Engineering the Future: Building AI-Powered Super Apps in the Middle East

From Silicon Valley to the Middle East, Mohamad has been at the forefront of shaping the future of AI-driven platforms. With a PhD from Stanford, senior roles at Facebook, and now as VP of Product, Data & AI at Careem, he’s helping build one of the region’s most ambitious AI-first super apps.

In this episode, we uncover:

• The evolution of Careem into an AI-first Everything App
• How to scale data, product, and engineering into a multi-service platform
• Lessons from navigating 90% revenue drops during COVID and transforming famine years into growth
• Real-world insights into GenAI, applied AI, and AI agents
• What the future of AI in MENAP looks like – from personalisation to robotics

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or tech leader, this episode gives you an insider’s view on building world-class AI platforms in one of the fastest-growing regions on the planet.

About the Guest

• VP of Product, Data & AI at Careem
• Former Senior Director across Mobility, Data, Platform & AI at Careem
• Ex-Facebook, leading Core ML for business integrity across Instagram, WhatsApp & Messenger
• PhD in Electrical Engineering (Stanford) + MBA (Berkeley Haas)
• Experienced in building & scaling high-performance tech teams across startups, Big Tech, and scale-ups

Chapters you won’t want to miss:

• Careem’s resilient, ambitious culture & super app journey
• The Hope Mission: lessons in leadership, alignment, and championship teams
• GenAI in practice: personalisation, optimisation & customer behaviour shifts
• The challenges of AI in MENAP: data, governance & infrastructure
• Future bets: Everything Agents, AI with memory, and the speed of thought software revolution

Don’t just watch this episode – be part of the conversation shaping the future of AI.