on: becoming with Mohamed Fadel

I Don't Care About Being Remembered | on becoming Kenzy Omar | كنزي عمر

Kenzy Omar is as human as they come. She’s a woman who chooses to break out of the boxes society places her in and pushes back against the expectation to only move in the confines of those boxes. She’s a young woman who’s trying everything and finding herself in the process. She’s passionate about healthcare and loves creating value and bringing impact to every person she interacts with. She believes that her calling in life is to help people. And she navigates life with that as a living philosophy. She talks about: 🟦 Identity and how people perceive themselves and others 🟦 How we confine ourselves to the labels other place on us 🟦 What it’s like being a medical student - the peaks and troughs 🟦 How we are all our Nth project, making our growth a priority 🟦 The contrast life and death does for us 🟦 How life is about the impact you leave, not needing to be remembered (00:00) Intro (01:52) Being Put in Boxes By Those Around Us (04:42) How Being Put in a Box Feels Like (08:29) Why Do People Hold Themselves Back (10:28) Everyone Has a Different Timeline (12:04) Viewing Life In Projects: Her Other Ventures (13:53) Being A Founder (15:21) Our Identity: How We Define Ourselves (18:46) What The World Doesn’t See (20:57) Her Medical Education Journey (24:08) Not Being Allowed To Do More Than One Thing (27:04) Not Conforming To Systems and Dogmas (29:18) The Nth Project: Treating Yourself as a Project (30:42) How To Balance Different Priorities (33:24) Actions Over Words: Shipping Projects Before Talking About Them (35:53) The Need for External Validation and the Spotlight (38:19) The Evolution in Healthcare (40:17) Blessings and Curses of Being a Founder (42:21) Managing Attachments (44:03) The Need for Infinite Time (46:13) Paradoxes of Being Alone and Needing People (47:43) Authenticity (49:58) Our Impact: I Don’t Want to be Remembered (52:28) Life and Death (54:24) Connecting the Dots (56:00) Dreams, Fears and Becoming If you want to being inspired and enjoy deeply human conversations, then this one is for you. Thanks for listening—please don't forget to follow! – Where to find Kenzy ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenzy-omar-0304a31b6/] | ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/kenzy.shares/] | TikTok [http://TikTok.com/@kenzy.shares] For more from on:becoming ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠ [http://instagram.com/podcastonbecoming] 📷 ⁠Stay up to date on ꚠ TikTok⁠ [http://TikTok.com/@mashfadel] ⁠Go behind the scenes on Substack⁠ [http://mashfadel.substack.com] ⁠Watch on YouTube⁠ [http://YouTube.com/@mashfadel]

AI Founder: Egypt Needs To Build Its Own Sovereign AI | Aly Moursy

Aly is the founder and CEO of The Artificial Intelligence Company of Cairo (AICC), an applied AI lab building consumer and enterprise products for MENA. AICC's flagship product is Veeza, an AI agent that automates tourist visa applications end-to-end for Egyptians, currently in closed beta. Before AICC, Aly led product and AI at Efreshli, co-founded Dlvvr (a top-rated Shopify delivery app), and started his career as the first intern at Bitaccess (YC S14). He's a Carleton-trained electrical and telecom engineer and sits on the board of Abdel Rahim Koueider, his family's dessert brand established in 1930. He explains: 🟦 Why Egypt and the Middle East need their own sovereign AI and what it takes to build one 🟦 How Egypt dominated a few industries and was decades ahead of the west 🟦 The differences between AI applied labs and research labs 🟦 The hardships of being a founder regardless of geography 🟦 Where he sees AI in the next 2-5 years 🟦 The shift of weights of ideas, execution and distribution since the introduction of AI 🟦 The mistake the VC and technology industry has made over the past few years (00:00) Intro (01:27) Who is Aly Moursy (03:49) Innovation in Egypt and the Middle East (07:09) The Family Heritage (10:25) Moving from Atoms to Bits—Known to Unknown (12:00) Obsession and the 10,000 Hours Rule (17:07) You Have to Start Whatever the Situation (17:44) The Decision to Move to Canada (19:54) Fighting Google’s Global Dominance and Driving Local (26:55) Ideas and Distribution and What Really Matters Today (31:37) Jevon’s Paradox: AI Will Create More Jobs, Not Less (35:21) Surrounding Self With the Smartest People (42:56) Egypt’s Delivery Dominance & Replicating the Model in Canada (50:32) Building A Generational Company (52:59) What Everyone Should Know About AI (56:47) What is an AI Agent? (59:46) The Big Vision Behind Building an AI company in Egypt (01:04:22) Difference Between AI Labs and Applied AI Labs (01:07:38) Why Build In Egypt vs UAE or KSA (01:09:39) Building Sovereign AI for Egypt and the Middle East (01:12:41) Fears of AI (01:15:08) AI in the Next 5 Years (01:21:02) Reflections on being a Startup Founder (01:24:04) Closing If you want to learn more about AI and how far we can go with it, and if you’re a founder and a builder, then this conversation is for you. Thanks for listening—please don't forget to follow! – Where to find Aly ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://linkedin.com/in/alymoursy] | ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/alymoursy/] | ⁠Company Website⁠ [https://www.artificialintelligencecc.com/] For more from on:becoming ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠ [http://instagram.com/podcastonbecoming] 📷 ⁠Stay up to date on ꚠ TikTok⁠ [http://TikTok.com/@mashfadel] ⁠Go behind the scenes on Substack⁠ [http://mashfadel.substack.com] ⁠Watch on YouTube⁠ [http://YouTube.com/@mashfadel]

