Howdy Arabia

Meet the young Gaza-raised US-based Palestinian activist, hip-hop artist, influencer, entrepreneur: Marwan AbdelHamid AKA Saint Levant

Host Imad Shawa and Marwan talk about Palestinian rights, Israel's ethnic Apartheid, anti-semitism, right of return, Gaza resilience, lobbying in America, connecting diasporas, Tik Tok and making music.  The interview was recorded from a March 18th 2021 ClubHouse room entitled "Does Palestine have a branding problem?" 

Here's the episode breakdown of topics: 

00:00 to 00:48  Sample from "Jerusalem Freestyle" written & performed by Marwan

00:49 to 03:48  Imad's introduction 

03:49 to 17:07  Activism for Palestine, echo chambers and narratives

17:08 to 26:00  The smear of Anti-Semitism to silence Palestinian human rights activists

26:01 to 36:11  Knowledge is power, so is economics, connectivity and the need to understand the oppressor 

36:12 to 38:33  Jewish supremacy and the right of return 

38:34 to 43:50  Resilient Gaza: Israel's scapegoat  

43:51 to 01:04:27  Lobbying in America, and leveraging the Diaspora

01:04:28 to 01:12:30  Grow Home, connecting people and solving problems in Palestine and other diasporas 

01:12:31 to 01:19:00  Tik Tok and Hip Hop: new tools of influence

You can catch Marwan Abdelhamid as Saint Levant on TikTok, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube. 

This episode is sponsored by Mlabbas.com, the leading print-on-demand apparel & accessories provider in the Middle East.

About the Host:  Imad Shawa is the founder of Mlabbas, a print-on-demand apparel & accessories business in Amman.  Imad is a Chevening Scholar with an MA in Near East Studies and Islamic Law from the University of London, SOAS. He also holds a BSc in Finance and International Business from NYU. He is a left-leaning politics buff who is obsessed with social justice issues such as Palestinian rights, and Arab women's rights to pass on their citizenship across the Arab world. 

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A bright spot in America's bloated healthcare system.  CEO and co-founder Faris Ghawi sat with Imad Shawa back in January at Mlabbas studios on Rainbow street in Amman to explain the quiet revolution that's taking place in Medicare cost cutting and beyond. 

Faris is heading up a wildly successful American health care company called Vitalyze Health, which makes a fortune by transforming healthcare delivery to senior patients, not by charging their clients, but by sharing the savings their value-based care achieves.

Medical costs for most of the 60 million American seniors are paid for by Medicare, a government program.  To alleviate some of that burden, the government has been offering private healthcare providers and ACOs like Vytalize a financial incentive to improve outcomes and lower costs.

So Faris and his team have taken on that challenge with incredible results.  Vytalize Health is projected to be a billion dollar player in healthcare very soon.

And what’s equally exciting is this alignment of goals & incentives potentially revolutionizing not only healthcare, but also other critical human endeavors as well.

You can reach Faris at faris.ghawi@vytalizehealth.com 

This episode is sponsored by Mlabbas.com, the leading print-on-demand apparel & accessories provider in the Middle East.

About the Host:  Imad Shawa is the founder & CEO of Mlabbas, a  print-on-demand apparel & accessories business.  Prior to that he worked in corporate banking at Arab Bank in London, and as an underwriter at Hartford Insurance in New York.  Imad is a Chevening Scholar with an MA in Near East Studies and Islamic Law from the University of London, SOAS. He also holds a BSc in Finance and International Business from New York University's Stern Business School.  His interests are politics, technology and graphic design.

Follow Howdy Arabia:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howdyarabia

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/howdyarabia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howdyarabia

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/49119733/admin/

Ghassan Halazon is the CEO & founder of Emerge Commerce, a diversified, rapidly growing acquirer and operator of niche e-commerce brands across North America,  with a market cap of $135 million after only a month of listing on the Toronto exchange (TSXV: ECOM). 

Ghassan speaks to Imad Shawa about the mantra and approach of EMerge, the profile of target acquisitions, employee equity, and the mental toll of being an entrepreneur and CEO. 

Ghassan Halazon is a Jordanian-Canadian technology and e-commerce entrepreneur, born and raised in Amman, Jordan. He attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and holds an MBA from Georgetown University.  Halazon worked with Citigroup as an investment banker in New York before founding TeamBuy, Canada's first group buying marketplace, in 2009. 

Follow Ghassan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghassan-halazon/  

This episode is sponsored by Mlabbas.com, the leading print-on-demand apparel & accessories provider in the Middle East. 

About the Host:  Imad Shawa is the founder & CEO of Mlabbas, a  print-on-demand apparel & accessories business.  Prior to that he worked in corporate banking at Arab Bank in London, and as an underwriter at Hartford Insurance in New York.  Imad is a Chevening Scholar with an MA in Near East Studies and Islamic Law from the University of London, SOAS. He also holds a BSc in Finance and International Business from New York University's Stern Business School.  His interests are politics, technology and graphic design.  

Follow Howdy Arabia:  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howdyarabia​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/howdyarabia

​Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howdyarabia

​Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/49119733/admin/

The absence of political party maturity and political freedom is an ailment that infects most of the Arab world.  In Jordan virtually no one is a serious member of any political party, and the vast majority of elections and voting is based on tribal relationships rather than policy.  Enter the "Maan List" in 2016. 

Kais Khalil Zayadin is a young lawyer who jumped into politics and became an elected member of Jordan's parliament since 2016.  But the platform he and his colleague Khaled Ramadan ran on was brazenly secular and liberal.  So it was a shock to most (except Kais) that they won 2 seats amongst a sea of conservative & religious MPs.  

