< PreviousCOVER STORY | 20 Vol. 24/04, April 2023 Hard work Founders and employees need to be okay spending 20 hours a day working in order to succeed, Abu-Sheikh believes $500M The capital received by Astra Tech last year to fund its next phase of growth you don’t want to hear, where every- body is smiling and everything is all rainbows and butterfl ies.” This, he believes, is “absolutely false,” and in a region where startups are booming – funding for MENA startups alone hit $3bn in 2022 – fi xing culture will be key to long-term sector success. “Most people know the story of Steve Jobs, he started Apple out of a garage, but what most people don’t know is that it was an extremely toxic culture at Apple when it started. Now it’s out and you can read about it. The same was true of Microsoft, the same is true of Netfl ix, the same was true of any innovation,” Abu-Sheikh says. This version of culture is what Abu-Sheikh references as “creative toxicity,” requiring an almost inhuman ambition to succeed, coupled with an extremely clear vision and highly driven employees. Founders and employees need to be okay “spending 20 hours a day working, they need to be okay working weekends, not taking holi- days for a few years at a time. They are okay with not being nice to people, and okay speaking in certain tones. That is how talent is cultivated.” For the Middle East, Abu-Sheikh’s message on success is clear: “We need to wrap our head around is the fact that it is hard work to succeed. It is toxic work, and its not very nice inventing.” Success cannot be achieved in a vacuum, and solving the talent equa- tion remains an important factor in the drive to growth. “Gold is forged by fi re, and so is talent. It’s not done in comfort, it’s done under absolute extreme pres- sure,” Abu-Sheikh says. Despite the comparisons between Abu-Sheikh and other tech titans, he says his real inspiration remains his father, who tragically passed away when he was a teenager. “If you’re a high performing indi- vidual it’s very difficult to balance between remaining human and the fi nancial machine. I think [my father] found a very good balance between creating value but doing it in a way where it’s very graceful and where a lot of people benefi t,” he explains. Understanding this is still a jour- ney that Abu-Sheikh is on, noting that, “the more I get into business, the more I understand that it is very diffi - cult to do and takes a lot of eff ort.” From shadow to success Today, Abu-Sheikh is a successful technology entrepreneur, launching, and exiting, several profi table busi- nesses which have created “billions of dollars of value for shareholders and hundreds of millions of dollars for people who have worked with us.” These fi rms include home clean- ing super app Rizek, UAE electric vehicle manufacturer Barq EV, and his latest company Astra Tech. Last year, the company received $500m in funding, and in January 2023 acquired Middle East internet calling platform BOTIM. However, Abu-Sheikh’s success was not always a given – he refers to himself as a “really bad student that didn’t do very well” while studying at a boarding school in Jordan. Abu-Sheikh’s father was himself a very successful entrepreneur, having started his own companies, and his experience growing up in his father’s shadow kept him “very sheltered.” After Abu-Sheikh’s father passed away, he was left with a sudden need to leave the shadow of his father’s success.arabianbusiness.com 21 | ABDALLAH ABU-SHEIKH App Astra Tech in January this year acquired Middle East internet calling platform BOTIM “It was all this responsibility coming in at once. There are moments like this in life that are a turning point, where you need to make a decision and rise up to the occasion or crack under the pressure because you have all this responsibility,” he explains. From a poor student, Abu-Sheikh turned his education around, deciding instead to go university. It was here he got his fi rst taste for business by started an operation focused on doing other student’s homework, an operation that he quips got one of his friends “caught.” Up next was fi ve years on renew- able energy in Africa, with a company he started building between $1.3-1.4bn worth of solar wind and waste projects on the continent in more than 14 countries. In 2018, during the height of a global renewable energy frenzy, Abu-Sheikh took the daring decision to exit the busi- ness – “a lot of people told me ‘You’re exiting too early, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table,’ but everybody that didn’t exit saw the crash.” Instead, after a profi table exit, he told himself that he was “retired and wasn’t going to work anymore,” but kept the door open with a venture investing business. “My investment thesis was very simple and stupid: It was invest $250,000 in anything, as long as I get access to the founder or whoever’s building the project. That led me to being invested in a lot of early-stage things, like AI, and a lot of big compa- nies, along with a lot of things that never saw the light of day,” he says. Unsurprisingly, this retirement lasted only six months because “I wanted to go back into building.” Rise of the ultra-platform Today, Abu-Sheikh’s attention remains in his forte – tech – but beyond what he refers to as the “last mile of technology.” In his view, the region will only build long-term success if businesses are able to capitalise on building the infrastructure behind technology, and not the front-end that consumers most often interact with. In one exam- ple, using a ride sharing platform, You can be relevant with your ideas, your thoughts, your creativity only for a very limited amount of time. You’re only the smartest person