Filmmaker & Storyteller: Your Content Is Your Afterlife | Omar Ghanem

Omar Ghanem is a master storyteller. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Blue Planet Production, a storytelling media house, and a university academic. He’s been passionate about photography, videography and storytelling since a young age and has worked on all sorts of projects since. He explains: 🟦 The difference between videographers and storytellers 🟦 What most filmmakers get wrong 🟦 What it takes to get started as a storyteller 🟦 The challenges you have to overcome to make it in production space in Egypt 🟦 How to create content that lasts beyond you (00:00) Intro (01:07) How to Tell a Story from One Single Frame (04:01) The 3 Cameras: The Story of the 1st Camera (06:59) National Geographic Passion & Scripted Content (09:22) The 3 Cameras: The Story of the 2nd Camera (11:50) Awards, Validation and Signs (14:26) The Story Behind the Storyteller (20:43) What is a Mini Documentary and Showcasing Emotions (22:35) Difference Between Videographers and Storytellers (25:58) Working for Free (28:53) What is Storytelling and its Structure? (30:12) The Favorite Story (35:36) What Most Filmmakers Get Wrong (39:13) Challenges in the Field of Media Production (42:34) The 3 Cameras: Going Back to Analog (46:20) AI Taking Over Videography (49:00) Teaching as a Calling (51:40) Staying 5 Years on 1 Project (53:38) Your Content is Your Legacy (56:48) Advice to New Storytellers (58:57) Closing If you're an aspiring filmmaker and storyteller; then this episode is for you. Thanks for listening—please don't forget to follow! — Where to find Omar ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarghanembp/] | ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/omaraghanem/] | ⁠Company [https://www.instagram.com/blueplanetbp/] For more from on:becoming ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠ [http://instagram.com/podcastonbecoming%E2%81%A0] 📷 ⁠Stay up to date on ꚠ TikTok⁠ [http://TikTok.com/@mashfadel%E2%81%A0] ⁠Go behind the scenes on Substack⁠ [http://mashfadel.substack.com] ⁠Watch on YouTube⁠ [http://YouTube.com/@mashfadel%E2%81%A0]

