she’s working on bringing the eighth and largest edition of “Female Founder Office Hours” to the region. “This collaboration will see the U.K.’s Playfair Capital launch its first MENA chapter in November, connecting and facilitating an open dialogue for female founders exclusively,” reveals Haider. Launched in London in 2019, Female Founder Office Hours breaks down barriers to investment for female entrepreneurs by connecting them to local and international investors to build new relationships, find new mentors, and ultimately secure funding. “I’ve always been struck by how exclusionary certain investment circles can be. I’ve sat in rooms where we’ve discussed products for women with only male investors or had conversations about consumer products of the future without the insights of millennials and Gen Z,” says Haider. According to 2019 research by Boston Consulting Group, if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by 3-6%, boosting the global economy by up to $5 trillion. For businesses seeking to improve their workplace diversity, Neiva recommends creating a leadership advisory team composed of young high-potential members, as well as incorporating a strong succession plan where young professionals are recurrently coached to attain and perform in leadership positions. The importance of women-led VC firms cannot be underestimated. Data from the Kauffman Fellows Research Center highlighted that U.S. startups with at least one female founder go on to hire 2.5 times more women than startups with all-male founders. And the figures look promising at Global Ventures. The firm’s portfolio consists of 34% female cofounders, with female employees making up 60% of the company. As an agent of change, Haider has found deep value in life coaching and strength in her support network to navigate imposter syndrome and continue her work of finding hidden gems. “One of my biggest learning journeys has been trying to find a voice that is authentic to me and holds its gravitas,” says the visionary. “It’s easy to emulate the next successful person, but young leadership is only good leadership if you do it on your own terms.” OCTOBER 2022
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finance majors and former investment bankers, and it initially always felt like I was in the wrong room,” she admits. “Thankfully, everyone was put through a grueling training course with a steep learning curve to ensure we were all on the same level.” In 2016, Haider relocated to Mexico City for a private equity role with Colony Capital’s Pacific Alliance fund. Focusing on retail and consumer businesses, she spent three and a half years with mid-cap deals. Craving something new, in 2020 Haider took an early career break to study art history in Florence for three months and after decided to move closer to her childhood home turf of Dubai. “The GCC markets are a hotbed for innovation, with very friendly regulators and a vast, diverse talent pool, and so I was keen to pursue a new opportunity in Africa, Pakistan, and emerging markets,” says Haider.
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A
s the world continues to move fast, young innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, influencers, and activists across the Middle East are bringing hope that unites us as powerfully as global unrest seeks to divide. From science and space exploration to enriching the entrepreneurship community and impacting societies through charity, art, and sport, Forbes Middle East brings you the brilliant minds making their mark in MENA. To find the region’s most promising young talent, we scanned the Middle East markets for outstanding young achievers and collected online nominations, where applicants could put themselves or someone else forward for consideration. We initially received over 400 applications. The Forbes Middle East research and editorial teams evaluated and debated all candidates, conducting several rounds of assessments to shortlist 80 candidates. We then turned to our external judges, all experts in their respective fields. They conducted their own research, deliberated the criteria, and shared their insights on who they thought should make the final list. In making our judgments, we took into account qualitative information, such as the impact that candidates have had on their industry, market, or society and their future potential. We also looked at quantifiable data such as funds raised, awards won, revenues, the value of deals, the number of people impacted, the number of customers, and the number of followers on social media. We divided the final entries into six categories: sport, commerce, science & technology, money, creative, and impact. Creative includes entertainment and social media stars. Impact includes policy, education, healthcare, and social entrepreneurship.
Methodology
• To be eligible for the 2022 list, the applicant had to have been under 30 years old on December 31, 2021. This means that anybody born in 1992 or later was eligible. All ages given in the list are as of October 1, 2022. • Candidates could be from anywhere but had to have their main residence in MENA. • If one business had two co-founders under 30, they were counted as one entry.
