Talks with T Tarek Bayaa

This episode was recorded live at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF). Our first live show!
Abdulmajeed is a serial entrepreneur in the true sense of the word. He is co-founder of Nana (the largest grocery delivery platform in KSA) and currently co-founder and CEO of Tamara ( a leading Buy Now Pay Later startup in MENA). Abdulmajeed walks us through his journey to entrepreneurship and how his first startup failed before leading him to co-found Nana. He also discusses his lessons from fighting cancer at a young age.
Abdulmajeed is a deep thinker and is well versed across various disciplines (engineering, economics, psychology). He shares his insights about discipline, the different types of pain we all face and the factors that make an entrepreneur successful. Abdulmajeed reads alot (books, investor shareholder reports and more), and this leads to a great conversation on the stage at SEF about how he runs his personal and professional life.
I heard Abdulmajeed say:
Work hard, work smart and get lucky (timing is everything)Believe you are lucky - you will attract and manifest itDon’t have a plan B because you will default to itAn entrepreneur must have a high threshold for painBe disciplined across all the areas of your life - it's a superpower! #podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast #businesspodcasts #CEOwisdom #founderwisdom #founderpodcasts #founderstories

Nicki Wilson is the Founder & MD of Genie Recruitment, a leading specialist recruitment company covering the Consumer industries. She’s been a lifelong entrepreneur and tried her luck at various endeavors before finally starting her own recruitment firm. Her firm has become well-known for its extremely vibrant culture and unconventional approach to rewarding, engaging and retaining team members. It's the first time I’ve heard of a sales team that earns commissions but doesn’t have targets … and it works!
Nicki genuinely cares about her team at an individual level, and prioritizes joy in her professional life. She constantly brings creative ideas when it comes to her business and employee engagement. Nicki has an infectiously positive outlook on life and isn’t afraid to swim against the tide as a result. We also discuss a few big bets she took that have paid off and turned her firm into a multi-million dollar business.
I heard Nicki say:
All you need to build a company is hustle and gritSometimes you have to go opposite conventional thought & trust your gutBe creative with incentivesNurture the kid in your team, and everybody has a kid inside of them!#podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast #businesspodcasts #CEOwisdom #founderwisdom #founderpodcasts #founderstories

Kunal Kapoor is the Founder of Luxury Closet, the second largest luxury marketplace globally. Kunal started with the ambition of working for a large technology company early on, but decided to join his father’s shoemaking business and went on to become a shoemaker. After working for Louis Vuitton, he saw an opportunity to turn the closets of customers into a marketplace.
Kunal is an extremely clear thinker who synthesizes complex ideas into easy to understand concepts. It’s clear that he has constantly focused on the highest priority challenges and has built a strong organization to continuously solve them. He has an eye for detail and is a lateral thinker that questions conventional wisdom. He is passionate about building and it's clear he is a lifelong learner. He leverages his curiosity and interest to go deep into topics to advise builders tackling challenging problems. This episode is action packed with wisdom across soundbites.
I heard Kunal say:
To build a business you need to understand product, have a deep understanding of your customer and technologyThink of what’s possible always, as opposed to what’s not possibleUse iterative questioning with customers to build a world class customer experienceFind people within your team who buy into your ideas to ensure they get executedThe tough periods teach you how to lead in the next wave of the company’s growth#podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast #businesspodcasts #CEOwisdom #founderwisdom #founderpodcasts #founderstories

Richard Fitzgerald is the Founder & CEO of Augustus Media that has brands like Lovin’ Dubai, Lovin’ Saudi, Smashi TV and more. His company is on mission to become the preferred modern media company in the Arab world, by consistently delivering innovative and groundbreaking media. Richard is innovating the way information and media is shared and what it really means to be a “media company” in this day and age. He’s navigating unchartered territory in the Arab world!
Richard is an extremely hard worker and he discusses how he manages his stamina on the show. It's also clear that Richard is an extremely deep thinker and has an interesting perspective on many topics that we discuss on the show (emotional intelligence, managing conflict, balancing speed & expectations and much, much more). We debated the merits of being in the details as opposed to delegating, and whether or not they’re mutually exclusive.
I heard Richard say:
Knowledge & learning compoundShowing up matters, even when you’re not feeling your bestBe in the business & the weeds, even as the company scalesFind mentors and coaches at the right time, as and when you need themAlways be aggressive in mindset but just be rationale about the expectations#podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast

Tambi Jalouqa is truly a serial entrepreneur. After a few failed startups, or “learning experiences” as he calls them, he went on to co-found POSRocket which was eventually sold to Foodics. The path led him to co-found Propeller, a VC based in Jordan that invests in truly disruptive ideas with global implications.
Tambi is a lateral thinker that questions conventional wisdom. He is passionate about building and it's clear he is a lifelong learner. He leverages his curiosity and interest to go deep into topics to advise builders tackling challenging problems. This episode is action packed with wisdom across soundbites.  
I heard Tambi say:
You need to have product intuition, and that develops with time, experimentation and conscious observation of products all around youDeliver value to a specific customerChoose one or two things, invest deep in making it a success before you call it quits You can’t be a perfectionist all the time. Have pride that you won’t put something that looks like crap, but push out a product that solves the things you want to validate#podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast #businesspodcasts #CEOwisdom #founderwisdom #founderpodcasts #founderstories

Muhammed Mekki is a Founding Partner at Astrolabs, the leading startup ecosystem building in MENA. Prior to starting Astrolabs, Muhammed was a co-founder at Namshi which went on to sell to EMAAR for roughly $300MM. Muhammed started his career in consulting before joining Delivery Hero and making his foray into startups. Along with his co-founder, Muhammed has bootstrapped Astrolabs to become the most well-known startup builders in the region. Muhammed is passionate about building ecosystems, supporting entrepreneurs and is an avid learner. We delve into his learnings around building teams, cofounder dynamics and takeaways from what the best founders do!I heard Muhammad say:Being a nerdy person at heart builds a learner’s mindsetIn the early days, bring on anchor brands that help you win other clientsDeveloping depth in a topic allows one to winBootstrapping is about making smart investments#podcast #ceotalks #pod #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurship #middleeastentrepreneurs #mena #startupstories #menaentrepreneurs #menastartups #menastories #businesspodcast #businesspodcasts #CEOwisdom #founderwisdom #founderpodcasts #founderstories