Ep#9-What It Takes to Build a Thriving Business in Dubai | ft. Malek Moubasher

In this episode of #Alphapreneurs, host 𝗥𝗮𝘆𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗺 sits down with 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗸 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 who splits his time between 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗮 and 𝗗𝘂𝗯𝗮𝗶. Malek breaks down what’s changed in Dubai, what still works, and the biggest mistakes founders make when trying to scale. 

With 𝟮𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀, 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, Malek has seen it all; how Dubai went from a gold rush to a mature, competitive market, and what it really takes to grow a business today. 
They also talk about why the right mentor can save you from expensive mistakes, the 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝘃𝘀. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗔𝗘, and how AI is shaking up the way entrepreneurs work. If you're running a business and wondering why what used to work isn’t working anymore, this one’s for you.

👉 Follow 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗸 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 on LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kxh1Y
👉 Website: https://mentor-gc.com/
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𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗔𝗺 𝗜?

My name is  Rayhan Aleem, Founder and CEO of 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 and 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀. At  𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 podcast I sit with top industry leaders for in-depth conversations that dive deep into their success stories, market dynamics, and firsthand tips on entrepreneurship and profitability. Whether you're just starting out or already running your own business, 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 offers something valuable for everyone.

👉 Follow 𝗥𝗮𝘆𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗺 on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3U2niHn
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𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀:

𝟭-𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀:
  -𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲:  https://www.alphapartners.co
  -𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻: https://bit.ly/3Yf4VRZ

𝟮-𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿:
  -𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲:  https://www.taxstar.app
  -𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻: https://bit.ly/3ZVjzPD

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𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻:

🔗 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗲: https://bit.ly/47gaW3F
🔗 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆: https://bit.ly/3ZbtGiR
🔗 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁: https://bit.ly/4dOfS2f
🔗 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗶: https://bit.ly/3Mutunk
🔗 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲!: https://bit.ly/3XfGYbD

𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲? 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Intro
• 1:48 Malek’s first experience in Dubai: arriving in 2005, starting his business in 2006
• 4:41 Then vs. now: How the business landscape in Dubai has matured
• 7:40 Shifting opportunities in Dubai: From government contracts to private sector and startups
• 13:06 Building a network: How Malek created his business connections from scratch
• 15:33 The new way to build credibility: Becoming an authority in your niche
• 25:23 Key differences between Silicon Valley and UAE startup ecosystems
• 36:33 AI in Business: How entrepreneurs should be using AI in their businesses
• 47:49 The most important lessons Malek has learned in his entrepreneurial journey
• 54:45 Closing Remarks, Current Projects and How To Reach Malek

Transcript

Malek: 0:00

The risk appetite in the American investor, is second to none. You will find, normal people who have some extra cash and they are willing to be angel investors.

Rayhan: 0:19

Welcome to the Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm your host Rayhan Aleem founder of Tax Star and Alpha Pro Partners. Join me on each episode as we talk to inspiring Dubai based entrepreneurs who share their stories, challenges, and secrets on building world class businesses. I'm excited to have Malek on the show today. Malek runs an international management consultancy practice with over 25 years of experience advising startups, large corporates, and government entities. Malek is also a mentor for startup founders, both in Silicon Valley and in the UAE. His expertise covers everything from emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain to improving workforce productivity. Malek, thank you very much for joining Azure today. very excited and pleased to have you here all the way from California. I wanna start, I know you've been, you've, you, come to and pro California and Dubai quite a lot, and, you've, been here quite some time. and so you've seen, I. probably this place where we're recording being a desert. And so what I'm really interested to know is, you first came here, you set up your own business long time ago. And not only is your business, successful, but you was able to work with large governments and big corporates as well, which, when you set up your business for the first time, it's not easy to get to. Can you tell us about your experiences when you came to Dubai? How did you find it? Did you, were you one of the entrepreneurs who said, I'm only gonna be here for two years and now I'm gonna go back? How was it for you?

