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#89 Refugee to CEO w/ Ali Zaydan
68 Plays2 months ago
Originally from the suburbs of Tripoli, Lebanon. Ali was raised in a catholic french school. He received a scholarship at the age of 16 to be an exchange student in the US, and with that he widened his dreams, ambitions and drive.
Ali was a refugee several times from 2005 until 2014, the first being after the Israeli invasion, the second time in 2012 after the Outbreak of ISIS and then he decided to leave Lebanon in 2015.
He moved to UAE after finishing his MBA from the Lebanese American University and started working in the Sales department with P&G and within one year, he moved to Nestle UAE. Fast Forward to six years later and he is the Strategic National Key Account Manager, managing portfolios with sales that ranged from 10 to 90M USD/year, with a team ranging from 4 to 68 people.
Ali wanted to embrace Innovation and entrepreneurship after an 8 years experience in corporate, so he decided to come to Canada and do his masters in innovation at Queens University.
Ali Zaydan is currently the CEO and co-founder of Drivisa.
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Transcript
Ali Zaidan's Journey from Refugee to CEO
00:00:32
Find A Way Podcast
Welcome everyone, and today our guest is Ali Zaidan, Episode 89, Refugee to CEO. Originally from the suburb it of Tripoli, Lebanon, Ali was raised in a Catholic French school. He received a scholarship at the age of 16 to be an exchange student in the US, and with that, he widened his dreams, ambition, and drive.
00:00:54
Find A Way Podcast
Ali was a refugee several times from 2005 until 2014, the first being after the Israeli invasion, the second time in 2012 after the outbreak of ISIS, and then he decided to leave Lebanon in 2015.
Professional Growth in Sales and Co-Founding Drive Visa
00:01:09
Find A Way Podcast
He moved to the UAE after finishing his MBA from the Lebanese American University and started working in the sales department with Procter & Gamble, within and within a year, he moved to Nestle.
00:01:21
Find A Way Podcast
Fast forward to six years later, and he is the Strategic National Key Account Manager managing portfolios with sales that ranged from 10 million to $90 million dollars a year, with a team ranging from four to 68 people.
00:01:35
Find A Way Podcast
Ali wanted to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship. After an eight years experience in corporate, he decided to come to Canada and do his master's in innovation at Queen's University. Ali Zaidin is the co-founder and CEO of Drive Visa.
00:01:50
Ali Zaydan
but
00:01:50
Find A Way Podcast
Welcome, Ali.
00:01:54
Ali Zaydan
oippeo How are you all doing? A little bit. Practice a little bit my Portuguese before coming up today.
00:02:03
Ingrid
We love that love of that.
00:02:03
Find A Way Podcast
I love that.
00:02:04
Ingrid
And again, like you have such a wealth of knowledge and experience, but I just want to start off giving you the space to talk about your business. Tell us more about your visa.
Innovating Driving Education with Drive Visa
00:02:14
Ali Zaydan
um So drive visa is a combination in between Calendly, Uber and a driving school. You can add Airbnb if you want to. um we We technically just streamlined the process for people who want to get their driver's license from going into the brick and mortars and having to go and sit down and wait and be assigned to someone and picking up phone calls and adding things to their agenda.
00:02:40
Ali Zaydan
All the way to just digitalizing the entire process, which is what we do. With us, you cut down those two to three weeks process for you to start with your first lesson to technically five minutes. We have certified driving instructors. They are available. you have the ah You're empowered. You have the agency to actually choose which one you want to take. You can check the reviews, the cars they drive, the languages they speak.
00:03:04
Ali Zaydan
the experience they've had and how many years they've been in the business and their attitude as well before you go ahead and you book them. um We offer backup and drop-off services over and above all of that. ah We're not, we're at the same price as everyone else. We can't afford that because we have a very small tiny office as you see. We don't need to have big brick and mortar capital investments And yeah, we we started in Kingston. Now we're in Ottawa. We're in Belleville. We're around this Rideau or this entire canal that we have from here to Ottawa. And we're looking to expand, hopefully, to take over all of Ontario.
00:03:45
Find A Way Podcast
This is so exciting and I love the combination pieces that you said. It's a little bit of this
Influences on Ali's Business Philosophy
00:03:50
Find A Way Podcast
and that. So um as a CEO of DriveVisa and you know having a clear mission and vision behind the company and having also a very diverse background, you've been through so much in life. So how did that background drive the innovation to the field that you are acting now? So how are you leveraging your background and your experience to this business that you just created recently?
00:04:16
Ali Zaydan
um When it comes to leveraging background, I'm going to use the background that I've had in Lebanon and the one and the experience that I've had in the UAE and try to combine them. ah Lebanese people are people who are very much Service and this is this can be bad a lot of times but in the same time there's service focused and service oriented it's very hard for you to go to a restaurant or to ask for any service and for it not to be a class a service this is what we want so um i'm i'm used to that and i think this should be available.
00:04:51
Ali Zaydan
The Lebanese were one of the first people who actually started building proper services in the UAE. So the entire mentality, be it in Dubai or Abu Dhabi when it comes over and above, of course, the Arab hospitality that they already have.
