Conversations with Loulou

Loulou Khazen is a founder turned venture capital investor breaking down everything you need to know about startups, investing, tech and innovation in the Middle East. Every two weeks, Loulou carefully curates her guests, asks thought provoking questions, shares practical examples and inspiring stories with the goal to draw attention and facilitate access to her world. To learn more, visit the show's website: www.conversationswithloulou.com and you can follow Loulou on LinkedIn and Instagram @louloukhazen

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Episodes

E8: Abdulaziz Al Loughani on scaling & exits and why regional VCs need to add more value

Abdulaziz Al Loughani co-founded and managed [Talabat.com](http://talabat.com) before it was acquired by Rocket Internet for $170m in 2015. He is currently the CEO of Floward, a flowers and gifts ecommerce platform and the co-founder and managing partner of Faith Capital, a Kuwait based private Venture Capital firm investing in MENA startups. Abdulaziz is a hardworking, brilliant and humble man whom I am proud to call a friend. He brings a lot of experience to the MENA startup scene and has even...

Jul 08, 2020•41 min•Ep. 8

E7: VentureSouq’s Sonia Weymuller on finding your inner Sisu

I’m joined on this episode by Sonia Weymuller, founding partner at VentureSouq, a Dubai-based investment platform. Sonia’s career started out in media & technology working with companies like Turner Broadcasting, Viacom and Microsoft before going on to found VentureSouq in 2015. Last year, she launched Conscious Collective, an impact-driven investment vehicle that is an extension of VentureSouq. Sonia is a Charter Member & Board Director for TiE’s Dubai Chapter, serves as the UAE Directo...

Jun 21, 2020•48 min•Ep. 7

E6: Chris Schroeder shares valuable advice on entrepreneurship and venture investing

Chris Schroeder is a global angel investor & advisor to tech startups with a keen interest in emerging markets. Chris is the co-founder of Next Billion Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on the next billion digital consumers across global emerging markets, he is a Network Partner for Village Global, an early venture capital fund backed by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Diane Greene, Sara Blakely, Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman and many more exceptional entrepreneurs. He sits on the investment ...

Jun 08, 2020•51 min•Ep. 6

E5: Samer Hamadeh on building F&B brands that people love

My guest Samer Hamadeh is a serial entrepreneur in the entertainment and Food & Beverage space having built some great concepts such as Republique, Stereo Arcade, Akiba Dori and more. I met Samer way before his food and beverage days when he was at Impact BBDO, where 7 months in, he was already on his way out, founding his first business in the corporate events space. Samer is the kind of guy you want to hang out with and learn from as he openly shares his successes and failures. I catch up ...

May 24, 2020•46 min•Ep. 5

E4: Rayan Karaky on spearheading digital media in MENA

A recording from the first LIVE session with Rayan Karaky who currently leads Partnerships, Product and Platform teams at Google – MENA. We chat about Rayan's standup comedy and how it helps leaders show vulnerability which makes them more approachable. We also discuss his intrapreneurial journey with Starcom (part of Publicis Group) and his push towards implementing the latest digital advertising tools in MENA followed by his move to Google and his role in helping partners achieve digital matur...

May 14, 2020•47 min•Ep. 4

E3: Turning your MBA project into a startup with Magnitt's Philip Bahoshy

My guest today founded a company that set out to be the _Tinder_ for startups & investors--Magnitt--which he conceptualized in 2012. Philip Bahoshy is a Brit with Iraqi origins and after exploring a career in financial services, found himself wanting to get away from the corporate world and the Middle East. He went on to complete his MBA at INSEAD and as he learnt about the entrepreneurial world, realized a major gap in the startup space particularly in the Middle East. Recorded before the c...

Apr 27, 2020•49 min•Ep. 3

E2: Why is company culture critical for success? With OMG’s Nadim Samara

My guest Nadim Samara is the CEO of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) MENA, the premier media and marketing services group. He is a media agency veteran having built a career at OMD since 2001 and built expertise in both MENA and US markets. I’ve known Nadim since childhood and I can say with absolute certainty that he is a genuine person that is big on life. In addition to his highly successful career in media, he is a shrewd businessman, a master conversationalist, a loving father of 3 beautiful kids,...

Apr 11, 2020•42 min•Ep. 2

E1: Elie Habib on building Anghami, a $100 Million+ music streaming service out of Lebanon

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Conversations with Loulou, a podcast that aims to be an extension of my learning journey & transformations over the past decade. I couldn’t think of a better guest to join me to kickstart the show than a serial entrepreneur who’s fifth venture Anghami—the region’s largest music streaming service—is valued at over USD$100 million. Elie suggests that running Anghami is not unlike cooking in a kitchen with a limited pantry and we talk about some of the major ...

Mar 02, 2020•51 min•Ep. 1

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