Malek: 2:02

to, give you a little bit of, background story. I have been, born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. And, unfortunately because of the situation of my country, when I left, I said, I cannot go back. I, need to rebuild what I had in a new destination, and I have no choice. So I had to burn. the, the ship that got me here. So when I landed in Dubai, Dubai was a jungle. 2000, five. My first visit. I started my company in 2006. any person who, used to be in Dubai, that, these days can tell you it was totally different scenery. It was a gold rush. Everyone from around the world coming here to make a lot of money, there was the good, the bad, and the ugly. the real estate market was something. phenomenal, never witnessed before, something like that. It was enough for you to show up in any, meeting and say, Hey, we can do this work for you to get, directly, hired, the scale of spending from the government was crazy. a lot of companies on weekly basis were. were opening shop in Dubai and they need somebody to help. there was a lot of things even back then in, in 2007, she hamad the Rule of Dubai says something, which it took me a bit to understand. I. He said, if you are not making crazy money in Dubai right now, then you are doing something fundamentally wrong. Of course, he sold it in his own words, but this is what he was saying. And I only realized that after the crisis, the golden days of Dubai 2006, 2007, 2008, were a golden opportunity for anyone to build their business at that time. So it didn't make me rich, but it was this wave, which took me from zero, nothing, just showing up in Dubai with, literary, just 25,000 Durhams everything I, had, and the start of this company and build it. So the potential and the momentum was in Dubai was nothing that you can witness, easily in your lifetime. We started the company. And we started taking, some contracts which were not usual to take any normal, entrepreneurial trip. and we, we grew from, there. Yeah.

Rayhan: 4:41

when you mentioned that you came here in, back in 2005 and six, and you mentioned the fact that, you could pitch a lot of, any work and you can pretty much win it. The contrast now is completely different now. Totally. Yeah.

Malek: 4:56

It is totally different number. yeah.

Rayhan: 4:58

Yeah. Dubai now is very mature. Yeah. and I would say right now Dubai is actually doing very well for itself, but in a different way. In a more, mature way. Yeah. Yeah. How, do you see the differences between then and now? I know. There was a, bit of a dip in between. but now for example, population is going through the roof. Real estate is really hot. Lots of people coming in here. Lot, a lot of people coming from, the uk I think it's like the top five, cities where millionaires are relocating, for example. How do you see the differences of now compared to then in terms of the opportunities?

Malek: 5:36

Yeah, so back then. The main driver of the economy was the mega project and the spending, which the government's doing, Dubai mainly then Abu Dhabi a little bit, the federal government and then the other Emirates. your ability to make business is to sit in the. Value chain of what the government is doing. So, think of it as a fountain. if you are a big guy, one of the big guys, with, either good relations or with, huge capabilities, you will, you will go and, sit at the top of the fountain, but even if not, you will be. Maybe the second row or the third, or the fourth, or the five. But there was a lot of money, lot of projects. They needed, everyone. It was easier, relatively, to go into somewhere in this value chain, make some relation with the government. They needed people to work. They needed people who were motivated enough, and, hard workers, who can deliver, to work for them. If you were there in the right time, it was easier. First of all, to knock the door of this government organization, it was easier for you to meet some decision, maker. There was a lot of money, lot of spending. There was a huge sense of urgency. So if you said, I can deliver this to you and the time you want. the price is a secondary thing. so these days are over. government already have spent what they need to spend, to build the infrastructure. They became much, much, better in managing larger project for, much less, costs. They know how to manage their costs. they build expertise, which they didn't have, before. So even they are still doing some mega projects, but they are doing with fraction of the. Cost they used to, do, and they cut all the unnecessarily costs, which were bringing business to people. and they have a lot of internet capabilities. Time passed and the demographic of Dubai changed. back then it was the huge companies, the companies who were supporting these mega projects and the government spending, and it was easier for you to penetrate today. It's very difficult for any newcomer to Dubai to even reach any decision maker, of, the government people or Emiratis or wealthy people. They, already have built layers and layers of, yeah, things. So this is the first thing, the type of spending the government is doing is different. they are now very focused on what they are spending. and, very mature in, in, cost management. Number three, a lot of Emiratis have built their capabilities. so you need to find what they are missing. don't compete with Emiratis. number four, the economy of Dubai is, although mega projects and government spending is still a part of it, but. Also the huge amount of people and small company which entered the market, has grown as, contribution to the economy in such a way that, if you are a new entrepreneur, my advice, I. Except if you have something really, special or you are tapping into a new technology or a new, business model, which is not there, and very beneficial to the government. Forget about the government project. Look at the new demographics of the way all of these small companies and people who are relocating from other parts of the world, and how, what they are doing, how they, what, type of businesses. Are, coming to Dubai. Yeah. And what type of services, you need to offer them. For example, alpha Pro is, a perfect example. it was a brilliant idea, for you to come and set up your accounting services firm and tax service firm to, to serve all of these smaller businesses who don't understand the taxation and accounting, system in Dubai. And they need somebody to take. The, heavy lifting from them. this is in my opinion, a perfect example. you are talking to the new demographics in Dubai. You are talking to, the new type of businesses, coming to Dubai. of course if you have big money, it's a different thing. Yeah. you can come and you can contribute to some, larger, businesses. You can, set, shop here to serve other parts of the, world and. You will make the most benefit out of Dubai. if your business model of your, services are not limited to Dubai, you need to understand that Dubai is a hub city. It's not. A large economy by itself to serve only internally, you need to benefit from what Dubai has established itself as a position. look at Emirs. Emirs are headquarters here, but they are serving, they're global company. The whole, world. Yeah. If you draw a, a four hour flight radius in Dubai or even eight hours flight, you will not find another, hub city. Around. the nearest to the east are Singapore and Hong Kong. the nearest to the, to the west, is maybe London. Yeah. and if you go thas to Africa, you'll find none even Johannesburg. It's not anymore the or Cape. Yeah.