00:05:03
Ali Zaydan
there. ah But adding over and above all of that, the Lebanese factor, and it made the services industry in the UAE, something that honestly, I've never seen before. and I've only visited 10 plus countries. So don't get me wrong. I'm not my wife did 60, 70 countries. But in the same time, um I love that. And I take it for granted, I'm paying money, I deserve to be serviced. So when I came here, and I saw the entire um Status goal, which is, yeah, it's fine for you to wait three or four weeks for someone to contact you. Yeah, it's fine for you to be assigned to someone you've never heard of or don't know anything about. Why? I'm paying you money. um And I deserve to take that. So taking both of those have made it, it's a hallmark. It's paramount for us when it comes to to to providing the service and to set the expectations that, hey, man,
00:05:58
Ali Zaydan
You're paying money. You deserve to know what you are paying for. And this is the aspect that we have added in Drive Visa, which is unfortunately unavailable in most of the other institutions or certified institutions that can provide driving education services or education in general.
00:06:16
Ingrid
I love that. And I think it's so important to bring again, innovation to an industry that might felt stale, which is the kind of things like, well, why is no one doing this? And again, I think that even though we're talking about like, you know, our public is like 25 plus people, there's also the factor of like, even immigrants, when we move here, most of us do have to take the driving school again and driving past again, because lot for a lot of countries, there's no like matching.
00:06:37
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:06:41
Ingrid
For some countries, you can just give your license, but like Japan, it can give your license here and get a license. I can need a license, but for Brazilians and other countries, you actually have to do it all over again when you're older, right? Which is like and with different rules and
00:06:51
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
Challenges and Cultural Influences
00:06:53
Ingrid
all that.
00:06:53
Ingrid
So I think we all can agree that it would be much easier to do that process with, you know, technology and able to choose who you're going to do it with. I've heard horror stories about driving teachers and like ah the driving people and all that.
00:07:07
Ingrid
So I can understand that. So your industry has taken you across multiple countries and through some intense and about challenging experiences.
00:07:10
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:07:17
Ingrid
Can you tell us about growing up in the suburbs of Lebanon and, you know, attending the catholic Catholic French school? Like, how did that shape your views and ambitions, you know?
00:07:28
Ali Zaydan
um as ah as cringy as this sounds but we do have a very diverse community and a very small place like like Lebanon can be a street in a lot of ah definitely in Brazil it's even less than a street in terms of size in terms of population we're only about four or five millions but the fact that you compact all of those diverse people not only religions but also backgrounds and ethnicities and cultures into a very small piece of land you take it for granted and so yeah I'm used to it for example my family's background is not ah fully from one religion we're diverse and not only from several religions so we have we have specific sects also within the the family we have people from different nationalities and different backgrounds
00:08:21
Ali Zaydan
within, again, a very small piece of land. So you're used to that. And honestly, other than being very disciplined in French Catholic schools, ah the thing that I am realizing now, which is very important, is the fact that It it gave me, although I hated it when I was young, but it did give me a gate for me to understand the entire Latin linguistics. And from that, I've developed so many things, be it my understanding of the Spanish Contestadors and what happened to Latin America, to me embedding, I mean, a lot of other people tell me in a different life you were in Cuba,
00:09:02
Ali Zaydan
I might have been, I don't know, um but in the same time all the way to me learning Salsa and currently being a Salsa instructor and Cuban Salsa specifically. This is what the Those are the main things that have added value when it comes to being in a French Catholic school that was ran by Lebanese, but in the same time, just French wasn't, French was not very appealing, specifically with the passe s'am, passe composé, futio s'am, futio. And so I don't know, there's a lot of linguistics. See, you're laughing, you understand it. ah English was so cooler. All of my friends and cousins were in English-speaking schools. I used to watch Disney Channel on Cartoon Network.
00:09:44
Ali Zaydan
The only French thing that might have been interesting for me was Asterix and Obelix. But other than this, there wasn't much. But in the same time, growing older, I realized that I was one of the people who spoke three languages. um I realized that I thought I forgot my French, but the moment I sat down with Spanish-speaking people and Portuguese-speaking people and Italian,
00:10:10
Ali Zaydan
speakers. This is when I realized, oh wait, I can pick up what they're saying. And I think this is beautiful, honestly. ah I went very educational and cultural about it. and There's a lot of other things that Lebanon can offer, or my city specifically. I was born and raised in and one of the slums that we have. It was a nice suburb with time It became Islam. I learned there how to take care of myself, how to know where to find junkies, and how to stay safe, and what to reply on it ah to so any conversation that would happen. But in the same time, I think the survival mode stayed with me up until I started making money, started my career. And this is when I took what I wanted, like the positives of it, and I utilized them.
00:10:59
Ali Zaydan
and i worked on the other parts that needed to be worked on.
00:11:05
Find A Way Podcast
we're We're always a work in progress, right? And I've had the also the experience of going to a Catholic school, although it was not French.
00:11:07
Ali Zaydan
Amen.
00:11:14
Find A Way Podcast
um But I do um know the importance of what one thing that the Catholic school did teach me is like the the power of discipline, you know, and just focusing.
00:11:24
Find A Way Podcast
So there are a lot of there's always good takeaways that you can extract from there.
