Category: 3-SometimeTechTalk

Tom McConnell, Practice Area Director for Business and Digital Transformation at LMI joins Breaking the Huddle to explore how LMI has evolved its role in supporting government agencies by unlocking efficiencies in government processes, enabling agencies to better engage stakeholders and optimize internal operations. We also discuss LMI’s "Magnify" approach—an extensible human-centered design framework—and the organization's forward-thinking vision for the future of government technology.

Today, we are releasing another episode in our series entitled Minting Unicorns - Blockchain, AI and Dubai, sponsored by the City of Dubai. 

Dubai is the new global center of gravity, connecting the world in a way few places can. As a hub for trade, tourism, innovation, and finance, Dubai offers the ideal environment for startups and scale-ups to thrive. Entrepreneurs find a home here, whether in health-tech, fintech, AI, or renewable energy, supported by SME-focused programs that empower high-potential companies to scale globally. From flexible regulations to tax incentives, world-class infrastructure to access to global investors managing $1 trillion, Dubai understands what businesses need to scale fast. 

In this episode, we are excited to speak with Imad Gharzeddine, the visionary CEO and Co-Founder of Mamo, a pioneering fintech platform simplifying payments and empowering businesses in the MENA region.

• Questions: 

1. Tell us and our audience a little bit about yourself and the journey that led you to founding Mamo.
2. What is Mamo, and what specific problem are you solving in the fintech space?
3. Mamo is often described as a company simplifying payments for businesses and individuals in the region. What inspired this mission, and how has the journey been so far?
4. What fundamental principles guided the creation of the product, and how has it evolved over time?
5. Why did you choose Dubai as the base for Mamo? What advantages does the city offer to startups in the fintech space?
6. What opportunities have you capitalized on that you believe are unique to Dubai or the MENA region?
7. Mamo is known for promoting financial inclusion. How do your products and services cater to underserved communities in the region?"
8. How does Mamo incorporate cutting-edge technologies, like AI or blockchain, into its offerings to stay ahead of the curve?
9. As a leader, what’s your approach to building a strong and innovative team at Mamo?
10. What lessons have you learned as a CEO scaling a fintech startup in such a competitive and rapidly evolving market?
11. With Dubai emerging as a fintech hub, where do you see the industry heading in the next decade?
12. What advice would you give to fintech startups or entrepreneurs looking to expand into Dubai or the broader MENA region?

Links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/imadgharazeddine/
• https://www.mamopay.com/
• https://blockchaincenter.ae/
• https://dubaiaicampus.com/
• https://www.difc.ae/ 
• https://www.investindubai.gov.ae/en/why-dubai/d33-agenda

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Evan Ratliff is the host of Shell Game. Ratliff joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how he cloned his voice with AI and sent it to interviews, social calls, and therapy. In this conversation, we learn about why he conducted the experiment and what it portends for the future of voice AI. Tune in for a lively discussion with plenty of fun anecdotes from when Ratliff send his AI voice clone out into the wild.

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Simmi Singh grew up in Australia, when her parents migrated from India. She studied law and finance at university, and then went into investment banking during some tumultuous times. Eventually, she got interested in tech, and worked for teams at Intuit, Saavn, and Spotify, during the times of the Anchor acquisition and launching features around video podcasts. Outside of tech, she is married with 2 kids. She loves to travel, watch movies, and to do craft projects, as building is a key theme in her life.

While Simmi was at Spotify, a prior colleague of hers approached her about a product he was building. When she heard the details of what was being built, she felt that it was the culmination of all of our professional experiences and she had to jump on board.

This is the creation story of Hook Music.

Sponsors

• Rapyd Cloud
• Speakeasy
• QA Wolf
• SnapTrade

Links

• https://hookmusic.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/singhsimmi/

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Our Sponsors:
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Speakeasy builds API tooling for developers.

Find Sagar on LinkedIn. 

Kudos to Stack Overflow user Bergi, who earned a Lifeboat badge with an exemplary answer to What is the Universal Module Definition (UMD)?.

Verkada is a cloud-based video security company. 

Back in the innocent days of 2021, we spoke with a company that makes smart dashcams. See how far video and image processing has come. 

Congrats to Reg for earning a Lifeboat badge for their answer on What is the difference between JSP and Spring?

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) New data showing ChatGPT's impressive growth since mid-2024 2) Was ChatGPT voice mode responsible? 3) How important ChatGPT's growth is for OpenAI 4) How seriously DeepSeek challenged ChatGPT's traffic numbers 5) Does brand matter or are bots interchangeable? 6) OpenAI does the Reddit AMA 7) Experimenting with OpenAI's Deep Research 8) Why AI reasoning methods contain so much promise 9) New Gemini releases 10) Weird Gemini naming conventions 11) Big Technology in New York Times' Klarna story 12) Are the AI Super Bowl ads a good idea?

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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.

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Episode Overview: This episode features a relaxed, peer-to-peer conversation between two media entrepreneurs—African Tech Roundup co-founder and executive producer Andile Masuku, and Money & Moves founder and writer Tinashe Mukogo. They explore how Mukogo draws on his background in consulting (Deloitte), corporate venture capital (Next47), and organisational finance (Siemens), along with his CA and INSEAD MBA credentials, to deliver sophisticated yet accessible analysis of African businesses. What starts as an origin story and a look into his approach to business journalism expands into a deep dive on turning media assets into sustainable businesses. Mukogo and Masuku explore strategic considerations, revenue model challenges, and innovation opportunities in building independent media ventures that balance public interest with commercial viability. Key topics: - Leveraging corporate experience for credible financial analysis - Strategic approaches to finding and maintaining "blue ocean" market positions - The geography advantage: How distance can aid editorial independence - Business model innovation in African media markets - Building personal brands alongside institutional credibility - The role of independent media in developing investment ecosystems Notable points: 1. How geographic distance from Zimbabwe enables more objective coverage of major corporations 2. The limitations of traditional advertising models when covering potential advertisers 3. The strategic value of building long-term credibility before monetisation 4. Why individual voices often carry more trust than institutional media 5. The "billionaire model" and its implications for editorial independence Listen in for an unfiltered discussion between two media entrepreneurs on the practical challenges and strategic opportunities in building independent financial media properties in African markets.

Joel Krooswyk, Federal Chief Technology Officer at GitLab joins the show to discuss some of his predictions for the Federal government this year including his thoughts on the proliferation of Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), AI in software development, and the renewed focus that agencies will place on cloud technology. We also discuss his thoughts on compliance as a strategic enabler and why DevSecOps will continue to grow in popularity.