Data The 2022 list features 35 individuals from 13 nationalities. Egyptians feature the most with 12 entries, followed by six Lebanese entries, and three each from Oman and Saudi. They are based across eight countries in the Middle East. Of the 35 individuals, 12 are based in Egypt, 10 in the U.A.E., five in Lebanon, and three in Saudi Arabia. The average age of everyone on the list is around 27 years old. The impact category has the highest number of entries with eight, followed by commerce with six, creative with five, science & technology and sport with four each, and money with three entries.
Judges
Ali Alaaraj
Head of Creative Digital Content at MBC Group
Raja Al Gurg
Group MD and Chairperson of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group
Sherif Beshara
Suneel Gokhale
Sima Leila Hoteit Ganwani Ved MD and Senior
Group CEO, Co-Founder & Founder and Mohamed & Obaid General Partner at Chairwoman of Almulla Group VentureSouq the Apparel Group
Partner at BCG
Ronaldo Mouchawar
Vice President at Amazon MENA
To nominate yourself or someone else for our lists, email:
[email protected]
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Anser Latheef
Dina Sam’an
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Chirenj Chandran Hadia Ghaleb
Muatasam Aulaqi
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Chirenj Chandran; Anser Latheef Age: 28; 30 Occupation: Cofounders of MySyara Nationality: Indian; Indian Residence: U.A.E.; U.A.E. Chandran and Latheef cofounded MySyara in 2019, a car service app with a presence in the U.A.E. and India. It offers anything from mobile car washing and detailing to oil changes, diagnostics, and on-time servicing. As of September 2022, MySyara had raised a total of $5.5 million in funding. It has 105,000 users and claims to have helped save over 11.5 million liters of water. In 2021 it acquired an auto parts distributor in the U.A.E. for $2.6 million and launched “MySyara Supply,” with the aim of integrating the supply chain within its operations.
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Ibrahim Mohamed Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of Homzmart Nationality: Egyptian Residence: Egypt
Hadia Ghaleb Age: 29 Occupation: Founder of GPH and Hadia Ghaleb Brand
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Nationality: Egyptian Residence: U.A.E. Hadia Ghaleb is a marketing, events, and brand influencer with 2.4 million followers on Instagram. In April 2022, she launched her own eponymous modest swimwear line. As of September 2022, the U.A.E- based company had 240,000 followers on Instagram. Hadia Ghaleb products are available worldwide and sold in 32 countries, with 25% of sales coming from Saudi Arabia, 15% from the U.A.E, 7% from the U.S., and 5% from Europe. Ghaleb is also the founder and CEO of Ghaleb Production House, a digital public relations agency that works with over 100 international and local brands on communication and marketing strategies in the Middle East. F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
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Mohamed cofounded Homzmart in 2019. The online marketplace for furniture and home goods was designed to capitalize on the digitalization gap in the sector. In three years, the company secured over $40 million in funding from investors, including MSA Capital, Nuwa Capital, Rise Capital, Impact46, EQ2 Ventures, and Outliers Ventures. Previously Mohamed spent 11 years as a football player in the Egyptian league before getting a job at Jumia Group.
Mohsin Hani Al-Bahrani Age: 25 Occupation: CEO of ACERE cluster at Mohsin Haider Darwish Nationality: Omani Residence: Oman
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Al-Bahrani is the CEO of the Automotive, Construction Equipment, and Renewable Energy cluster (ACERE) at his family business, the Mohsin Haider Darwish Group. He is also the founder of MHD Leasing LLC, which specifically targets the tourism sector and Auto Expert in Oman. Among his achievements, he launched McLaren Automotive, ABB EV Chargers, Varta Batteries, XCMG, and Weir Trio in Oman. He set up 13 new sales facilities in Oman and expanded after-sales from three facilities in 2019 to 11 in 2022. He also opened three new TYREPLUS Outlets by Michelin, increasing its reach to nine outlets, and he has overseen the newly-formed HospiCare division of MHD ACERE.