00:11:28
Ali Zaydan
oil
00:11:29
Find A Way Podcast
I know Ingrid wants to add a comment. So
00:11:32
Ingrid
Yeah, I just wanted to say, um, cause, um, correct me if I'm wrong, but your first language is Arabic, right?
00:11:38
Ali Zaydan
ye
00:11:38
Ingrid
Yeah. So it's like, and I, I'm learning French more now and I love Italian as well. And I think that like, there's a power that I didn't know before I learned languages of speaking a Latin based language.
00:11:50
Ingrid
Because for you in Arabic, it's even harder because it's a completely different structure, a completely different way of writing completely.
00:11:50
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:11:55
Ali Zaydan
Mm hmm.
00:11:56
Ingrid
Like. and And again, the the whole like past tense and all that for people that never learned lots in language, we have a lot of different, like I can even explain sometimes in Portuguese, it's just like, it is the way it is, we do it, right?
00:12:08
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:12:08
Ingrid
So I can imagine, but again, it helps you wire your brain to learn so many different cultures as well, because you have the baseline French, right?
00:12:16
Ingrid
So I think that that's amazing.
00:12:17
Ali Zaydan
Yep.
00:12:18
Ingrid
Yeah.
00:12:18
Ali Zaydan
Exactly.
Resilience Shaped by Conflict and Stability in Canada
00:12:20
Find A Way Podcast
um You did briefly touch upon this, Ali, but um you one one of the questions I want to ask is ah considering that you've had to flee your home several times due to conflict, so including the Israeli invasion, the outbreak of ISIS, which I assume i mean just changing to a new country for the sake of willingness and just because you're you know making the decision of going to a new country is already challenging.
00:12:31
Ali Zaydan
yeah
00:12:47
Find A Way Podcast
imagining being a refugee and having to flee your country.
00:12:50
Ali Zaydan
Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:51
Find A Way Podcast
Can you share how those experiences shaped you and influenced your approach to life?
00:12:59
Ali Zaydan
um this is very tough um so in in both cases i didn't say as a refugee in another country for long i was displaced from the city i was in or which i love and which i have tattooed on my back i love the city but but in the same time it is what it is what what that have taught me at an early age is the fact that There's a lot of things you cannot control and you gotta be quick. You gotta be quick. You gotta know people. You gotta believe that a lot of people are good and are willing to accept you who you are and to support you. This situation happened with me a couple of times and
00:13:44
Ali Zaydan
taking that and I paralleled that concept whenever I moved to the UAE in the first time and whenever I moved back to Canada here. I didn't move many societies or many communities within the UAE because I had a stable job and most of my friends were my colleagues so that was fine but coming back here I realized again what I had to go through at the age of 14 and age age of 18 and 20 and 21 and I was like listen I've been through tougher than this I can make it whatever you're going through as long as you're breathing you're walking and your roof is not falling on top of you you're good
00:14:25
Ali Zaydan
um This is how how I see it. Yes, it sounds repetitive and cliche, but it does teach you resilience. But not only resilience in and in general does teach you resilience and to learn from what happened. That was one of the reasons why I decided to come to Canada. I didn't want to be like, for example, now I can't go to Lebanon. We're being invaded again.
00:14:50
Ali Zaydan
My mom had a, just recently had a brain tumor. This is like two months ago and now she's going through a therapy and I can't go and see her. But in the same time, I know for a fact I didn't want to be in a place where I had to go there and I have no other option whatsoever. And I am just just in a place where I can be gone in a couple of seconds. This is one of the reasons why I was like, OK, this is why I want to go to Canada. I want to have a permanent place to go to and not be a refugee, actually be a contributor to the economy, to the society.
00:15:26
Ali Zaydan
to to to people around me. This is what, honestly, I don't know if I answered the question. I'm sorry, I get a little emotional when it comes to that. But this is what millions of people are going through right now in Lebanon. So there are probably thousands of Ali and other than Ali that are going through this and will figure this out, ah unfortunately, the hard way.
00:15:49
Ingrid
Um, you don't have to be sorry at all. Uh, we really appreciate you being vulnerable with us and sharing about your story. I think it's something that we've touched on past episodes when we talk to refugees, which is again, as Bia said, it's already hard enough for you to move to a new country, but move to a new country when you love where you live, but you have no choice for multiple reasons to stay in your home.
00:16:08
Ali Zaydan
No.
00:16:10
Ingrid
That's heartbreaking. And I'm sorry to hear that you can't like visit your mom and all of that and everything.
00:16:15
Ali Zaydan
Yeah. I just hope she stayed safe, honestly.
00:16:16
Ingrid
that Exactly.
00:16:19
Ali Zaydan
And she doesn't have to be displaced. But again, ah this very place was started by a refugee. And like this is how I got to know Dry Visa.
00:16:29
Ali Zaydan
I was like, I'm not going to go to brick and mortar. Are there any specific applications? And then I found an application. And I found this instructor. And I liked him. Then he told me his story. And then I was like, how are these Dry Visa guys treating you?
