The Global Startup Movement

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 6 of 6 - In the sixth and final episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into how ecosystem builders in the region can better engage their diaspora and incentivize talented expats to move to the region to start and invest in startups. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 5 of 6 - In the fifth episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into the different types of capital available to entrepreneurs in the MENA region. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 4 of 6 - In the fourth episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz dives into the Israel and UAE economic normalization, what it means for the country's startup ecosystems, and how tech can be a force for connection between Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Jews. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 3 of 6 - In the third episode of our 6 week community activation, host Andrew Berkowitz hands the mic over to Joy Ajlouny, the Cofounder of Fetchr in Dubai and Viola Llewelyn, the Cofounder of Ovamba Solutions in Cameroon for a candid discussion on what it's like being a woman leader building a tech scaleup in the Gulf region and in Africa. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 2 of 6 - In the second episode of our 6 week community activation, we tell the inside stories of the entrepreneurs laying down the foundation for the payments, logistics, and artificial intelligence industries in the region. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 1 of 6 - In the first episode of our 6 week community activation, we tell the inside stories of Yahoo's acquisition of Maktoob.com, Amazon's acquisition of Souq, and dive into how technology inspired the Arab Spring uprising. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

Ecosystem Arabia - Episode 1 of 6 - In the first episode of our 6 week community activation, we tell the inside stories of Yahoo's acquisition of Maktoob.com, Amazon's acquisition of Souq, and dive into how technology inspired the Arab Spring uprising. This community activation is an interactive digital gathering of the Middle East and North African startup ecosystems it consists of a 6 episode podcast mini-series and a 6 week live-streamed startup pitch competition, which will both culminate in an interactive virtual summit on February 16th. Register for the virtual summit at https://hopin.com/events/ecosystem-arabia-virtual-summit Interact with the podcast and pitch competition by registering your email https://www.ecosystemarabia.tv A special thanks to our presenting partner The Export-Import Bank of the United States. As the global middle class grows and technology makes the world smaller, opportunities have never been greater for American businesses to reach customers beyond U.S. border. EXIM provides federal resources to access capital and mitigate foreign risk. And no business is too small. Let EXIM help you export fearlessly to the MENA region and beyond. Visit exim.gov/mena to learn more.

The Global Startup Movement is launching the Ecosystem Arabia mini-series on January 5th, 2021. With this mini-series, we will dive into key themes and topics relevant in the Middle East and North Africa startup ecosystems through key industry stakeholders in an engaging, narrative-driven format. In addition to a weekly podcast, we will broadcast Pitch MENA Live! on The Global Startup Movement's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn channels. This will be a live pitch competition featuring 16 MENA startups competing to win the opportunity to pitch a panel of MENA sharks. We will end the 6 week series with a gathering of the audience for an interactive virtual summit to engage in breakout sessions, attend engaging panel discussions, and watch the 2 finalists of Pitch MENA Live! pitch to a panel of sharks for an investment in their startup. Register your email at https://ecosystemarabia.tv to reserve your spot at the virtual summit!

David Casey catalyzes ecosystems to engineer systemic change and has co-founded four companies and helped scale another to 8 digits revenue. His work has centered around movement-building, and leveraging blockchain technology for socioeconomic transformation. His current focus is redirecting flows of capital towards the regenerative economy of 2100, and addressing the tragedy of the commons inherent in the 21st century transnational economy. He has spoken publicly in over 20 countries on the future of work & living, sustainable development, decentralization and blockchain technology. He is the co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of NuMundo, a platform that connects people and impact centers (land-based projects for regenerative living), encouraging resource sharing on the web and on the ground to catalyze planetary regeneration and individual transformation. Among other things, David is also the founder and co-producer of Cosmic Convergence, an annual gathering of art, music, tribal technology, education for conscious living, and Maya culture on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. David successfully bridges the worlds of technology startups, permaculture, international development, and retreat and festival production. On this episode you'll learn: What is mutual credit? [12:15] How does the concept of decentralized mutual credit differ at a local, national, and international level? [14:08] How does mutual credit fit into the boarder decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem? [17:30]