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Selina Ved Age: 24 Occupation: CEO & Founder of Nessa Nationality: Omani Residence: U.A.E.
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Mohamad Bekdache Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of Dingbats* Notebooks Ltd Nationality: Lebanese Residence: Lebanon Bekdache cofounded eco-friendly notebook brand Dingbats* in 2016. It has since grown to include pens and backpacks. With sales channels in the U.K., Europe, Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and the Far East, Bekdache claims that the company was valued at $9.5 million in 2021. Dingbats* donates 2% of all revenue that it generates in the U.K. to the World Wildlife Fund.
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Ved established her e-commerce brand Nessa in 2021. Today, the company stocks 14,000 products from 250 brands, of which 25 are indie brands exclusive to Nessa. The platform allows users to shop through video tutorials made by local influencers and beauty experts and uses AI, consumer intelligence, and predictive analytics to match consumers and sellers. According to Ved, sales of the company have increased 300% over the last year. Ved has committed to donating a percentage of sales to female laborers in the U.A.E.
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Nationality: Egyptian; Egyptian Residence: Egypt; Egypt El-Ghandour and Hosam cofounded El-Da7ee7 in 2014, one of the most well-known YouTube edutainment shows in the Middle East. As of September 2022, the show had over 1.5 billion views. The show is also currently presented on the Museum of The Future’s YouTube channel. Hosam is also the co-founder and CEO of the production company that produces El-Da7ee7, the Post Office.
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Ahmed El-Ghandour; Mohamad Hosam Age: 28; 27 Occupation: Cofounders of El-Da7ee7
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Ely El Khoury; Rudy Wehbe Age: 29; 27 Occupation: Cofounders of Digital SocioPath Nationality: Lebanese; Lebanese
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Residence: Lebanon; Lebanon
El Khoury and Wehbe cofounded the creative agency Digital SocioPath in Lebanon in 2019 with a focus on digital services, including social media, augmented reality effects, and branding. They have worked with international brands, including McDonald’s, Elie Saab, Bioderma, and Expo 2020 Dubai, and celebrities, including Elissa, Nadine Njeim, and Najwa Karam. The company’s augmented reality filters help brands, public figures, celebrities, and influencers to engage with their customers and fans. El Khoury and Wehbe recently launched their second agency, MetaPath, which specializes in creating virtual worlds for their clients.
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Hassan Suleiman (Aboflah) Age: 23 Occupation: Youtuber Nationality: Somalian Residence: U.A.E.
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Suleiman—known as Aboflah— is a YouTube content creator who focuses on entertainment and gaming. As of September 2022, his channel had over 26.6 million subscribers and 3.6 billion views. The Somali national was born in Kuwait and currently resides in the U.A.E. He raised over $11 million in 2022 for a refugees’ World’s Coolest Winter campaign in cooperation with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, UNHCR, the Food Banking Regional Network, and Galaxy Racer. He locked himself in a glass room for a 12-day live broadcast, breaking two Guinness World Records for the longest live broadcast and the most direct views in one moment of a humanitarian campaign on YouTube. He has also previously raised money to provide over 1,500 cataract surgeries in Africa and given away over 30 cars to his fans.
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Ramzi Mallat Age: 26 Occupation: Artist Nationality: Lebanese Residence: Lebanon Mallat is one of the youngest artists to have had a solo exhibition in the UNESCO Palace in Beirut. He has also showcased his art in the Cervantes Institute in Beirut and collaborated with the Arab Foundation for Freedom and Equality on a group exhibition in Cyprus. Mallat is currently completing his master’s degree at the Royal College of Art in London and finalizing a short documentary about the socio-economic crisis in Lebanon. He will be releasing his first publication with Dergham in January 2023. He has been selected for an upcoming artist residency with the Nirox Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July 2023. He has solo exhibitions in London with the Danuser & Ramirez Gallery in October 2022 and the P21 Gallery in October 2023.