00:16:41
Ali Zaydan
And then for him, that was after I passed my exam. He was like, I'm technically the founder. I was like, what? And he told me his story before. He came to Canada. He didn't even know English. He came with a wife and three kids. He doesn't have a degree. The only degree he has is driving education degree. So I chose to come here. Others did not. So whatever I do and whatever this business goes, I still look up for people, look up at people who have done it as refugees. And I think the fact that
00:17:13
Ali Zaydan
you don't have any other option, keeps you motivated to get up in the morning and to be like, today I'm making it. Because if you look at the big business, for example, Dolorama, it's a big business and it was started by Lebanese refugees who came here 50 years ago again. And I believe that a lot of other refugees who come here, they don't have any other option but to succeed. And this is both beautiful, but and sad.
00:17:42
Ingrid
It's, um, it's exactly what I said. It's beautiful and sad because they, the you work so hard and you have so much grit because you have no other option. Period.
00:17:51
Ali Zaydan
No, no, no.
00:17:52
Ingrid
This is it. Right. And it's incredible. So I'd love to touch, we'll touch a little bit on it, but you know, the, you've experienced different different
Cultural and Linguistic Journey
00:18:00
Ingrid
cultural settings. So experience like Lebanon, as you were born and raised.
00:18:04
Ingrid
And then you went to the UAE and now to Canada. So it's like a bit of like a big difference in terms of culture sometimes. ah How have those like, if you want to share a bit of the diverse experience and how they shape your identity and the way that you connect with people. So it could be like the differences. I know that there's a lot of difference between the UAE culture in Canada, but like how has this shaped your identity and how you connect with people from different backgrounds?
00:18:28
Ali Zaydan
Um, I think what we think we have big diversity in Lebanon because we think so for no other reason whatsoever, because we see what we have on hand and we're like, wow, this is beautiful. Moving to the UAE was one of the major steps that helped me to understand. So for example, um, and I,
00:18:52
Ali Zaydan
I have to talk about this experience in a couple of days. So I was preparing a little presentation and I took one photo with my team. I i found it. I brought it back. And I remember in this photo alone, we had 14 people and we had eight countries and in 14. And this is your classic.
00:19:12
Ali Zaydan
OK, this is your average Joe team in the UAE. You always have someone who speaks Arabic, someone who speaks Malayalam, which come from South India, which is very similar to Tamil and Sri Lankan. You always have someone who speaks Tagalog, and you always have someone who speaks Urdu. This is a given.
00:19:33
Ali Zaydan
um working in the industry and I was having a small conversation with Beatriz before that ah so I used to sell coffee and before that I used to sell diapers. I worked for P and&G and then I worked for Nestle and the industry is there you know you have to go and as a sales rep this is how I started I had to go to the driver I had to go to the receiving manager I had to go to the um to the to the store manager, to the general manager of the store. You know you have big differences and I can tell you there's not one of them who speaks the same language as the other the exception of English. So now I can run a basic conversation in Urdu, in Hindi, in Malayalam, in Tagalog, in Nepali and this itself
00:20:24
Ali Zaydan
really widens how you see and how you perceive life and how you perceive communities and people. ah This is why despite the major diversity that is available in Canada but in the same time it's on a way bigger ja geographic geographically geographic geographical a scale um like right unlike the UAE where it's
00:20:44
Find A Way Podcast
You got it, it's correct.
00:20:48
Ali Zaydan
three meters radius, you know, where it's just everywhere around you. I think it was beautiful. I honestly, um and I understand that Kingston, this is where I'm placed, is not the biggest city.
00:21:00
Ali Zaydan
ah But in the same time, I honestly miss being around that. It's very funny whenever um I see someone and I tell them.
00:21:09
Find A Way Podcast
Thank you for sharing. um
00:21:13
Ali Zaydan
I'm sorry, I didn't hear the past few seconds.
00:21:17
Find A Way Podcast
but hitka there was a lag there go ahead
00:21:19
Ali Zaydan
ah but So yeah, it's it's funny like when I'm at and when i'm a Costco and I'm a food basics and I see someone and I could, I ask them like, are you from, are are you from Kerala or you are you from, or I just speak to them, you know, in Tagalog and they'd be like, ah how did you know? And I'm,
00:21:40
Ali Zaydan
it's It's years of living between um between between diverse people.
00:21:42
Find A Way Podcast
Oh no, go ahead, go ahead. There was a lag there. Go ahead.
00:21:46
Ali Zaydan
And it's it's just beautiful. It connects you. You understand the food. You understand, like, what's better than pao de queijo in the morning? Honestly. Honestly.
00:21:56
Ali Zaydan
ah it's it's It's beautiful. You understand the culture. You understand how it happens. And you don't understand one culture. You understand cultures. Over and above that, I'm married to a Ukrainian whose family lives in between Ukraine and Italy.
00:22:06
Find A Way Podcast
Yes.
00:22:13
Ali Zaydan
So we have those over and above. And I learned Spanish, so I was around the Cuban crew and the Latin American crew in the UAE. And it's ah it's it's honestly, it's wonderful.
00:22:26
Ali Zaydan
I cannot say less than it's beautiful.
