The Caravan Podcast

Join us on this episode of The Caravan Podcast as we sit down with Yusuf Omar, the visionary co-founder of seen.tv.  From hitchhiking 12,000 km across the African continent to reporting from the front lines of the Syrian Civil War and the Arab Spring, Yusuf shares his incredible journey of becoming a "one-man band" storyteller. In this deep-dive conversation, we explore: 00:00 Apartheid...

In this episode, we sit down with Abubakar Sheriff, founder of Qariyb — a platform reimagining how Muslim organizations discover, manage, and host events. Born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Philly, and shaped by time in the Middle East, Abubakar brings a truly global perspective to entrepreneurship and community building. We dive deep into his journey from instructional designer and online education...

On the Caravan podcast, Babar Bhatti (founder of Dallas AI and Chief AI Officer at Prism Skills) discusses why “technology is never neutral,” how AI’s recursive improvement is creating rapid change, and why society and policy are not moving fast enough to address risks like bias, misinformation, erosion of trust, surveillance, and warfare. He recounts building Dallas AI from 2017 with a focus on a...

On the Caravan podcast, host Hamza interviews Mohammed Musa, founder of Deepen AI, about moving from the Bay Area to Dallas for stronger Muslim community infrastructure, identity reinforcement for youth, and programs like iThon Robotics, which has grown to 44+ locations and won the Texas state robotics competition. Mohammed shares navigating Muslim identity in post-9/11 Silicon Valley and in Japan...

Maryam Ishtiaq didn't take the easy road — she took every road. From pre-med at Georgia Gwinnett to international marketing, from New York influencer to Dallas entrepreneur, her journey is one of the most honest stories of reinvention we've ever heard on The Caravan. In this episode, Maryam opens up about the pregnancy loss that nearly broke her — and how cooking pulled her back from the e...

They told you economics started with Adam Smith in 1776. They left out a lot. Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali — an 11th century Muslim scholar writing in Persia — described hoarding, currency manipulation, speculation, and institutional corruption with a precision that maps almost perfectly onto the financial crises of the modern world. In this episode, we break down Al-Ghazali's economic framework and w...

Building a company is phase one — the real game is learning to sell it, acquire more, and use capital to move the Ummah forward. Hamza Abdallah is the founder of CATA Leads, a real estate lead generation agency based in Dallas, TX. In this conversation, we trace his path from immigrating at age nine — leaving Bangladesh after his father, a retired Major General, refused to be bought by a corrupt r...

What happens when NIH funding dries up, industry doors close, and your postdoc interviews get canceled — all at once? For Dr. Suhaib Hashem, founder of Luminar, it became the push he needed to bet on himself. In this episode, we sit down with a USC biomedical engineering PhD graduate who turned a crisis moment into a MedTech startup focused on saving lives and cutting costs in the emergency room....

Morad Bouzidi came to the U.S. from Morocco at 19 with big dreams, limited connections, and a willingness to do whatever work it took to build a life. In this episode of The Caravan Podcast, we sit down with the founder of Moroccan Fusion inside Boston Public Market, where he shares the real story behind going from immigrant hustle (bakery jobs, serving tables, driving Uber) to launching a food tr...

In this episode of The Caravan Podcast, we sit down with Yusuf Siddiqui also known as “Yusuf The Truth” to unpack a story that’s way deeper than content creation. Yusuf opens up about being sent to an Islamic boarding school in New York at just 12 years old , what it really felt like to grow up in an ultra regimented environment, and how that experience shaped his identity, discipline, and relatio...

In this episode of the Caravan Podcast, we sit down with Tarek, founder of Pistache , a DFW bakery blending American desserts with Mediterranean flavor. Tarek shares his journey growing up between New Jersey and Lebanon, navigating revolution, economic collapse, and identity, before rebuilding his life and business in Texas. We talk about starting Pistache during COVID, learning the hard truths of...

In this episode, we sit inside a tiny New York City kitchen with Zeeshan Bakhrani, founder of Nishaan, to talk about what it really costs to build something personal. Not just money or hours, but certainty, comfort, and the safety of a predictable path. Zeeshan is a product manager who took time away from stability to build a restaurant rooted in memory, migration, and community. What began as a f...

