Building a Social Impact Startup with Anisa Ismail

Basma Tawakol is an entrepreneur and Founder of Dayra with over 12 years of experience working with tech startups and community service organizations. Dayra is a platform promoting ethical and sustainable fashion retailing. The startup was recognized in several mega-events in sustainability and entrepreneurship, got incubated several times, and won multiple grants. Basma was also the co-founder of Ezbet Project, a collaborative project between the University of Stuttgart in Germany and Ain Shams University.Basma Tawakol’s startup was recognized in several mega-events in sustainability and entrepreneurship, got incubated several times, and won multiple grants. Starting her professional career in a fast-growing technology startup ‘’Cloudypedia Google premier partner’’, a young dynamic working environment enabled her to hold managerial positions at a young age and work on diverse projects between Cairo and Dubai, her most rewarding and most recent role was holding the position of Deputy General Manager at '' Mahrati.com '' .She has participated in several programs and events related to youth empowerment as a mentor and lecturer to talk about entrepreneurship. Basma also volunteers in an NGO called ''Bena2'' serving underprivileged villages in Upper Egypt by providing acceleration and incubation programs.

Dr. Maliha Hashmi served as the Executive Director and Co-Head of the Health, Wellbeing and Biotech Sector at NEOM, where she also served as the Executive Director for all Strategic Partnerships. She also served as the Deputy Chair of the NEOM Covid-19 Leadership Taskforce.Maliha Hashmi, is also an esteemed delegate of the V20, where V20 is a global platform of value experts and practitioners that has come together on the sidelines of the G20 presidency to actively engage with the process of the Group of Twenty (G20).She is also a regular contributor for Forbes. Recently, Dr. Maliha Hashmi, was selected and recognized as one of the Top Seven Most Talented Emerging Female Health Leaders of the MENA region. Dr. Maliha Hashmi has held Senior Executive roles in various sectors and globally renowned organizations and is a well-known name in the region for health & wellbeing. Dr. Maliha Hashmi is listed as one of the top 20 women in the Nation in the United States of America for her achievements making it into the Who’s Who in America List.

In this episode, Munira Almuammar dives deep into her career trajectory and fanning her entrepreneurial spirit which led her to creating Barakah with her co-founders. From working at BUPA to her creative role at MDLBEAST, she gives us an insight into her life and what it's like working as a Product Manager in MDLBEAST records, as well as managing Barakah as the CMO. She talks about her passion for discipline, her drive to do better, juggling multiple roles and helping create a more sustainable environment through her impactful mission with Barakah.Munira Almuammar is a Multi-versed professional and entrepreneur with a strong experience in operations, product management & digital transformation. Working in multiple industries from health insurance to entertainment and leading on strategic projects across the board. With a strong passion for innovation, sustainability, and food; Munira co-founded the first surplus marketplace platform in KSA-Barakah. Listen to her episode, out now!

In this episode, Danielle shares poignant stories of her life and her turning point with her career and personal life. She talks about her passion for photography, fashion and being a creative individual all on all with the hunger to make it big. She featured in the new 2022 Netflix docuseries called, The Most Hated Man on the Internet, where she tells her own horrific story of non-consensual intimate image abuse online. Green aims to use her platform as a way to provide truth in storytelling and hope to a world in need of strong, female voices creating change. Her goal is to cultivate a  community of changemakers by sharing victor's testimonies and provide resources for victims so they can begin their victor Journey.Danielle Green is an award-winning creator in the fashion, beauty, lifestyle and wedding industries. She is a branding consultant with a niche in art direction under her own agency and master photographer and owner of L A Y E R S, an adventure photography company based in the United States. You can see her work in numerous publications including Southern Living, Martha Stewart, British Vogue and Brides magazines to name a few. Listen to her inspiring story!

In this episode, Tatiana Rahal dives deep into her career trajectories and shares how she climbed the success ladder to become Talabat UAE’s first female managing director. She talks about being driven to be a good team leader while providing more value to partners and clients. She also stresses on the importance of having a strong internal and external support which is vital in helping you achieve your goals and make the impossible possible.Tatiana Rahal is the first female Managing Director of talabat UAE, the region's leading online food delivery and q-commerce platform. She started her career in New York City working on data analytics for global brands as Mazda, Visa, and Bristol Myers Squibb.After four years, Tatiana joined a top tier management consulting firm in the MENA region where she got the opportunity to work on a diverse set of projects in Berlin, Dubai and Qatar. However, wanting to follow her passion for food and technology, Tatiana decided to join talabat UAE in 2017 as Corporate Performance Manager before moving to Oman as Managing Director in 2019. Listen to her episode, out now!

