John Hakim

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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:13] Speaker UNKNOWN: [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, a business visionary,
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: and welcome to Toronto's Podcasts.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: your source of the great insights
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: from entrepreneurs across Canada.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Today I'd like to introduce you to John Hackim.
[00:34] SPEAKER_01: John is a solutions architect
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: with over 10 years of experience
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: in building mission critical systems
[00:40] SPEAKER_01: for telecom, public safety, and enterprise.
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: Most recently, his focus has been dedicated
[00:47] SPEAKER_01: to building advanced solutions for the FinTech industry.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: As co-founder and CEO of Lennemoll,
[00:53] SPEAKER_01: John drives the engineering and operations teams.
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: So, although John comes from a blue chip company background,
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: he has caught the entrepreneurial budget
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: and now is actively building Lennemoll,
[01:07] SPEAKER_01: a peer-to-peer lending app that connects people
[01:09] SPEAKER_01: to borrow money with investors looking to make money.
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast, John.
[01:17] SPEAKER_01: What do you tell everyone a little bit about yourself
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: and what you do?
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: I know a little bit, so...
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: Sure, thank you, Philip, for having me today
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: and for this opportunity.
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: My name is John Hackim.
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: My background is actually Egyptian,
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: so I've one of raised in Egypt,
[01:35] SPEAKER_00: where I had also my engineering degree.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: And also, I would say consider myself new to Canada,
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: especially Toronto.
[01:45] SPEAKER_00: I moved here two years ago.
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: Before that, I was actually living
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: in different countries.
[01:51] SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, I was living in Dubai for the last four years
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: before I moved to Canada.
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I mean, I was actually expecting to meet people.
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: And I would say introduce myself to friends
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: and make new friends and events like Elevate.
[02:08] SPEAKER_00: And when I met you, it was really good opportunity to talk.
[02:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get into it.
[02:12] SPEAKER_01: You had a better chat, yeah.
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I remember that.
[02:15] SPEAKER_00: So, thanks for having me.
[02:17] SPEAKER_01: So, what about the entrepreneur?
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: What are you doing at the moment as an entrepreneur?
[02:24] SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I start my career,
[02:26] SPEAKER_00: even back in Egypt as a telecom engineer.
[02:29] SPEAKER_00: So, my background is actually electrical engineering.
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: And this is how I start my career.
[02:34] SPEAKER_00: But I would say the entrepreneurship is something
[02:36] SPEAKER_00: that is not just like a job.
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: It's something that a skill or a talent
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: that either you have it, or you work on developing it.
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: I think like me, entrepreneurs are wired differently.
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I see it.
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: I remember even since I was being an electrical engineer,
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: I guess wired differently.
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: It's relevant, okay.
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: I see it like, you know, someone that look at things differently,
[03:01] SPEAKER_00: someone that's, okay, there is a problem here
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: and how we can fix it, right?
[03:06] SPEAKER_00: And look at things in a different way.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: If this is your trend,
[03:09] SPEAKER_00: or this is the way you're thinking about things in general,
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: even in your personal life,
[03:13] SPEAKER_00: I think you can call yourself entrepreneur.
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: So, the story started, I would say, too early,
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: when even when I was university,
[03:21] SPEAKER_00: and then I will find I could group of friends
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: and then we start a small project.
[03:25] SPEAKER_00: For example, I remember internet back in Egypt
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: like 15 years ago,
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't very accessible to a lot of people.
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: And then my friend, my best friend,
[03:34] SPEAKER_00: and actually he's actually the partner
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: that I'm working with right now in my latest company.
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: We started like, okay,
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: how we can provide service to people to access internet
[03:45] SPEAKER_00: and make it easier for them and provide it as a service.
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: It was very simple idea, right?
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: But we were trying to fix it in a different way.
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: And even moving after that and working on specifically
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: for big corporates and focus on my career
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: on how can I provide solutions for public safety sector,
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: which was mainly my focus.
[04:08] SPEAKER_00: And you see like how different solutions
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: can impact people's daily life.
[04:14] SPEAKER_00: Especially when we talk about public safety
[04:15] SPEAKER_00: with all the situations that happens
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: in our now term of politics,
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: you see that every moment matter,
[04:21] SPEAKER_00: if you have the right solution for people
[04:23] SPEAKER_00: in the moment that matter,
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: I think that will make huge difference
[04:26] SPEAKER_00: for their safety for the life.
