In this episode of The MAL Show, we sit down with Armie Baghoumian, one of the leading voices in private credit and growth financing in the Middle East.

Most founders understand venture capital. Raise equity, give up ownership, and use the capital to grow. But what if there was another way?

We explore the world of business financing, venture debt, growth debt, and private credit—and uncover what actually makes a company fundable.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why some companies get funded while others get rejected
• What investors and lenders look for before providing capital
• The biggest mistakes founders make when raising money
• When debt can accelerate growth—and when it becomes dangerous
• How startups like Tabby, Bayzat, and Trukker used debt to scale
• The hidden rules of business financing
• Why banks reject many growing businesses
• Asset-backed lending vs. traditional business loans
• The future of private credit in the Middle East
• How founders should think about risk, leverage, and growth

Whether you're building a startup, running an SME, or simply want to understand how business financing really works, this conversation offers valuable insights into a side of entrepreneurship that most people never see.

Don't forget to subscribe for more conversations with founders, investors, operators, and business leaders shaping the future of the region.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
3:54 Growth Debt vs. Banks
7:07 Loans vs. Asset-Backed
14:43 Fintech Chicken-Egg Problem
19:22 Covenant Traps Explained
24:32 Advice for Equity Investors
28:15 Debt Literacy Evolution
31:52 Pricing & Term Sheets
36:22 Tenors & Case Studies
42:46 Multiple Lenders & Enforcement
50:09 Shariah Finance Explained
54:16 Stress Testing & Global Credit Risks
1:05:42 Retail & Wealth Bubble
1:08:39 Why PFG Is in the Region
1:13:27 Egypt & GCC Expansion
1:16:12 Cross-Cultural Business
1:18:30 Armineh's Career Path
1:24:51 Operators vs. Investors
1:27:30 14-Year Team Culture
1:29:43 Approaching PFG & Hiring

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

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To get in touch with Armie Baghoomian
https://www.linkedin.com/in/armineh-baghoomian-045262/

#TheMALShow #BusinessFunding #Entrepreneurship #StartupFunding #VentureDebt #PrivateCredit #BusinessGrowth #Startups #Finance #middleeastbusiness

In this episode of The MAL Show, we sit down with Jad Antoun, Founder and CEO of Huspy, one of the fastest-growing proptech companies in the Middle East and Europe.

We discuss entrepreneurship, risk-taking, fear of failure, building global companies from the Middle East, and the future of real estate in an increasingly uncertain world.

How do you know when it's time to leave a stable job and start a business? Why do so many people spend years thinking about entrepreneurship but never take action? What does it take to scale a company across multiple countries, raise capital, and build a high-performance team?

Jad shares the lessons he learned building Huspy from a startup launched during COVID into a company operating across international markets. We also explore leadership, company culture, AI, real estate, and the psychology behind life-changing financial decisions.

Topics discussed:

Entrepreneurship and risk-taking
Fear of failure and decision-making
Building a global company from the Middle East
Scaling teams and company culture
AI and the future of real estate
Dubai's property market
Fundraising and startup growth
Leadership and high-performance teams

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:24 Starting a Business During COVID
03:14 The Real Risk of Quitting Your Job
05:43 Lebanon's Entrepreneurial DNA
08:20 How SF Changed His Thinking
12:16 Middle East Needs Bigger Ambition
13:58 Why Huspy Went to Europe
16:01 Raise First or Expand First?
19:45 AI Won't Replace Brokers
22:03 Psychology of Buying a Home
25:41 Is Dubai Real Estate a Bubble?
26:58 Dubai's Value Prop in 5 Seconds
30:48 Launching 5 Cities in 60 Days
36:46 Who Huspy Hires & Why
47:17 Employee Secondaries Explained
51:21 Managing Cash & Runway
54:02 Risk vs. Paranoia as a Founder
56:49 How to Become a Broker
1:01:59 Where to Invest in Real Estate

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of business, technology, investing, and human behavior.

To get in touch with us:
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To get in touch with Jad Antoun
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jad-antoun-204/

#TheMALShow #JadAntoun #Huspy #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Business #RealEstate #Dubai #Technology

- Real estate has long been considered one of the most powerful ways to build wealth. But for most people, investing in property feels out of reach — requiring large amounts of capital, long-term commitments, and access to opportunities that are often reserved for a small group of investors.

In this episode of The MAL Show, we sit down with Rami Tabara, Co-Founder and CEO of Stake, to explore how technology is changing the way people invest in real estate and why the future of wealth creation may look very different from the past.

We discuss fractional real estate investing, tokenization, passive income, property ownership, investing psychology, the future of real estate in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and whether access to investments is becoming more important than ownership itself. We also explore how younger generations think about money, why real estate remains one of the world's largest asset classes, and how platforms like Stake are opening the market to millions of new investors.