Rayhan: 11:23

But one of the things I want to touch upon is you mentioned, the differences between then and now is. Now you have to be a bit more smart in your business model. Yep. you have to be a bit more in your execution. You gotta be a lot more sharp. I guess in those in, back in, 2005, 2006, you probably didn't have to have a really good execution strategy. but I think one of the things that entrepreneurs needs to really think about before they start a business, is, Don't, they don't need to have everything. No, they don't need to be the best marketers. They don't need to have the best, product or the best audience, but they need to have two or three key things that are really deep in, in terms of, their, capabilities. for example, there might be, we have a, we have a number of clients and sometimes the clients that we have, they're very successful. But that's because. they've, they used to be an influencer, for example, and so they know how to sell a product to the market. so they're very good at that. They're not good at finance, they're not good at, hr, probably not good at operations, but they're very good at that one little thing, and they're very, and they go very deep into that. and that's what makes 'em successful. and I think nowadays, they need, if you are gonna set up a business. You do need to, I think you have to be very deep in the pillars that you are, good at. the other thing I also wanna touch upon is you mentioned the fact that yes, you didn't have to be the great executor, but network was important. and I think we've spoken about this in other episodes as well, and the term network is your net worth. It doesn't matter if you're in a boom or a bust or in another cycle. Your network is very important. What kind of tips, and you obviously have got a good network, so what kind of tips, what do you do to keep your network going? How did you build your network when you first came? Because you came, as you mentioned, you came, you left Beirut, you, burnt your ship. and. There was no going back. So you had to make it happen. how did you go about building a network?

Malek: 13:59

okay, What worked then will not work today. But I'll give a glimpse and then explain what I think, will work today. So, back then, obviously social media was not as strong as today.

Rayhan: 14:16

Yeah.

Malek: 14:16

In person networking events and, and, conferences and, exhibitions, et cetera were the key thing. And I used to spend. A lot of time and have tons of, business cards go and speak with people and, and tell them about what we do, try to understand their pains and, tell them we can do it. we can do it for you. it took me a lot of time to, to build, good network, and back then people who are coming from the government and larger organization, they need help. But. They will not trust you from day one. They will ask you to do a lot of things for them, small things. and in some cases they want to test you. They will ask you for, free services or things that, they ask you for a proposal and ask you to come present it. just to see how, you, you need to keep going. You need to keep going, until they give you the first contract. it, it was not an easy thing, especially me showing up without any previous, reference in Dubai or like a global name or, or brand. the days of in-person networking. And working closely with people so they can let you in. I cannot say it's over, but it'll be much, much slower today. as an entrepreneur, your time, is, the most important thing. What is? So you need to find a way, in, in today's, in today's economy, presenting yourself as a, an expert in what you do. Is, a key thing based on what you are, offering. If you are selling product or service or, who is your customer segment, et cetera. presenting that you have a solution for specific pain, a service for a specific, area of, of interest or, whatever you are doing. You need to show, expertise in that, either. Talk about the pain you are solving and your product will come as a, as a secondary thing, or address some, concerns or interests or pain points for your customer segments. So if you don't want to make your position in the market as just a salesperson. Look at your customer segment. Who are I targeting? What product or service or solution I'm se I'm selling? And what are the pains of this customer segment that I can talk about? I can present some free advice, I can, solve problems, and then. This customer segment will recognize your expertise and come asking for, for help or buying your product or, or, whatever.

Rayhan: 17:30

and that's very similar to what you did back in, 2005, right? 2006 where you mentioned that I. To build your name, you had to give free service or give, go out to Exactly, I'm sure back, back in, you didn't have Uber Kareem, right? So you had to find a taxi. I rem I came a few times and finding taxi back in those days were very difficult. Yeah. It was a nightmare. you had to get a taxi, you had to go to the government office present. And so what you're saying right now is very, similar to similar concept, not the same execution in the sense that you've gotta give free advice. You've got to, Give information, give the secret source, not be afraid to do that. but you know that you can implement it better than them. And that's why they're coming to you basically to, to help you with that problem.