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Sultan Al Hokair Age: 29 Occupation: Chairman of muvi cinemas Nationality: Saudi Residence: Saudi Arabia
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In 2018, Saudi Arabia reopened its cinemas after a 35-year ban. Al Hokair established the muvi cinemas brand in 2019. Headquartered in Riyadh, muvi cinemas currently operates in 22 locations, with 205 screens across the kingdom. It plans to reach 60 locations by 2026. Al Hokair has also expanded vertically and invested in Saudi and Egyptian movie production, with the first movies due to be released by December 2022. He plans to produce 15-20 films per year by 2024.
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Age: 30 Occupation: Cofounder of Bevol Nationality: Syrian Residence: Qatar Al Heraki cofounded Bevol in 2017, a social media platform that introduces volunteers to volunteering opportunities. Anyone interested in volunteering physically or virtually is able to create an account to explore opportunities. At the same time, governmental institutions, NGOs, and universities can register on Bevol, request volunteers, and advertise activities for free. As of September 2022, the platform had attracted more than 60,000 volunteers from over 175 countries.
Hala Al-Wagdani Age: 29 Occupation: Exploration Geoscientist at Saudi Aramco Nationality: Saudi Residence: Saudi Arabia Al-Wagdani joined the exploration organization in Saudi Aramco in 2015 as a prospect generator. In 2018, she was nominated to chair the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Young Professionals & Students Committee for the Middle East. In the same year, she planned and executed a geo-tourist challenge in the Al Wusta region of Oman as the lead geological consultant. She was subsequently invited to be a geologic mapper with the search and rescue team in Oman to scan the seventh sinkhole to the Tahery route. Al-Wagdani has been involved in numerous education programs introducing geoscience to new generations. She adapted AAPG’s Discovery Thinking Series in Aramco to enhance knowledge sharing between professionals.
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Mohamed Algawish; Mustafa Abdulmoneim Age: 28; 28 Occupation: Cofounders of iSchool Nationality: Egyptian; Egyptian
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Abdulmoneim and Algawish cofounded iSchool in 2018, which enables 6 to 18-year-olds to learn to code. The startup offers live coding classes in AI, data science, game development, VR, and AR. Today, it has more than 9,000 graduates across 10 countries. In the past eight years, Algawish has helped launch several education initiatives and international STEM competitions in Egypt, helping more than 57,600 students to start learning about trending technology. He has also helped to create a parents’ network, with 270,000 participating in monthly workshops.
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Muatasam Aulaqi Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of NomuHub Nationality: Omani Residence: Oman Aulaqi cofounded NomuHub in 2017, introducing the concept of “travel with a purpose.” NomuHub offers tourism packages across countries including Zanzibar, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Bali, and Nepal that enable travelers to explore destinations while at the same time giving back to the community by building schools, engaging in community development programs, and offering medical camps, among other activities. NomuHub has built and renovated more than 200 classrooms across the world and helped more than 30,000 patients through medical campaigns in Africa.
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Mousa Salem Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of Colibri Care IMAGE FROM SOURCE , IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST
Nationality: Egyptian Residence: Egypt Salem cofounded Colibri Care in 2020, a developer and manufacturer of IP-based medical devices in the Middle East. He has worked on introducing a line of hemostatic products, which not only help to control bleeding in surgeries and heavy bleeding incidents but also revolutionize other medical practices, such as dental extraction. Colibri Care’s U.S.-patented sponges absorb blood up to 55x their weight in a few seconds. The company’s CurASeal product enables blood clotting in 20 seconds. As an undergraduate, Salem founded and was the first president of the American Chemical Society student chapter at Alexandria University in Egypt. F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
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Sheikha Mozah Bint Marwan Al Maktoum Age: 25 Occupation: Pilot Nationality: Emirati Residence: U.A.E.