In this episode:

- Can you really invest in real estate starting from AED 500?
- How does fractional property ownership actually work?
- Is real estate still the best way to build long-term wealth?
- Why are younger investors changing the investment landscape?
- What is tokenization and how could it transform ownership?
- Should you invest in real estate, stocks, crypto, or all three?
- How do you create a second source of income?
- Why are global investors increasingly attracted to Dubai and Saudi Arabia?
- What does the future of investing look like?

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications for more conversations about money, investing, business, and human behavior.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
3:04 Why Everyone Should Invest in Real Estate?
6:37 Real Estate Culture in the Middle East
10:02 Investing from 500 AED
13:58 SPV vs. Tokenization
21:35 Weekly Dividends Explained
26:02 Your Second Income
27:08 How Much Real Estate in Your Portfolio?
29:10 Launching During COVID
35:09 Real Estate Made Easy
38:25 Buying a Full Home Through Stake
40:54 Mubadala, Aramco & ENBD as Investors
42:24 Managing 1.2 Billion AED
51:31 Women Invest Better Than Men
53:19 Gen Z vs. Older Investors
1:00:14 Golden Visa Through Stake
1:05:42 Why Rami Started Stake
1:08:12 Own Dubai Property in 3 Minutes
1:17:31 Skills to Work at Stake
1:21:27 Message to Regulators

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

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To get in touch with Rami Tabbara
https://ae.linkedin.com/in/rami-tabbara

#RealEstate #Investing #Stake #Dubai #WealthBuilding #PassiveIncome #Finance #TheMALShow

What does financial freedom actually look like — and how do you get there?

In this episode of The Mal Show, Youssef sits down with Sherine Kabesh, founder of Flash, Egypt's leading financial wellness platform and Ex - Uber. Shireen brings rare honesty to the conversation — from the social challenges of being a woman in fintech, to how she walked away from a Dubai salary to build a startup, to her take on investing, data privacy, credit culture, and what it really means to be financially free.

If you've ever spent money to impress people, avoided saving because of what others might think, or wondered how to start building real financial wellness — this episode is for you.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel to get the latest episode of The Mal Show

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
1:06 Women in Fintech: The Real Challenges
4:23 Where Do Women in Finance Disappear To?
5:34 From Finance to Marketing — Numbers Are Everywhere
6:53 What Is Financial Wellness?
10:45 How Shireen De-Risked Before Starting Flash
13:23 Breaking Free From Social Pressure
14:10 Confidence Comes From Within
15:52 What Is Financial Freedom?
18:37 Ethics & Investing — Is the S&P 500 Halal?
22:00 How Flash Uses Your Financial Data
25:04 The Culture of Credit
29:54 Why You Should Trust QR Code Payments
32:26 Digitization Is Like Electricity
34:35 Uber, Safety & Moral Responsibility
36:46 One Step Towards Financial Freedom

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

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https://www.instagram.com/youssefsamysalem?hl=en

To get in touch with Sherine Kabesh
https://eg.linkedin.com/in/sherine-kabesh-9b385860

#TheMALShow #financialfreedom #Startup #Fintech #IslamicFinance #UAE #entrepreneurship #business

In this episode of The MAL Show, we sit down with Dr. Vishnu Katara — GM of SMEs at MAL, investor, operator, and former finance leader at companies like Flipkart, Noon, and Ola — to explore how AI, ethical finance, and SME banking could completely reshape the future of business.

We discuss why traditional banks continue to fail SMEs, why 90% of the economy is powered by small businesses while only a tiny percentage gets funded, and how AI-native banking could change underwriting, collections, payroll, and business operations forever.

Dr. Vishnu also explains how companies like Flipkart, Noon, and Ola competed against Western giants like Amazon and Uber — and won through local understanding, speed, and entrepreneurial culture.

The conversation also dives into:

The transformation of the UAE into a global business hub
Ethical and Sharia-compliant finance
AI agents replacing entire business functions
What founders actually need to raise capital
Angel investing and startup evaluation
Why learning and curiosity matter more than ever in the AI era
The mindset shift from employee to entrepreneur

This is a deep conversation about the future of finance, startups, technology, and building meaningful businesses in the Middle East and beyond.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more conversations on business, finance, technology, and culture.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:56 From Heavy Industry to Startups
5:05 Being Entrepreneurial Inside a Corporate
6:19 The Non-Unicorn to Unicorn Secret
8:06 Competing With Western Giants
11:22 Why the Middle East?
13:26 UAE as a Global Business Hub
15:38 From CFO to Running a Business Segment
17:23 The SME Funding Gap
18:26 Why Banks Fail SMEs
20:08 MAL's AI-Native Banking Vision
26:17 AI Agents Working for Your Business
29:44 Competing With Traditional Banks
36:48 Sharia Compliance & Ethical Finance
44:23 MAL's Hiring & AI-Driven Recruitment
49:51 The Obsession With Learning
53:49 Angel Investing: How to Start
1:06:36 Finance Career Advice: From CFO to CEO
1:17:42 Advice for Founders Raising Capital

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

Follow us on Social Media:
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/youssefsamysalem/?skipRedirect=true
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To get in touch with Dr. Vishnu Katara
https://ae.linkedin.com/in/vishnukatara

#TheMALShow #AI #SMEs #Startup #Fintech #IslamicFinance #UAE #Entrepreneurship #Business #ArtificialIntelligence #MiddleEast #MAL

In this episode of The MAL Show, we explore the world of private credit, SME financing, and alternative investments in the Middle East.