Malek: 18:17

E exactly. Exactly. Dubai today is, different. There is a, lot of competition. A lot of people came, they, they set up here and, either they are, People who have been here forever and seeing these young comers with these new ideas, and they have some doubt, a question mark about them or themself are, newcomers and they don't know what service to go for and what, so the only way for you to, get the new customers and make people to trust you, is to give it upfront. Let them have it taste and what you have to offer. Yeah. And then they will come to you.

Rayhan: 19:01

So Malek, one of the things that I think is important for entrepreneurs, and I've mentioned this in previous episodes, is I believe, if you're setting out as an entrepreneur for the first time, you're setting up a business, you need mentors and coaches as well. I. I have the pleasure of having you as my mentor. Yeah, my pleasure. So we have our, monthly sessions, which I've really enjoyed. We've been working together for I think, two years now. thank you. but more importantly, what, in your opinion, what do you see is important as a mentor? why do you think that's important for entrepreneurs? And, there's also the coaching element as well, so the difference between mentors and coaches. Yeah, but if we start off with mentors, why would you encourage a new entrepreneur, in your opinion, to have mentors from the very beginning?

Malek: 19:59

Okay, so all of us, as humans have. A blind spot. we get attached to, to seeing things in a certain way and operating a certain way. and, even if you are not aware of it or deny it, you always, there is something in your personality or in the way you think that will make you skip. Some obvious stuff and jump into some actions or decisions or conclusions, without taking into consideration, other points of views or, maybe, skipping something essential for success for you. The mentor should be your sounding board. The, person who, without. The same level of emotions you have related to your work to, to your employees, to your product. Your ideas come and help you see other possibilities. If you have a blind spot, your mentor should help you see it. If you are about to make a decision, you are very excited to do your mentors. Sometimes should tell you stop. I had, two co-founders, which came for me, and they were about to launch their, their, startup in, Saudi. and, they offered the, they gave me the idea and I told them. Don't go. It's, it'll not work. if you want to work it, it to work, it need to be done in such and such they, didn't see what I'm trying, they continued coming back to me arguing. I. that no, it'll work. We, saw this, we saw that. We saw that, and I had to put them into, a trajectory to help them verify their thinking. That, okay, I'll not argue yet more, but let, us go to the next step. The next step. You talking to investors, what the investor would need? 1, 2, 3. Okay. Let us do that. Okay, he will ask you 1, 2, 3, how you will respond. We will answer. Okay, you are set. Go to and speak. Speak to your investors. And they did. And they found that the investors were not, they were not as motivated as them. And after trying that multiple times, they came back to me, said, okay, let us work on that business idea and reshape it to fit the Saudi market. So the mentor is the person who. Who, help you see your blind spots, see what you are missing, help you think of things which you didn't, and, help you take decisions without the emotional, layers. And, Ideally, your mentor should be ahead of you in a certain trajectory to tell you what will come next. So you are working on a new technology product and you are very focused on, what features want functionalities. I need to put in this, a product, what an MVP look like. And then, I'll tell you, hey. Have you thought for you to go to market strategy? Have you thought of who are the first customer segment you need to tap? And are you building your MVP to fit the first, landing point in your market or not? And then it's, okay, I haven't thought of that yet. I'm focusing on, okay, slow down. Let us focus on this. and then what will happen next? How you scale it when you need to put investors, in, place, et cetera. Ideally, the mentor should help you think ahead and there will never be one mentor for your lifetime because you only need the mentor who have been ahead of you for in few steps. Not a lot. Okay. Once you, you pause these, steps, except if your mentor is growing as fast as you and can always take you to the next level, it's. You need to recognize the time to switch the mentor to, fit the second phase of your, of, your growth. The coach, you, you'll get multiple definition of what a coach is based on who you ask and how you ask it. But in a simple manner, a coach is a person you hire to improve a certain set of skill. Like for example, I'm lacking in my presentation skills. I need a. Presentation skill coach to come and help me to take to the next level. I like tennis, but I suck at it. And, I need to hire a tennis coach to get me to the next, to the next level. so coach is more focused on a certain set of skills that help you to move forward. and some people who, who work in as a life coaches have a. A little bit different focus in which, they try to help you, take the, whatever

obstacles wake up at 5: 25:15

00 AM yeah. Yeah. So something like that. but it's different than a mentor.

Rayhan: 25:23

You moved obviously to, to Silicon Valley, to California, and you travel to UAE quite often. You, have business here and you have clients here as well, but you also look after and advise startups, not just. In California, but here as well, I have a startup as well, Techstar. and me as an entrepreneur, I'd be very selfish to want to know more about how does the, ecosystem differ between the UAE and California. I know for example, you know what I've been told, liquidity is a lot easier in say, California than the UAE, in terms of raising funds. but what other things do you see, that are different and, I feel like more and more good talent is coming out here. We are really getting some good. Startups in the UAE, what's your kind of insights that you can give us?