00:22:32
Find A Way Podcast
And I love that you're mentioning this, Ali, because I also see this beauty and some people even find it also like utopic or like cliches, it's like, oh, you know, Pollyanna syndrome, everything's beautiful, everybody, you know, learning from each other. But that is fact it is, it is so rewarding to get to meet and understand different backgrounds, understand how they're wired, what you know what are their habits and all of that. I have next door, ah the house near me on my right is a Japanese family. my house The house on my left is a Portuguese family.
00:23:06
Find A Way Podcast
I'm Brazilian. There's across the street, there's a family from India, one from Pakistan. so this is And of course, many Canadians. But this is so enriching. And I think the biggest benefit of all of this, besides ourselves, is my daughter that's going to be living and having this breathing this environment of learning the beauty of what's around there and what's in the world. you know So everyone has something good to teach us. and just being open to learning that is so magical for me at least. And I'm happy to to hear that you also see the world from this point of view. I wish everyone did the same.
00:23:44
Find A Way Podcast
um
00:23:45
Ali Zaydan
Just to add a little point, I understand this is part of the beautiful thing and behind that is a lot of people who have to come and who have to, or at least within my experience, who have to come and struggle to make it and to support families back home, but in the same time I don't
00:23:46
Find A Way Podcast
i Go ahead.
00:24:03
Ali Zaydan
I don't see why someone why someone might not like it. um And I don't see the thing with, like, it I love preserving my culture. Don't get me wrong. I love speaking Arabic. I love our food because our food is amazing. But in the same time, it's it's it's beautiful. But man, what's wrong if I go and I try something else? This makes me value what I have even more.
00:24:30
Ali Zaydan
But at least this is how I perceive it. ah so yeah Sorry, I cut you off there.
00:24:36
Find A Way Podcast
And that's the beauty, I think, of countries that approach um you know multicultural environments as like a mosaic rather than a melting pot. So there's a lot of you know people that consider Canada as more of like a country that builds the mosaic because we are able to preserve our culture, but also following social norms and being Canadian as well. So I see many that are proud to be, in my case, like proud to be Brazilian, but I'm also going to be proud to be a Canadian. So that's what I think is enriching.
00:25:05
Find A Way Podcast
And for me, in my point of view, I think it's the biggest strength, for instance, that Canada has has on its hands. And they should leverage it you know even better. So we'll do our part for that.
00:25:16
Ali Zaydan
No.
00:25:16
Find A Way Podcast
But moving to the script, going back on track, um you did spend many years in corporate roles.
00:25:21
Ali Zaydan
Oh yeah.
00:25:23
Find A Way Podcast
So what we're curious to ask is, what made the decision to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship? What meant it motivated you to take the sleep? And how was this transition for you between corporate and to the own venture, DriVisa?
00:25:40
Ali Zaydan
I still ask myself this question every single day. Every day where I don't see a paycheck, I remember it. But then whenever I see a sale on my Stripe account, I remember why I decided something different.
00:25:52
Ali Zaydan
um
00:25:55
Ali Zaydan
When it comes to corporate, people talk a lot about corporate work. i That was probably one of the first times after living in the UAE for eight years when I came here and I realized, oh, there are some people who don't understand corporate work or politics inside of it. But in the same time, I have to say that I was living in one of the healthiest corporate work. Our office, our Nestle office in the UAE, um we didn't have a lot of politics. People had each other's back. People supported each other. um So I was not like trying to run away from corporate.
00:26:29
Ali Zaydan
I was very happy. I was very well compensated. I enjoyed working and I enjoyed the partners that we worked with, be it Cat Food or Amazon or Lulu. Those were the big customers that I was working up with. There wasn't a lot of politics. You didn't have to go around. But at the same time, I realized that me,
00:26:51
Ali Zaydan
A hairy guy that spoke a couple of languages, who came from the slums of Tripoli, two or three times a refugee, who decided to say no and say, I can do it, was able to go from basically in nothing in a slum in a country on the Eastern Mediterranean, one of the poorest cities, and I was able to make it to at least get a job in the UAE.
00:27:14
Ali Zaydan
and then a job with PNG and then with Nestle. And then once you keep racking them up with the education you get and with the exposure you get on startups and businesses and and and you're like, you start believing in yourself. Like, wow, that was that was a good run. And that was a good run. But in the same time, this question stayed in my head, which is, and don't get me wrong, Nestle, you you don't have this job insecurity. It's very hard for you to get kicked out of Nestle.
00:27:44
Ali Zaydan
um It's very healthy. If you're not performing, they will straight ahead tell you you're not performing. You will have enough time to realize that you can make it better or make it worse. So I was not afraid of losing my job the day after. But in the same time, it's those conversations that it's those policies and it's those innovations that I wanted to have within my portfolio and within our SOPs.
00:28:07
Ali Zaydan
that everyone else in the room wanted. But we could not, because we needed X to sign it, or Y to sign it, or because it was this or that policy. So I thought to myself, if I could do all of this in a very contained place, why can I not do it for myself? Where I am the decision maker, I take the risks, and I apply those beautiful, shenanigans ideas that I have in the back of my head,
00:28:36
Ali Zaydan
in a way of doing business. Despite what sort of business it is, um definitely the business I am going through is service-based and we have contractors and what have you. But in the same time, there's a lot of room of wiggling, which was not provided and which big corporate just doesn't do. Big dinosaurs, they can't do it. And they created an SOP for a reason because it works.