Kais discusses his platform's tenets: Equality, Social Justice, Civil State Democracy, Citizenship and Rule of Law.  These headers sound generic, but for Jordanian politics if you act on these values in a literal sense, you're ahead of the pack and in a league of your own. 

Why are Jordan and its Arab league nations politically underdeveloped? How has this weakness effected policy making and reforms across all sectors?  And is there a path forward?

Follow Kais on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/kais.zayadin

Follow Maan Political Platform:

https://www.facebook.com/MaanList/

Grim but not too grim. Small, but not out.  If you have any vested interest in Jordan you'll want to hear this casual & candid discussion about the economic landscape in Jordan, between host Imad Shawa & guest Fawaz Ghanem.

Jordan is a poor post colonial nation with little natural resources to speak of, and a workforce by-in-large either in the informal economy or the public sector.  Despite its public health and education sectors in long-term decline, the country remains stable politically, in contrast to most of its Arab peers.  Thanks to the stabilizing efforts of both the internal affairs apparatus, and robust foreign relations.

Ad hoc successes of entrepreneurial ventures and startups have placed Jordan on the business map in the region. However most real value has been leveraged through accessing foreign markets.

Fawaz Ghanem walks us through the reasons behind Jordan's current economic situation, which is not all doom & gloom.

Fawaz has over 20 years of investment banking experience between the US and the Middle East, including IPO’s, Bond Issuances, M&A transactions, Privatizations, Restructurings and Private Placements.  His investment banking career started at UBS in New York, and and in 2007 Mr. Ghanem founded Ithmar Invest which became a leading regional private investment banking firm.

Imad and Fawaz both earned degrees from NYU's Stern School of Business.  And they both happen to have attended one of Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within events.

Please follow the Howdy Arabia podcast on Twitter & Instagram & Youtube @HowdyArabia

Online network gaming can be considered a winner in the Covid era.  And perhaps the most well positioned player in the Arab world is Jawaker.  Co-founder and CEO Mohamad Haj Hasan talks about the culture inside his company and what his time in the US (at MIT and Stanford) taught him about organization mindset.   We also discuss what tech companies do with data and their different approaches to revenue channels. 

Mohamad sat with Imad Shawa in Amman for over 2 hours.  This condensed version of the talk is brought to you by Mlabbas.  Get your custom printed shirts and accessories from www.mlabbas.com and have it delivered anywhere in the world. 

Howdy Arabia is on Twitter & Instagram & Youtube @HowdyArabia

Today Sachir Ajlouni gives an intense food addiction program for obese people, and the waiting list is in the hundreds. But just a few years ago he was lost and powerless against his own food addiction. For 32 years he was fighting the wrong thing, and resorted to every trick humanly possible to get thin.  His stories are both hilarious and horrific.

Based between Tampa, Florida and Amman, Jordan, Sachir has moved his course online due to Covid, and is able to take on more people. Just e-mail his team at hello@aglonrecovery.com

Sachir sat with Imad Shawa in Amman in September for a 3 hour interview.  This is the condensed version, courtesy of our sponsor Mlabbas. Get your custom printed shirts and accessories from www.Mlabbas.com and have it delivered anywhere in the world.

Howdy Arabia is on Twitter & Instagram & Youtube @HowdyArabia

Kyan Foundation, launched in July 2020, is dedicated to unfolding and uplifting the essence of humanity with a special focus on Education, Parenting and Self Mastery.  It's the culmination of 4 Jordanian women's life's work.      Imad Shawa sat with 3 co-founders Yasi bint Asem, Noor bint Asem and Zein Nimri to get a feel for the foundation's work and focus.

Kyan Foundation is on Instagram: @kyan_foundation and was founded by Sarah Bint Asem, Yasmine bint Asem, Noor bint Asem and Zein Nimri.

Follow Howdy Arabia on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: @HowdyArabia

Imad Shawa is also on Twitter: @imadshawa

Known online as Shusmo, social media consultant Khaled ElAhmad talks about Facebook privacy, TikTok, and decades spent in the deep south before coming to Jordan.  His book "Shusmo" is about the journey of building his personal brand and is a great guide on harnessing social media. Khaled joins Imad Shawa to reminisce about America, Arab culture and the future of social media.

Imad Shawa spoke to Functional Medicine Nutritionist Zein Nimri about diets, meditation, addiction, Hungry Ghosts, and how mindfulness is the cure for our destructive eating habits. 

Are we equipped to face & tame negative emotions?  Amman-based psychotherapist Rania Atalla breaks down the emotional regulation technique that works: RAINS which stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Non-Judgment / unmet Need, and finally Surf the emotion!

Whether it's fear, guilt, shame or anger, mastering the RAINS technique re-wires our brain to take back control of our emotions and how we react to them.  Hosted by Imad Shawa.   

Imad Shawa sat with restaurateur and Endeavor entrepreneur Omar Tabbaa of Eat Restaurant Group to discuss his venture into "Delivery Kitchens" or cloud kitchens, and how the restaurant industry should pivot to survive & thrive during the Covid pandemic.

Imad Shawa speaks to Nabil Tarazi of EcoHotels.me and Jordan's renowned eco-tourism jewel: Feynan Ecolodge.  How can tourism come back? What is the scale of the devastation on the sector globally and in Jordan?    Recorded on Easter Sunday under extreme Corona lock-down, Amman, Jordan.

Hadi is an Arab-American cardiologist in Manhattan who's been working Covid-care at his hospital.  What's the future of health care in America after this?  And how is his old home town of Amman, Jordan faring during Corona?