Malek: 26:23

The ecosystem we have in Silicon Valley is very, hard to replicate elsewhere. There's a lot of factors, but I'll choose four, which are critical. The first and foremost is, is investors mindset. I'll talk about it in a bit. second supporting ecosystem, number three, access to talent. Number four, the merger and acquisition, en environment. These are things which you cannot replicate even with, whatever, first of all, investor mindset, that the risk appetite in the American investor. Is second to none. You will find, normal people who have some extra cash. They are willing to be angel investors and put money into, startups, knowing that most of prob most probably they will lose it. You will have some of these startups, not even revenue, generating. Yep, And it's based on an idea in every. Medium to major city and, in major cities you will find dozens of angel, groups and even small towns. you will find, angel group. so, people who come and they look at startups and they decide to invest, there is a culture. there's a culture and the invest mindset is we are fine to go into high risk investment because they have so a lot of successes, stories before, and they know that one day they will hit a success. so when, it is normal to meet people in California, that will tell you. I started, as a small investor, and a company, which has been, sold later for $350 million. so, this is it. It is easy and you will meet this person easily. you'll find a lot of stories. it will help people to have a strong risk appetite. This is the first thing. The mindset is different. Wherever you go, the word, you will not find it.

Rayhan: 28:46

Even London. yeah. Of I was born and raised in London and even there, there was, when I was there, FinTech was emerging, as a, ecosystem.'cause obviously all the banks and, investment managers and hedge funds are based out there. But I never felt that. You would find, or you knew lots of people, as you said, in, in the US who are willing to invest in, ideas basically, and the founders. so yeah, a hundred, percent I relate. yeah. I relate to that as well.

Malek: 29:23

Yeah. so this is the first thing. The second thing is access to talent. You have no problem in finding whatever type of. Of talent. you, want, everyone is in California. Everyone is willing to come to California. And, it's easy to find the right talent. If you are looking for software development, developer success, customer success person, people coming from specific industry, sales, marketing, da you will find a lot of talent. There's no problem

Rayhan: 29:55

with that.

Malek: 29:56

I

Rayhan: 29:56

feel Dubai is starting to attract more good talent. Yeah. Yeah. not like before, as you said, people would just come to Dubai and they'll just look for a job and they probably did an internship in I don't know, tech firm or they developed a little bit of code, back in their home country. But they weren't really like engineers or customer success or salespeople, really had that software experience I feel as if that, that is, I don't, we're obviously not nowhere near as close to, Silicon Valley, but I think we're start starting to get there. Yeah.

Malek: 30:32

So, it's, it's, relative. So California put, they have salary second to none. The, salaries there are crazy. The lowest. Hourly rate, I guess it's 16 or $17. It's, crazy. There's no other place in the world with this. So if you are working in, at McDonald's, you will the pizza press. My, my youngest, working a pizza place with 16 or $17. It's crazy. this is. what, equal to a week, salary in, some other countries. Yeah. Yeah. in an hour. so the salary thing is crazy. it attract, best talent. And having a Silicon Valley company, on your resume is, a big thing. Dubai, relatively speaking in the region, yes, it is attracting. It is a, good, attraction of talent plus the, work permit, process is relatively, easy in Dubai comparison to any other place in the world, in America now. It's a pain to get any, person on Europe. Europe as well. Yeah, so, this is, a key thing. It allowed, but from a, a salary perspective. They are very far from, California. Yeah, even know far from, uk, EU and, uk certainly for, the region. They, are the best talent, pool, around. so the talent thing is, amazing. if you are building a, a tech product, you need the best marketer. Around to, to help you. You need to the best product manager you need somewhat specialized in the line and the segment and the type of product. And you will find it there, elsewhere in the world. You need to struggle, you need to build it, you need to compromise. so this is a second thing, access to talent. the third thing is. the full ecosystem that's supported starting from schools and universities, in which, in every school in California, you found a Shark Tank club. In every college, in every, university, there is a venture competition. There is a, entrepreneurship club. There is, all not major, all medium and up colleges and university have. An angel investment, club for their alumni, investing in so, from the education level, from the schools and university, it start there. Then once you step, up in every community there is an incubator, an accelerator. Which, help and, and, encourage, encourage entrepreneurs, government programs, the SBA, the small and, small business administration. they give free money to, co companies which are starting. They have free advice, in some areas if you want to hire a, a biotech. or, a pharma, expert to tell you how you can, you can, get your, pharma product or biotech product, approved by, the FDA. you are talking about people with, with a thousand dollars per hour advisory, cost. SBA provide you those people for free. Wow. so, this is the first layer of ecosystem. So second layer of, you have an army of profession service provider who are focused only on tech, on tech startups. Like me, I, work only with tech startups in California, but you find other, a lot of other people, product specialists, legal advisors, accountants, tax advisors, all sort of professional services who are specialized. Only to serve, to serve, tech startups. and you will have massive amount of events. Just spend a week in San Francisco and Silicon Valley and you'll know what I'm talking about. Or even LA at San Diego, you will find. a lot of events and networking just for the tech startup space. wherever you are coming in this value chain, you will find something for you. So the whole ecosystem, this is not because a government decided to start a program. It is because, decades of people and communities and professional coming together and do them. And, so this is a third thing. This ecosystem cannot be easily replicated. It has been pulled and, it is, it Silicon Valley or California in general is well positioned. number four, which is, I might argue that maybe it's, most important because it is giving the end result for all the above. Yeah, it is a strong MNA. Market. Strong merger and acquisition market because you have your exit once you Exactly. Yeah. Without these big companies, big techs, big, groups which are willing to buy smaller companies, which are promising, the first investors will not put money. The ecosystem will not be there. The talent will not find the, so the whole merger and acquisition ecosystem in US is second to none. is, there's no. Other place in the world that have this amount of money, this amount of big corporation who are willing to buy. just look. Just look at how many companies were acquired in the last six months by the big, the big five, apple, Google, meta, Amazon, and El Musk group. you are talking about tons and tons, of money being thrown into merger and acquisition. this is enough to, support a big ecosystem and it cannot be replicated easily.