Reflections on Corporate Innovation and Success
00:28:59
Ali Zaydan
But in the same time, they don't have this risk factor that they want to take.
00:29:03
Ali Zaydan
Things take time. The risk is small um And I wanted to do that and I want to do it for myself This is why I decided honestly to get on top of it And you know, you always hear innovation innovation innovation. I was like, you know, I want to go and study that And for all of those who are listening, listen, there's one book that can teach you a lot about it, at least a theory about it. It's called the Innovator's DNA. It's beautiful, it changed my life. But I got a degree in it. And I started, I was practicing what I was studying on a business, on a life business that I had to stake in. So that's why I did it. But to come and tell you that, oh my God, corporate world, it was so tough. and
00:29:49
Ali Zaydan
I did not have that experience. I had lovely colleagues. I had managers. Each manager I had was a coach, and each of them played a role. And each of them were trustworthy. None of them ever got back to me or did something back to me. Everyone was very helpful. Everyone was very understanding. And I loved that culture that I had in Nestle.
00:30:13
Ingrid
So, um, I have a curious question just in terms of like reflecting back. So, you know, you went to, uh, you got a scholarship to study in the US, um, very young, which was awesome.
00:30:23
Ali Zaydan
Yeah. Hence my accent.
00:30:26
Ingrid
ah Yeah.
00:30:27
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:30:27
Ingrid
And, um, when you were like, when you moved and then you're like you your early dreams and ambitions at that time, how do they compare to where you are today?
00:30:38
Ingrid
And how have your goals evolved since then?
00:30:43
Ali Zaydan
my dream when I went to the US. So I went to the US us at the age of 16. I lived with a host family. um I had a tough experience in the beginning that I moved to another host family who drove all the way from South Carolina to Kingston to attend my wedding in April, which they They mean the world to me. ah But at the same time, I started seeing things from a different perspective, and I started seeing that, okay, this is the epitome of civilization. This is how it is. You have to get a truck, and you have to work out, and you have to have a big house. So I started growing my dreams, unlike the dreams that I had in Lebanon. So the maximum that I wanted was a job with a desk for me, where I am sort of wearing a suit or something casual.
00:31:33
Ali Zaydan
Those were my dreams. And I did way better than that just in the first couple of years after graduating and after finishing my master's. And the bar kept going higher. The bar kept going higher. um I was part of, you know, part of the things that Nestle do to keep people, which is beautiful, with which is a private pension fund, where they parallel whatever you pitch in.
00:31:58
Ali Zaydan
So I was on the road for good financial success. But in the same time, it's not something that you created. It's not your baby. It's not something that can come back to your face or to people. And I have that. I'm a social person. I love when people talk about me. I love to be the center of attention. um and and And this is it. If you go to our LinkedIn page, I'm against me being on top of the our Instagram page, but if you go to our LinkedIn page, you see a lot of activities. I have ah a couple of activities later on today and I have a couple of other ah presentations later. I enjoy this. So I think the part of me giving credit to me and believing that I work well around people, and this is something I learned in the UAE, in sales, in studying who you're talking to, back to the same topic that you were talking about,
00:32:58
Ali Zaydan
Ingrid, which is understanding who you're talking to really, it makes you money. Being nice and knowing who to ask and what to ask them about, it makes you money. So I want that. And I wanted that. Is it happening? Is it great? We're struggling. But at the same time, I'm sure that I've done it in a couple of cultures and I've done it in a couple of places. And I'm sure I would crack the code and be able to do it now.
00:33:27
Find A Way Podcast
I just got to say, Ali, that I love the way you're so candid about everything and how, um I mean, I feel we can go on for hours with this conversation and there's going to be so many incredible insights coming out of this. um We do have a question. The first thing that we do here in the podcast, which is we ask our previous guest to leave a question for the next guest. So the question that was left for you
00:33:50
Ali Zaydan
Oh boy.
00:33:51
Find A Way Podcast
for this episode of ours is what would you do differently if you had to go back to start your company again from scratch? What would you do differently?
00:34:08
Ali Zaydan
i would have I would have believed that I need people and I can't do everything on my own.
00:34:20
Ali Zaydan
doing everything on my own and not reaching out to the people around me. Like me versus me three, four months ago is completely different. At least I can go to my, I can go and teach salsa, I can go work out, I can have more time with my wife, which is not something that I was able to do earlier when we started. I wanted to do everything and I wanted to be on top of everything. Just letting go and understanding that not everything is done by you because this is what this is what you hear like you're an entrepreneur you should be working 14 hours a day well yeah but on what i have ahead of marketing i am i feel how stupid i am whenever i sit down and i talk to her um we were doing uh third-party technology and now we have someone inside and
00:35:10
Ali Zaydan
like and they're all shareholders and the same time the way I perceive like now I talked to Joseph Joseph what do you think about this okay can you take care of it amazing go ahead unlike unlike what I did before so Whatever it is, and despite of how much time you're winning, how much stake you're winning, and how many shares you're winning when it comes to you doing the job by yourself, we have a saying in Lebanon, it's called, give the dough to the baker, to the baker, even if they eat half of it. So I'm giving my dough to the bakers, let them know how to deal with it. ah This is definitely reflecting positively on my mental state, on my on what's happening with me, and definitely on the business.
