From UAE's love for Bollywood to telling the Saudi story: Meet podcasters influencing the world with their voices

There is one thing Emirati Ahmad Al Marzooqi has loved since he was six – Bollywood. The movie buff now runs his own podcast called 'Chai with Ahmed'; a name inspired by the hit Hindi reality TV show Koffee with Karan.

Ahmed is a part of the new age media savvy individuals who are taking advantage of a very underrated outlet – podcasts.

Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the annual Dubai Pod Fest that kicked off in the city today, Ahmad said he had a special mission. “My podcast is a token of love and appreciation towards the Indians and Asians who have worked alongside us to build this country,” he said. “People have forgotten the deep connection that India and UAE have shared, and I am trying to bring that back.”

For Ahmad the growth of his podcast has been organic. “I have been running the show for about two or three years now,” he said. “The growth in followers has been slow but organic and I have managed to build a beautiful community around me. More than 50 per cent of my listeners are surprisingly from South Korea and Japan.”

The third edition of Dubai Pod Fest brought together some of the best podcasters, audio content creators, and leading organizations in the industry.

According to Ahmed, events like these were essential to further support the burgeoning podcasting community. “We have a lot of big names,” he said. “We learn from their mistakes and how they deal with issues. This is very important to smaller podcasters to learn and to grow. It should be conducted every year so that the industry can get bigger and better.”

Telling his story

An opportunity to tell his story is what drew Mohamed Islam to the world of podcasts. Presenter of The Mo Show Podcast – the first English language podcast in Saudi Arabia – Mohamed said it was a golden opportunity for him to portray the real culture of Saudi and the region to the outside world. “For so long, we had people telling who we are on our behalf,” he said. “But we live in the time where we can own the narrative. We can say how things are and who we are.”

Often ranked as one of the top podcasters in the region, Mohamed said he was living his dream. “I get to meet people from all walks of life and I get to hear their story,” he said. “And in the process, I get to do something for my country. This is my dream job. I am grateful that God showed me the way to it.”

According to Mohamed, the podcasting industry is growing. “We have more people listening to it,” he said. “We have more marketing budgets being allocated to podcasts, which is encouraging. New people are coming in and the standards are being raised.”

A platform

For media professional and university professor Maya Hojeij, podcasts were a platform for her to tell the stories that she wanted to tell. “My show features businesswomen and their success stories,” she said. “It had been more than five years and I really enjoy myself. To be able to get a guest into the chair in front of you and share their story with you, it is really special.”

However, podcasters face several challenges too. One of them is how to monetize their work, according to entrepreneur Tauhee who runs a podcast called Chat Me Up.

“This is one of my passion projects,” she said. “I have been doing it for over two years and I have been blessed to have some amazing guests. However, it is hard to monetise it. I would love to earn more from it. I think the podcasting industry is still in its infancy stages in the UAE and needs to grow more.”

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