Rayhan: 36:33

One of the things I wanted to dive into is the AI space. Obviously, AI is phenomenal with everything now. I recently went to, Tex, and every startup was an AI startup. I think it's a label that you need to have, but if we talk about real, a AI that, you are, working with, you mentioned gener, generative ai, and you mentioned how, it can really make you become a superhuman. for entrepreneurs who's setting up their businesses right now for the entrepreneur who's been in business for a few years, but. they've plateaued because maybe they've grown so fast and their processes haven't really, hasn't kept up with the business. How would you approach that? what kind of advice would you give to entrepreneurs in terms of how to use. Generative ai and obviously you do over and a above, obviously the lives of chat, GPT. What kind of advice could, you give

Malek: 37:44

every now and then we get a technology upgrade to round those switch, which is either incremental, but few times in history. We got a transformative technology advancement. maybe in my lifetime I'll think of, the days we had a pc, which we can. Take home. this was a big move, when, we started having these species, which you can do, your work on whatever, even at home and, this was transformational. The second, transformation was the internet, internet. Coming to and, having this information, a highway, you can work and consume information from all of the world. And maybe the third transformation is, the smartphone. Yeah. Which changed a lot of things. And now generative ai, I can argue it is even more than all of that. so, yeah, I, didn't even mention SaaS because they are just one. or the cloud because they are run just a step from the internet. Yeah. But, they're an extension of the internet. Yeah. but that the AI is changing everything. We, let, me say it this way, it changing how we are. Interacting with the technology and the changing what the technology can do for us. And especially when you put this AI on a piece of a hardware like a robot or a drone or autonomous vehicle, it'll change everything. And we are living in a transformational, transition now, which we, don't grasp yet. Its, impact and its extent, but it is very, deep. It is a wave. Smart entrepreneurs will be able to take it. And but here's the argument, that the core AI stuff are now totally overtaken by the big boys, by, by, open ai. But anthropic what, Amazon's doing, what Google is doing, what El Musk is doing, the question that entrepreneurs are struggling. Do I have a chance against them? In, in, California we are having tons and tons of new ai. here you're talking about the entrepreneurs setting up their own kind of AI startup, right? Yeah. Yep. Yep. Here the argument, if you are into building your ai, your own AI module make sure either you are building something. That can fit into the bigger blueprint of one of the big guys to sell it to quick because you will not live, your startup will not live, enough to, to, find its own, position. So this is one. Or if you are building a product that can be. On the top of one of the big ais, but make sure that you are, technology agnostic. You can move whatever you are building from. For example, open AI to Google, to gr to, to, to Lama without, without, being under the mercy of, one of these, big people. number three, use AI to fast pace, whatever you are doing or to, to lower the cost of what, you are doing. You need to be in one of these three pockets, if not. you are missing out. and you might, whatever you are doing might be irrelevant very, soon. Yeah. In California, I, was working with multiple startups, which has started early building, building some products on some existing, ai, models, some, existing lms, and they tried to take it to the market. all of them. Are hitting bottlenecks now because the, the frontier models, like the open ai, the, clouds on at 3.5 or, Google or, gr or cloud or whatever. they are advancing so fast and eating up a lot of other ideas that can be built. you need to be smart enough to understand where the trend is going. Yeah. And what are the gaps? That you can fill. Ideal situation is to marry a certain subject matter or a, or, a market expertise with, with ai. it depend on what you are, trying to do and take to the market, something which, this frontier model cannot replicate. or offer a service empowered by ai, and, must fa fosters cheaper and better to, do that, you need to be, a master of, your area and to see exactly how to, how, to use it, if you are not there or that. Just use AI to lower your basic costs. So, these