00:35:55
Ali Zaydan
So yeah.
00:35:55
Ingrid
I love that. That's such a good tip because I do think that there's that like, oh, the interviewers should work 14 hours a day, do everything themselves. But it's very cocky of us. And I went through the experience as well to think that we know everything better than people that we can bring to support us.
00:36:08
Ali Zaydan
Right?
00:36:09
Ingrid
And I think one of the best things about good entrepreneurs is that they are able to attract the right people that support their deficiencies. They're able to see like, I am not good at this.
00:36:19
Ingrid
Let me bring someone else to support me with that part. And on what you said is like having a work life, I don't like the word balance, but having that is also important for you to not burn out in the longterm.
00:36:31
Ingrid
And that's why a lot of like a lot of entrepreneurs go really hard on the first year and then they drop out and they're like, I can't do this anymore because it's not sustainable.
00:36:31
Ali Zaydan
yeah
00:36:38
Ingrid
um So I have a question for you. If you could tell me in one phrase, what is success to Ali? What would the phrase be? I know we're going for it. We're hitting it hard.
00:36:50
Ali Zaydan
um success for me is ah
00:37:02
Ali Zaydan
mental and physical health, ah but I'm going to keep it to one sentence, mental and physical health, fun, family, definitely, definitely money and value and reputation. I don't want, I don't want to be, I don't know, I want i don't want to be someone who has Let's say best worst case, a millionaire, but people are not happy with doing business with me. People don't have a good thing. People just frown upon when they hear my name. No, no. I want people to smile when they're in my name. So I want people to be happy. I'm not going to please everyone, but at least like 51%. Um, yeah, this is success. Just, uh, I, I, I don't know. I think I said too many things, but still.
00:37:50
Find A Way Podcast
No, that's, that's perfect. Thank you for sharing. And if you could choose one superpower, what would it be and why?
00:38:00
Ali Zaydan
but are my options but superpowers you have on
00:38:02
Find A Way Podcast
Any superpower, whatever you consider a superpower. I mean, i I think we're filled with superpowers already, but if there's like a, you know, maybe a superhero superpower that you like, what would it be?
00:38:13
Ali Zaydan
um I don't know if DC did a specific character when it comes to this, but if I would have a superpower is, and I think this would really help me in my search situation and overall situations, is to be able to see from, to always be able to switch in between my set of eyes and to see from an overall set of eyes. When you're in a tunnel this is what you see and a lot of times you forget how great and blessed and of of just like now when you were talking about the presentation introducing me I was like wow man I've been through some can I say shit
00:39:00
Ali Zaydan
and I've been through some shit and you know you tend to forget that but people around you who love you who are on the outsider they see that and they remember that and I wish I can appreciate myself the same way but you don't you don't and this is good and bad it's bad for you but it's good because it keeps you going keeps the momentum
00:39:23
Ingrid
I love that. And it's such a good tip because I think via does that to me a lot, which is sometimes when we get stuck, like we know our story, but for us, it's just our story. And then when other people go, it's like, well, but you went like you do all this is like, Oh yeah, I do.
00:39:33
Ali Zaydan
Yeah.
00:39:37
Ingrid
Like that's true. Um, I love that. So we're going to go through some, uh, quick rapid fire questions, which we're going to give you two options and then you give us the one that you like the most. Sounds good.
00:39:47
Ali Zaydan
Can I get a second?
00:39:49
Ingrid
go pray Go for is so it.
00:39:50
Ali Zaydan
I talk way too much.
00:39:53
Ingrid
nothing big. It's just to get you know to get to know you better. So, summer or winter?
00:40:02
Ali Zaydan
Wow. Um.
00:40:05
Find A Way Podcast
I think you're the only person that hesitated on this question.
00:40:08
Ali Zaydan
Yeah. No, no, no. Mediterranean winter. Mediterranean winter.
00:40:12
Ingrid
Okay.
00:40:13
Find A Way Podcast
Oh, okay.
00:40:13
Ingrid
That's very specific.
00:40:14
Ali Zaydan
Mediterranean winter.
00:40:14
Ingrid
Okay.
00:40:16
Ali Zaydan
Okay. Not one Middle Eastern. Okay. I don't like that term. Mediterranean winter.
00:40:22
Find A Way Podcast
Okay, okay, good.
00:40:22
Ingrid
yeah
00:40:23
Find A Way Podcast
Pizza or burger?
00:40:25
Ali Zaydan
Definitely a burger.
00:40:28
Ingrid
Sunset or sunrises?
00:40:30
Ali Zaydan
Sunrise.
00:40:32
Find A Way Podcast
Classical literature or contemporary fiction?
00:40:36
Ali Zaydan
None.
00:40:38
Find A Way Podcast
No.
00:40:38
Ingrid
Fair enough.
00:40:40
Ali Zaydan
ah but I don't know, a history book.
