The Lighthouse Conversations with Hashem Montasser

In this week’s episode, Hashem, a long-time art enthusiast & collector, is joined by Maya Allison, Executive Director & Chief Curator of NYUAD’s Art Gallery, who shares glimpses of her professional journey leaving the New York/American art scene and moving to Abu Dhabi to establish The NYUAD Art Gallery. Maya reflects on how she measures the ripple impact of artists she’s interested in; th...

This week’s episode was quite a unique experience for us at the recording studio that we hope all you listeners will enjoy! Our guest, Youssef El Deeb, is the founder of Fatafeat, the first Arab TV company that was acquired by a global media conglomerate, Discovery. In a time when Middle East television was airing cooking shows as “fillers" for grandmothers at home, Youssef El Deeb had the foresig...

This week Hashem caught up with Dr. Carine El Khazen, clinical psychologist at the American Center in Dubai, and Vice President of MEEDA (Middle East Eating Disorders Association). Eating disorders are the deadliest form of mental illness, and 95% of sufferers are women between the ages of 15 to 25. Dr. Carine also shared that patients as young as 11 have come to seek treatment at her practice. Gr...

Hashem is joined by fellow hybrid Egyptian/Arab/American, Amira Rashad, founder of Dubai’s first bulk online shopping portal, Bulkwhiz. As the founder of a retail startup that implements AI and bespoke customer service, Amira shares her philosophy behind Bulkwhiz, why even affluent customers like a good deal, and how COVID-19 set the stage for new challenges and adaptations. With not only their al...

Our podcast is celebrating its first milestone: 20 episodes! And we’d like to give our listeners around the world a HUGE shoutout: Thank you for tuning in. While it’s been almost one year since we aired our first episode, it feels like yesterday. And we’ve learned a lot along the way! On this week’s episode, Hashem sits on the hot seat and is interviewed by our producer Chirag Desai who asks him t...

Our hearts go out to those affected by the explosions in Beirut on August 4, 2020 which left hundreds dead, thousands injured and billions of dollars of property estimated as damaged. If you’re able to contribute, our guest this week recommends donating to  Impact Lebanon . Hashem is joined this week by Zeina El-Dana, founder & CEO of Z7 communications which she founded in 2007. Since then, Z7...

This week Hashem is joined by Richard Windsor, founder of  Radio Free Mobile  which focuses on research & analysis across the digital & mobile ecosystem. Richard shares his thoughts on the current technology landscape—the handful of companies that dominate the sector (known as Big Tech or FAANG) and the prevailing mood in the US pushing to regulate them which surfaced during the recent US...

As the world of theatre was affected by the recession a decade ago, Debra Kletter founded Eat Quest NYC, a service that creates bespoke food itineraries for her clients. So successful was she at doing so that Alec Baldwin called her ‘the restaurant whisperer’. On this episode recorded earlier in the year, Debra tells Hashem how she transitioned to the world of food and food recommendations, how te...

This week we're talking Fintech with Raja Al Mazrouei, Vice President of the DIFC FinTech Hive, an accelerator program under the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) umbrella. Raja talks to Hashem about how Dubai—through its financial hub, the DIFC—is creating an ecosystem for fintech startups who are challenging the traditional ways of doing finance, what the future might hold for banks an...

This week, Hashem Montasser is in conversation with Nelio Leone, Founder of Urban Monks, a growth marketing agency he started in early 2019. Before going down the entrepreneurial route, Nelio was a marketing manager at L'Oreal in Paris, Director of Brand at Careem and Head of Growth at Washmen. Nelio shares his approach to building a company around a “collective" of independently-minded creatives,...

The Lighthouse was conceived as a design-centric brand from the outset and its founders never took its design aesthetic—whether interior, graphic or digital design—for granted. So when joined this week by Tarik Al-Zaharna, Founder of  T.ZED Architects , we asked him to take us through his journey into entrepreneurship when he launched his firm five years ago, his thoughts on why and how to create...

From our LIVE Facebook conversation with Louis Lebbos, Founding Partner at UAE-based Astrolabs. Louis chats with Hashem about why his co-founder Muhammed Mekki and him left their previous startup Namshi to start Astrolabs and the risks of raising money from the wrong VCs. He also shares his thoughts on digital marketing in the region & why we have yet to see a true “super-agency” of ex-global...

