This week we reunited with one of our favorite podcast guests from 2020, Fatafeat founder and overall renaissance man, Youssef El Deeb. Having met last summer just as The Lighthouse reopened post-lockdown, Hashem and Youssef formed a bond over chocolate cake, books and a shared nostalgia for Egypt’s ancien regime. In this episode, the tables were turned with Youssef playing host and Hashem as the guest in the hot seat. Through Youssef’s thoughtfully penned questions, Hashem talked about his childhood in 80’s Cairo and the journey from becoming one of the only Egyptian traders working on the trading floor during the Wall Street era of 1990s in New York, to planting the idea of a concept store cum restaurant and establishing The Lighthouse in 2017.
This week, we’re joined by Vilma Jurkute, Director at Alserkal who shares her experience in developing Alserkal Avenue as the leading arts & culture district in the region. She chronicles its evolution from a marble factory owned by the Alserkal family to a collection of art and design galleries, artists’ studios and other independent ventures, visited by over 600,000 people annually. Vilma reflects on why they take risks on entrepreneurs, what binds the space together and how they all support each other. Finally, she shares Alserkal’s plans to expand online and continue building its platform including its digital arm, Folio by Alserkal. ...
Is there a recipe for building a loyal following? Helen Farmer’s work combines effective storytelling and just enough vulnerability to resonate with her audience of radio listeners and tens of thousands of Instagram followers. As one of Dubai’s most popular radio hosts and author of “The Mothership” blog, Helen amassed an audience who both relate and aspire to her “mompreneur” experience and defer to her in terms of recommendations on Dubai expat living. But how does _the_ Helen Farmer of [Afternoons with Helen](https://www.dubaieye1038.com/on-air/afternoons-with-helen-farmer/) balance her influencer activities including commitments to her ever growing list of marketing sponsors, her radio job, and spending quality time with her young family? She may say there’s no strategy, but the action plan seems firmly in place and she generously shares the building blocks with Hashem in our first guest episode of 2021. ...
This week, we're talking to Patrick Rogers whose latest venture, Clara, attempts to solve entrepreneurship legal pain-points by combining human expertise with techonology. And as someone who advises startups a lot, Patrick also shared his insights on common pitfalls entrepreneurs should watch for when setting up their companies. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love to hear from you. You can leave us a review in Apple Podcasts, find us on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thelighthouse_ae), or drop us an email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). We'll be back on January 15 with a new episode, so until then, happy holidays! ...