Rayhan: 43:24

are for the humble entrepreneurs? Exactly.

Malek: 43:26

So for example, in, for a, I had a company in Ohio I'm working with, I help them to, to build their whole marketing process around AI and save them to hire a bunch of, people for the marketing department. so their, their, team are not marketers. But I help them to do their marketing thing just with, ai. I just, I'm working with a government entity here in, in UAE now to help them implement generative AI in their thing. and today I got a text message from, a guy who said, you help me finish, a project that, we had scheduled for the coming, 2, 3, 2, 3 months to finish in, a couple of days. so you can. find ways to use AI to lower your cost, to make your deliverables, cheaper, better, and faster.

Rayhan: 44:25

Yeah. I also think that talent is very difficult to come by, in the accounting industry, in, in the US particularly, there's a shortage of CPAs. so I think with AI coming in, it's not necessarily just gonna be. Do the job better. It's, we don't have enough accountants and marketers. Yep. So we need it. Tax advisors. Yeah. wealth managers and, I think. That is gonna be part of the wave as well. The fact that it's not just that it's a nice to have, it's, you have to have it. Yep. Regardless.

Malek: 45:00

Yep. one of the sectors that will disappear very soon is school centers and school center agents. The AI is becoming very, good. it's practically today. Can replace a call agent, which, this guy who pulls you and, tell you wait until he, or she, figure out, an answers question. This is not needed anymore. so today you can use one of these frontier models to run a complete call center. so this is what we will seeing. another advice for, entrepreneurs who are running service business similar to you is, okay, maybe. It's not yet ready for me to, create a full accountant ai. But I can add value to my customers using ai, for example, you are doing the accounting. Your average, accountant. is good in, in bookkeeping is, know how to, use the accounting software very well and just generate whatever reports the software allow. With ai, now you can put an additional layer of analysis. and, insights. and out of this accounting report, in such a way, you are adding value to your customer, saying, okay, I'm not only finishing your accountant, but I'm giving you some advice on how to improve your cost. I'm showing you some data, showing where, there are areas of improvement. if there is a trend I'm telling you, about it, et cetera, et cetera, so that you are adding some layers of insights through analyzing the data of the client without really need an analyst you don't need. Yeah. Ibi upgrade to the talent you have. Just let them know how to use, generative AI and they can do it.

Rayhan: 46:49

no, a hundred percent. I, completely agree. And, we're actually working with a, Lebanese, startup, and they're doing something called that. They're called Kua. So shout out. yeah, we're, we'll be working with them to, do something like that. I wish there was an AI to deal with difficult customers. Uhhuh, but I haven't seen one yet.

Malek: 47:14

Yeah, at least for call centers, at least the AI will be showing, getting you the, information. Yeah, and the, and it will, take out the need to press one for that. Press two for this. Press two for that.'cause the agent, the AI agent, will start the conversation with you directly. Know what you want and answer you directly. whatever you, want to know.

Rayhan: 47:45

Yeah. No, super interesting. You've, you've been in entrepreneurship for, a long time. You've, you mentor entrepreneurs, you work with startups, you work with government agencies, you work with large companies. So you've done the whole cycle, from an entrepreneur point of view. what I'm really interested, to know about is what are the key lessons that you've learned, one or two key lessons that, that you've learned in your, in your career as an entrepreneur? I think for myself. People is very important, to, to business. for me, I've, been through lots, ups and downs as an entrepreneur. and I think mindset is very, important. you should celebrate your wins and not get too down on your losses. But you've gotta keep going. You, it's a marathon, not a sprint. but from, your point of view, what, would you say is one or two things that you would, that you've learned that you would wanna share with the audience?

