The CEO of the Number 1 music platform in MENA Eddy Maroun says if you’re really passionate and get the know-how, you can make your dream happen

How to prepare for business challenges? Passion helps you be prepared and ready to conquer any obstacle.
Eddy Maroun is the CEO and cofounder of MENA’s top music platform, Anghami. Now Anghami is a major hit, but at start it was tiny. He and his business partner didn’t have even resources when they first started.
Yet they worked hard and developed the business. The aim always was and always will be to provide the best experience. They think that the real challenge is to keep growing so they never rest on laurels.
Eddy says that when you are passionate about your project ‘you always want to push and reach the best’. So he strives to continuously improve user’s experience and to bring the best product possible.
When you’re deeply passionate about your project ‘you always want to reach more and to do more’. Ultimately, this leads you to success.
Do you want to make your own dream come true? Learn more about taking advantage of your passion. Remember to share it with your friends and spread the passion.

Live Passionately

Moustafa Hamwi
Passionpreneur & Chief Energy Officer
Award Winning Author & Speaker

TRANSCRIPT:

Moustafa: Hello everyone and welcome back to Passion Sundays, the best way to end a week and start another. Our guest today is the CEO and cofounder of the region’s leading music streaming platform, Anghami. Eddy, thank you very much for being with us today!
Eddie: Thank you, Moustafa! Thank you for having me!
Moustafa: It’s exciting to hear what you guys are doing in the region because you bringing something very entertaining, yet very technologically-savvy and it’s on demand by everybody. Tell us more about how you ended up here.
Eddie: So as per its name – Anghami is the music platform for the Middle East and we’re really changing the whole way of consuming music and getting access to music in the region. Streaming has gone big, it’s a big trend everywhere in the world and we make sure that we have a platform that is designed for the region and from the region that can be very relevant for our states, habits, culture and the way we consume music. And that’s probably why Anghami is successful and being marketed in this region.
Moustafa:       So where did you start before you ended up with this great success?
Eddie: Anghami came out of, you know, the experience that I’ve built personally in music and my partner’s in technology. So we combined this expertise and came up with this idea. So, you know that music and business and everything we do needs this tech engine to make it happen and streaming made this beautiful combination between tech and music so we reflected this in Anghami being, you know, two founders coming with each one’s skills to make it happen.
Moustafa: So it started with your hobby, not actually with a business.
Eddie: Honestly, I have music in my heart and Elie is a tech guru so this is not really a hobby, that was my work. And definitely music is my, as a personal hobby, but when we started Anghami it was a serious business but I don’t think you can start and be, you know, driven by such project if you don’t have something in your DNA, be it tech or music. So I think that this is also part of the, you know, success element that would drive your passion and somehow obsession to make it really happen and work. Because that’s not an easy ride. When you’re starting something, it’s very challenging, it’s very small. We don’t have the resources, it’s too tiny. But if you really have the know-how and you’re passionate, I think you can make it happen.
Moustafa: That’s all beautiful when things are going beautiful. I’m sure today you’re standing on the top of your mountain saying ‘we’ve done it.’ But the question is if we would rewind a few years, I’m sure that there were dips that were tough.
Eddie: Absolutely! By the way, you can never stay on the top of your mountain and say ‘I did it!’, that would never happen and if you feel that you’re there, it means there is something wrong and you should be alarmed. Ok, of course if we look back at how I started we would see a big shift, a change in how things grew but I think the challenge is not in the low, I think the challenge is how to really sustain, how to keep growing, how to scale, how to make sure that you’re always competitive and relevant. And trust me, this is something that keeps us awake at night, how we can grow further, how we can be more responsive to users’ need, how to be innovative enough, how to remain simple enough and focus on the things we’re doing. So this is a set of challenges. Maybe our journey didn’t go through serious lows, but I can tell you that the challenges are on our everyday papers, that’s what I wanna say. You can never rest comfortable when you’re in such a project.
Moustafa: I love your perspective on challenge because most would have probably went through some tough times. The fact that you have been pre-prepared for them saying ‘I’m never gonna be on top of that mountain and I’m always ready’, it seems that you’ve been able to accommodate these challenges more than in an everyday situation.
Eddie: You know, I’m not a spoiled person. Neither is Elie. So I think we’ve always been aware that there will be challenges. We never thought that it’s gonna be an easy ride. So we were prepared for that and being prepared makes you somehow receptive and you’re expecting these challenges to come. And you feel that, with also the partner, the team you build, all the things that you have around you, you feel that you’re more prepared and equipped to conquer any challenge you have.
Moustafa: So if you would summarize passion, how would that be?
Eddie: For me passion is a sort of obsession. I can tell you that the way we work and the way our team is tackling this project is way beyond just passion. It’s somehow obsession. You want the best product, you want the best content, you want the best experience. We want the best for our region, for the user, for the artists we work with, for the bands. So we’ll push the limit in everything we do so at some point it’s hard and tiring probably for us but that’s what we mean, this is how it should be otherwise you can’t get to where you want to get or meet the expectations of all the stakeholders and yourself and your team because you always want to reach more and to do more and you always want to push and reach the best for your project.
Moustafa: I love it! So have the passion to succeed! Thank you very much!
Eddie: Thank you!
Moustafa: This has been an amazing interview! Thank you so much!
Eddie: Thank you!
Moustafa and Eddie: Passion!
Moustafa: What do you think? I would really love to know your opinion. So do leave your comments on the blog below and share it with your friends. And if you’d like more tools, tips, techniques and exclusive interviews that I only share on my website, go to Moustafa.com. Until next episode – live passionately!