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Sheikha Mozah bint Marwan Al Maktoum took her first flying lesson aged 12 on a Robinson 22. In 2013, she achieved a Guinness World Record for wing walking and entered Oxford Aviation, graduating as the youngest in her class. She became the first woman in the Royal Family to fly for Emirates Airline in 2015 and was the first woman in the U.A.E. to join Dubai Police Airwing as a first lieutenant pilot in 2019. In the same year, she established the Women in Aviation Association (Shehana) to provide support and increase awareness of opportunities in this field—not only as pilots or crew members but as lawyers, engineers, doctors, and other vital roles. In May 2022, Sheikha Mozah became the first woman to ever fly the AW609 tiltrotor—which combines a helicopter’s operational versatility and an airplane’s performance advantages—at the U.S. helicopter headquarters of Leonardo in Philadelphia.
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Wadah Malaeb Age: 28 Occupation: Founder of DLOC Biosystems, inc. Nationality: Lebanese Residence: Lebanon Malaeb founded DLOC Biosystems in 2017, a biotech startup that is developing new technology to accurately predict drug failure in human trials to enable preclinical trials on-chip. This technology is expected to make clinical trials cheaper and safer. The organ-on-chip technology also aims to fully replace animal testing in the future. Wadah has five years of research experience in tissue engineering and biomedical engineering. He invented the first concept of DLOC’s chip in 2017 during his master’s thesis at the American University of Beirut.
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Nadia Murad Age: 29 Occupation: President of Nadia’s Initiative Nationality: Iraqi Residence: Iraq
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A human rights activist and recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Murad is a leading advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence. ISIS attacked her homeland in Sinjar in 2014. After escaping captivity, Murad began speaking out on behalf of her community and survivors of sexual violence worldwide. In 2016, she became a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. In 2018, she won the Nobel Peace Prize with Denis Mukwege. Together, they founded the Global Survivors Fund. In 2019, Murad was appointed as a UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate. Nadia’s Initiative works to persuade governments and international organizations to support the sustainable re-development of the Yazidi homeland, as well as survivors of sexual violence globally.
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Joanne Chehab, TikTok’s Head of Business Partnerships for Managed Services, Global Business Solutions, MENA, explains why understanding fan behavior is key for brands looking to make an impact at the biggest events on the global sporting calendar. uring mega sporting events, it seems that we act differently, buy differently, and react to brands differently than we do during normal times. That’s why we wanted to dive deeper into the psychological phenomena and behavioral biases that make this context so unique.
Bring out the pathos
While for brands, it seems natural to capitalize on the hype of mega sporting events, the challenge lies in doing it authentically and effectively. In global events where emotions are running rampant, it is important for brands to craft campaigns that instigate an outsized emotional response that places them right there in the stadium. But to establish this emotional rapport, brands need to understand fandom at a deeper level. What makes people tick during these events? What are the behavioral and evolutionary bases for them to act so coherently, and in tandem?
Come to play: Insiders
Group dynamics have always been
an evolutionary necessity, and at first glance, it seems that during sport events, in-groups may be formed by fans of opposing teams. But in reality, fans of different teams come together to watch, cheer, and review games, so the divide lies elsewhere: it is between the in-group that is engaging with the event and the out-group that is watching more passively. Brands must place themselves within the conversation and establish themselves as “insiders.” This means having a meaningful role to play, via agility and speed of developing content and maintaining their purpose and brand personality.
Be contextually relevant: Chameleon mechanism
Play big: Primed to identify superlatives
At the end of the day, a onedimensional view of events might lead you to believe that not all brands are born equal when it comes to opportunities. But as soon as you realize that they are festivals of culture and people more than sporting events, then every brand has a role to play.
The very nature of megaevents primes people to look for superlatives. The entire discourse becomes about the best team, the fastest player, the largest stadium, the loudest fanbase, and so on. In a context where superlatives reign supreme, brands need to activate proportionately to the size of the event, or risk being shadowed by the colossal amount of noise generated by other brands and the event itself.
