Viaka Newsletter - An all-star democratizing access to great careers!
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Hi everyone! This week, we’re continuing our series of interviews and network highlights. We’re featuring members of the Viaka community who are active in the MENA ecosystem.
Our next feature is Abdelwadood Daoud. Wadood is the CEO and co-founder of Candoor, a company democratizing access to important careers. Wadood has amazing experiences and is a great Network member. Read more about Wadood below!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dood/
Candoor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/candoor/
Candoor website: https://candoor.io/
What do you currently do?
I am the co-founder and CEO at Candoor. What I "do" is work on building solutions that enable any individual to realize their career potential through candid conversations. I also have experience as a senior product manager at Microsoft where I focused on enabling M365 to be one of the most performant and carbon neutral productivity suites on the planet.
What prompted you to go down this career path and how did you get into this field?
I was raised in a Sudanese family in Iowa City, Iowa and this experience enabled me to realize the vast differences in lifestyles that different people live within America and across the world broadly. What I learned early on in college was that success wasn't just about "hard work". In fact, I realized that "who you know" was more important than “what you know”. This realization inspired me to focus my career efforts on mechanisms that enable individuals from underserved backgrounds to not only gain the "know-how" but also the "know-who" to realize their career potential.
What originally got you interested in connecting with the MENA startup ecosystem and other like-minded folks here in North America?
I was born in the USA but my parents are Sudanese. Due to the sheer costs that would be incurred by traveling to Sudan, I didn't get to go much growing up. This reality paired with the fact that I was starting a company made it a priority for me to find people from similar backgrounds who I know would support me and welcome me no matter what. I also want to give a special shoutout to Hani Azzam as he truly took me under his wing to connect me with various folks across the ecosystem.
What types of connections are you looking to make through Viaka? This can be from the MENA side, as well as with other MENA-connected folks in the Viaka Network
I am looking to connect with any founders (whether in our space or not) as well as any seasoned investors/entrepreneurs who can help me navigate the unknown that exists ahead. At Candoor we are heads down on product and fundraising so anyone in a similar space or pre-seed VC firms would be incredible to connect with as well!
Where will that take you?
This will drive me towards something truly special...confidence. I believe confidence is one of the biggest limiting factors for a first-time founder, especially coming from a background myself. I don't have any founders in my family or investors or anything of the sort so starting a company can be quite intimidating. Building a support system around you enables you to build confidence and focus less on what you don't have and more on how your network can help you.
Bonus: favorite dish from the MENA world?
100% it is Kofta for an entree and Kunafe for dessert
Promising Opportunities from Our MENA Partners
Click here to view list of opportunities curated from the Viaka’s MENA partners.
If you would like to get involved with any of the opportunities, please fill out the form below and indicate what opportunity you are interested in in the “Reason for Joining” section.
Exciting Announcements From Our Network
Below is a list of updates, wins, and asks emanating from members of the Viaka Network in the “West.”
Shout-out to Amr Awadallah for the launch of his revolutionary new neural search product, Vectara. Amr and his team have just released their API-first neural search product for free. The product allows any developer to access powers that had been restricted to the largest search companies. Check out more at the post here!
TechWadi is hosting its 2022 Annual Forum on November 12, in person in San Francisco! This incredible forum will feature a full day of events including talks by Unicorn founders, networking events with founders and VCs, and general MENA/Silicon Valley ecosystem education. Early bird tickets are for sale until 10/20, check out their website for more info!
Al Kindi Club is hosting an event on Oct 18th with Khaled Talhouni, managing partner of Nuwa Capital. This is a great chance to hear from a star MENA investor and learn about emerging tech. Check out here for more info.
If you’re a member of our Network and would like to share your own update next week, email info.viaka@gmail.com or submit an update via this form.
That’s it for this week. Thank you!
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