In this episode, Yolanda Lee shares how Uncommon was originally conceived as an invite-only dinner series in response to a desire for conversation and connection with other women in leadership, many of whom worked in male-dominated environments. As each event grew and continued to resonate with these women, Yolanda took the leap to leave her leading role in a high growth startup to make leadership less lonely for female leaders and see more women owning and making decisions. She talks about her ultimate goal - to help women in leadership achieve success not just in their careers, but give them the confidence to build their dream life and continue to propel every generation after.Yolanda Lee founded Uncommon in April 2021 as a private leadership network for the next generation of female leaders in Singapore. Having lived in 10 countries, she saw there was more that connects than divides and wanted to see what change she could help make for women beyond her role in the corporate world. Yolanda’s passion for technology and personal experience as a woman in senior leadership led her to spend the past two years building a comprehensive product that will empower and uplift women leaders through a blend of coaching, peer support and community programming. Uncommon also builds their own technology that will utilize machine learning to hyper-personalize the leadership development experience for each member. Listen to her episode, out now!

Sawsan Chammas Haber, has made her mark in the interior design world since 1996, first as the main designer at one of the prestigious firms in Beirut, then within Dubai based Dipiugi interior design Studio, by handling highly luxurious projects that she has designed and executed in the UAE.In this episode, she talks about her road to success and life as an entrepreneur and how she established her own furniture brand specialized in kids interiors, K-Kids. This eventually led her to securing two furniture franchises to the UAE: the Italian Giovanni Sforza and Estetik Decor, a Turkish brand.Sawsan Chammas Haber is an Entrepreneur and interior designer who has made a name for herself in the interior architecture space through an aesthetic style where she perfectly draws the contours of elegance in both sleek contemporary and classical luxury. Sawsan has been featured in many magazines since her early beginnings like Emirates home, OK Middle East, Lamasat and many others. But it was in 2009 that she started her TV appearances as a weekly guest on MBC morning show for more than two years discussing various subjects related to her field that made her a known public figure.She organized many workshops and videos in collaboration with some international brands such as Ferrero Rocher Middle East and Swarovski, Dubai speaking about different design-related subjects giving home styling tips. Tune into her episode to know all about her story!

In this episode, Anisa Ismail explores scaling a social impact startup and persevering through all the ups and downs in her journey. She takes us through her life story that was filled with figuring out a way to be able to be a catalyst for change for the people around her and then finding her way to becoming an entrepreneur. She shares how she brought her most loved venture The Unplugged Initiative to life then pivoting to KidsUnplugged and eventually scaling it to Playcation. Anisa Ismail is an entrepreneur and Founder of The Unplugged Initiative. Being passionate about teaching, she moved abroad to pursue her dream career. She worked in a variety of Education establishments for 6 years which led her to creating KidzUnplugged - a social impact startup focusing on creating spaces for children to disconnect from devices and connect with each other. Two years later she expanded the business and created The Unplugged Initiative - the world’s first ever community center focused on digital wellness for young children, teens and young adults. She is also the Author of a digital detox parenting book titled 'How Electronics Stole Childhood. She is also an award nominated Entrepreneur, and has been featured in several National publications for her work in the UAE community. Listen to her episode now!

Listen to this invigorating episode with beauty and wellness entrepreneur Miriam Abadi as she takes us on her inspiring journey of finding her path and owning it in the competitive beauty industry. From leveling up in a corporate space to eventually finding her true calling as an entrepreneur, Miriam shares it all. She talks about the importance of curating authentic content as a social media personality and also stresses on being in touch with your most genuine self in order to achieve that.Miriam Abadi is an entrepreneur, influencer and editor. She is the Founder of Middle East’s first ever dedicated beauty and wellness platform Tru and Beyond. Miriam is on a mission to strip away boundaries, stereotypes and filters to unveil an exclusive new definition of beauty and wellness. With a massive following on Instagram, Miriam uses her influence to share authentic, real-life content that resonates with her audience. Known to speak openly about her pursuit of mental, physical and spiritual wellness, Miriam uses her social media channels to promote a mindset that places community and well being above all else. Listen to her episode, out now!

In this episode, Fatima Al Banawi talks about donning multiple hats as a creative visionary. From an actress to director and a profound storyteller, she has done it all. She dives deep into the challenges it required to make a mark for herself as a woman from the MENA region segwaying into a space like arts and entertainment. Fatima Al Banawi is an internationally acclaimed actress and storyteller whose starring role in the feature Barakah Meets Barakah, was foundational for Saudi cinema. She was selected by Time Magazine as part of its Young Generation Leaders List (2018) for her storytelling ventures that highlight the intimate tales of life in Saudi through her project The Other Story. Fatima was also selected as a jury member at the Feature Film Competition within the 11 edition of the Malmo Arab Film Festival. In addition to that, she has officially become the brand ambassador for the French luxury manufacturer Cartier International SNC.Listen to her inspiring episode, out now!