00:40:45
Find A Way Podcast
Perfect. And as you probably know, we always ask for one or two book recommendations. And you already mentioned the innovators DNA that we already took note. Is there any additional book that you'd like to share with our guests that it was like a must read on your perspective?
00:40:58
Ali Zaydan
Yeah, I'll give it. but And those two books really balance each other. So because I was adopting the first, And then now I'm adopting the second. And I want to give a shout out to Pauline, which was one of my best friends who gave me that book on my 30th birthday. um She's also an entrepreneur in the UAE, trying which is the outliers for Malcolm Gladwell. It's very hard to get me to read a book. I love watching things. But outliers, ah this is what kept me took me back to my Catholic school days, kept me disciplined, but in the same time,
00:41:35
Ali Zaydan
kept you using the same toolbox. And this is what the end interface innovator's DNA tells you that. How are you going to innovate and think outside the box if you're going back to the same box for all of your tools?
00:41:46
Ali Zaydan
So those two.
00:41:49
Ingrid
i love I love that you recommended Outliers because I've been dying because I don't usually give book recommendations here but I've been dying for someone to recommend this book because it's one of my favorite books that I've read like last year.
00:41:49
Ali Zaydan
Those are probably the only books I read.
00:42:03
Ingrid
It's incredible because it really does talk about that it's not just because everyone focused on IQ or everyone focused on like how good people can be but it's actually about the environment and how like how you develop those skills to be able to use your intelligence to your advantage but also how specific parts of our society such as, for example, sports are the like the year that you're born, for example, can say a lot about how you're going to be able to progress forward. So it is like that when he brings up about a lot like, yes, there's a lot of hard work, there's luck as well that we have to consider. And there's like the patterns. It's it's an incredible book. Thank you for recommending. I was like, yes, someone mentioned it.
00:42:39
Ingrid
um So before we close episode as you know, we always ask the previous guest to leave a question for the next guest So we're giving you the opportunity to ask a question. What would that be?
00:42:51
Ali Zaydan
Should have prepared that. What would be the question? Who's the next guest? Tell me a little bit.
00:43:01
Ali Zaydan
Any idea? Okay.
00:43:01
Ingrid
We can't tell you it's a general question now
00:43:06
Ali Zaydan
Wow,
00:43:08
Ali Zaydan
well it's gonna take me a minute.
00:43:12
Ali Zaydan
ah Can I pass the same? No, I'm not gonna pass the same questions. Can I ask something out of the box, out of the same tool bowl?
00:43:18
Ingrid
yeah go for it
00:43:19
Find A Way Podcast
um Anything you want. It could be completely and unrelated to entrepreneur entrepreneurship. It can be anything you want.
00:43:22
Ali Zaydan
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you are to dance what um or to to dance or to play music, what would what would you choose?
00:43:35
Ali Zaydan
what What exact dance or music? ah I dance and I play the drums and I love to to be like, so what do you guys think? Can you do any of them? Why and why not?
00:43:45
Ingrid
Yeah, go for it. I love that. That's a great question. Well, ah we could sit. Honestly, your story is amazing, Ali. And thank you so much for sharing it with us.
00:43:53
Ali Zaydan
Thank you.
00:43:55
Ingrid
And is there anything else you would like to to add before we close?
00:43:59
Ali Zaydan
I think what you're all doing is beautiful. um I didn't have the chance a lot to talk, to hear out your stories. I mean, I listened to episodes, but I wanted to sir take to to have more of a ah different sort of connection. Maybe, I mean, Beatriz already offered the coffee in in Toronto whenever that happens. But those were the things that I wish I could do more. I wish I can just sit down and listen more about y'all's stories. and Maybe the listeners who will hear this be like, oh my God, come on, man. You don't need to go on record saying that.
00:44:36
Ali Zaydan
But at the same time, I honestly wanted that. um The availability of Brazilian people, Brazilian background is not something that I had a lot. One of the closest buddies in Nestle was a Lebanese Brazilian. And another Lebanese Brazilian who's currently in Toronto is one of my good friends from the UAE. And I had a colleague, which is Annie, which was the person that I was talking to before going on live with y'all, giving me some tips and tricks. But um I think I would love to be surrounded more by ah you guys. You're more than 150 millions, if I'm not mistaken. You have tons of cultures. I think this is one of the spots that I don't see much. And given that I don't dance samba, I'd love to. I would love to have more. I don't dance samba and I don't do jiu-jitsu because everyone in the UAE does jiu-jitsu. It's the national sport, by the way.
00:45:34
Ali Zaydan
So yeah, I didn't have that connection yet, so I would love honestly to hear more about y'all's stories, how you're maneuvering, and that's it. You don't have to put that in the podcast if you don't feel like it.
00:45:47
Ingrid
Well, for sure. And thank you so much for sharing and we'll make that happen. I'll definitely make that happen.
00:45:52
Ali Zaydan
Well, thank you.
00:45:53
Ingrid
Um, this was our episode 89 refugee to CEO with Ali Zaydan. We'd like to thank all of our listeners and we'd like to remind you that we'll be posting one episode biweekly always with a different guest.
00:46:03
Ingrid
So make sure to subscribe on your favorite streaming platform.