[04:29] SPEAKER_00: And this is what I like about even the latest
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneurship project that I'm working on,
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: which is Lemmo.
[04:35] SPEAKER_00: And we're going to talk about it.
[04:36] SPEAKER_01: What is Lemmo?
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean,
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: why don't I get too promotional?
[04:40] SPEAKER_01: It's an interest.
[04:41] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know a little bit
[04:42] SPEAKER_01: because we have a chat about it.
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: So just tell everyone what it is.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: Lemmo was actually came up as a problem
[04:49] SPEAKER_00: that we personally faced me
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: and actually my partner right now.
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: And as I said,
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: it's the same way we were used to think
[04:59] SPEAKER_00: about problems and how we can fix it 15 years ago
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: when we were in study engineering and university, right?
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: It's the same way I think this is how Lemmo came.
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: So it started six years ago
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: when my best friend and he moved from Egypt to the US, right?
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for, continue his after graduate studies
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: his PhD.
[05:19] SPEAKER_00: And at the same time,
[05:20] SPEAKER_00: I moved to a very different direction.
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: I moved to Dubai.
[05:23] SPEAKER_00: So very perfect.
[05:25] SPEAKER_00: Pretty different.
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: But I would say like minded people sometimes
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: like we keep in touch every once in a while.
[05:33] SPEAKER_00: We liked always keep ourselves like you updated.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: What's going on in our life?
[05:38] SPEAKER_00: And it happens for you two years ago
[05:41] SPEAKER_00: when they moved to Canada.
[05:43] SPEAKER_00: And then I was like,
[05:44] SPEAKER_00: okay, let's get in touch and come visit me.
[05:46] SPEAKER_00: It was actually a new years time.
[05:49] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, come over to Canada.
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: We can get in touch and it's good opportunity
[05:54] SPEAKER_00: that we are closer now, right?
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: And it was very exciting how he was talking to me
[05:59] SPEAKER_00: about this problem that he had when he moved to the US.
[06:03] SPEAKER_00: When he was trying to shopping around for a loan
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: for his PhD.
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: And you know, like as any immigrant
[06:10] SPEAKER_00: or new commerce to the country,
[06:13] SPEAKER_00: if you don't have any previous credit score or history,
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: it's going to be really hard for you
[06:18] SPEAKER_00: to get any financial support.
[06:20] SPEAKER_00: I am immigrant.
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: So I actually do understand that.
[06:24] SPEAKER_01: I was just a immigrant, but I don't understand that.
[06:28] SPEAKER_00: So I personally have the same thing.
[06:31] SPEAKER_00: It's just it's a different version of the story.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: But like, yeah, I also had the same thing.
[06:35] SPEAKER_00: Even I moved to Canada.
[06:36] SPEAKER_00: I couldn't transfer any of my financial history
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: and insights to Canada.
[06:42] SPEAKER_00: It was very interesting that once he got,
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: he managed to get the loan,
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: but after like a lot of hassle looking
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: or shopping around for good deals.
[06:51] SPEAKER_00: And at the end, he found himself that he's very limited
[06:54] SPEAKER_00: with the options that available,
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: which is like money marks or any other limited options
[06:59] SPEAKER_00: that are available in the market right now.
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: And you have to agree with the terms, right?
[07:03] SPEAKER_00: Because there's no other options.
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: So we were talking about that.
[07:07] SPEAKER_00: And how this problem, not just facing him or me,
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: it might be actually facing a lot of people.
[07:12] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you used to have a good job.
[07:15] SPEAKER_00: If you are even a kind of for paying back,
[07:18] SPEAKER_00: there's loans.
[07:20] SPEAKER_00: But still, you have to go through the same process,
[07:24] SPEAKER_00: which is a very, I would say a complicated process.
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we were thinking about,
[07:30] SPEAKER_00: I was really thinking probably there's a solution here
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: that other people could maybe think about it,
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: but why we couldn't have a way,
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: why these people are actually,
[07:39] SPEAKER_00: I cannot afford better deals
[07:42] SPEAKER_00: to the borrowers that are looking for loans
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: or people that are looking in general
[07:45] SPEAKER_00: for a small amount loan specifically.
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: The question, the answer for the question
[07:49] SPEAKER_00: was actually is, you don't have any information
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: about this person.
[07:53] SPEAKER_00: You don't know him.
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: You don't know if this person is actually having
[07:56] SPEAKER_00: any previous history or not,
[07:59] SPEAKER_00: you're only looking for one specific criteria
[08:02] SPEAKER_00: that you can classify this borrower.
