Powering the future of the UAE: 3 stories in 30 minutes

[Music] it's a pleasure to be here with you today I'm K hammad I'm the founder and CEO of teum my background is in business strategy growth and marketing I'll tell you very briefly how I started te Kum while living in the states towards the end of the my time in the last years uh while living there I went through depression back to be close to family and friends while navigating the landscape here in Abu Gabi and understanding what can I do next to create a social impact I was very passionate about making an impact in something that I have personally went through which is solving for the lack of access to mental health care and I spoke to many individuals many entities and the answer that I got was no we don't believe in mental health we cannot solve for such an issue and it's hard to measure it's hard to implement so I reach out to a close friend of mine who's here in US my co-founder I've known inas for 15 years and we've been passionate about making a social impact luckily it was unfortunate at that time but inas was going through uh difficulties herself so we decided to join forces and start teum yet answer was no still everywhere we go we're getting a no Mental Health Online counseling digital therapy not something that is celebrated or not something that is encouraged for many many reasons still there's a problem and the problem in our region that there's over 100 million individuals in our part of the world suffering depression or anxiety without the right access to mental health care so we decided to take a leap of faith it was just around the time that covid has started everything went virtual work online education online Healthcare online so that worked in our favor funny enough the entities and the people that have rejected us initially they came back knocking at our door wanting to do something virtually for mental health fast forward today we have teum teum is the Arabic word for talk and it's a deep Tech platform for mental health we offer Wellness tools and screening features powered by AI throughout the experience with had with talum the product has evolved we introduced things like the mood tracker through face and voice recognition you're able to journal your mood for the day you can Journal your thoughts manually you can do assessments to measure your progress as you go there are obviously educational content that is available including meditations bilingual and validated according to the cultural need need a big part of it is the online counseling which is very private and secure for all individuals the user and counselor matching is powered by Ai and it's a crucial feature because we still lack guidance and education on where to start where to go who to speak to and then making this more of a Community Driven uh experience we obviously offer group therapy and webinars today we have over 20,000 users from 50 countries around the world we have 70 counselors who speak over 14 languages they come with different Specialties and backgrounds to offer support online we've been named Wellness platform of the Year by Entrepreneur magazine we've been recognized across different Publications as the top one of the top mental health Platforms in the region for fortunately the leadership in this country is very forward thinking and wellness at work or mental health in the workplace is something is high very high on the agenda of the government so we work with government entities and Fortune 500 companies to introduce something called The Wellness at work program where employees can access mental health support through onetoone sessions a series of webinars and other smart and digital tools at their own convenience obviously this comes with many many benefits including increase of productivity um getting analysis and insights on how to enhance the work culture and environment we've had a breakthrough last year where we were one of the very first or the first in the country to sign a partnership agreement with an insurance company being in the space where it was very difficult and having Insurance being a very traditional um structured industry it was a hard sell but it took one only for many others to follow obviously this couldn't have been done without the expertise that we have on board every single individual you see on the screen has passion for creating a social impact and driving innovation in the country to the region and globally we have people with background in Psychology pyy AI business marketing and I'm very proud of my full-tim team who's here also in the audience who have made Talam happen with so much passion and Innovation to make a difference in our society how did we get here the answer is Abu Gabi have I started somewhere else and have been as successful yes but the time would have have been different I would have taken many many many many more years to achieve what we have achieved today being in Abu Dhabi and having this ecosystem supporting entrepreneurs and startups have definitely accelerated our growth and our uh success so far having access to Talent having access to to finance having access to deal flow mentorship and so on and so on this was one of the best places and is the one of the best places to start um uh and grow from obviously give it up for um Hub 71 they incubated us they helped us grow and they opened many many doors for us to get to where we are today I'd like to thank you very much and please do reach out do get in touch I'd love to connect with some of you here afterwards to see how we can collaborate and work together to normalize mental health and make seeking therapy and support normal in our society thank you