Breaking Down Barriers
Welcome to "Breaking Down Barriers," a podcast dedicated to uncovering the untold stories and invaluable insights from the visionary minds shaping the Middle East's vibrant technology landscape where we sit down with the region's most innovative Chief Technology Officers and Chief Product Officers, and executives from thriving startups, game-changing unicorns, high-growth scale-ups, and groundbreaking IPO companies.
Each episode will take you on an immersive journey through the personal experiences and hard-won wisdom of these extraordinary leaders. Discover the secrets behind their success in building and scaling companies that not only disrupt industries but also redefine the boundaries of what's possible.
Join us as we break down barriers and delve into the minds of the Middle East's most influential tech, product and executives on "Breaking Down Barriers."
We've made Breaking Down Barriers with our Supporting Partner AWS, and our Investment Partner Shorooq.
Episodes
23 episodes
CarniStore & EGF: The Real Story Behind Food, Investment & Growth | Breaking Down Barriers
From a skeptical investor won over by due diligence and a Tomahawk bone, to a founder whose biggest fear is losing company culture during expansion — this is one of the most honest conversations about building and backing a consumer brand in th...
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From Stanford to Silicon Valley: The AI Leader who scaled WhatsApp | Wael Salloum
From WhatsApp's data org to Google Suggest, YouTube and Careem.Wael Salloum has built AI infrastructure used by billions. In this episode he unpacks how AI is really adopted inside companies, how to lead senior technical teams, and where...
Back to Basics: The Operating System for Winning Teams
Walid Omar has built products and teams at Dropbox, Snapchat, DoorDash, and now HungerStation, shaping some of the most admired tech cultures in the world.From scaling creator tools to designing merchant ecosystems, he’s spent his caree...
What Actually Scales in Fintech? | Kristjan Kaar (OakNorth → Finom)
Kristjan Kaar has been behind some of Europe’s most important fintech products.From helping build OakNorth, one of the UK’s most successful AI-driven digital banks, to redefining SME finance at Finom, Kristjan has spent his career opera...
How Stake reached 1.3B invested and 50M+ in rental payouts.
Stake has quietly become one of the most powerful fintech + real estate platforms in the world.1M+ users.AED 1.3B+ in transactions.250,000+ investments across 500+ properties.AED 50M+ in rental income paid...
AI, policy, and big cheques: Inside the mind of MENA's most influential VC
Dr. Bilal Baloch - Previous co-founder of an AI startup and managing a half-billion-dollar fund - is sharing how he’s rewriting the rules of venture capital in MENA. Breaking Down Barriers - Hosted by Ricci Putnam, Chief Growth Of...
How Monzo Hit 10M Users & Just Eat Sold for $8B - Inside the Mind of CPO Fernando Fanton
Fernando Fanton scaled Monzo to 10M users, helped Just Eat hit an $8B exit, grew Mendeley’s user base 4x, and is now shaping the future of Property Finder with AI-powered home search across the MENA region.Hear how he breaks barriers in...
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McKinsey → CPO: Scaling MENA’s Fastest-Growing Wealth App
Product Scaling in Fintech: How Sarwa Built a Multi-Product Wealth Platform with Robin HarbToday’s guest is Robin Harb, Chief Product Officer at Sarwa, one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing fintech platforms.<...
How to build a FinTech unicorn in the age of AI
Orchestrating Hyper-Growth Product Teams to Build a Fintech Unicorn in the Age of AIKatya was in the room from day one at Tabby - helping scale the product and tech teams from just 7 people to over 300, and building one...
Lessons from Launching Digital Banks in the UK, UAE & Saudi Arabia
The Digital Banking Playbook: Lessons from Launching Digital Banks in the UK, UAE & Saudi ArabiaHow do you build a digital bank from scratch across three countries, three regulators, and three very different ecosystems?...
AI Just Killed Ecommerce (Here’s What’s Next)
Ecommerce as we know it is disappearing. The entire landscape of online buying is being rewritten by technology from AI-driven personalisation and live selling to composable commerce and virtual influencers.In this...
How AI is shaping the next generation of Customer Engagement Experience.
Reimagining Customer Engagement: AI and the Future of Human ConnectionAI is transforming how brands connect with customers—but what does the next generation of customer engagement really look like?In this episode, Karim Zak...
Engineering the Future: Building AI-Powered Super Apps in the Middle East
Engineering the Future: Building AI-Powered Super Apps in the Middle East From Silicon Valley to the Middle East, Mohamad has been at the forefront of shaping the future of AI-driven platforms. With a PhD from Stanf...
From Chaos to IPO: Lessons from Talabat’s CTO Sven Herzing
From Chaos to IPO: Lessons from Talabat’s CTO Sven HerzingWhat does it take to scale engineering teams from startup chaos to IPO in the Middle East? In this episode of the Sven Podcast, we sit down with Sven Herzing, CTO of...
Building the Backbone of a Regionally-Rooted Travel Powerhouse
In this episode, we sit down with Qais Ammori, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Almosafer, Saudi Arabia’s leading travel brand. With over two decades of experience building and scaling digital platforms, Qais shares how he’s leading Al...
How Monzo, Revolut & Top Fintechs Scaled to 10M+ Users | Live Panel at Huspy
Welcome to this bonus LIVE episode of Breaking Down barriers where we explore what it really takes to scale a fintech to 10 million users.Recorded live at Huspy in partnership with Arbor Ventures and AWS, this exclusive panel brin...
Digitizing A Hidden Industry
Welcome to Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.Khalid Baareh - Founder & CEO at MealPlanet jo...
How To Operationalise Product In The Era Of AI
Welcome to Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.We are joined by Ismail Omar, Co-Founder and CTO o...
The Real Story Behind MENA's Startup Scene. No Hype. No Filter.
Welcome to Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.Samer El Sahn - Chief Product Officer at Floward j...
The Death Of Engineering
inDrive CPTO Stephen Kruger joins us and shares his thoughts on how AI is having an impact on the pipeline of software engineers. He shares the growth story behind inDrive as it squares up to bigger competitors in multiple markets ...
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Leadership Insights: Navigating Challenges, Growth, and Decision-Making
Welcome to Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.Yi-Wei Ang, CPO at talabat, joins us this week, wh...
API Meets AI: Will Intelligent Platforms Make Traditional Banks Obsolete?
Welcome to Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders of some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.We are joined by Ashu Gupta, CTO and Co-founder of...
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Bringing The Silicon Valley To MENA
Welcome to the first episode of Breaking Down Barriers, the podcast series that explores the untold stories from the builders, makers, and leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the MENA region.First up we're joined by Hi...
