Ibrahim Manna is the Founder and CEO of BRKZ, a Saudi construction tech startup built to address inefficiencies in construction procurement: fragmented supply chains, manual processes, and cash flow gaps faced by contractors and factories. Before founding BRKZ, Ibrahim spent eight years at Careem as one of the core architects of its expansion, launching 11 out of 15 markets ahead of the company's $3.1 billion acquisition by Uber in 2019. BRKZ has raised over $50 million in equity and debt financing, and serves 850+ contractors across major giga-projects including NEOM, King Salman Park, and Red Sea.

He joins the podcast to discuss how buying a house during the pandemic revealed a broken industry, why Saudi's 7-8 layer supply chain creates massive inefficiency, what Careem taught him about building culture and empowering operators as founders, and how BRKZ is using technology to work with — not against — entrenched contractor behaviours.

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Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction to Ibrahim Manana and BRKZ
04:02 – Ibrahim's Early Entrepreneurial Endeavours
07:35 – Lessons from Kareem
11:11 – Challenges in Market Expansion
22:37 – Leadership and Culture at Careem
26:23 – Navigating Legal and Operational Hurdles
28:59 – Stories from Iraq
32:16 – Launching and Learning from Careem Cash
34:58 – Transition to BRKZ
36:27 – Identifying Gaps in the Construction Industry
40:21 – Challenges and Innovations in Construction
47:09 – The AI Story
51:09 – Building Relationships and Customer Trust
58:12 – Regional Tech Ecosystem and Entrepreneurship
01:01:24 – Future Prospects and Final Thoughts

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Thank you to the partners who make this possible:

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businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.

👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
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Transcript:

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Mark Kahn is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Omnivore, India’s leading agritech and climate-tech venture capital firm with more than $300 million under management. Backing over 45 startups transforming food, agriculture, and sustainability, Omnivore has played a defining role in shaping India’s agritech ecosystem and the country’s emerging climate investment landscape.

He joins the podcast to discuss how Omnivore is building bridges between India and the GCC, why he’s not trading India’s deep venture ecosystem for newer regional opportunities, and how food sovereignty, controlled-environment agriculture, and life sciences innovation will define the next decade of climate resilience and food security.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro
4:00 - Why Omnivore isn't pivoting to MENA
6:46 - India vs GCC venture ecosystems
10:00 - India's IPO advantage
14:45 - Food sovereignty vs food security
22:00 - Controlled environment agriculture: hype vs reality
28:00 - Why we avoided alt-protein
34:15 - The agribusiness-first mindset
40:15 - Mark's path from politics to agritech
45:30 - Omnivore's evolution across three funds
52:00 - The GMV trap in B2B marketplaces
59:45 - Why India missed a beat on life sciences
1:04:45 - Eruvaka exit: from shed prototype to Nutreco acquisition
1:09:00 - Exit paths in Indian agritech
1:11:00 - What value-add actually looks like
1:13:45 - Building the India-GCC food bridge

-----------------------------------------------

Thank you to the partners who make this possible:

• Sarwa – An all-in-one investing and money-management platform. It brings together do-it-yourself trading in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and options with Sarwa Trade, hands-off investing with Sarwa Invest, and high-yield estimated returns with Sarwa Save.

👉 Register using this link to be eligible for a $200 bonus when you fund $5,000 across your Sarwa accounts within three months of signing up:
https://www.sarwa.co/register?promoCode=FWDSTART

Promo code: FWDSTART

Sarwa is regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority. All investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

• Hubpay – A fully digital, ADGM-regulated fintech platform that gives UAE
businesses instant access to multi-currency accounts with named IBAN in 30+ currencies, payment links, payroll and more. No hidden fees, no minimum balance, and no waiting.

👉 Open your Hubpay business account today and get 30-day free trial at
https://wearehubpay.com/pricing and scale your UAE business with confidence.

-----------------------------------------------

Transcript: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1b43e0ae/transcript.txt

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Follow Jamie Lane on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamienlane/

Follow Jamie Lane on X:
https://x.com/jamienlane

Follow Mark Kahn on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kahn-20490a/

Follow FWDstart on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fwdstart/

Follow FWDstart on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@fwdstart

Visit our Website:
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