The Story

I didn't start from zero.

Zero would have been a gift. This is the road from minus fifty — told exactly as it happened, because every claim on this page is verifiable.

Gaza
Minus fifty
I grew up in Gaza, Palestine — one of the highest unemployment rates on earth. I lived through three wars and lost seventeen friends. I became a software engineer and a university lecturer, asking one question: if the work can't exist here, why can't we reach the work out there?
2009
A tourist map for a besieged city
I led GIS professionals and my students to map Gaza street by street — the blockade denied us even proper satellite imagery — and published the city's first tourist map. Reuters and the international press documented it. That instinct still runs everything I build.
2011–12
Intel & Startup Weekend
Intel named my plan the Best Technology Business Plan — digital jobs for a city with no open roads. A year later I won Startup Weekend with an expert-sourcing platform.
2013–14
Chevening Scholar, top of the school
The UK Government named me a “Leader of Tomorrow.” At the University of Birmingham I earned an MSc in Digital Entrepreneurship with Distinction — the top student in my school.
2015
A book that carried 79,000 people
“Your Way to Online Freelancing” became the most-downloaded title of its kind on Hsoub Academy for seven consecutive years.
2015–18
Ventures that served giants
Smartella, the Freelance Online Academy (17,000 learners, 14 countries), and OneAcademy — sold at idea stage, £140k signed, later supporting training for teams at Apple, Google and the Government of Dubai. eLearning delivered for Jaguar Land Rover and the United Nations. I built the first UK company as my scholarship ended, war broke out at home, with a new mortgage and a newborn — and delivered.
2018
World-Leading Exceptional Talent
The UK Home Office and Tech Nation granted me one of Britain's most selective recognitions.
2023–25
Fifteen months, nine criteria, one city
I travelled the world to choose where to build next — then chose with a weighted spreadsheet, not a mood. Dubai won on the numbers. The UAE welcomed me with a Golden Visa as a recognised talent.
Today
London Gulf Nexus
Co-founder & CEO. We help organisations deliver AI, not just discuss it — built on NEXUS, a methodology I co-authored, peer-reviewed by Oxford and Birmingham. And in parallel: this — the blueprints, published.