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PODCAST

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge

Formerly the Unscripted Podcast with Spencer Lodge Join Spencer Lodge as he connects with the most fascinating personalities in Dubai. A city that rose from the desert sands to become one of the most ambitious, innovative and inspiring places on Earth. Behind its glittering skyline are people with stories just as extraordinary - pioneers, dreamers and doers who dared to turn bold visions into reality. Made in Dubai is where those stories are told. Hosted by Spencer Lodge, each episode is a

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01:01:09

#417: What happens to the UAE's supply chain when one...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/10/05

From alternative ports and rerouting cargo to rising freight costs, limited capacity and the importance of keeping essential goods moving, Ayman explains how logistics companies adapt when the usual routes are no longer available. Ayman Kabbara also discusses pharmaceuticals, global trade, AI, blockchain and preparing for future supply chain disruptions. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 1:08 What happens when Jebel Ali is disrupted 14:22 How the UAE keeps goods moving through alternative routes 21:48

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01:09:25

#416: From Nissan to Louvre Abu Dhabi: Reda Raad on...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/09/28

Reda Raad has spent the last 20 years shaping how one of the world's biggest car brands is seen across this region, and picked up international recognition along the way for his work putting the Louvre Abu Dhabi on the map. He talks to Spencer about the discipline he says most people are losing in the age of AI, and why some brands earn decades of trust in this region while others never get close. Timestamps 02:00 – Starting a new podcast and personal motivations 03:07 – Working with his father and

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01:03:21

#415: What Does It Actually Take to Build Landmarks...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/09/21

Dean McGrail has spent over two decades building his career in the Gulf, and today he leads WSP's operations across the Middle East and Asia. He talks to Spencer about the humbling start that shaped his entire career, his approach to leading his team, and what it's actually taken, personally and professionally, to get to where he is now. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 0:28 What WSP actually does 1:45 The landmarks across the region, Ain Dubai, Royal Atlantis, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and more 3:26

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01:12:19

#414: Jon Marchant: "The enemy isn't AI, it's...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/09/14

Jon Marchant is Group President at Memac Ogilvy, part of WPP, leading 450 people across one of the region's biggest advertising networks after 27 years in the industry. Jon explains why he believes the real threat to the advertising industry isn't AI, it's mediocrity, and what that means for agencies trying to stay relevant. He also opens up about why he believes vulnerability builds more trust in leadership than authority ever will, and how his own definition of success has changed over nearly

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01:13:01

#413: Nick Watson built a special running chair and...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/09/07

Nick Watson is a former Royal Marine who moved to Dubai in the late 1990s and later founded Team Angel Wolf, a nonprofit built around his son Rio, who is 23 and lives with a rare chromosome condition. The wider mission behind Team Angel Wolf, teaching communities and schools across the UAE what real inclusion looks like. Timestamps 0:57 Nick and Spencer meet after 21 years of near misses 2:12 Why Nick says the timing wasn't right before now 2:56 Growing up in Cornwall and his parents' cafe in

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51:55

#412: Why getting a health check once a year could...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/08/27

Dr. Hasan Alogaily is a global expert in longevity, and he's here to cut through the noise. Peptides, supplement stacks and expensive therapies dominate the conversation online, but he says none of it matters if the basics aren't in place first. In this conversation, Hasan explains why lifestyle is the real foundation of a longer life, how often you should actually be getting your bloods checked, and why skipping your annual health check is a bigger risk than most people realise. Timestamps: 00:00

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01:02:40

#411: She Rescued 682 Children | Hannah Badi, CEO of...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/08/17

She grew up in a community that Nepal doesn't count. Below all 126 castes. Girls in her village had no access to education, healthcare, or transport. From the age of 11, they were sold. Hannah Badi was nearly trafficked at 9 years old. She escaped at midnight with 32 girls and a stone in her hand. She went on to rescue 682 children. Her sister is now a minister of Nepal. This is one of the most powerful conversations Spencer has ever had. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:13 Hannah's childhood in

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01:14:45

#410: She Survived a Liver Transplant. Then...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/08/10

Her son was 12. While she was on the waiting list for a donor liver, he went home and Googled everything she was too scared to search. She came through the surgery. And then sat with a question that stopped everyone in that room. Dr. Kaiser Raja, her surgeon at King's College Hospital Dubai, is also in this conversation. And Spencer does something in this episode that Nadia did not know was coming. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:17 Why Nadia chose to share her story 02:12 When the diagnosis

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01:22:20

#409: The Truth About Medical Insurance in Dubai That...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/08/03

Most people in the UAE assume their company medical plan is there to look after them. Sam Douglas has spent 13 years on the other side of that assumption. This is one of those conversations that changes the way you think about something you assumed was straightforward. Sam is honest, specific, and genuinely good at explaining a world most employees never get to see inside. Time stamps 0:00 Introduction 3:03 Corporate wellness: why it almost never moves the needle on claims 9:12 What an insurance

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58:30

#408: Your Employer is Gambling with Your Gratuity |...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/07/27

Most people in the UAE have spent years building a career and assuming their gratuity is sitting somewhere safe, waiting for them when they leave. Safa Bouzidi is one of the few people who will actually tell you what is happening to it. If you work in this country and you have never asked your company where your end-of-service money is, this is the conversation that will make you start. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 1:11 Why gratuity was never designed to be your pension 3:31 The DIFC DEWS scheme

