The Step Podcast

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Eugene Willemsen is Chief Executive Officer, Africa, Middle East, South Asia. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $70 billion in net revenue in 2020, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, PepsiCola, Quaker, Tropicana and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. Over the past two decades, Eugene has earned a reputation as a transformative leader who can harness the power of diverse teams to create high-performing businesses and some of the world’s most resonate brands. Most recently, Eugene served as Chief Executive Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 and as Executive Vice President of Global Categories & Franchise Management from 2015 to 2019, where he was responsible for the strategic direction of PepsiCo’s global categories and brands as well as PepsiCo’s global commercial functions, during which he oversaw a period of strong growth. Prior to that, Eugene led the company’s global tea joint venture with Unilever, which operates in roughly 120 countries worldwide, following more than a decade leading PepsiCo businesses in Europe. He has served as Senior Vice President, General Manager for PepsiCo’s South East Europe business, overseeing our operations in 17 countries, including Turkey; Senior Vice President and General Manager, Commercial for PepsiCo Europe, heading up the Marketing & Sales functions across Europe for all lines of business; Senior Vice President, General Manager for PepsiCo’s Northern Europe business; and General Manager of PepsiCo’s snack business in the Benelux and Belgium. Eugene joined PepsiCo from Friesland-Campina in 1995. Eugene holds a BBA from Nijenrode University in the Netherlands, a MSc in Economics from the “”VU University”” in Amsterdam and an Executive MBA from INSEAD. He previously served as a board member of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the AdCouncil and the Dutch Grocery Manufacturers Association, where he served as its Chairman. In 2017, he was named one of the “25 Most Influential People in the Netherlands at 50.

H.E. Dr. Nabeel Koshak is the CEO and Board Member of Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC). Nabeel is the Founder and Angel Investor at Athaal Angel Investor Group. He is a Board Memebr of Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). Nabeel is the Chairman of GEN (Global Entrepreneurship Network) Saudi. He is a member of the Investment Committees of KAUST’s Innovation Fund. He is a startup mentor at Endeavor Saudi Arabia. Nabeel is a member of the Saudi Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. He is a Board member of TCL (Tomouh Community of Leaders). Formerly, Nabeel was the Founding Dean of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College (MBSC) of Business and Entrepreneurship in partnership with Babson College at King Abdullah Economic City. Nabeel was an Executive Advisor at Ministry of Economy and Planning and an Executive Advisor at Deloitte. Nabeel was the Co-Founder and the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wadi Makkah Company (Innovation Fund, Startup Accelerator, and Venture Capital Fund). He was a Board Member of Oqal (Angel Investors Group) Jeddah branch and a mentor at Flat6Labs Jeddah Startup Accelerator. He was a Board Member and the Chairman of the Investment Committee at King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Innovation (Mawhiba). Nabeel is the former Co-Founder and Director of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) GIS Technology Innovation Center. Koshak was a Member of the Executive Committee of King Faisal International Prize. As an entrepreneur, Koshak was the Founder and CEO of five tech startups.

Amal is a seasoned professional with experience in startup investments, corporate innovation, and consulting in the MENA region. Previous to joining 500 Global, Ms. Dokhan was the Managing Director of Babson Global for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Previously, she was the Manager of Learning and Design at the Entrepreneurship Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology where she led the New Ventures Acceleration and Corporate Innovation programs. Prior to that engagement she worked in the KAUST Seed Fund developing marketing and events, while also providing a range of services to startup clients. Ms. Dokhan sits on the board of several organizations such as Wayakit Company, Cranfield University UK, King Abdulaziz University. She contributes to a monthly column at Leaders Magazine on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and has been a speaker at Davos World Economic Forum, TEDx at Kaust, the Annual Conference of the Islamic Development Bank, among others. Ms. Dokhan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, English Language & Literature from the King Abdul Aziz University, and a Masters of Strategic Marketing and Marketing Management from the University of Wollongong.