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: And we are all in the same bucket.
[08:07] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how different we are.
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: We are classified in the same sign.
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: And after I would say we spend the whole night,
[08:15] SPEAKER_00: I remember this, this night looking at,
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: this is probably might be a good solution
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: that we can segment people in a different way
[08:23] SPEAKER_00: and use all the information that we have about these people.
[08:26] SPEAKER_00: If you have access to this information
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: that can help them get better deals actually.
[08:31] SPEAKER_00: But like any other conversation,
[08:33] SPEAKER_00: I mean, between me and him
[08:35] SPEAKER_00: that will end up sometimes with action sometimes not,
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: I was near New Year's Eve
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: and I was like, okay, it's just a good chat
[08:43] SPEAKER_00: and nothing get out.
[08:44] SPEAKER_00: Good ideas, but just go anywhere.
[08:47] SPEAKER_00: But surprisingly, after one week,
[08:49] SPEAKER_00: after he went back to San Francisco,
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: he came back to me with a very detailed business plan
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: and would just an idea.
[08:57] SPEAKER_00: But we start actually looking at this seriously.
[09:00] SPEAKER_00: And we start looking at who can help us
[09:02] SPEAKER_00: actually start investing in this business.
[09:04] SPEAKER_00: I think I would give credit to the Canadian entrepreneurs
[09:09] SPEAKER_00: and the investors and especially angel investors.
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: Most of our actually investment
[09:14] SPEAKER_00: at the first stage were actually
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: it came from Canadian investors,
[09:18] SPEAKER_00: like friends and family.
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: And these support us a lot.
[09:22] SPEAKER_01: So Lenmo, you explain how you got there.
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: Give me the quick 30 second elevator pitch
[09:29] SPEAKER_01: of what that technology is.
[09:31] SPEAKER_00: So we actually build a technology
[09:35] SPEAKER_00: that can help borrowers looking for small amount loans
[09:39] SPEAKER_00: to shop for their loans
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: by actually using technology and provide information
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: and data about these borrowers.
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: And we actually facilitate the borrowers requests
[09:49] SPEAKER_00: by connecting them with the investors
[09:50] SPEAKER_00: could be financial institutions,
[09:52] SPEAKER_00: could be actually individual investors.
[09:54] SPEAKER_00: And then we provide all this request on the platform.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: So investors can start bidding on different interest rates.
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: So every investor is looking at your rest profile
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: which is different from what's going on in the market right now.
[10:09] SPEAKER_00: We provide very detailed information
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: about the borrower using data analytics.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: We actually collect 150 points of data
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: about these borrowers and we do data aggregation.
[10:19] SPEAKER_01: Hopefully we get away from some of the, you know,
[10:24] SPEAKER_01: the companies and hopefully we can normalize that process now
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: which I don't think is very normal at the moment.
[10:31] SPEAKER_01: So you came from Egypt via Dubai to Toronto.
[10:35] SPEAKER_01: You've been here a while, a couple years now.
[10:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, two years.
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: What would you say the benefits of doing business
[10:42] SPEAKER_01: in Toronto versus other places that you visited?
[10:45] SPEAKER_00: It's very interesting because I believe
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: that every market is different in terms of the challenge
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: in terms of the skill sets that required for each market.
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: So the things that I learned for example,
[10:57] SPEAKER_00: working in Middle East and have different challenges in the market.
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: There I believe that when I moved to North America
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: and I worked with a lot of customers here
[11:07] SPEAKER_00: and being involved with in the technology business
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: and different environment, I would say.
[11:12] SPEAKER_00: I think your mindset need to be changed a little bit
[11:16] SPEAKER_00: in terms of what's the need
[11:18] SPEAKER_00: how to build relationship with customer,
[11:20] SPEAKER_00: how to listen to users and listen to your customers
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: because people are different.
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: People live in Middle East, they have different needs,
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: they have different requirements and for you
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: to feel like you're providing an ad value to these users,
[11:33] SPEAKER_00: not just need to speak their language,
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: but also understand their culture.
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: So it took me some time here to connect with people,
[11:42] SPEAKER_00: understand what's the culture here,
[11:44] SPEAKER_00: how he can deal with.
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: It's an incredibly diverse culture.
[11:47] SPEAKER_00: It is.