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01:17:50

#407: THE CEO OF LEO BURNETT JUST CALLED OUT HIS OWN ...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/07/20

We talked about what the advertising industry actually gets wrong, and why most agencies won't tell you. We got into Jaguar, Ferrari, data, creativity, and the uncomfortable truth about what really makes a campaign work. And then halfway through, he said something that had nothing to do with any of that. Sixteen years. That's how long he's been sitting with something most men in this part of the world would never say out loud. This is one of those episodes you don't skip to the end. Timestamps:

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01:29:46

#406: Success Has Nothing to Do with What You Build |...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/07/13

Paul Evans is the CEO of Solutions Leisure, one of the most recognised hospitality brands in the UAE with 23 venues across the region. But that is not the reason we brought him in. He grew up dyslexic and spent years being told he wasn't enough, and the decisions he made in his early twenties landed him in a UK prison cell at 21. What followed was years of searching for something he couldn't name, until his body made the decision for him. While building a business in Egypt, acute pancreatitis

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01:11:46

#405: Sami Kayyali: Most CEOs Are Terrible...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/07/04

Sami Kayyali is the founder and managing director of Rekarda, one of the most specialist communications businesses in the UAE. But the work he does is not what most people think. He is not building slides. He is sitting behind the scenes of the rooms where the most consequential decisions in the region get made, shaping how CEOs, government entities and multinational boards communicate before they walk into the moments that define their careers. With over 20 years of experience, Sami has watched

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01:21:59

#404: Dennis McGettigan, From a House of Ten in...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/06/29

Dennis McGettigan is the founder and CEO of McGettigan's, one of the most recognisable hospitality brands in the UAE. But the story behind it starts in Dublin, in a house with ten children run "like a business", where the kitchen was locked at 7pm and every kid got jobs and five pounds a week. His father started as a dishwasher on the QE1 at nineteen, bought his first pub for eight thousand pounds in 1964, and built a hotel empire across Ireland, the UK and eventually Dubai. This conversation is

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01:10:25

#403 From Top of Her Class in America to Vice...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/06/22

In 1981, a young Emirati woman convinced her father to let her travel to America to study. On her very first exam in a class of 75 Americans, she came first. That woman is now Vice Chancellor of the University of Sharjah. Dr. Amina Al Marzouqi's story is one of the most inspiring journeys Spencer has covered on this show. After graduating in the US, she came home and was made deputy director of the UAE's entire primary healthcare system. She did her master's degree and went on to help build 106

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01:12:22

#402: Stop Feeling Guilty. It Is a Wasted Emotion. |...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/06/15

Known to millions as Mrs. Moneypenny from her 16 year Financial Times column, Heather has been an investment banker, executive search entrepreneur, Edinburgh Fringe performer, off Broadway actress, PhD holder, chartered accountant and now Provost of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, overseeing 5,500 students and 600 staff. She qualified as a chartered accountant three weeks before her 60th birthday. She borrowed £1.8 million personally to buy a business, then gifted it to her staff. She co-founded the

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01:11:32

#401 "Dubai Is Not as Easy as You Think" | Jason...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/06/08

Most people arrive in Dubai thinking the opportunities will find them. Jason Grundy has spent 25 years watching that assumption play out badly. As Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa at Robert Walters, Jason has seen every side of the hiring market. The candidates who oversell themselves. The companies that leave great people waiting a month for feedback and wonder why they lost them. The businesses generating AI written job descriptions that have nothing to do with the actual role

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01:19:05

#400: 8 Years. 400 Episodes. The Guests Spencer Never...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/06/01

Eight years. Four hundred episodes. And Spencer still can't quite believe it. For the 400th episode, Spencer sits down to reflect on the podcast that has shaped him as much as he has shaped it and revisits four conversations that moved him, changed him, and that he hasn't been able to stop thinking about. None of this happens without the people who have shown up every single week for eight years behind the camera, behind the scenes, behind every idea that made it to air. Four hundred

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01:16:18

#399 "The Doctor Is Not Always Right" | Hein Van Eck,...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/05/25

"The Doctor Is Not Always Right" Hein Van Eck is a healthcare actuary by training, a breed of thinker who sits at the intersection of data, ethics, and human behavior. He started in insurance in South Africa, was handed his career-defining job after answering a single ethical question correctly, and has spent the last 20 years on the provider side watching an industry transform in real time. He moved to Dubai in 2014 and hasn't stood still since. As CEO of Mediclinic Middle East, Hein

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01:22:46

#398 Katy Keenan, CEO of BCCD, on Rebuilding and Why...

Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge ·

2026/05/18

Katy Keenan has turned the British Chamber of Commerce Dubai into one of the most respected business communities in the UAE 1,200 members across 29 sectors, a board that's now 50% women, record profits donated to charity, a 98% satisfaction rating, and a LinkedIn following that grew from 6,000 to nearly 33,000 with no marketing budget whatsoever. Just authentic storytelling, genuine relationships, and a woman who remembers every person she's ever met. Katy was bullied at school. She spent her

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