Sharif El-Badawi is the Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Dubai Future District Fund, an evergreen venture fund of funds and direct investment vehicle of the emirate of Dubai. The fund is anchored by Dubai Future Foundation and the Dubai International Financial Centre to invest in the Future of Finance and Future Economies with the aim of bolstering economic development in Dubai, the UAE and the broader region. Previously, he co-founded and managed Plus Venture Capital (+VC), a leading seed stage investment firm in the Middle East and North Africa region, investing across sectors from seed to growth within the region and diaspora. Before that he was a founding managing partner of the first US-based venture capital firm with a dedicated fund for the MENA region and was the most active venture capital investor in MENA during its investment period from 2017-2020. In his role, he managed the 500 Startups MENA fund, 500 Falcons, which invested in over 180 startups across 15 countries. In addition, Sharif serves on the board of San Francisco Bay Area based non-profit TechWadi where he was the chairman of the board from 2015-2019 helping build meaningful bridges between MENA startups and Silicon Valley. He also serves on several advisory boards for startups, organizations and governments in the MENA region and Silicon Valley. Prior to his career in investing, Sharif was the Partner Lead to VCs and Startups at Google where he worked with top tier VCs and their most promising startups on strategies that bring all of Google to their businesses. Before joining the Global Partnerships team, he spent 5 years leading performance advertising strategy and solutions for Google’s largest customers in North America covering Mobile, Search and Display ads. He joined Google through the $750m acquisition of AdMob, the world’s leading mobile advertising network. Before AdMob, Sharif was a technologist and serial entrepreneur having founded or co-founded several companies in the Consumer Internet and B2B space over a twelve year period starting in 1998. Sharif earned his Master of Business Administration from University of California, Irvine Merage School of Business and his Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. He recently relocated from his home state of California to Dubai with his wife and three children.

Rami Kadi, the international Lebanese-American fashion designer and Creative Director of Rami Kadi Maison de Couture, has recently embarked on a journey down the path of digital fashion and the metaverse. Kadi has gained international recognition in the fashion world by working with and establishing long-term ties with many important stars and celebrities, in addition to taking over numerous international red carpets and leading fashion shows in Paris. However, it has been an inseparable part of Rami Kadi’s journey to be a pioneer of technology and sustainability in fashion. From being the first in the Middle East to conduct a cyber-fashion show and design a glow-in-the dark collection, to creating an environmentally-conscious couture piece made of recycled sea plastic, Rami Kadi is the first designer in the region to launch his first NFT collection, “Lucid Algorithms”, as the first designer on the Cardano blockchain. The NFT collection is made up of 120 tokens that for the first time reveal a couture computed human-machine collaboration of this scale in the fashion world.

At Sequoia, GV Ravishankar advises on both technology as well as non-technology investments. He’s deeply interested in technology’s role in helping to drive efficiencies, reduce costs and improve access in consumer and healthcare markets. He currently serves on the boards of BYJUs, Capital Float, Eruditus Learning, Faces Cosmetics, Five Star finance, Finova Capital, HomeLane, India Shelter Finance Corporation, Indigo Paints, K12 Technoservices, Prataap Snacks (NSE: DIAMONDYD), Rebel Foods, Rupeek, Suburban Diagnostics and Turtlemint. I have also served as board member/observer of companies like Via (sold to NASDAQ: EBIX ), Manappuram (NSE: MANAPPURAM) and Equitas (NSE: EQUITAS). Prior to this, GV worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised senior management of top Indian companies on a variety of issues including business building, channel management and leadership development. He also had a prior stint with Wipro Technologies in their Embedded and Internet Access division. GV is the recipient of the Midas Touch award by Economic Times Startup Awards 2020 and IIM Ahmedabad’s Young Alumni Achiever’s Award, 2019-20 in the Corporate Leadership category. He has an MBA from IIM A and holds a BE in Computer Science and Engineering from NIT Trichy.

Elie is the co-founder and CTO of Anghami, the leading music streaming service in the Middle East. In late 2012, seizing the opportunity of a lack of proper digital music service in the Arab world, Elie and his partner, Eddy Maroun, launched Anghami. Since then, Anghami has reached over 85 million users, streaming a billion tracks each month. With offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Beirut, Cairo & Riyadh, Anghami’s 180 people team successfully got Anghami to be the first tech company from the region to be publicly listed on Nasdaq in February 2022. At Anghami, Elie runs the operations and product development, spending most of his time working between clouds, streams and pixels.

Chanda Lokendra Kundnaney, Founder and CVO (Chief Vision Officer) of LiZZOM Obsessed with leveling the playing field Chanda is the driving force behind LiZZOM. A serial entrepreneur, and a sensitive soul, an MBA by education, a financial planner by profession, a snack connoisseur, and certainly an artist by hobby. Being a big fan of productivity and mental wellness, she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey for the third time with LiZZOM, centering vision around what women should want. Realizing that women put their menstrual life and experiences, at last, owing to the taboo attached to the subject . She started her lifestyle organic period care brand with 2 objectives in mind. One was to provide a solution to common menstrual problems and the other one was to unmask the period taboos. Strong supporter of sustainable goals and committed to eradicate period poverty, Chanda is an inquisitive mind currently exploring the role of block chain (the tech angle) in women health. In her own words, I wake up with a promise to myself that I will at least impact one woman’s life every day. LiZZOM’s journey is beautiful, interesting, and challenging. Exactly the way I would like it. Other than work, the top highlight of my life is my moments with my family and giving back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs in their journey.

