The Moghamra Podcast · Ep 22 · 17 Apr 2024
A Life of Reinvention
حياة من إعادة الابتكار
Wael Fakharany — CEO, Edenred · Cairo, Egypt
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Key takeaways
Reinvention is a skill, not an accident
Wael's path across Google, enterprise software and payments shows that deliberately moving into unfamiliar domains can compound a career rather than fragment it.
Lessons from building a market from zero
Standing up Google's early MENA presence meant educating a market, not just selling into it — a playbook that transfers to any category-defining role.
Know when to move on
A recurring theme is timing: recognising when you've delivered what you can in a role and when a new challenge will stretch you further.
Lead from the front at scale
Whether at a global platform or a benefits company, Wael's throughline is hands-on leadership and clarity about the value he brings into each new seat.
About this episode
Few operators have reinvented themselves as many times as Wael Fakharany. He built and led Google's early presence in the MENA region, then moved through senior roles across enterprise software and technology — including time at Incorta and as CEO of Omnix International — before taking the top job at Edenred, a global leader in payments and employee-benefit solutions.
This episode is less a startup story than a career masterclass. Wael reflects on what it actually takes to keep reinventing yourself — moving between giant platforms, enterprise software, and benefits-and-payments — without losing the through-line of who you are and what you're good at.
The conversation ranges across leadership at scale, what building Google MENA taught him about entering an immature market, how to read when it's time to move on, and the mindset that lets someone repeatedly step into unfamiliar industries and lead from the front.
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