Ibrahim Manna is the Founder and CEO of BRKZ, a Saudi construction tech startup built to address inefficiencies in construction procurement: fragmented supply chains, manual processes, and cash flow gaps faced by contractors and factories. Before founding BRKZ, Ibrahim spent eight years at Careem as one of the core architects of its expansion, launching 11 out of 15 markets ahead of the company's $3.1 billion acquisition by Uber in 2019. BRKZ has raised over $50 million in equity and debt financing, and serves 850+ contractors across major giga-projects including NEOM, King Salman Park, and Red Sea.

He joins the podcast to discuss how buying a house during the pandemic revealed a broken industry, why Saudi's 7-8 layer supply chain creates massive inefficiency, what Careem taught him about building culture and empowering operators as founders, and how BRKZ is using technology to work with — not against — entrenched contractor behaviours.

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Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction to Ibrahim Manana and BRKZ
04:02 – Ibrahim's Early Entrepreneurial Endeavours
07:35 – Lessons from Kareem
11:11 – Challenges in Market Expansion
22:37 – Leadership and Culture at Careem
26:23 – Navigating Legal and Operational Hurdles
28:59 – Stories from Iraq
32:16 – Launching and Learning from Careem Cash
34:58 – Transition to BRKZ
36:27 – Identifying Gaps in the Construction Industry
40:21 – Challenges and Innovations in Construction
47:09 – The AI Story
51:09 – Building Relationships and Customer Trust
58:12 – Regional Tech Ecosystem and Entrepreneurship
01:01:24 – Future Prospects and Final Thoughts

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Transcript:

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