Author: Mohammed Abubakr

From Investor to Founder For Nurmukhammad Ismoilov, the origins of entrepreneurship did not begin with a startup idea. They began with years of investing, learning how markets work, and discovering that financial decisions are ultimately less forgiving than the stories people tell about them. After eight years in the market, one lesson stayed with him: narratives are cheap, but numbers decide whether an investment actually works. That mindset would eventually shape Akinda, a fintech platform designed to help Muslim investors determine whether companies are Shariah-compliant and, importantly, understand the reasoning behind those decisions. But Akinda did not begin as a…

From Frontier AI Research to Building CreativAI’s “SQL Layer” for the Physical World For most of his career, Mohamed Elhoseiny (Founder & CEO of CreativeAI) lived at the frontier of artificial intelligence research. His journey took him through KAUST, Stanford, Meta FAIR, and Adobe, giving him a rare view of AI from both sides: as a researcher pushing the boundaries of what machines could understand and as an engineer watching those technologies move into products used by billions of people. But somewhere along that journey, a different question began to emerge—one that would eventually lead him away from research papers and…

Entrepreneurship often begins with identifying a gap in the market. For Dheema Fakir, however, it began with identifying a gap in her own life. Long before Taskin became one of the Maldives’ fastest-growing digital platforms, it was born out of personal hardship, career setbacks, and a determination to create the support system she wished had existed when she needed it most. Today, Taskin is helping reshape how Maldivians connect with work, talent, and opportunity. But its story is far more than that of a freelancer marketplace. It is the story of a founder who transformed some of life’s most difficult…

There is a tendency to associate great technology companies with great technology ecosystems. Silicon Valley gave birth to Apple and Google. Shenzhen became synonymous with hardware innovation. Geography, we often assume, shapes entrepreneurship. Haroon Azizi’s story challenges that assumption. From Afghanistan—a country more frequently associated with conflict than innovation—Haroon has quietly built a portfolio of technology products serving learners, creators, freelancers, and businesses. His companies may not yet be household names globally, but they represent something much larger than individual startups. They demonstrate that innovation is not determined by geography, infrastructure, or even access to capital. It begins with a…

Luxury brands have always sold more than products. A Hermès bag is not merely leather. A Rolex is not simply a watch. Ferrari does not compete on horsepower alone. The world’s most successful luxury brands sell identity, aspiration, history, and belonging long before they sell craftsmanship. Yet despite a global Muslim population exceeding two billion people and an Islamic economy worth trillions of dollars, there are remarkably few internationally recognized luxury brands that genuinely reflect Muslim identity. For Mohamed Mohamed, Founder and CEO of CASA d’ORIENTE, that gap represents one of the greatest untapped opportunities within the global Islamic economy.…

For centuries, seeking Islamic guidance was never supposed to be complicated. A Muslim facing a difficult marriage, struggling with anxiety, or seeking clarity on a religious matter could simply sit with a trusted scholar, ask questions privately, and leave with both knowledge and reassurance. Somewhere along the way, that relationship quietly disappeared. Today, millions of Muslims—particularly those living outside traditional Muslim societies—find themselves navigating life’s biggest decisions through search engines, anonymous online forums, social media influencers, or increasingly, artificial intelligence. The information available has never been greater, yet trusted guidance has arguably never been harder to access. It was this…

Every successful entrepreneur has a story about failure. Some speak about products that never found customers. Others recall investors who walked away, partnerships that collapsed, or markets that simply weren’t ready. Yet very few founders willingly admit they built four companies before finally discovering what they were truly meant to create. For Ehab Mustapha, failure wasn’t a detour—it was preparation. Long before founding SixTwentyTwo (622), Canada’s first Muslim-focused technology accelerator, Ehab launched four different startups. None of them survived. One secured funding but never evolved into a sustainable business. Another was derailed by the global disruption caused by COVID-19. A…

Curiosity, Conviction, and the Birth of a Bigger Vision In the race to build the next generation of artificial intelligence, most startups are focused on helping developers write code faster. Every few weeks, a new AI coding assistant promises to generate applications, automate programming tasks, or accelerate software development. But while much of the industry competes to create more code, Ishraq Khan is solving a problem that receives far less attention—maintaining the billions of lines of software that already power the modern world. As the Founder and CEO of Kodezi, Ishraq believes the future of software engineering will not be…

Why Omar Al Zabir Walked Away from Big Tech to Protect Muslim Families Online Every technological revolution creates extraordinary opportunities, but it also exposes society to new challenges. The internet has connected billions of people, democratized knowledge, and transformed the way humanity communicates. Yet beneath those remarkable achievements lies a darker reality—one where children are exposed to harmful content at increasingly younger ages, families struggle to navigate digital dangers, and algorithms often prioritize engagement over human wellbeing. For Omar Al Zabir, these were not abstract problems discussed in research papers or news headlines. They were realities he confronted every single…

Turning a Personal Story into a Purpose-Driven Startup For Adeel Syed, Founder and CEO of BiteBuddy.ai, entrepreneurship has always been about solving real-world problems. Having built his first website at the age of 14, Adeel has spent nearly three decades in web development, digital architecture, and artificial intelligence. His entrepreneurial journey includes two previous startups backed by renowned accelerators Y Combinator and Techstars, experiences that sharpened both his technical expertise and leadership. Yet the inspiration behind BiteBuddy.ai came from something much closer to home. Growing up, Adeel watched his father struggle to keep his restaurant afloat amid staff shortages and…