[11:47] SPEAKER_00: I think the understanding the culture here,
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: the background of all the people that are you deal with
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: makes you feel actually more comfortable having business with them,
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: and having a business relation.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: So I think at some point you need to have this kind of human connection
[12:03] SPEAKER_00: before you move to the business fight.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: As you said, you knew your, knew your with your body,
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: some of the best ideas come when you least expect them.
[12:13] SPEAKER_01: But how do you kind of disconnect?
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: How do you get inspired?
[12:17] SPEAKER_01: You know, how do you get that thing going that says,
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: I start here, but I finish here, you know.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: So I think when we have like all this,
[12:28] SPEAKER_00: especially in Toronto here and probably a lot of people
[12:30] SPEAKER_00: agree with me and that the lifestyle is really fast
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: and the base is really fast.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: So our daily routine is just wake up, go to work,
[12:40] SPEAKER_00: come back to whatever, do the activities,
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: the routine activities that you are doing on a daily base.
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: So a lot of time we don't have time to stop and reflect.
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: How things worse, if this thing's actually word,
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: the way it should be or not,
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: and what helped me a lot is because I just moved into this community
[12:59] SPEAKER_00: and environment, right?
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: I had to question a lot of things.
[13:03] SPEAKER_00: You know, when you are new to something,
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: you start question, why this has happened that way?
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: Because you didn't get used to it yet, right?
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: But if you are born and raised in,
[13:13] SPEAKER_00: and this is your comfort zone, you don't question things,
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: you go, oh, we used to do this out like for years, right?
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: So when you focus and make a stop and ask and observe a lot,
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: you actually start looking at things
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: that can be done in a different way, right?
[13:29] SPEAKER_00: And this is exactly what happened to us.
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: We were new to the community and to the problems
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: associated with this community.
[13:36] SPEAKER_00: And because we keep asking questions,
[13:38] SPEAKER_00: we found that there's things that can be improved.
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: So I think this was one of the main reasons, right?
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: When we stop and reflect,
[13:45] SPEAKER_00: I think we can do things better.
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: What are you most excited about in your business these days?
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: So I think the most exciting thing about what I'm doing right now
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: is how I manage to point an issue, right?
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: And then utilizing all our knowledge and skills
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: or things that I learn,
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: even if I don't learn it here in Canada,
[14:09] SPEAKER_00: I learned it somewhere else.
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: I managed to utilize this skills,
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: insolving a problem to a community that probably,
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: I consider myself new to this community,
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: but how small changes can make big different in people's life.
[14:25] SPEAKER_00: So what's really exciting for me, especially,
[14:27] SPEAKER_00: I used to see the difference
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: and the impact on people's life
[14:31] SPEAKER_00: when I was developing solutions for public safety
[14:35] SPEAKER_00: and enterprises right before.
[14:37] SPEAKER_00: But now I see a direct impact on people's life
[14:42] SPEAKER_00: with every feature, every solution we develop in Lennemau
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: on people's daily life.
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: And this is something that I'm really excited about.
[14:51] SPEAKER_00: Like I think making changes
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: is something that really makes me passionate about
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: what's tomorrow, what's we gonna change tomorrow?
[14:59] SPEAKER_01: One of the top three things on your vision board bucket list,
[15:04] SPEAKER_01: whatever you call it right now.
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: So I'm considering myself, as I said,
[15:09] SPEAKER_00: I'm starting a new chapter,
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: a new milestone in my life.
[15:13] SPEAKER_00: I think by deciding moving to Canada
[15:14] SPEAKER_00: was a big change for me that it took me some time to adapt.
[15:19] SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that I always hear feedback
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: from people that I'm very adaptable
[15:26] SPEAKER_00: and it tells me a lot to,
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: even evolving my career or even on the personal side
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: that I can be exposed to different backgrounds,
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: different culture, different lifestyle
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: and I can't adapt to that.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: So what I see here,
[15:40] SPEAKER_00: one of the biggest changes,
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: moved to Canada,
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: I'm very quick was realizing, okay,
[15:46] SPEAKER_00: this is the skill set that you need to learn.
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: This is the knowledge that you need to gain,
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: but also in terms of business.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: I'm starting a new business in a new country,
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: I would say for me,
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: but at the same time, I'm happy to learn.
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: So I think one of the things I'm focusing on these days
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: is how I can get more knowledge
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: and how can I evolve myself
[16:08] SPEAKER_00: and also evolve the business.
[16:10] SPEAKER_00: Because it's a journey.
