40 episodes

The Startups Without Borders Podcast is a business interview show that uncovers the unspoken lessons of some of the world’s most audacious risk-takers: migrant entrepreneurs.

Each week, we will dig into the different aspects and mindset behind building a startup, as told by industry leaders, brave change makers and bold disruptors with one thing in common: they are refugees and migrants.

From the Middle East, to Europe and beyond, the show will focus on concrete, tangible strategies and tactics for entrepreneurs, from productivity tips, to business hacks, to industry insights, as told through the inspiring journey of entrepreneurs on the move.

The show is hosted by Valentina Primo, an Argentine journalist and the founder of Startups Without Borders, who spent 6 years in Egypt interviewing startup founders across the Middle East, and fell in love with the relentless, unstoppable spirit of its entrepreneurs. Valentina previously launched Startup Scene Middle East, Egypt’s largest English-language publication on the entrepreneurial landscape, and has covered stories for international outlets, including BBC Business.

Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
Music: Funky Music ( Vlog Music ) by Dj Quads https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/7y1mi7ggtt0

Startups Without Borders Podcast Startups Without Borders

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 4 Ratings

The Startups Without Borders Podcast is a business interview show that uncovers the unspoken lessons of some of the world’s most audacious risk-takers: migrant entrepreneurs.

Each week, we will dig into the different aspects and mindset behind building a startup, as told by industry leaders, brave change makers and bold disruptors with one thing in common: they are refugees and migrants.

From the Middle East, to Europe and beyond, the show will focus on concrete, tangible strategies and tactics for entrepreneurs, from productivity tips, to business hacks, to industry insights, as told through the inspiring journey of entrepreneurs on the move.

The show is hosted by Valentina Primo, an Argentine journalist and the founder of Startups Without Borders, who spent 6 years in Egypt interviewing startup founders across the Middle East, and fell in love with the relentless, unstoppable spirit of its entrepreneurs. Valentina previously launched Startup Scene Middle East, Egypt’s largest English-language publication on the entrepreneurial landscape, and has covered stories for international outlets, including BBC Business.

Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
Music: Funky Music ( Vlog Music ) by Dj Quads https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/7y1mi7ggtt0

    42. How I Became a Startup Founder, Refugee, and Norwegian Woman of the Year, all at Once

    42. How I Became a Startup Founder, Refugee, and Norwegian Woman of the Year, all at Once

    Maria Amelie is the co-founder of Factiverse, an AI-startup that automates fact-checking and research with AI and NLP, which recently raised 1 million euro in private and soft funding.

    Maria, who had to leave her home country of Russia in 2002, became the center of a political controversy when she was arrested after a speaking engagement and denied asylum, only a year after she was awarded “Norwegian of the Year.”

    Her first book, which came out in 2010, led to a huge debate on refugees and contributed to a change in Norway’s immigration law. Since then, she has written five books on immigration, freedom of speech, and entrepreneurship and became Best Startup Journalist for her articles on growing innovation ecosystems in the Nordics.

    She is on the board of Startup Migrants, a company she co-founded in 2018 with an aim to help cities build inclusive startup ecosystems.

    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.

    Dj Quads: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads https://twitter.com/DjQuads https://www.instagram.com/djquads https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...
    Music from Soundcloud Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 33 min
    41. I was fired and started my own business: This is how I took the leap of faith, with Bibi de Vetter

    41. I was fired and started my own business: This is how I took the leap of faith, with Bibi de Vetter

    Born and raised in Cameroon, Bibi de Vetter has been based in The Netherlands for over 17 years. As the founder of Startup Investments, she hosts private events to help early-stage startups raise capital and to find the resources they need to achieve their full potential.

    Bibi's life took a turn when she was let go of her corporate job. But instead of letting that event become an obstacle, she decided to take the risk and start her own business.

    In this intimate conversation, Bibi shares the mindset that helped her see every ostacle as an opportunity.