The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.
At a time where seemingly everyone is talking about the same mega sporting event, many people don’t have much to say about it and find themselves under the threat of being eclipsed in the social conversation. Winning brands are the ones that activate a ‘chameleon mechanism’ and carve out their own contextual role. This is best done by finding the intersection between the brand’s purpose and the event’s context, allowing marketers to articulate a unique voice that gives impetus to the brand’s presence beyond highlighting the event itself.
Building bonds
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Tapping Into Fandom Psychology
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Dina Sam’an Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of CoinMENA Nationality: Jordanian Residence: U.A.E.
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Sam’an cofounded CoinMENA in 2019, a regulated digital asset exchange licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, as well as in the EU and the U.A.E. It allows investors to buy and sell digital assets across Bahrain, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman. The platform secured $9.5 million in seed funding in 2021. Sam’an previously worked for her family’s real estate business before spending four years at BitOasis as a Regional Client Operations Director.
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IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST
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Fatma El Shenawy Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of Khazna Tech Nationality: Egyptian Residence: Egypt El Shenawy helped launch Fintech startup, Khazna, in 2020 to improve the financial well-being of underserved Egyptians, who have little access to formal financial services. In March 2022, Khazna raised $38 million in equity and debt, taking its total funding to $47 million, with investors including Quona Capital, Khawarizmi Ventures, Algebra Ventures, and Accion Venture Lab, among others. El Shenawy was previously a senior associate with Arqaam Capital’s Investment Banking team, where she advised on M&A, debt raising, and ECM transactions in the Middle East.
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Sacha Haider Age: 29 Occupation: Partner at Global Ventures Nationality: British/Pakistani Residence: U.A.E.
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Haider is the youngest female partner at the international venture capital firm Global Ventures. She has led Global Ventures’ expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa, and Pakistan, as well as the firm’s investments in African healthcare software company Helium Health, Nigerian merchant network TeamApt, driver services platform Max, and Pakistani digital earned wage access product Abhi. Haider also leads Global Ventures efforts around Women in Tech and sits on the Foundation Council for the National Incubation Centre at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
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Afnan Sherbeeni Age: 29 Occupation: Cofounder of Sabbar Nationality: Saudi Residence: Saudi Arabia Sherbeeni is the cofounder of Saudi-based on-demand staffing platform Sabbar, which specializes in gig jobs in the retail, hospitality, and entertainment industries, targeting bluecollar staff in MENA and Pakistan. In July 2021, the company raised $4 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by STV and backed by Derayah VC and SEEDRA Ventures. Having been established in 2019, today the platform has more than 70,000 workers on its registration waiting list. Previously, Sherbeeni helped to build the national blood donation app, Wateen.
Jad Antoun Age: 28 Occupation: Cofounder of Huspy Nationality: Lebanese Residence: U.A.E. Antoun is the cofounder and CEO of Huspy, which was launched in 2020 to support home buyers through their entire purchase journey, from finding a property to financing it and closing the deal. The company secured $37 million in funding and launched its property listing unit in 2022. It recently opened its first overseas office in Spain. Previously, Antoun worked with a healthcare startup in the U.S. He returned to the Middle East to join BECO Capital before leaving to launch Huspy. IMAGES FROM SOURCE
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Maryam Haytham Esmat Age: 24 Occupation: Astrophysicist Nationality: Egyptian Haytham Esmat interned at the Space Telescope Science Institute (operated for NASA by AURA), working on the James Webb Space Telescope in the instrumentation team. In 2020, NASA presented her research findings with the Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit Team at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Hawaii. She covered the James Webb Space Telescope launch in Arabic at the Egyptian Society for Astronomy in 2021. She also co-translated the James Webb Space Telescope Key Facts International from English to Arabic on the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center website and was featured on a NASA video saying “Good Luck, Webb” in Arabic. Haytham Esmat is currently a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University, working on dark matter detection.