Tariq Sheikh founded Postpay, the leading Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) provider in the region, in 2019. Postpay has been paving the way for financial freedom, enabling users to easily purchase products on the spot and split payments into three installments with absolutely no interest or fees. Prior to founding Postpay, Sheikh was a strategy consultant at Kearney. With the creation of Postpay, Sheikh’s purpose was to transform his interest and passion to make a change that can tangibly enhance people’s everyday life. Postpay gives people the freedom to achieve their aspirations, without burdening them with interest fees and hidden charges. Inspired by global BNPL players, Sheikh was able to identify great potential in the industry and had the foresight to be a part of the BNPL revolution, helping to grow the industry in the Middle East region. Sheikh holds an MBA from ESADE and the University of Cape Town GSB (with Distinction) and a Bachelors of Commerce from the University of South Africa (with Distinction). He is also on a personal mission to help solve access to basic rights. He has collaborated with several charities and foundations while also combining his passion for fitness as a triathlete to raise awareness through sport.

A real believer in startups, Aya Sadder has helped bring companies to life across a range of industries, countries, and ecosystems. Founder of Bolt, Aya launched the company in late November 2020 to help build hubs of entrepreneurship across the MENA region. Some of her accelerator program clients include the Mohamed bin Rashid Innovation Fund and the Youth Hub. Prior to BOLT, Aya was the Incubator manager of Intelak, the first Aviation, Travel & Tourism Incubator in the MENA region sponsored by the Emirates Group, Microsoft, Accenture and Dubai Tourism.For her work there, she was recognized with the Ecosystem Influencer award in 2017 from Entrepreneur Middle East as well as Intrapreneur of the Year from Arabian Business in 2018.

Mouin Jaber is the producer, co-creator and co-host of “The Sarde (after dinner) Podcast” one of the leading podcasts in the Middle East which deals with a wide range of topics in an open and simple way with guests from all walks of life. From the heart of Beirut Lebanon and the comfort of their own home, He, along with journalist and co-host Médéa Azouri created a platform that challenges every single rule in the mainstream media playbook by having long-form candid conversations to better understand our part of the world from societal, political, psychological, historical, scientific perspectives. Mouin believes that his current generation has been criminally robbed of any proper representation on traditional media outlets and sought to change that, one podcast at a time.

Anuscha has over 15 years of experience in investment banking and alternative asset management. She is currently Co-Founder of Spotii, the MENA regions leading Shop Now Pay Later platform. In the last 24 months Anuscha has successfully launched Spotii, grown the business across multiple markets and attracted an international strategic buyer. Prior to co-founding Spotii, Anuscha served as a Managing Director at The Abraaj Group where she oversaw the Investment Office function at the firm. Prior to joining Abraaj, Anuscha worked with Dresdner Kleinwort in New York as an Analyst in the media group, working on mergers and acquisitions and film financing projects. Anuscha graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science in Economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelors of Arts in Biology from The College of Arts and Sciences in 2005. She is an active member of Penn Alumni interview program in Dubai.

Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Straight Fire. After working as campaign officer at Greenpeace, Bei was Editor-in-Chief and Head of the Chinese Department at Dutch broadcaster RNW Media. She then launched the digital China department at RNW and represented the Netherlands in China during the International cultural & media exchanges. Bei co-founded with Christiaan FIVE group, is a frequent guest speaker on cultural communication and has developed the Digital China minor at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. Bei is cofounder and Board Member of Pan Asian Connections (PAC), an aspiring Dutch broadcaster, is on the jury of the Mobius Advertising Awards and keynote speaker at Advertising Week Europe.

Ricky Ray Butler is a 15 year digital entertainment veteran who has been at the forefront of reimagining the entertainment and advertising landscape in a world of ever growing digital content. He found Plaid Social Labs in 2009 which was later acquired by BEN. Today BEN is leading the way in helping architect the burgeoning creator economy with AI and deep learning. With the recent acquisition of TubeBuddy, BEN is helping the 6M+ influencers and creators on the platform to be more data driven, in addition to connecting brands to the right audiences in non-ad supported media across film, television, streaming, and influencer.