Kago Kagichiri is the Global Head of Innovation for Sokowatch a tech company that revolutionizes access to essential goods and services by connecting small shops to the digital economy. It enables informal retailers to order products at any time via SMS ormobile app, and receive free same-day delivery to their store. This makes it easier for shopkeepers to source goods and helps manufacturers ensure that their products are consistently available to consumers. He was previously the cofounder of Eneza Education, a learning platform supporting millions of 10-25 year olds, because I believe that young people are denied opportunities to leverage their technical skills, hunger to learn, their lack of bias and natural desire to change the world.  Kago has dedicated his life to implementing solutions that automate solutions to people's problems at scale, especially for those will little or no prior technical skill. I've focused on plug-and-play solutions around "legacy" but extremely familiar technologies like SMS/USSD and Voice. On this episode you'll learn: The story of Kago's departure from Eneza and his journey to connecting with Daniel Yu from Sokowatch. [2:50] What are the key problems Africa's SMEs face that the Sokowatch platform solves? [9:05] A dive into market sizes in East and West Africa. [16:01]

Aviv Shalgi is the CEO of energy tech startup, Solar Simplified, a platform that matches renters and homeowners who care about the environment and want to save money on the electricity bill with local solar farms.  For 6+ years I've been a Board Member, Mentor and Advisor for multiple startups and not-for-profit organizations. He previously led Dormigo’s business and corporate development efforts (until its acquisition), driving organic and inorganic growth, and was responsible for partnerships, alliances and bringing innovation to the real estate and hospitality industries. He served for 4 years as in IDF’s Visual Intelligence Corps (9900, Israel’s “Eyes in the sky”) as a Captain, where I founded a unique cross-branches innovation team, earning the Major-General of Intelligence Corps award for Creative Thinking, and trained 100+ trainees in satellite operations. On this episode you'll learn: 1. What technologies and public policies have advanced over the past decade that has allowed for the introduction of new business models in solar? [3:35] 2. What is Community Solar? [8:22] 3. What can we realistically expect from solar power generation in the 2020's [16:12]

Nicolas Brien is the CEO of France Digitale, the largest startup lobbying organization in Europe, with 1,500 startups and 100 VCs as its members, as well as the newly appointed President of the European Startup Network, a common voice for European startups composed of 24 national startup associations from across Europe. He previously was the Director of Studies of Kantar-TNS Sofres (WPP) and a senior advisor to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the Spokeswoman of the French Government. On this episode you'll learn: Why the European Startup Network released an official call for a Buy European Tech act, to allow federal governments to favor domestic startups in their public procurement process. When did global tech companies like Google and Facebook start to be associated with negative geopolitical consequences amongst European countries? How does the lack of M&A culture amongst European corporations get changed to provide more exit options within the local startup ecosystems across the continent?

Inbal Arieli is a founder of Synthesis, a global leadership assessment rm, and author of Chutzpah: Why Israel Is a Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Born in Israel and raised on hummus and chutzpah, Arieli fostered her entrepreneurial skills during her mandatory military service, serving as lieutenant in unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence corps. After completing her military duties, and for the past twenty years, she embraced leading executive roles in the flourishing Israeli tech sector and has founded a series of programs for innovators, where she currently holds board seats. Arieli holds an LL.B. Law, B.A in Economics and an MBA, all from Tel Aviv University. A force to be reckoned with, she was featured as one of the 100 most influential people in Israeli tech and as one of the top 100 tech business women speakers in the world. She lives in Tel Aviv with her spouse and their three sons.