Mohamed Ben Halim; Belal El Megharbel Age: 28; 30 Occupation: Cofounders of MaxAB Nationality: Jordanian; Egyptian
IMAGES FROM SOURCE
Residence: Egypt; Egypt Ben Halim and El-Megharbel launched B2B marketplace MaxAB in 2018. It services food and grocery retailers across Egypt by enabling them to order stock and receive deliveries via an app. As of September 2022, it had secured $62.5 million in total funding, served over 80,000 retailers, and fulfilled more than 1.5 million orders. El Megharbel is a former Careem employee, while Ben Halim was heading Aramex Egypt’s operations as Domestic Operations manager before launching MaxAB.
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Residence: Egypt and the U.S.
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Dina Meshref Age: 28 Occupation: Table Tennis Nationality: Egyptian Residence: Egypt Meshref comes from a family of table tennis players. Both her parents were national champions. She won her first African Cup in 2011 before claiming seven consecutive titles between 2014 and 2020. She won her latest African title in September 2022, climbing 21 spots in the table tennis world ranking to reach the rank of 29. Meshref was a gold medalist in women’s singles at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and a gold medalist in women’s teams at the 2022 Mediterranean Games.
Madiha Naz Age: 26 Occupation: Esports Nationality: Pakistani Residence: U.A.E. Naz—better known as Madi—is a professional esports player. She was captain of the first ever all-female Middle Eastern esports team and has represented MENA in international women’s tournaments. In 2022, she was the first esports athlete to be nominated by the U.A.E. government for a golden visa. In February 2022, she took part in an ad campaign for Coca-Cola.
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IMAGE FROM SOURCE, IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST
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Roumaysa Boualam Age: 27 Occupation: Boxing Nationality: Algerian Residence: Algeria Boualam was one of the first female Algerian boxers to qualify for the Olympics in 2020. She has won titles in African and Mediterranean championships, including a gold medal in the Mediterranean Games women’s 48kg event in 2022.
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Nouran Gohar Age: 25 Occupation: Squash Nationality: Egyptian Residence: Egypt
IMAGES FROM SOURCE
Gohar is currently ranked the world’s number one female squash player, winning eight out of 12 finals in the 2021/22 season. She won her first tour title at the Prague Open in December 2013 when she was 16 years old. In 2022, Gohar made the finals of all eight events she played in. The athlete became world number one for the first time in July 2020 while graduating in construction engineering from the American University in Cairo.
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PRO M OTI O N
Peace And Entertainment In The Heart Of Dubai 70
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any people hope for restful vacations with their families and go looking for destinations in Dubai away from the hustle and bustle of the inevitably crowded beaches and parks. At the same time, there is a vast variety of upscale properties in the city center with entertainment, leisure, and recreation facilities. One of Dubai’s most impressive options is Habtoor Palace, which has 234 rooms and 52 unique suites. It is part of Al Habtoor City - a highend residential and leisure complex along Sheikh Zayed Road and on the banks of the Dubai Water Canal.
