00:00I wish that I was taught few statistics when I was a kid.
00:08Nine out of 10 businesses will fail in the first three years.
00:11Failure is the norm.
00:13You will have money, you need to know how to manage it
00:15and not to gamble with it.
00:17And you need to manage it long term
00:19and not get driven by forex day trading
00:23and stock market day trading
00:24and follow trends that are baseless.
00:27And I wish I was taught these things earlier on in my life.
00:31I would have saved myself a lot of stress
00:35and waste of money and tears.
00:40My name is Adel Azarouni, a telecom engineer,
00:44a professional hacker or ex-hacker.
00:49Worked in Saudi Arabia with the satellite mobile.
00:54For a few years, joined the government of Dubai,
00:57Jabal Ali Free Zone.
00:59For 10 years, attracting FDI and developing economic zones.
01:04Established my family office around 15 years ago.
01:09Currently running a couple of family offices
01:12in multiple fields.
01:14My fields of expertise are in economic zones development,
01:19economic zones development,
01:21family businesses sustainability.
01:24I have been involved in many sectors,
01:29starting with the healthcare industry,
01:32getting into financial services,
01:34into consumerism technologies, food and beverages,
01:38FMCG, fast moving consumer goods.
01:42And currently focusing on education and venture studios.
01:50What was the time like when you were still working?
01:53You were not an entrepreneur yet.
01:55So I'm asking this because I want to understand
01:57how that transition happened.
01:59Yeah, it's actually happened
02:00towards the end of college days.
02:03So Saudi College of Engineering at the days
02:06used to reward the top students with some cash.
02:11So I accumulated some of that
02:14and I wanted to get into business,
02:17but I wouldn't tell my father
02:19because I feared failing.
02:21And I didn't want to embarrass myself and the family.
02:24So I bought actually a chain of laundries.
02:28And when asked, you know, why did you do that?
02:30I said, well, I opened the newspaper,
02:31I found a laundry for sale.
02:33I said, you know what, let me start something.
02:35And I actually bought it.
02:37And I started operating it.
02:40And that taught me sales.
02:43That taught me customer service.
02:45That taught me how to read books, financials.
02:49That taught me cash flow.
02:50That taught me management of staff,
02:54labors, expectations, quality, or even machinery.
02:58I mean, like running operations.
03:00So I used to do most of that with my hands.
03:02So I stand at the reception, receive garments,
03:06handle marketing, handle...
03:09That gave me a lot of ammunition earlier on
03:14onto how to manage a customer.
03:17This is why I'm very much of an experienced guy.
03:20Today, even.
03:22To me, everything that I do needs to be an experience.
03:26Education is an experience.
03:27Healthcare is an experience.
03:29Food and beverages is an experience.
03:32So at this point in time, it's my dearest baby.
03:36Why?
03:37And I like the environment
03:39because the education environment is so noble.
03:42It's positive.
03:44It's about enhancing people's life.
03:47So everybody is collaborative.
03:50In business, you would know that it's not always the case.
03:52You know, many times it's invasive.
03:55It's challenging.
03:56It's political.
03:57It's crunching, yeah?
04:03Education is more noble.
04:05And I like that, I have to say.
04:07But am I stuck onto this feeling?
04:10No, but I'm quite influenced, though, and inspired.
04:14So I saw a lot of gaps in what we get taught as humans.
04:22And this is inspiring me to diversify
04:27into parallel industries that require a lot of education.
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