[16:11] SPEAKER_00: It's not just going to happen in one day.
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying, okay, I'm an entrepreneur and tomorrow,
[16:15] SPEAKER_00: I can have a lot of billion dollar company, right?
[16:18] SPEAKER_00: It's a journey.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: And you introduce yourself to the world.
[16:22] SPEAKER_00: I'm new to Canada, I'm new to the Canadian
[16:25] SPEAKER_00: and even the North American.
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: I'm taking step-by-step to how I can introduce myself
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: to this new world.
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: With that in mind, what's the best piece of advice
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: you've ever received?
[16:37] SPEAKER_00: I'm always really excited to do things.
[16:40] SPEAKER_00: So I sometimes, okay, let's do it now.
[16:43] SPEAKER_00: Once there is a good idea or something
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: that I'm excited about,
[16:46] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to the action immediately, right?
[16:50] SPEAKER_00: And one of the best advices that I heard it from
[16:54] SPEAKER_00: one of the people that I really trust actually
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: was you need to listen.
[16:59] SPEAKER_00: I think when I have my time listening,
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: I get good results at the end,
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: at the same time.
[17:08] SPEAKER_00: It makes me not just execute and then analyze things.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: Analyzing before I execute helped me a lot,
[17:14] SPEAKER_00: avoiding a lot of issues that I actually could face
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: if I didn't have my time to listen to people
[17:20] SPEAKER_00: and analyze things.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you an example.
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: This could be applied to my relationship,
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: my family, for example.
[17:28] SPEAKER_00: And also on the professional life.
[17:32] SPEAKER_00: I'm listening to customers.
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: I'm listening to feedback.
[17:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm listening to friends and family that,
[17:37] SPEAKER_00: okay, I have a cool idea.
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: With that work in North America,
[17:40] SPEAKER_00: with Willemal work as a concept.
[17:42] SPEAKER_00: So I think by listening, by being accepting to the feedback,
[17:47] SPEAKER_00: even if it's, I'm telling you,
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: I'm happy for people to say, listen,
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: what you're saying is,
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: oh, shit, it's, it's, you need to,
[17:54] SPEAKER_00: you need to work more in that I'm happy.
[17:57] SPEAKER_00: Just people, if they just try to,
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: it brings me, but it's not on a real fact.
[18:05] SPEAKER_00: I think it's not going to end up with good results.
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: Okay, we'll go through a,
[18:09] SPEAKER_01: what kind of we call rapid fire section.
[18:13] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask you questions and just pump out the answers.
[18:16] SPEAKER_01: So if you weren't doing what you're doing now for work,
[18:19] SPEAKER_01: what would you be doing instead?
[18:22] SPEAKER_00: I will work at the director, theater director.
[18:26] SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's, that's been different than engineering.
[18:29] SPEAKER_01: That's good. That's good.
[18:31] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I love theater myself.
[18:33] SPEAKER_01: What book, book are you currently reading,
[18:35] SPEAKER_01: listening to and what book would you recommend for the audience?
[18:42] SPEAKER_00: I'm more on the listening to the podcasts, for example.
[18:45] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's fine.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
[18:47] SPEAKER_00: One of the podcasts that I'm always like to listen to is Tim Fers.
[18:52] SPEAKER_00: I like the guests.
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: I like how he's managing actually the conversation.
[18:58] SPEAKER_00: Also, one of the books that I read,
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: but long time ago, but still I live with this book.
[19:03] SPEAKER_00: If the seven habits for the most successful people by,
[19:07] SPEAKER_00: yeah, I read that.
[19:08] SPEAKER_00: That's a long time ago.
[19:09] SPEAKER_00: You're right.
[19:09] SPEAKER_00: Good.
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: It's a long time ago, but I feel like whatever I read in this book
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: and I learn, I still doing it on a daily basis.
[19:19] SPEAKER_00: So you were morning or a nighttime version?
[19:22] SPEAKER_00: I used to be a night person, but now I'm a morning person.
[19:26] SPEAKER_00: And it's because of the business needs.
[19:29] SPEAKER_00: By the way, the rainbow team, we are internationalists.
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: So we have the teams that actually work in Middle East.
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: So is the time different?
[19:36] SPEAKER_00: And I know, I know that one.
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: You're right.
[19:40] SPEAKER_00: I switched to be a morning person since I moved to Canada.
[19:43] SPEAKER_01: Which is good.