We’re going behind the scenes this week with the Lighthouse’s Hashem Montasser & Hany Bassiouny who speak with producer Chirag Desai about how they’re dealing with the consequences of Covid-19 and its current impact on their business. They also share their insights on how the F&B industry might change as we start to emerge from the crisis and their advice for founders on how to protect the...

This week, we’re joined from New York City by Chris Khalifa, founder of Zööba, an Egyptian street food concept he launched in Cairo in 2012 and took all the way to NYC late last year. Chris shares the story behind Zööba and how--after initially expanding too quickly and failing--they consolidated their business, learnt key lessons and set out to expand yet again to build what is now a successful—a...

There’s been an explosion in terms of people’s focus on health—both physical as well as mental & general well-being—over the last few years. Amina Naguib embodies this positive trend as the Founder of Cairo-based B_URN, a workout loosely based on the Lagree fitness method that has evolved into a veritable lifestyle. Amina shares how she got started with her venture, how she managed to build a...

This week, we’re joined by Vilma Jurkute, Director at Alserkal who shares her experience in developing Alserkal Avenue as the leading arts & culture district in the region. She chronicles its evolution from a marble factory owned by the Alserkal family to a collection of art and design galleries, artists’ studios and other independent ventures, visited by over 600,000 people annually. Vilma re...

In our first live conversation at The Lighthouse since launching the podcast, HE Minister of State Zaki Nusseibeh shares personal anecdotes from his childhood in Jerusalem, the early days of the UAE when he worked as a translator for HH Sheikh Zayed and the development of its arts and culture scene. While sharing snapshots from his various life experiences with the arts, Zaki weaves a thread betwe...

We’re continuing with our food theme this month with a chef who’s left a tremendous mark on the Middle East culinary scene since his debut at Zuma in 2009. Reif Othman is a new breed of owner-operator chefs who landed Zuma Dubai on the “World’s Best 50 restaurants” before kick-starting his own Japanese street food venture, Reif Kushiyaki. Reif shares stories about his humble beginnings, what got h...

We're joined by serial entrepreneur Mohamad Ballout, founder of Dubai-based foodtech pioneer Kitopi, currently the world's leading managed cloud kitchen platform. Founded in January 2018, Kitopi has quickly expanded to five countries, having added Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UK & the US to its roster after raising a successful $60 million Series B in funding this year. Mohamad shares his thought...

This week, we’re joined by the CEO of the LitFest Foundation, Isobel Abulhoul, who is at the the center of the UAE & the region’s literary fraternity. Since arriving in Dubai over 50 years ago, she’s launched a prominent bookstore chain, a children’s publishing company and the region’s leading Literature Festival. Isobel shares snapshots of her multi-decade journey, what you can expect from th...

This week, we're talking coffee with Orit Mohammed, founder of Boon Coffee. Orit hails from Ethiopia and decided to reconnect with the coffee culture she grew up with by supporting coffee farmers through her company. She's recently also added a B2C component to her business by opening two cafes in Dubai. Orit also walks us through the challenges of running a female led business and the stereotypes...

This week, we're talking to Patrick Rogers whose latest venture, Clara, attempts to solve entrepreneurship legal pain-points by combining human expertise with techonology. And as someone who advises startups a lot, Patrick also shared his insights on common pitfalls entrepreneurs should watch for when setting up their companies. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love to hear from you. You can leav...

On this episode, we talk to Saudi designer Daneh Buahmad who launched her women’s fashion label  DANEH  nearly 10 years ago. Daneh takes us through her career path--from studying computer science at University to discovering her passion for fashion and ultimately launching her own brand. She shares why empowering women by dressing them matters to her personally, her future plans with DANEH and why...

On our first episode, we talk to Mryna Ayad, the former Editor-in-Chief of art magazine Canvas and now an independent art consultant who continues to shape the way art & artists from the Middle East are represented internationally. In addition to her professional journey that took her from Canvas to Director of Art Dubai, Mryna shares her perspective as a working mother and her mission to shap...

A special prequel episode from the team of  The Lighthouse Conversations  podcast, which will focus on the regional arts, culture & entrepreneurial landscape. At our launch event held at The Lighthouse in D3, producer Chirag Desai chats with founder of the Lighthouse & host of the show Hashem Montasser about the journey so far, and what you can expect from the podcast. The premiere episode...