This is just a glimpse. I’ll be sharing more stories, lessons, and breakdowns from my time in the Middle East - stay tuned.
🚀 It Started With Bikes
In 2019, I packed a small suitcase and flew to Abu Dhabi. I was 23.
The plan? Stay for two months to help launch an electric bike factory. We were building IoT-connected e-bikes at the time - sharp tech, real mobility problems to solve, and a big vision. The market looked promising. The challenge was real.
Two months turned into nearly four years.
😷 Then the World Shut Down
COVID hit, and suddenly, everything changed.
Borders closed. My colleague returned home. I stayed.
Alone in a locked-down city I barely knew, I pivoted. Fast.
I built an agency. I led a 15+ person remote dev team across time zones. We worked on multiple high-pressure projects, including a connected IoT ventilator with the Abu Dhabi Department of Health, in the middle of a global pandemic.
We designed systems where mistakes weren’t just bugs. They were critical. Timing and delivery mattered more than anything.
🧠 From Builder to Operator
As part of a major holding group in the UAE, I had access to real scale.
We raised a massive facility. We developed complex mobility projects.
I met important people. Sat in serious rooms. Took high-stakes calls.
I had to think fast, operate precisely, and build trust with technical and non-technical teams across cultures, across urgency.
Life there was intense. Full throttle. No hand-holding.
I loved it.
🌪️ Life in the Middle East
The Middle East has its own rhythm.
You either sync with it or burn out.
I chose to drive through it head-on.
I lived fast. Worked long. And somewhere in between, I became someone new.
I arrived as a 23-year-old builder.
I left a systems thinker, a product operator, a leader who knows what urgency really feels like.
I left with stress, stories, and yeah - a bit more gray hair.
But I wouldn't change a second of it.
🛬 Back Home, But Not the Same
Eventually, I made the call to return to my home country.
Not because I failed, but because I grew.
I came back with experience, scars, frameworks, and clarity.
I now see systems differently. I think differently. I move differently.
And I’ll be sharing a lot more about what I learned, what I built, what broke, and what I’d do again in a heartbeat.
This was just the start. More stories coming.
→ From building products under pressure
→ To dealing with government entities
→ To designing tech in chaotic environments
→ And what the UAE taught me about business, execution, and life
Follow along - it gets interesting.
