Scaling in the Sand - Episode 1 - Frank Amankwah discusses competing with big tech names for talent, and how to blitz-scale from 10-100 in 6 months

Scaling in the Sand - Episode 5 - Cicero Hennemann on change management, leading culturally diverse teams and the real-world viability of AI

Today, I’m joined by Cicero Hennemann, Director of Digital, Data & AI at Nagarro. Cicero has been scaling teams for over 15 years across Europe and the Middle East for companies such as Dunhumby, Reckitt, Agthia and now Nagarro, so brings a unique perspective on how to build Engineering teams in different geographies with different Cultural nuances. We’re going to dive into how he’s successfully hired, mentored and importantly has retained his top tech talent, and how he sees the future of Engineering team development at a point in history whereby we’re seeing such a profound shift in hiring dynamics in the world of technology.

Scaling in the Sand - Episode 4 - Ridaa Shah on scaling start-ups in a highly regulated environment

Today, I’m joined by Ridaa Shah, co-founder of Daleel, MENA’s first Financial Marketplace. Ridaa is an expert across all things Open Finance, prior to founding Daleel she ran operations for Tarabut Gateway, one of the region’s first and most successful Open Banking start-ups based in Bahrain.We’re going to be talking about the challenges of building in a regulated industry, the clutch control of product development with compliance restrictions, and her views on the changing FinTech landscape across the Middle East.

Scaling in the Sand - Episode 3 - Natasha Corbin on Talent and scaling start-ups in the Middle East

Today, I’m joined by Natasha Corbin, a Talent Acquisition Leader with experience at some of the highest growth tech organizations globally. Natasha was Global Head of TA at Badoo, who IPO’d as Bumble at a $7bn valuation in 2021, and Senior TA Director at Talabat who IPO’d in 2024 at a valuation of $10bn. She is Advisory Board Chair Certified, sits as a Talent Advisor to 500 Global and is the Director of Talent Consultancy at Start MEA, helping GCC start-ups to build strategic talent capability.

Scaling in the Sand - Episode 2 - Yi-Wei Ang on how to successfully scale to a $10bn IPO

Thank you for joining us on Scaling in Sand. Today, I’m joined by Yi-Wei Ang, Chief Product Officer at Talabat. Yi-Wei has been with Talabat for over 5 years and was a central figure in their journey to a successful IPO in December 2024, at a valuation in excess of $10 billion. We’re going to unpick some of that journey and discuss how to ensure a business is ready for such a significant event.

Scaling in the Sand - Episode 1 - Frank Amankwah discusses competing with big tech names for talent, and how to blitz-scale from 10-100 in 6 months

Thank you for joining us on Scaling in the Sand. In this episode I will explore Frank Amankwah's experience in rapidly scaling teams, and how he navigated the challenge of competing with big tech names for talent while blitz-scaling from 10 to 100 employees in six months. Frank is somebody that I’ve been lucky enough to work with in many different capacities over nearly 15 years. Frank has lead Engineering functions at the likes of Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Emirates Airline and more recently Rain, a hyper-growth UAE based Crypto start-up.