Digitali Speaking: Recent Episodes
Ali Sikandar
Ali Sikandar: As a child, I was fascinated by radio, and I always wanted to interview people and hear their stories. At the moment, and with the help of this podcast, I am grateful for the ability to engage in intellectual discussions with like-minded individuals who are equally enthusiastic when it comes to tech, mass communication, entrepreneurship, life lessons, and even philosophy. About the Podcast:It is an in-depth, lighthearted analysis of how technology is changing, social media's influence, and startup trends. Friends, colleagues, and entrepreneurs will be invited to share their stories, learnings, and suggestions so that they can be heard by the masses. Credits: Ali Sikandar, from A-Z.
This probably has been one of my favorite interviews. I honestly tried to trim it down to less than 15 minutes but was only able to subtract 7 minutes in total!
Nayef Al-Ibrahim is a civil engineer who graduated from Qatar University in 2009 and holds an MBA from the American University in the Emirates. An entrepreneur with a mission on making a positive impact in the education industry, especially when it comes to Arabic language digital technologies. He's also the founding partner and CEO at ibtechAR. An innovation consultancy and management firm that provides practical innovative solutions to institutions and businesses.
Anton and Sebastian, both co-founders at Nova+ are redefining the culture of Social Media Ad spend in the modern era. I mean, who wouldn't want their ad campaign to become the talk of the town, but with so much competition, what would make you stand apart from the rest! Tune in to find out more.
Thanks, Omar for walking us through your incredible multidiscipline journey from being an athlete to graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar (2014) to reviewing cars and finally opening up a full-scale marketing agency, Cosette ! Also, this was my first in-person recording, others were recorded remotely. You may hear some echo but ignore it.
The storytelling content in this episode is beyond amazing!
It was during my Executive Leadership Program at HEC Paris in Qatar that I first (virtually) met Prof. Guido. From the very beginning, I wanted to know more about what made him one of the best tutors that I have ever met!
For Reference: Prof. Guido Gianasso, PhD, is a Professor of leadership at HEC Paris in Qatar and a Leadership and Cultural Intelligence expert. Before moving to Qatar, he lived and worked in Singapore, Switzerland, Italy, India, Cuba, and the US. He teaches in English, French and Italian and is also fluent in Spanish and Romanian. I really hope you enjoy listening to his fascinating story!
It was during my Executive Leadership Program at HEC Paris in Qatar that I first (virtually) met Prof. Guido. From the very beginning, I wanted to know more about what made him one of the best tutors that I have ever met!
For Reference: Prof. Guido Gianasso, PhD, is a Professor of leadership at HEC Paris in Qatar and a Leadership and Cultural Intelligence expert. Before moving to Qatar, he lived and worked in Singapore, Switzerland, Italy, India, Cuba, and the US. He teaches in English, French and Italian and is also fluent in Spanish and Romanian. I really hope you enjoy listening to his fascinating story!
Thanks, Omar for walking us through your incredible multidiscipline journey from being an athlete to graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar (2014) to reviewing cars and finally opening up a full-scale marketing agency, Cosette ! Also, this was my first in-person recording, others were recorded remotely. You may hear some echo but ignore it.
The storytelling content in this episode is beyond amazing!
This probably has been one of my favorite interviews. I honestly tried to trim it down to less than 15 minutes but was only able to subtract 7 minutes in total!
Nayef Al-Ibrahim is a civil engineer who graduated from Qatar University in 2009 and holds an MBA from the American University in the Emirates. An entrepreneur with a mission on making a positive impact in the education industry, especially when it comes to Arabic language digital technologies. He's also the founding partner and CEO at ibtechAR. An innovation consultancy and management firm that provides practical innovative solutions to institutions and businesses.
Anton and Sebastian, both co-founders at Nova+ are redefining the culture of Social Media Ad spend in the modern era. I mean, who wouldn't want their ad campaign to become the talk of the town, but with so much competition, what would make you stand apart from the rest! Tune in to find out more.Β
Dana El-Ghazal works as a Senior Internal Communications Specialist and 360Β° Project Manager at Qatar Foundation. She recently de-activated all her Social Media accounts (no jokes) and that too for a very good reason that you will listen to in this Podcast. Here's a link to her article on QF's corporate website: https://www.qf.org.qa/stories/in-her-own-words-why-i-quit-social-media. An article that she wrote by herself. Enjoy listening to this thought-provoking human being!Β
Disclaimer:This episode is NOT meant to help you quit Social Media! In fact, all it asks you is to use it sensibly.