Asim Jetpuri left corporate to go all-in on opening a Goddard School in Garland . We break down franchising vs starting from scratch, leasing vs buying land, the real costs of DFW childcare, and how community leadership + barakah shaped his leap into a 20–30 year business.

We hit “record” and built Caravan in real time — six months of filming, traveling, collaborating, learning, and a few chaotic moments we’ll never forget (including the time we almost lost the footage 😭).In this end-of-year recap episode, you’ll meet more of the Caravan team beyond the faces you always see:Rimsha (Media Optimization Manager), Yousuf (Program Manager), and Ramiz (Producer / the guy...

Adil didn’t set out to build an app — he set out to change how power works. In this episode, the founder of Boycott traces a journey that starts with childhood dreams of being a superhero, moves through disillusionment with performative activism, and lands on a radical idea: if power speaks the language of money, then resistance must too . We unpack: Why “social justice” without infrastructure fai...

Nadim Ahmed took a leap most people only talk about: he put nearly everything on the line—401k, savings, stability—while his wife was pregnant… to open a Venture X coworking space in DFW. In this episode, we unpack: Why he chose Dallas before he chose coworking The real risk (and reality) behind franchising a coworking brand What WeWork got wrong (and what operators still get right) Why “ideas are...

In Episode 26, we sit down with Riaz Surthi, founder of Hearty Foods, to unpack what it really takes to build a mission-driven food brand in today’s competitive CPG landscape. Riaz shares his journey from early experimentation to scaling Hearty Foods, navigating distribution, brand storytelling, and staying grounded while growing a values-first company. We talk about the realities of food entrepre...

From MBA school → startup grind → Friday Ventures. In this episode, Arshan Ahmad breaks down his journey and how being visibly Muslim shaped the way he leads, builds, and invests.

Welcome to WaZu Capital Partners – Building Wealth Through Smart Real EstateIn this video, we dive deep into WaZu Capital Partners: who they are, what they do, and why they’re turning heads in the real estate investment world.🏡 What is WaZu Capital Partners? WaZu Capital Partners is a U.S.–based real estate development and investment firm focusing on:🏠 Land acquisitions and development of single...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. IQ to unpack his journey from Pakistan to becoming one of DFW’s rising dental leaders. He shares how he and his brothers built their path in the dental world, the mindset behind their success, and what it takes to grow a thriving practice today. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, immigrant stories, or the business of dentistry, this one’s for you.

In Episode 22, we sit down with Rheem Hammouda — entrepreneur, world-traveler, mother, and someone who’s lived more lifetimes than most of us combined. Her story moves from Egypt to Chicago to Dubai, through a divorce that reshaped everything, to a career at IBM, and ultimately to a path of healing that came from the most unexpected place. Rheem opens up about rediscovering herself after 15 years...

Robhy joins us to share how his Palestinian identity shaped his journey from idea to impact — culminating in a win at TechCrunch’s global startup competition. We talk about the drive, resilience, and purpose that fueled his success, and what it means to represent Palestine on one of the world’s biggest stages for early-stage founders.

🔥 In this episode of “Caravan” we sit down with Mustafa Ammar — a true career chameleon and high-achiever. Mustafa has lived several lives in one , starting as a pharmacist, then moving into diplomacy (yes — working in China, Malawi and at the UN), and ultimately bringing over $1.1 billion in infrastructure finance to the Middle East as an investment specialist at the Asian Infrastructure Investm...

In this episode, we sit down with Senan Khawaja — Stanford alum, global citizen, and founder of the EdTech startup Kollegio — to unpack his journey, his mission, and what’s next for education.👤 About Senan Khawaja:Senan graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Econometrics, Quantitative Economics, and International Development. He founded Kollegio to tackle the glaring inequity in coll...

What started as one too many late-night DMs to wedding vendors turned into LemonJuice , a digital home for South Asian event creatives. Founder Rafat Niger joins us to talk about her journey from Google to grassroots entrepreneurship—how she’s bridging culture, tech, and storytelling to make finding local talent effortless. This one’s about turning community energy into a scalable product.