WIDN with Malak Fouad

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in March. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation with soprano sensation Fatma Said. Fatma talked to me about her incredible achievements, burning out and a lot more.  You can find her album, El Nour on various streaming platforms here . This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in m...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in March. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation with Prince Abbas Hilmi, who told me about his unique life journey and the Egyptian royal family. Through his father, Prince Mohamed Abdel Moneim, he is a descendent of Mohamed Ali of Egypt, while his mother, Neslishah Sultan, was the granddaughter of Mehmed VI, the las...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in March. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation with journalist and author Kim Ghattas. Kim, who is half Lebanese and half Dutch, shot to prominence as a BBC reporter, first covering Lebanon and then reporting on U.S. foreign policy from the United States.  Lately, she has gained recognition as an author of bestselli...

Today’s episode is a deep-dive with our partners, EFG Holding. As a long-time sponsor of the show, EFG Holding have been avant-garde and frontier-breaking, keeping with their own ethos of being a trailblazing financial institution with a Universal Bank in Egypt and the leading investment bank in Frontier and Emerging Markets. This week, I’m sitting down Aladdin El Afifi, CEO of EFG Finance, an EFG...

This week, I’m joined by the show’s producer, Chirag Desai, to look back at the highlights of our latest season, some common threads among our guests, as well as general insights from our recent conversations. We also discuss the issue of crisis management. This is a big picture conversation that impacts all of us and comes on the heels of discussions I've had recently with friends about concurren...

Last week, I spoke to mega star Youssra about the roles that shaped her iconic career, and the secrets to balancing her stardom and her private life. On this week’s bonus episode, Youssra tells me how different the film industry is today compared to when she started out in the 80s, and her thoughts on the future of the Egyptian and regional film industries. This episode is brought to you by EFG He...

My final guest of this season is the one-and-only Youssra, who tells me about her life’s journey from key decisions that led to her breakout success to her ground-breaking acting career that took on societal taboos. With over 80 movies, countless serials and theatre performances, her career has spanned seismic shifts in society, culture and politics, and she has witnessed, interpreted and contribu...

Last week, entrepreneur and investor Ramy Adeeb told me how his appetite for risk played a pivotal role in shaping his career. On this bonus episode, Ramy shares his insights on the venture capital market, and his entrepreneurial experience with Snip-It and 1984 Ventures. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing to...

I’m joined this week by Ramy Adeeb, founder and Managing Partner of 1984 Ventures, a firm that specialises in providing seed funding to start-ups. Ramy’s is a quintessential What I Did Next story, he moved to Canada for high school, went on to have early jobs at Microsoft and then as an investor in Silicon Valley, before launching his own start-up, Snip. It, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2013. He...

In case you missed my conversation with fitness entrepreneur Amina Naguib, here’s a quick clip from our conversation.  You can listen to the full episode in your podcast app. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing today !

Last week, fitness entrepreneur Amina Naguib told me how a pivotal moment in 2020 has radically changed her approach to life. On this bonus episode, I talk to Amina about how her brand, B-URN, has evolved to offer a holistic health approach to drive happiness.  This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing today !

I’m joined this week by Amina Naguib, fitness entrepreneur and founder of B-URN. Amina always wanted to explore the human body and health—she studied sports science in Washington and then physiotherapy in Amsterdam before returning to Egypt. With B-URN, she has created a community of people looking to improve their health and wellbeing. Amina and I talk about how she’s been connecting the dots of...

We’re continuing my conversation with Mohamed Hefzy, award-winning film producer and screenwriter. On this bonus episode, he tells me how his creative process has evolved to bring other people’s screenplays to life under his company, Film Clinic. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing today !

Mohammed Hefzy is the award-winning film producer behind mega hits such as Clash , Sheikh Jackson , Microphone , Paranormal , and Perfect Strangers , to name but a few of the films that make up his incredible catalogue of work. Hefzy began his career as a screen writer but made the transition to producing quite quickly, realising he wanted more control of the film-making process as a whole. This l...

We’re continuing my conversation with Sir Magdy Yacoub, ground-breaking cardiologist and founder of the Chain of Hope charity. On this bonus episode, we talk about how AI could transform the healthcare sector, and how Chain of Hope is building a sustainable healthcare platform. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start invest...

I’m joined this week by Sir Magdi Yacoub, ground-breaking cardiologist and founder of the Chain of Hope charity. Professor Yacoub has almost single-handedly revolutionsed cardiology from his early days as a junior doctor in London in the 60’s, to retirement from his beloved NHS in 2001. As someone who has been on my Top 10 list of dream guests since the show began three years ago, Professor Yacoub...

We’re continuing my conversation with curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of Art d’Egypte. On this bonus episode, we talk about the planning and operations behind Art d'Egypte and how it has evolved after their first edition. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing today !

I’m joined this week by curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of Art d’Egypte. From humble beginnings in 2017, their annual event has become a celebration of art, installations and global partnerships. Nadine is also an art curator with a passion for one of Egypt’s most celebrated artists, Mohamed Nagy, and manages their art estate along with his family. Nadine tells me how her childhood experienc...

We’re continuing my conversation with fashion entrepreneur Imran Amed in front of a live audience at Egypt Fashion Week earlier this year. On this bonus episode, Imran weighs in on the hot topic of 2023, AI and its application to fashion, and answers some of the insightful questions from the audience. This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One , your one app for investing in more than 35 sto...

Welcome to a new season of What I Did Next! I’m joined by fashion entrepreneur Imran Amed, one of the leading voices in fashion and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Today, BOF employs 75 people with a presence in London, New York, Paris and Shanghai. It also boasts a community of 800,000 email subscribers and 100,000 paying members across 120 countries. What I Did Next was a media sponsor at the fi...

I’m excited to be bringing you a new season of the show starting September 6, with new episodes every second Monday. I’ve had incredible guests over the past five seasons, leaders in their fields from a wide range of industries such as business, art, design, fashion, medicine, and entertainment. These conversations keep reminding me that each person’s journey is unique to them, and I’m always floo...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with renaissance man Samih Sawiris. Samih and his brothers, Naguib and Nassef continue to be icons in the business world in Egypt and the Middle East. Samih is the founder of Orascom Development Holding which operates 33 hotels with over 7,000 rooms a...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with reconstructive surgeon Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, who told me about her shift to entrepreneurship with Proximie, to revolutionise the world of surgery.  Dr. Nadine saw the horrors war inflicts on people and communities during her formative years l...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with businessman, art collector, activist and academic Sultan Sooud Al Qaseemi. Sultan’s story starts out as a proud son of Sharjah in the UAE before he came to the attention of a wide audience around the world for his activism during the 2011 revolut...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with Amy Mowafi, a dynamo in the region’s media space, and an inspiring role model for the younger generation of empowered Egyptian and Arab women. Amy and her team are the digital publishers of CairoScene, ElFasla, StartUpScene, NFTYScene, NFTY Arabi...