[19:44] SPEAKER_01: I feel this morning is a time because then you then you can do
[19:46] SPEAKER_01: Europe, which isn't too far from Middle East.
[19:49] SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, an hour, an hour or so.
[19:50] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: And then you can move to the West Coast in the afternoon.
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: It's great.
[19:55] SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm connecting.
[19:57] SPEAKER_00: I'm connecting.
[19:58] SPEAKER_00: It was the Middle East right now through Toronto.
[20:01] SPEAKER_01: So if you had to pick one word to describe John, what would it be?
[20:06] SPEAKER_01: And why?
[20:07] SPEAKER_00: As I said, I'm very adaptable person.
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: And that's helped me a lot.
[20:13] SPEAKER_00: What's keeping you up at night, if anything, maybe nothing?
[20:16] SPEAKER_00: No, there is definitely.
[20:19] SPEAKER_00: I took a decision and this was absolutely with all my,
[20:25] SPEAKER_00: it's all my decision.
[20:26] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't actually forced to do it is to change my life and,
[20:29] SPEAKER_00: and move to Canada.
[20:31] SPEAKER_00: And that's was a big challenge for me to prove myself.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: By also taking a decision to start a new business,
[20:38] SPEAKER_00: it's a bigger responsibility.
[20:41] SPEAKER_00: So I added to my shoulder by accepting the responsibility
[20:45] SPEAKER_00: of starting a new business of building a new life in Canada,
[20:49] SPEAKER_00: but also building a new opportunity for me.
[20:53] SPEAKER_00: What's your favorite place in the world?
[20:56] SPEAKER_01: Egypt.
[20:57] SPEAKER_01: What are the three non-negotiables that have to happen
[21:01] SPEAKER_01: in your set say your morning routine?
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: So the first thing is I have to say good morning to my girlfriend.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: This is something that there's no negotiation here, right?
[21:14] SPEAKER_00: Something that is in my routine.
[21:17] SPEAKER_00: But I also have to have my coffee.
[21:21] SPEAKER_00: Without coffee, I'm not functioning it.
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: And then jump on the first call because I'm always having a daily call
[21:29] SPEAKER_00: with the team to make sure that we connect even if you're working remotely.
[21:33] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this is my daily routine in the morning.
[21:36] SPEAKER_01: And I don't know.
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you probably heard the squeaky,
[21:39] SPEAKER_01: because you said you've listened to a couple of things.
[21:41] SPEAKER_01: So we're going to go to the tropical island thing.
[21:44] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[21:44] SPEAKER_01: So there's this small tropical island in the middle of the ocean.
[21:48] SPEAKER_01: It has a phone booth.
[21:49] SPEAKER_01: Remember what that is and it has no internet.
[21:52] SPEAKER_01: We drop you off there.
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: No technology, no computer, nothing.
[21:55] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[21:56] SPEAKER_01: You can use the phone booth on the island to call the boat for us to come and pick you up.
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: How long is it going to take you to last?
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: And what would you do?
[22:03] SPEAKER_00: I will probably last for like a month.
[22:07] SPEAKER_00: And what I will spend my time doing is building things.
[22:10] SPEAKER_00: I like to build things.
[22:12] SPEAKER_00: Like you will find me getting some wood if there is trees or something,
[22:15] SPEAKER_00: and I will build something.
[22:16] SPEAKER_00: I'll build like a tree house or something like that.
[22:19] SPEAKER_01: Well, that's a final question, John.
[22:22] SPEAKER_01: You know, thanks for coming on.
[22:24] SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
[22:26] SPEAKER_01: Help can people get to you online?
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: So I have my social media accounts,
[22:33] SPEAKER_00: but both of the time I'm more on LinkedIn.
[22:36] SPEAKER_00: So you can find me by searching for John Hakeem.
[22:39] SPEAKER_00: I'm a LinkedIn, and I'm always responding if there is any information you'd like to share with me.
[22:45] SPEAKER_00: And I would like to connect more than happy.
[22:48] SPEAKER_01: Well, John, thanks once more for coming on.
[22:50] SPEAKER_01: Great, great story.
[22:51] SPEAKER_01: Good luck with Len Moai.
[22:53] SPEAKER_01: It sounds really interesting.
[22:55] SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much and have a great day.
[22:58] SPEAKER_01: Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[23:04] SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
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[23:11] SPEAKER_01: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or at canvassbarkcast.com
[23:17] SPEAKER_01: where you can listen, discover and engage.
[23:20] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[23:24] SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next time.