Serial Entrepreneur: Don’t Sit on Your Money | Ahmed Sultan

Ahmed Sultan is a born-to-be entrepreneur. He started young and failed a few until he found his big break: Airzone. He’s the co-founder of Airzone, a family entertainment business and also Rough Gear for Sportswear. He explains: 🟦 What highly successful people have in common 🟦 What it takes to make it as an entrepreneur 🟦 The difference between entrepreneurs in the west and the east 🟦 Whether you should have a plan b or be all in 🟦 When to give up or to persist with ideas you believe in (00:00) Intro (01:01) A Passion for Entrepreneurship (05:16 The First Failure & How Everything Started (09:11 What is Airzone and Its Mission (15:52 Follow Passion or Money? (17:20 When to Kill a Project/Company? (20:33 Going After Innovation Even When The World Disagrees (25:10 The Mindset of Outliers (31:02 Faith & Belief That Things Happen for a Reason (34:09 Should You Have a Plan B or Burn The Ships? (37:11) 3 Characteristics of Highly Successful People (40:01) The East from the West, An Egyptian Silicon Valley (44:56) Learnings from Failure (49:34) A Reflection on Hard Moments (54:14) Being All Hands On Deck in a Startup in the Early Days (56:40) A Take on Money and Savings (01:03:08) Closing If you're an entrepreneur or if you’re passionate about an idea; then this episode is for you. Thanks for listening—please don't forget to follow! – Where to find Yehia ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmed-sultan-b3027968/] | ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/a.sultaaan] | ⁠Company Website⁠ [https://www.airzone-eg.com] For more from on:becoming ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠ [http://instagram.com/podcastonbecoming%E2%81%A0] 📷 ⁠Stay up to date on ꚠ TikTok⁠ [http://TikTok.com/@mashfadel%E2%81%A0] ⁠Go behind the scenes on Substack⁠ [http://mashfadel.substack.com] ⁠Watch on YouTube⁠ [http://YouTube.com/@mashfadel%E2%81%A0]

Leadership Coach: Fall In Love With Failure | Sandra William

Sandra William is an executive and life coach whose path to her calling took her through some of the world's most prestigious institutions and demanding environments. Saudi-raised and AUC-educated, Sandra built her early career on the belief that top-down change creates the greatest impact—a conviction that led her to consulting at Bain, with stints in Dubai and Los Angeles, where she worked 15-18 hour days before realising something was missing. After a pivotal period at Columbia Business School, she discovered her true passion: empowering people professionally and personally. She went on to launch a successful mindfulness initiative at Bain before taking the leap to start her own coaching practice in 2024, DAO. Now based in Egypt, Sandra works with B2B SMEs, executives leading scaling businesses, and professionals navigating career transitions—delivering both one-on-one coaching and high-demand workshops that have quickly become her signature offering. She explains: 🟦 What Are The 3 Core Triggers People Experience When Receiving Feedback 🟦 How to Give Feedback Without Triggering Others 🟦 How Failure Is Necessary to Grow and Become Better 🟦 If People Can Change - And If They Even Should 🟦 What Good Leadership Looks Like 🟦 How to Hire and Fire People Right 🟦 The Difference Between Being Kind and Being Nice (00:00) Intro (00:54) A Sense of Belonging and Being A Forever Expat (04:27) Identity: How We Identify Ourselves (09:23) The 3 Feedback Triggers (15:37) How to Give Feedback Without Triggering Others (20:46) What Makes a Great Manager (25:00) Can Manager/People Change? And Should They? (34:00) The Law of Attraction (35:42) For the Love of Failure (43:34) Difference Between Corporates and Startups (48:01) The 3 Components of Hiring (Airplane Test) (52:51) Hiring for Talent or Culture Fit? (55:57) Can You (And Should You) Fire People? (01:00:20) The Difference Between Kindness and Niceness (01:02:36) Toxic People in Workplaces (01:05:25) Psychological Safety and Fear of Quitting Bad Jobs (01:07:32) How to Guarantee The Interview Despite Short Experiences on Your CV? (01:09:47) Pain & Gain Model: How To Decide To Quit Your Job (01:12:49) Gratitude (01:15:13) Closing: Deepest Fears and Aspirations If you're into everything leadership and growth; then this episode is for you. Thanks for listening—please don't forget to follow! – Where to find Sandra ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-william/] | ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://instagram.com/sandra.a.will] | ⁠Company Website⁠ [https://daoleadership.org] For more from on:becoming ⁠Follow on Instagram⁠ [http://instagram.com/podcastonbecoming%E2%81%A0] 📷 ⁠Stay up to date on ꚠ TikTok⁠ [http://TikTok.com/@mashfadel] ⁠Go behind the scenes on Substack⁠ [http://mashfadel.substack.com] ⁠Watch on YouTube⁠ [http://YouTube.com/@mashfadel]