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Mudassir Sheikha and his colleague Magnus Olsson left McKinsey in 2012 to start Careem with the mission to simplify and improve the lives of people in the Middle East. Today, the company is the largest ride-hailing company in the Middle East and operates in more than 100 cities across 13 countries. The spectacular rise of the company resulted in the creation of more than one million jobs and many millionaire employees. The company was acquired by Uber in January 2020 for $3.1 billion, making it the most successful startup in Middle East history and the region’s only “unicorn.”

On November 17, 2020 empowerME at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a discussion moderated by CNBC Reporter & Anchor Hadley Gamble with Careem Co-Founder & CEO Mudassir Sheikha about his path to success and ways to boost entrepreneurship and innovation in the region. Longtime regional venture investor and empowerME Director Amjad Ahmad joined the conversation to reflect on how to build a more productive entrepreneurial ecosystem to create more unicorns.

Read key takeaways

MENASource

Nov 18, 2020

Mudassir Sheikha and Amjad Ahmad on how to create more “unicorns” in the Middle East

By Allison Holle

Atlantic Council’s empowerME initiative hosted Careem Co-Founder & CEO Mudassir Sheikha and empowerME Director and venture capital veteran Amjad Ahmad for a conversation about Sheikha’s path to success and strategies for building a more productive entrepreneurial ecosystem to create more unicorns in the Middle East. Below are the key takeaways from the discussion moderated by CNBC Reporter & Anchor Hadley Gamble.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

Featuring

Mudassir Sheikha
Co-Founder & CEO
Careem

Amjad Ahmad
Director, empowerME, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
Atlantic Council

Moderated by

Hadley Gamble
Anchor and Reporter
CNBC

Welcome remarks by

Frederick Kempe
President and CEO
Atlantic Council

Elections 2020 Oct 29, 2020

Middle East business leaders provide perspective on the economic impact of the upcoming US presidential election

In an empowerME survey conducted in the last thirty days, thirty-two Middle East business leaders shared their views on the possible economic impact of the 2020 US Presidential election. Atlantic Council experts Kirsten Fontenrose, Amjad Ahmad, Mohsin Khan, and Jean-Francois Seznec analyzed the data and provided the following key takeaways.

Education Elections

MENASource Oct 26, 2020

Qatar Development Bank CEO: The “blockade didn’t stop us from growing” and “prepared us for other shocks” like COVID-19

By Stefanie Hausheer Ali

On October 26, 2020, empowerME hosted Qatar Development Bank CEO Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al Khalifa for a conversation about Qatar’s efforts to boost entrepreneurship, diversify its economy, increase women’s economic participation, and prepare youth for the jobs of the future.

Coronavirus Economy & Business

MENASource Sep 21, 2020

The Middle East is a growing marketplace, not just a war zone

By Amjad Ahmad

The region is vast and complex, and outsiders who do not fully understand its nations or peoples overlook the nuances of the nearly twenty countries that make up the Middle East.

Entrepreneurship Middle East