in the room for a very limited amount of time Abu-Sheikh explains that in the Middle East native ride sharing plat- forms exist, but that while this may be the “cherry on top, there’s a full cake being baked underneath.” Computing infrastructure, cloud infrastructure, programming infra- structure, and even the programming languages themselves, are all being made outside of the region and by external developers. Changing this dynamic is what led Abu-Sheikh to build his “ultra-plat- form” with Astra Tech. “An ultra-platform gives us a few things on the digital sovereignty side of things. It’s a platform that’s devel- oped in this part of the world, and is not somebody else’s solution that we’re trying to force on this side of the world. Localisation is a big advantage in developing technology,” he explains. “The other part is that an ultra-platform is built on the econom- ics of disintermediation. There are no middlemen that are trying to push margins on top of somebody else’s goods and services.” The smartest man in the room (for now) On the subject of legacy, Abu-Sheikh is quick to note that he realised from a very young age “that you only have a very limited time.” “You can be relevant with your ideas, your thoughts, your creativity only for a very limited amount of time. You’re only the smartest person in the room for a very limited amount of time,” he says. Especially in Abu-Sheikh’s chosen fi eld – technology – there are “new kids inventing things every other hour of the day.” “If you take that success, that momentary success that you have, and you invest it into other people, to empower them and enable them to do better than you have done, then you’re probably doing something right,” he says. 22 Vol. 24/04, April 2023 Arabian Business KSA Women Excellence Awards winners revealed in a glittering ceremonyarabianbusiness.com 23 The programme aims to honour inspiring and infl uential female leaders in Saudi Arabia O ver 150 attendees gathered to celebrate the inspirational winners of the Arabian Busi- ness KSA Women Excellence Awards on Monday March 20 at a glittering awards ceremony held at the fi ve-star Voco Riyadh Hotel in the Saudi capital. Now in its second year, the awards programme aims to celebrate the bril- liant female leaders who have shaped Saudi Arabia’s economy and recognise their substantial achievements. Over 100 nominations were received by the Arabian Business team but only 13 winners could be selected. Categories included a wide range of awards such as lifetime achievement, entrepreneurship, media and medical awards. The journey of women in Saudi Arabia continues to be an inspiring story for all, a spirit of entre- preneurship, innovation and excel- lence that evolves day by day. 24 Vol. 24/04, April 2023 Contributors The awards programme was launched in 2022, and aims to celebrate the brilliant female leaders who have shaped Saudi Arabia’s economy Empowerment The journey of women in Saudi Arabia continues to be an inspiring story for all – a spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation and excellence VIPs More than 150 attendees gathered to honour the winners of this year’s Arabian Business Awards in Riyadh Media wall KSE Women ExcellenceAwards 2023arabianbusiness.com 25 Support Business fi gures gathered to celebrate women from across Saudi Arabia that have excelled in their own ecosystem Female leadership It is wonderful to celebrate the phenomenal achievements of women in the kingdom over the past 12 months Rising stars Arabian Business’ editorial team received a record number of nominations across all categories – truly a demonstration of the remarkable speed at which industries in Saudi Arabia and its female business leaders have grown26 Vol. 24/04, April 2023 Gallery Success The Arabian Business KSA Women Excellence Awards 2023 hounoured the best and the brightest of the Saudi business community Business world Arabian Business believes no other place in the Middle East presents an entrepreneurial opportunity quite like Saudi Arabia Future leaders A key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda, building the kingdom’s bright, diversifi ed future will only be possible with the right people KSE Women ExcellenceAwards 2023arabianbusiness.com 27 Encouragement Haya Sawan, motivational speaker, founder and managing partner at SheFit Gym, shared a few thoughts with the audience Powering the kingdom Saudi Arabia’s fi nance sector is key in helping governments, businesses, and people unlock growth and achieve their aims Leader Majed Telmesani, executive director of ITP Media Group’s Saudi operations, delivered his speech Editorial head Matthew Amlôt, managing editor of Arabian Business, was on hand to celebrate women in the kingdom and their achievements28 Vol. 24/04, April 2023 The winners Logistics leader Business Person of the Year: Sue Donoghue, Arab Cluster CEO for DHL Global Forwarding Women empowerment Entrepreneur Person of the Year: Lujain Nassif, Programme Director for Flat6Labs Social media star Content Creator of the Year: Amy Roko The business of learning Education Person of the Year: Sahar Hamad Al Marzouki, founder, director, and owner of Al Faris Inter- national School (The award was received by a representative) KSE Women ExcellenceAwards 2023arabianbusiness.com 29 Aviation’s fi nest Inspirational Person of the Year: Hanan Badri, Chief People Offi cer at fl yadeal Aesthetics sector Cosmetology Person of the Year: Dr Iman Sadik Role model Inspirational Person of the Year: Dr. Maryam Ficociello, Chief Governance Offi cer from Red Sea Global Creating opportunities Finance Person of the Year: Latifa Alsarhan, Associate, Product Development, Asset Management for Alinma InvestmentNext >