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Tales of the Trade

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On our season finale, Tatiana Antontelli shared how she's been adapting her social entreprise, Goumbook, to handle the impact of the lockdowns and the pandemic. On this bonus episode, Tatiana shares her thoughts about the impact of sanitization and re-emergence of single-use plastic in light of the various guidelines put in place around the world. Thank you for joining us on this season of Tales of the Trade, and see you in 2021! Credits Hosted & Produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Pooja Sagar. Original Music by Reiner Erlings. Review us on Apple Podcasts • IMDb • Podchaser￼

BONUS: Tatiana Antonelli

Goumbook was the UAE's earliest social entreprise helping promote sustainable practices since 2010. So pull up a chair & join our conversation with Tatiana Antonelli, founder of Goumbook, and how she is facilitating her business into the new world order and why 2020 could become a remarkable opportunity for entrepreneurs to step up. We'll be back with a new season in 2021. See you then! Credits Hosted & Produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Pooja Sagar, Abhishek Venkatasubramanian & Zainab Ujjaini. Original Music by Reiner Erlings. Review us on Apple Podcasts • IMDb • Podchaser￼

Goumbook: Tatiana Antonelli

Pull up a chair & join the conversation with students Yusuf Zia & Rayan Malik about their journey as student entrepreneurs and the launch of a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship platform out of the UAE. Credits Hosted & Produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Pooja Sagar, Abhishek Venkatasubramanian & Zainab Ujjaini. Original Music by Reiner Erlings. Review us on Apple Podcasts • IMDb • Podchaser￼

Thynk: Rayan Malik & Yusuf Zia

A decade strong, Sugaholic started out from humble beginnings and is now a name synonymous with celebrations and events in the city. So pull up a chair & join the conversation with Ravisha Bhatia, about how they met the lockdown challenges head-on. Credits Hosted & Produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian & Zainab Ujjaini. Original Music by Reiner Erlings. Review us on Apple Podcasts • IMDb • Podchaser

Sugaholic Bakeshop: Ravisha Bhatia

As Dubai braced for a full lockdown in March 2020, two finance execs-turned-entrepreneurs met with their staff and announced their decision to close operations ahead of the official lockdown announcement. Pull up a chair & join the conversation with Hashem Montasser, co-founder of The Lighthouse.

The Lighthouse: Hashem Montasser

Chirag Desai is joined by Season one guest Arva Ahmed, Chief Executive Muncher at Frying Pan Adventures, who shares how her business is dealing with impact of the pandemic and how she's been coping--both personally and professionally with its impacts. Pull up a chair & join the conversation on the season premiere of Tales of the Trade. Credits This episode was hosted by Chirag Desai, with production support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings. Review us on Apple Podcasts • IMDb • Podchaser

Frying Pan Adventures: Arva Ahmed

A new season on how companies--and the people behind them--are coping as we exit the various lockdowns in place due to the global pandemic. Join host Chirag Desai as he chats with a couple of former guests and partners, starting September 22.

Season 4 begins September 22

Over a decade ago, a young man left behind his masters program to move to the UAE. It didn't take long for him to spot an opportunity to branch out on his own and today--as much as he hates the term--can only be defined as a serial entrepreneur. Pull up a chair & join our season finale with Samer Hamadeh, founder of Aegis Hospitality & the man behind some of Dubai's iconic venues such as Republique, Stereo Arcade & Akiba Dori. Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

Aegis Hospitality: Samer Hamadeh

Building a successful technology platform and a business model that is sutainabile is hard enough; doing that without a technology background in a part of the world not exactly conducive to the gig economy requires a steely determination. So pull up a chair & join our conversation with Loulou Khazen, founder of Nabbesh. Additionally, in these trying times, we ask that you support your local businesses. On behalf of Courtyard Playhouse, one of the companies we featured in season 1 desparately needs to raise funds to keep the lights on until the precautionary measures are lifted. You'll find more details on the episode and a link below to donate. We hope you'll consider even a small amount to help them out. Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

Nabbesh: Loulou Khazen

On a special bonus episode, how Arafaat's eventual career has roots in his childhood, and what happened to those two girls who served as a catalyst to getting it all started? Arafaat Ali Khan co-founded the Middle East Film & Comic Con in Dubai. You can find the full episode in your podcast player, or on the web. Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

BONUS: Arafaat Ali Khan (Middle East Film & Comic Con)

In the late 2000s, halfway across the world from the premiere event in the pop culture scene--the San Diego Comic Con--a young man couldn’t understand why the Middle East didn’t have one of these mega events for the aficionados of comic books & pop culture. Pull up a chair & join our conversation with Arafaat Ali Khan, co-founder of the Middle East Film & Comic Con Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

Middle East Film & Comic Con: Arafaat Ali Khan

Just as the smartphone was revolutionizing the camera industry post-2007, a young expat was leaving behind his career as a brand marketer to become a photojournalist. Pull up a chair & join our conversation with Mohamed Somji, Director of Gulf Photo Plus & Founder, Seeing Things Photography. Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

Gulf Photo Plus & Seeing Things: Mohamed Somji

Understanding how to scale your business--whether adding employees, opening a new branch, or even looking at funding--is really hard to do day-to-day. And when you've operated in a single-store model for over a decade, how do you go about changing gears towards a growth-oriented business? Pull up a chair & join our conversation with Sima Barazi Haroun, founder of Boom & Mellow. Credits Hosted & produced by Chirag Desai. With support from Abhishek Venkatasubramanian, Sukayna Kazmi & Zainab Ujjaini. Original music composed by Reiner Erlings.

Boom & Mellow: Sima Barazi Haroun

On a special bonus episode, how Mohammed Al Balooshi's first injury as a motorcross rider truely showcases how his connection with dirt biking was different from any other sport he had played. Mohammed Al Balooshi is the founder of the MX-Academy in Dubai. You can find the full episode in your podcast player, or on the web.

BONUS: Mohammed Al Balooshi (MX-Academy)

Tales of the Trade features Dubai’s pioneers & the stories behind the ideas they brought to life. Each episode highlights the challenges & triumps of the enterpreneurial journey & a legacy in the making. Our summer mini-season is available now.

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Tales of the Trade

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