And here is a link to the Podcast that Dana was referring to:
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/dr-vivek-murthy-and-brene-on-loneliness-and-connection/
Hayfa Al-Abdulla is the Director of Innovation at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). QSTPβs reputation as a globally renowned technology development hub is evident in the many leading international technology companies and research centers that already call it home. Companies like MICROSOFT, SHELL, SIEMENS, SAP, THALES, and much more. It is also the very place where I shook hands with Richard Branson some years ago!
Meet your new robot chef, Oliver! A smart cooking robot/ recipe library/ meal planner, and an expert chef all in one. In this episode, I interviewed Khalid Abu Jassom, the mastermind behind this epic invention. He was also the first Qatari to win the prestigious Stars of Science title back in 2012. Listen to his super inspiring journey! More importantly, Pre-order your hands-off appliance that cooks delicious meals now!Β
Aside from a very unique intro that you will all experience in the episode :) I really enjoyed the other half of my conversation with Khalifa! We spoke about issues that a majority is facing with Instagram verifications, followed by MR. Q's journey to acquire Raqami TV which currently has over 2.3 million YouTube subscribers. Last but not the least, he talks about what made him start Store 974, Qatar's leading gaming store!Β
It's really hard to miss news from ILQ (iLoveQatar.net) on IG, FB & TW, especially if you're living in Qatar! In this special episode of Digit@li Speaking, I host Khalifa Al Haroon, the mastermind behind iLoveQatar.net, RaqamiTV, Qtips, Store974, etc.
Enjoy listening to our friendly neighborhood Qatari.
Jimand his awesome team over at Qatar Computing Research Institute(QCRI) have been working on creating a state of the art persona generating system since 2016! It's actually called the Automatic Persona Generator. APG is a tool for turning your data into personas. It works currently with YouTube Analytics, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Facebook Insights (if you have enough video content). The system pulls data from these sources and automatically generates user personas that represent your most engaged audience segments.
Read more over here: https://persona.qcri.org/about
Data loving geeks will love listening to this episode!
What a storyteller! Michael who is a graduate of HEC Paris in Qatar wants all of us to go cashless! He has been the face of Qatar's first-ever FinTech app called CWallet, and I just had to interview him to find out more about his passion project that is now making waves within Qatar. In theory, this app is where you can receive salaries, send money home, pay bills, buy groceries from your local store, access metro tickets. Just imagine, all of that in one single app at your fingertips. Download it from the respective app stores by typing Cwallet! To read more please visit this link.Β
Founded in the late 80's Qatar Scientific Club is a non-profit organization and offers training programs, workshops, and activities in a number of scientific and non-scientific fields. I had the honor of interviewing Abdul Rahman who serves as a Technical Director of this QSC. He is also a finalist of Stars of Science season 11. In case if you have an idea related to tech or looking for a place to experiment/ get your hands dirty, you should totally listen to this episode.
To know more about the product that got him into SOS finals, please visit: www.getsajdah.com
In this episode, Tamujin (Tamu) and I speak about the new normal, courtesy Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak situation since the beginning of 2020. He also walks us down the memory lane and gets really excited about the whole digital shebang. Enjoy this light-hearted episode between two friends who're equal nerds from the inside.
#DIDYOUKNOW:
Tamujin was the actual name of Genghis Khan, founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.Β
This episode has #NOSTALGIA written all over it! I thought it was important to share some background about my journey of being curious about technology ever since I was a kid, and how it transformed me into the person that I am today!
Youtube Link to the device that I was referring to (Speak and Read):
https://youtu.be/btrnJd7IbeM?t=7
The very first Website that I worked on with my classmate (Hani):
https://web.archive.org/web/20021014123102/http://trulyqatar.com/mpage.htm