Why are startups and SMEs still massively underserved by traditional banks in MENA? Why does the region allocate only around 2% of financing to SMEs compared to nearly 28% globally? And why are private credit and alternative financing becoming one of the biggest emerging opportunities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia?

Our guest is Omar Alyawer, Partner and Chief Capital Formation Officer at Ruya Partners, with more than 25 years of experience across global firms including J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, and Man Group.

We discuss:
• The SME funding gap in the Gulf
• Why banks avoid startups and SMEs
• Private credit vs venture capital vs growth debt
• How returns of 15–18% are generated
• Direct lending vs sponsor-led deals
• The impact of mega projects on capital demand
• Sovereign wealth funds and institutional capital
• Why private credit is booming globally
• The future of alternative finance in MENA

This is a conversation about where money is really moving — and how the financial system is changing in the Gulf.

Subscribe to The MAL Show for more conversations on money, business, technology, and the human side of finance.

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

Follow us on Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/themal.show/
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https://www.instagram.com/youssefsamysalem?hl=en

To get in touch with Omar Al Yawer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/omaralyawer13/

#themalshow #islamicfinance #ai #podcast #fintech #shariafinance

In this episode of The MAL Show, we go beyond finance… and into the deeper forces shaping how we make decisions about money.

How much do your beliefs influence your financial choices?
Can a modern financial system truly align with faith and values?
And what happens when AI enters the equation?

We explore the intersection of faith, law, and innovation—and unpack what it really takes to build a financial system that is not only advanced… but principled.

Our guest is Dr. Angel Wesley—Chief Legal Officer at MAL, with over 20 years of experience in corporate and commercial law, and a graduate of Harvard Law School.

We discuss:

The real meaning of Sharia-compliant finance in today’s world
The legal and ethical challenges of building an AI-native bank
How culture shapes our relationship with money
Whether innovation can coexist with deeply held values
And what MAL is trying to build at a much bigger level

This is not just a conversation about finance.
It’s a conversation about belief, systems, and the future of money.

Powered by MAL
An AI-native financial platform rethinking money through the lens of ethics, values, and intelligent systems.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel to get the latest episodes of The MAL Show.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:45 Dr. Angel's Introduction to Islam
05:35 Does the West understand Islam?
14:04 The UAE culture
32:40 Joining Mal
35:29 How is Mal changing Islamic Finance?
39:09 Commercial Transactions in Islam
45:01 What does Ai Native mean?
53:07 The underserved demographic Mal is solving for
1:02:55 Ethical Banking?

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

Follow us on Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/themal.show/
https://www.tiktok.com/@themalshow.podcast
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566478614883

To get in touch with Yousef Salem
https://www.linkedin.com/in/youssefsamysalem/?skipRedirect=true
https://www.instagram.com/youssefsamysalem?hl=en

To get in touch with Dr. Angel Weslely
https://ae.linkedin.com/in/angel-wesley-abudhabi

#themalshow #islamicfinance #ai #podcast #fintech #shariafinance

In this episode of The MAL Show, we step beyond finance and into the deeper forces that shape how we think, believe, and act.

This conversation takes us on a journey through philosophy, religion, political economy, and civilizations—exploring ancient history, Islamic history, Egyptian history, and the roots of how societies form, evolve, and understand themselves over time.

Our guest is Roy Casagranda—an academic and lecturer known for his powerful ability to connect civilizations, belief systems, and historical moments into one coherent, thought-provoking perspective. Through years of teaching political science and history, he has developed a unique lens on power, meaning, and the evolution of human societies.

Together, we explore:

The roots of civilizations and why they rise and fall
The relationship between religion, philosophy, and power
How historical narratives shape modern societies
The search for meaning—and whether it can ever be fully understood
The deeper forces—seen and unseen—that continue to shape the world today

This is not just a conversation about history…
It’s a conversation about understanding the world—and our place in it.

Powered by MAL — the first AI-native Islamic digital financial platform.
https://www.mal.ai/

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel to get the latest episodes of The MAL Show.

To get in touch with us:
podcast@mal.ai

Follow us on Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/themal.show/
https://www.tiktok.com/@themalshow.podcast
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To get in touch with Yousef Salem
https://www.linkedin.com/in/youssefsamysalem/?skipRedirect=true
https://www.instagram.com/youssefsamysalem?hl=en

To get in touch with Dr. Roy Casagranda
https://www.instagram.com/roycasagranda/
https://www.youtube.com/@UCUGwVgtUewevtLvu7NaxVrw

#themalshow #history #economy #war #podcast