Inbal Arieli is a founder of Synthesis, a global leadership assessment rm, and author of Chutzpah: Why Israel Is a Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Born in Israel and raised on hummus and chutzpah, Arieli fostered her entrepreneurial skills during her mandatory military service, serving as lieutenant in unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence corps. After completing her military duties, and for the past twenty years, she embraced leading executive roles in the flourishing Israeli tech sector and has founded a series of programs for innovators, where she currently holds board seats. Arieli holds an LL.B. Law, B.A in Economics and an MBA, all from Tel Aviv University. A force to be reckoned with, she was featured as one of the 100 most influential people in Israeli tech and as one of the top 100 tech business women speakers in the world. She lives in Tel Aviv with her spouse and their three sons.

Host Andrew Berkowitz highlights the 5 digital nomad visas that are available from Caribbean countries as we head into Winter.

Justin Bannon, CEO and Co-founder of Boson Protocol, a decentralized infrastructure connecting smart contracts to real world commerce and its data. Boson Protocol aims to change the world of commerce by enabling enterprises, organizations, and customers to bridge the divide between digital decentralized technologies and the transfer and trade of physical goods. Creating the de facto infrastructure to achieve this with minimized arbitration, cost, and trust, Boson Protocol is taking eCommerce to the next level with use cases including; loyalty and rewards, crypto exchanges, games, and tokenized networks amongst others.  Leading the charge at Boson Protocol is serial entrepreneur Justin Banon. Justin previously spearheaded the Travel Experiences Division of Collinson, where he managed a group of global loyalty rewards platforms including LoungeKey, Mastercard Airport Experiences, and Priority Pass — the latter of which he scaled twenty-fold from $50m to $1bn per annum revenue during his tenure.  On this episode you'll learn: 1. How does arbitration work on a decentralized protocol? [5:23] 2. How can small crypto and blockchain to take on giant corporations? [13:31] 3. Which is currently the bigger challenge for DeFi startups, the technical challenge or the user adoption challenge? [18:33]

In 2021, The GSM will transition away from our weekly flagship episode to a recurring mini-series format. Our first mini-series, Ecosystem Arabia, will launch in January 2021 and feature stories, candid insights, and conversation with some of the MENA region's leading startup ecosystem stakeholders. On this episode we go back 3 years to revisit one of our first podcast mini-series, breaking down the pillars that make up a thriving startup ecosystem.

Tsolmondorj Natsagdorj is the Cofounder and CEO of YungBet is a blockchain decentralized social gaming platform that provides a secure, reliable, borderless ecosystem. He was born in Mongolian. and grew up in the US, while a student at George Mason he started Tokenplay, a blockchain gaming distribution platform in 2017 that was acquired within a year for $2.4M. He then traveled back to Ulaandbaatar, Mongolia where he helped to build up the nascent blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem there and now advises multiple Mongolian startups and ecosystem stakeholders. On this episode you'll learn: Does the Mongolian consist of mostly expats and foreign tech companies or are there more local entrepreneurs getting traction? What traditional sectors are the biggest in Mongolia that should be the target of innovators and disruptors? Does Mongolia present a fertile landscape for cryptocurrency and blockchain entrepreneurs?

Jeroen Corthout is the co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, a simply powerful CRM that automates data to build better relationships and make more sales. It's a fast, visual and easy-to-use sales machine. Salesflare is the most popular CRM ever on both Product Hunt and AppSumo. It also got featured on TechCrunch and Entrepreneur.com. Prior to Salesflare, Jeroen was helping companies to implement their new CRM, marketing and sales. Jeroen is also a founder of Doctura that works with tech startups and healthcare companies and fuses modern technology with new ways of doing business. On this episode you'll learn: 1. In what ways has the Belgium startup ecosystem evolved over the past couple years? [5:35] 2. What policies implemented by the European Commission have been truly helpful in creating a unified European market for startups to expand across? [14:50] 3. In it's current form, what is the biggest weakness in the Belgium ecosystem? [19:01]

Host Andrew Berkowitz covers 4 key macro trends that have been greatly accelerated by COVID-19 in 2020 and are opening up new and exciting opportunities in the global startup ecosystem.