A Blend Of Luxury And Tranquility Arriving guests enter through a grand gate into the hotel’s garden before reaching a luxurious entrance. The building has elegant touches in every space, complete with the refined fragrance of oud in the marble lobby and a gilded staircase with a glittering chandelier hanging from the ceiling. An Empire Suite is perfect for a lavish and comfortable stay. The calming space is decorated with bright shades of color and stylish furnishings, blending luxury with a relaxed ambiance. In each corner are flower bouquets, and guests
This in partnership with Habtoor Palace. F Ocontent R B E S Mwas I D Dcreated L E E A S T.C OM
staying for Eid al-Fitr are greeted by a chocolate selection specially designed for the happy occasion, with local and foreign flavors. The suite has a living room, a dining area, and a separate bedroom. The bathroom features a large bathtub and a vast selection of toiletries. Exclusive Entertainment You don’t need to worry too much about making plans in advance as there are plenty of available options, including evening programs. The hotel is next door to the famous La Perle theater, with a number of performances on throughout the week. It also OCTOBER 2022
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houses various dining options and beautiful rooftop swimming pools. Thanks to the location the rooftop is worth a special visit just before sunset. There you will find three luxury pools, all of which are temperature controlled. Away from the buzz and noise, you can enjoy a relaxing atmosphere, lying on the sunbeds and taking in the view. Elsewhere, the Silk Spa Dubai offers access to a sauna and the jacuzzi, as well as a full range of relaxing massages, rejuvenating treatments, and cleansing teas. And Habtoor Palace residents can also enjoy the Hilton pools in the adjacent building, along with its restaurants, children’s club, and all other facilities. Once you’re completely relaxed, if you love to explore and fancy taking in a bit of culture, the Habtoor Palace has two truly unique offerings: the Sir Winston Churchill Suite, which houses
a collection of rare art pieces from Churchill’s archive, and the Bentley Suite, the first in the region, inspired by Bentley designs. Flavors From Around The World The Habtoor Palace has a selection of lounges and eateries to suit every palate, including its Champagne Lounge, The Polo Bar, and Sidra, which serves afternoon tea. For morning breakfast, the BQ French Kitchen & Bar houses a French bakery and offers an enviable cheese selection among other dishes. The inviting coffee aroma and stylish furniture will transport you to the cafés of Paris. If you plan on spending an evening at La Perle, then Le Patio restaurant is a great place to enjoy a pre-show dinner. The restaurant’s walls and its tables are laid out across both sides of an open patio with soft music playing in the background. There you can
This partnership with Habtoor Palace. F O Rcontent B E S M I Dwas D L Ecreated E A S T.Cin OM
experiment with different flavors from all over the world, including French mushroom soup, Thai chicken with rice, and Italian pasta. Alternatively, the World Cut Steakhouse offers seafood and meat options, including a Japanese Wagyu steak, one of the world’s most expensive meats. After dinner, it’s possible to walk to the La Perle theater in five minutes. The permanent theatrical show is created by Franco Dragone and is distinguished by its storytelling, talented dancers and circus-style performers, and stunning water effects. In the high-tech theater, an enthralled audience watches highaltitude diving and acrobatics performed with breathtaking speed. An Experience To Remember Habtoor Palace offers a unique experience with its spectacular entertainment options, as well as everything you could hope for from a luxury hotel. You may be sad to leave, but the visit will be something you always remember.
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• THOUGHTS ON •
Age “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”
“If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”
Ingrid Bergman
—Andy Rooney
—James A. Garfield
“I’ve always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development.”
“My salad days, when I was green in judgment, cold in blood. To say as I said then.”
—Alice Roosevelt Longworth
—William Shakespeare “Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.”
“When we were small children, we all played dress-up and everybody had a good time. So why stop?”
—Herbert Asquith “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?”
—Iris Apfel “One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.”
—Job 12:12
—Morgan Harper Nichols “Getting old is like climbing a mountain—you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better.” —Ingrid Bergman “Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.” —Walt Disney “Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been.” —Jimmy Buffett
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“Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.” —Benjamin Disraeli “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.”
“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
“Old age is no place for sissies.”
“Being 18 is like visiting Russia. You’re glad you’ve had the experience but you’d never want to repeat it.”
—Bette Davis
—Barbara Cartland
—Søren Kierkegaard
SOURCES: CONINGSBY, BY BENJAMIN DISRAELI; CONVERSATIONS WITH ALICE ROOSEVELT LONGWORTH; ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE; THE JOURNALS OF SØREN KIERKEGAARD.
FINAL THOUGHT “It is comforting to those of us who have sired the present batch to learn that they are—perhaps—no worse than their predecessors.” —Malcolm Forbes
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