Muslim Founder

Mariam Ahmed is the co-founder of Menza, an AI intelligence platform for consumer brands. 

Born and raised in New York, she studied computer science at King's College London before joining Goldman Sachs.

Today she's growing Menza toward a billion-dollar company, backed by Y Combinator and featured in Forbes. 
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Subscribe to the Muslim Founder Newsletter: https://muslimfounder.kit.com/32ea939ddd

For the latest updates on events, programs and announcements. 
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Follow Mariam Ahmed:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariamaahmed/
https://menza.ai/
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0:00 Intro
2:07 Growing up in New York
4:26 From medicine to coding
7:40 Inside Goldman Sachs: how to find winners and losers
11:21 The dinner that ended her finance career
15:02 Last day Friday, flew Saturday, YC on Sunday
17:11 The real reason they got into Y Combinator
20:56 100 conversations in one week to find the idea
22:40 What Menza actually does
23:40 Why 80% of her YC batch is already dead
27:09 The brutal truth about having no boss
33:14 How to build with zero money in 2026
34:06 "You don't need to fundraise anymore"
36:18 Building a billion-dollar company on Islamic values
39:46 America's abundance vs Britain's scarcity
45:59 The failures she's most proud of

Iqbal Nasim is the former CEO of the National Zakat Foundation.

He studied economics at Cambridge before going into investment banking, then left a seven-figure package to build NZF, transforming how Muslims across the country give their zakat.

He's the founder of Transform My Prayer, helping Muslims connect with their salah, and the Last Day Leadership program, helping them find purpose.

Over the past year, his podcast "In Good Faith" has become a home for the conversations most people avoid
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Subscribe to the Muslim Founder Newsletter: https://muslimfounder.kit.com/32ea939ddd

For the latest updates on events, programs and announcements. 
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Follow Iqbal Nasim:
https://www.youtube.com/@UCZ4GnufkU9g_wWUmmfaOKrA 
https://www.iqbalnasim.com/
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0:00 Intro
1:25 "There's no such thing as Islam"
3:38  What does the Quran say on this?
5:09 The misunderstanding of the word "Islam"
8:23 How we lost the original meaning
10:33 The trap of "Islamic everything"
13:07 Why "non-Muslim" is a dehumanizing word
15:57 Do you believe in Allah because you're "Muslim"? 
20:40 Would a non-Muslim really not understand halal?
26:47 Are Islamic schools a help or a harm?
30:05 The hard lines we draw between "us" and "them"
32:29 "The Muslim ummah is a complete myth"
36:42 Muslim pride & the obsession with "Muslim power"
45:01 "There is no ummah" - so what do you belong to?
49:12 "Why should anyone even care about this?"
52:27 The real harms of clinging to the label
54:38 What keeps Iqbal up at night: NDEs & psychedelics
57:48 Panentheism

Abu Lahya is a Muslim entrepreneur specialising in influencer marketing agencies. He spent 3 years failing in business before making his first $100K.

Today, after building a multi-6-figure marketing agency, he runs one of the biggest business mentorship programs in the Muslim space - with over 40,000 applications and students who've changed their lives, quit their jobs, and made hijrah.

In this episode, he breaks down the exact roadmap from broke to your first $100K, why your relationship with Allah determines your success in business, and how dua became the foundation of everything he built.
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Join Abu Lahya's mentorship:
https://application.imaccelerator.com/sohaib
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Follow Abu Lahya:
https://www.youtube.com/@AbuLayha
https://www.instagram.com/abu_lahya1/
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0:00 Introduction
2:07 The art of sales & never taking no for an answer
3:25 The origin story: rejection and failed businesses
4:39 Why beginners should start with service-based businesses
8:40 Zero to one: the $100 course that changed everything
10:12 Why Muslims avoid business 
13:17 Why most people quit and fail
15:36 How the influencer marketing agency model works
16:54 Finding influencers & how to price deals
19:47 The outreach strategy & how to stand out
24:39 Is your niche saturated, or is it a skill issue?
30:06 This sounds too good to be true?
33:05 "I was crying how broke I was, making dua"
35:01 Fix your relationship with Allah before your business
40:08 "Using Islam to sell your course"
44:31 Meeting Alex Hormozi
49:51 The roadmap for starting.
53:51 Abu Lahya's legacy

Sh Mustafa Briggs is an Islamic historian, author, and specialist in Arabic and Islamic texts. He converted to Islam at 13 and went on to study across West Africa, Mauritania, Morocco, and Al-Azhar University in Cairo. 

Today he's a leading voice for uncovering the hidden, forgotten, and erased stories of Islamic history, having delivered over 100 lectures across 50+ universities worldwide and authored two books - Beyond Bilal and Islam and the Making of the Modern World.

In this episode, he breaks down the lost ring of the Prophet ﷺ and the fitna that followed, the Black poets and scholars who shaped Islamic civilization, and the theory that Muslims discovered America 200 years before Columbus ever set sail.
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Follow Mustafa Briggs
https://www.instagram.com/mustafabriggs/
https://mustafabriggs.com/
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0:00 Introduction
2:07 How Mustafa uncovers hidden Islamic history
4:23 The lost ring of the Prophet ﷺ
6:44 Why anti-Blackness exists in Muslim history
12:44 The scholars who defended Black Muslims
14:01 The Black Sahaba you've never heard of
15:36 Ubada bin Samit and the opening of Palestine
17:53 Why race matters in Islamic history
23:28 Crows of the Arabs: the Black poets of Arabia
26:24 Antara & Abla: the Romeo and Juliet of Arabia
29:43 Did Muslims discover America before Columbus?
33:33 The 2,000 ships that vanished
36:51 Mustafa's journey to Islam at 13
40:19 Studying across West Africa, Mauritania & Cairo
44:14 What's next for Mustafa Briggs

Omar Waseem is the 21-year-old CEO of Alif, an investment fund for Muslim founders based in Silicon Valley. By 19, he had built multiple seven-figure businesses and served as CMO of Fei Protocol, a startup that peaked at a $2B valuation.

Today he invests in early-stage Muslim founders and runs an ecosystem that hosts entrepreneurs and investors from across the world.

In this episode, he breaks down how Muslim entrepreneurs can build wealth and start companies in 2026.
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Join Alif Sessions: https://alif.build/sessions 

Use promo code "muslimfounder" in your application for 20% off and a guaranteed spot in the program.

Program starts on 10th May.
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Follow Omar Waseem:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarwaseem/
https://x.com/omarwasm
https://www.youtube.com/@omarwasm
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0:00 Introduction
2:14 Omar's entrepreneurial journey
4:26 The car accident that changed everything
6:53 The Fund backing Muslim founders
10:14 What Omar looks for in founders
11:26 The mission: 25 Muslim billionaires
12:15 Do Muslims sell out to build big?
14:53 How Alif actually makes money
16:32 The best business to start in 2026
18:56 Why 2026 is the moment
21:22 Building Muslim entrepreneurial power
23:56 Why San Francisco wins
26:44 Is money the real problem?
28:27 How to hire a world-class team
36:42 Omar's role models
38:10 How he made it so young
40:20 Who keeps Omar grounded
44:14 Rapid fire