1000 years ago, we led the world in science.

800 years ago, we invented algebra.

700 years ago, we built hospitals that treated not only the bodies, but also the minds of people.

600 years ago, our philosophers shaped global thought.

We were not catching up; we were the ones being followed.

From Baghdad, to Damascus, to Cairo, and even Cordoba, our scientists, our researchers translated available knowledge, expanded it, and made it available for everyone in the world.

We discovered stars, mapped the skies, reinvented medicine, and discovered something that every one of us uses on a daily basis: the foundation of what is camera technology today. The same camera that you use today for watching photos, videos and clips, that you use for your doomscrolling.

But then, something changed. Today, we're no longer leading.

Today, we're following.

We became consumers rather than inventors.

We are building audiences and creating content on platforms that we don't own.

Platforms, that are owned by people who do not speak our language, who do not understand our culture, who do not share our story.

People, who impose their narrative upon us. And very often, this narrative does not work in our favor. It actually counters our interests.

And we are always waiting for the rest of the world to move, and then we follow, and try to see where we fit in.

This is not criticism. This is a wake-up call.

It is an invitation, an invitation to shape our future, and not wait for anyone else to do it on our behalf.

My name is Muhammad Chbib.

I've spent the last 25 years building businesses in Europe and in MENA.

I've raised an excess of $200 million. Some of it was lost, some of it succeeded.

I created an excess of a billion dollars in sales.

And now, I'm creating "UNFLTRD with Muhammad Chbib" to share this knowledge, to ask the right questions, to suggest the right solutions in order to shape the future of the Middle East.

With people that are true leaders, that push the bar in their thinking, and come up with ideas that shape our future, and the future of our children and our children's children.

And I started "UNFLTRD with Muhammad Chbib" because we deserve unfiltered talk, not the pre-concepted, pre-scripted text that you hear and see everywhere.

I'm tired of polished PR interviews, of the classic ten talking points that are provided to people that speak a lot without saying anything, that have never built anything.

I want to give people a platform that are true shapers, that speak the truth, that challenge the status quo, that are bold enough to question everything and everyone.

This show is not filtered, it is not soft, and it definitely is not safe.

It is where I ask the uncomfortable questions:

– Why are we still followers?

– What is really holding us back?

– How do we build the MENA region into becoming a global leader again?

And we'll answer that with people who are thinkers, builders, shapers, infrastructure providers!

And we'll answer these questions with people from within the arena, founders and operators, investors, regulators, ecosystem builders, people from within the region and from outside the region with a genuine interest in us and our future here in the MENA region.

We all have one thing in common: to make the MENA region great again.

This region was born to lead.

We have done it before.

And with the right people, with the right mindset, and who are bold, we can do it again.

Welcome to "UNFLTRD with Muhammad Chbib"

EP 319 – Planning For Note Independence with Dan Deppen