    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.
    Dj Quads: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads https://twitter.com/DjQuads

    https://www.instagram.com/djquads https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...
    Music from Soundcloud Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 28 min
    40. From the US Senate to IBM, here's how I made change happen - with Rana Novack

    40. From the US Senate to IBM, here's how I made change happen - with Rana Novack

    Rana is a Syrian American advocate for refugees and civilians in conflict, and the solution owner of IBM’s Refugee & Migration Predictive Analytics Solution -- a first-of-a-kind solution, leveraging machine learning and cognitive computing to enable Government agencies and humanitarian aid organizations to better manage refugee and migration crises.

    She’s been published in the Wall Street Journal, WIRED magazine, and her work has been cited by Yale University and the Foreign Policy Initiative.

    In a very intimate conversation, Rana shares her tireless journey to support Syrian refugees, from the US Senate to IBM, and how she learned to get resourceful when all doors seemed to shut down in front of her.

    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.
    Dj Quads: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads https://twitter.com/DjQuads

    https://www.instagram.com/djquads https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...
    Music from Soundcloud Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 33 min
    38. Navigating the Startup VISA across 5 countries - How I started a business in Europe with 5 Euros

    38. Navigating the Startup VISA across 5 countries - How I started a business in Europe with 5 Euros

    Born in Peru, Luis Daniel Maldonado comes from multicultural family origins, in fact, there is Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Nordic and Slavic blood running through his veins!

    Driven by the need to find his own place and culture while at the same time valuing his ancestors, he moved to the Netherlands in 2016. He engaged in Multidisciplinary archeology expeditions and began researching ancient civilizations, until eventually developing a new mathematical system and method for algorithm design.

    Navigating the VISA, he started businesses in 7 different countries with minimum capital, including a company he founded in Finland with only 5 Euros.

    Today. Luis runs Matrix-Q Games, a Gamified School for entrepreneurs, and a startups program that offers startups holistic and inclusive systems based in nature.

    Listen to his powerful story and gear up to learn.

    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.
    Dj Quads: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads https://twitter.com/DjQuads

    https://www.instagram.com/djquads https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...
    Music from Soundcloud Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 35 min
    36. From a refugee camp, to breaking financials borders, from Afghanistan to Ukraine

    36. From a refugee camp, to breaking financials borders, from Afghanistan to Ukraine

    Today, I wanted to share one of the top panels from our last Startups Without Borders Summit, which took place in Cairo Business Park last February.

    In this fascinating conversation, Tey Alrjula, Founder of Fluus Finance, shares how blockchain inspired him to change the ID system through this revolutionary technology.

    After raising 1.5 million and exiting, he is now on a mission to help places where the system can’t reach through startup FLUUS, which empowers people to operate in war-torn regions, from Afghanistan, to Gaza, to Ukraine.

    Gear up to listen to a story as inspiring as it can get.

    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    JOIN OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY: https://startupswb.com/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.
    Dj Quads:
    https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads
    https://twitter.com/DjQuads
    https://www.instagram.com/djquads
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...

    Music from Soundcloud
    Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 44 min
    35. How I Created an AI Community in the Midst of War, with Hassan Dayoub

    35. How I Created an AI Community in the Midst of War, with Hassan Dayoub

    Today, we speak to Hasan Dayoub, an award winning entrepreneur, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning engineer who is obsessed with changing the world.

    Having reached over 20,000 people with his AI Club in Syria, Hassan went on to build FutureLaby, a startup that uses Augmented Reality to help dentistry students.

    In this episode, Hassan shares the story of how he stepped up to lead a group of developers to train, empower, and raise the bar of AI in the Arab world, while his country was undergoing dramatic conflict.

    READ THE SHOW NOTES ON WWW.STARTUPSWB.COM

    FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/

    JOIN OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY: https://startupswb.com/

    Photo Credit: Ahmed Najeeb.
    Song by: Funky Music, by Dj Quads.
    Dj Quads:
    https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads
    https://twitter.com/DjQuads
    https://www.instagram.com/djquads
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusF...

    Music from Soundcloud
    Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/lNrAAAb2JvI

    • 28 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
4 Ratings

4 Ratings

Aitohamy ,

Very Inspiring

very inspiring podcast, gets me to think of how to start my business in a new country

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