Malek: 48:56

YY yes. So the main two things I would like to now is, first surround yourself with the right people. that's a good one. Yeah. people who are above you, people who are with you, and people who are, beneath you. the second. Recognize when things are changing. let, me elaborate a little bit. so the first thing, to start, I cannot emphasize how the importance of choosing the right co-founders, the right partners, I can argue that finding business partners. Are as difficult and crucial as finding your life partner. it's, you, date a dozen of, people until you find the right person. same thing. you need to, keep looking until you find the right, partners. And the main, Reason why startup fail is co-founders not congruence, they are going to conflict or they cannot go along, with each other, et cetera, et cetera. or at, a certain point they are, they have two different direction. Co-founders disagreement is the main. Reason why, companies, fail. Second, your first team, who, you are hiring, those are the people who, really either help you deliver whatever, good idea you have or not. and this extent to your suppliers, to your contractors, et cetera, et cetera. All the people around you. These are very important to, to pick and choose the right ones. number three, your customers. Your early customers, either they will be a part of your success stories or, they will be the ones who, block you from a success story for, many reasons. so the people around you choosing the people around you are critical. If you are disparate, you will go for a lot of, bad decisions. choose the people, right? So this is the first, the second thing is. recognize when things are changing and I myself, fell into this. so he, here's the story. All entrepreneurs will start, if they fail, they failed. They are out. If they succeeded, they will succeed because something they figured out something. And they, this thing help them to turn whatever they are doing into success, and they will go into this delusion that if I kept doing whatever made my first success, I will continue growing my success. But little they know that what, what got them to success at an early stage might not be the same thing that will get them to success in a scaling up stage, for example. Or penetrating a new market, for example, or, another product, et cetera. So whatever got. Them to success at an early stage might not be similar to, to, another. And when situation change, and you will not be able to recognize that what you have done to meet your success back then will not work then. This is a big thing and I fell into this. I fell in multiple mistakes. I thought that what. Made me hit success in Dubai will be the same in Qatar, same in Saudi. I learned that the hard way. I, thought that what brought me to success in Dubai will make me, always successful. And, when expanding my business, I didn't, understood that. It's a different success criteria. Yeah. Different key success factors at a larger scale than a smaller scale. And I need to. To, to adopt. Having the right people around you, especially mentors, will help you understand and maybe slap you to say, Hey, you are doing something wrong. Go back and, and, think about it. and you need a mentor that will tell you, you are wrong. Stop. You are making a mistake.

Rayhan: 53:26

No, I could, I relate to that 'cause I came in 2016, right? And 2016 was. Just when everyone who came in 15, sorry, 2005, 2006, they grew their businesses and they were doing really well. And then it started to plateau.'cause obviously Dubai was getting a bit, more mature, right? Was it was now becoming a proper economy, in a sense that it's more diversified. I remember a lot of entrepreneurs I spoke to, they were saying, they weren't happy about the situation, they weren't happy about the fact that what was successful five years ago is no longer working now. and I asked them quite deep questions about why they think that is. and then I look into what they're doing as a business and they're not like providing the best service. They're not, their marketing efforts are shambolic, they're hiring the wrong people. That worked, as you said, as we mentioned, 10 years before, but you have to up your game and a hundred percent, I, resonate with what you said, and thank you for sharing your Yeah, absolutely. Your insights as well.

Malek: 54:43

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Rayhan: 54:45

Malek, thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much for coming down to the podcast. Every session I have with you, I always learn multiple things from you. and you've obviously mentored my team as well and they've, or they, even now they talk about the things that you spoke about, in some of the sessions that we had with you. but before we wrap up, what exciting projects are you working on? how can the. How can our crowd, reach you? I know you are in between LA and, sorry, California and Dubai. what projects do you wanna talk about that you're working on?

Malek: 55:21

Yeah, what, always excites me is working with, I. Smart, motivated, entrepreneurs who are just starting their business. either they have a good idea and they want help in taking it to a product to the market or to find their go to market strategy or to build their first team, or they proved success. At a smaller scale and they want to see, okay, how can I scale up my company and how I can build the right systems in place to, to respond to a larger, operation and move from a small startup team into. A company. I enjoy working with these, type of projects. you can me to your LinkedIn, Malek Moher, or reach me, with, on an my email, Malek@mentorgc.com. and I'm happy to help, even if you just want a conversation. I can easily jump into a Zoom call and spend half an hour just listening to you and give you, my, my advice is that a special, Is that a special offer for our audience? Yes. Yes, Rahan, it's a special, offer for you. This is just, mention that you are, with the Han Podcast and I'm happy to help. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Thank

Rayhan: 56:45

you, Rahan, for having me. Thank you for joining us on The Entrepreneurs Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the show. Please subscribe and give us a five star rating and a review. Your feedback is appreciated for show notes and more. Check out the link in the description and connect to me directly on LinkedIn and search for Rayhan Aleem. See you in the next episode.