How 3 MENA Founders Mastered Remote Team Communication

In the fast-paced world of startups, how teams communicate with each other can make or break a company’s culture. Founders juggle countless responsibilities, and how they interact with their teams shapes everything from productivity to morale. But striking the right note in their communications isn’t always easy—especially in an era of instant messaging, endless notifications, and blurred work-life boundaries.

So, how can leaders ensure they are connected to their teams without overwhelming them? We at Inc. Arabia spoke with the entrepreneurs behind MENA-based startups Silkhaus, Ginni AI, and Letswork to learn how they streamline work with their teams without burning them out. These companies, in addition to having teams spread across different countries and time zones, are comprised primarily of remote and hybrid teams, making it necessary for them to handpick tools and adopt processes to communicate more effectively and, ultimately, foster work environments that prioritize clarity, collaboration, and well-being—even when they’re not in the same room.

Mai Medhat, founder and CEO of Ginni AI

For Ginni AI, a startup that helps B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies drive sales by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools for coaching, strategy, and optimization, the challenges of managing teams, maximizing productivity, and respecting boundaries are front and center.

Founded by Mai Medhat, a tech entrepreneur who previously founded the Cairo-born, Dubai-based event tech company Eventtus that was acquired by enterprise event platform Bevy in 2021, Ginni AI is a remote-first company with teams spread across Egypt, the UAE, the US, and India. For Medhat, who founded Ginni AI in 2024 and has more than 12 years of startup experience under her belt, effective communication isn’t just a nice-to-have— it’s the backbone of her business.

Indeed, she tells us that Ginni AI has established guidelines for its internal communication to help team members instantly understand what’s required of them. The team uses the cloud-based team communication platform Slack for daily interactions, and the productivity and note-taking web app Notion for structured documentation.

“We use Slack for all communication, and early on, we defined certain ground rules to make [asynchronous] communication easier,” she shares. “Simple things like... using certain emojis or reactions to confirm receiving a message or acting on a certain request. It’s simple but powerful to make sure all the team is aligned, and it saves lots of time in back-and-forth communication.”

Plus, to avoid miscommunication, her team also has a golden rule—if a discussion drags beyond a few messages, they hop on a quick call to clear things up."

As for Notion, she calls it “the ultimate truth in the company,” and notes that, as the company grows, they are making sure to streamline all documentation onto it. In fact, Medhat credits these two platforms with helping team members communicate more effectively and ultimately, boosting efficiency. “Both have streamlined workflows, reduced miscommunications, and improved clarity company-wide,” she explains.

To further cut through the noise, the team uses tags for their messages, like “urgent,” “feedback,” and “sharing for visibility,” to set clear expectations and overcome the challenges that come with non-verbal communication. “Written communication lacks the natural signals of face-to-face interaction, so these tags help provide context and avoid misunderstandings,” Medhat points out.

As an entrepreneur, Medhat has taken the time to find the right tools and settings to ensure that team members know what is expected of them, don’t waste time on misunderstandings, and remain motivated. A few months ago, the team also adopted a new format for their weekly all-hands meetings, which Medhat believes is helping to keep them connected and informed.

“We use a simple format— celebrate wins, share lessons learned, discuss experiments, and give updates,” she reveals. “It keeps everyone aligned, and it builds a culture of openness and transparency.” Medhat calls the meeting “the best 30 minutes” spent by the team each week, and credits it with keeping them aligned, building ownership, and encouraging fast learning. “Face-to-face time with your team is powerful—it strengthens culture and drives clarity in a way that written messages just can’t,” Medhat adds.

Despite the demands of startup life, Medhat, who is also the mother of two-year-old twins, believes that balancing innovation with the demands of leadership and family life is key, and, accordingly, prioritizes personal boundaries in communication. “Respecting the team’s personal time is critical,” she says. “Our Slack automatically silences notifications after working hours, encouraging everyone to fully disconnect. Personally, when I work late or on weekends, I deliberately avoid tagging team members in messages—they’ll see these updates at their own convenience. But in the early days of a startup, things are messy and exciting and moving so fast. It’s part of the journey!”

Sabine El Najjar, CCO and Managing Director KSA, Silkhaus

There’s always more than one way to strike the balance between efficiency and respect for personal time, and Sabine El Najjar, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Silkhaus and Managing Director of its recently-opened KSA office, brings another perspective to the table.

At Silkhaus, a startup for short-term rental properties founded in 2021 with teams spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Bangalore, structured communication is essential—but so is flexibility. With around 70 employees, Silkhaus operates a hybrid model, allowing remote work when possible, and even offering a work-from-abroad policy for added flexibility.

“We believe in giving our team the flexibility they need, while ensuring everyone feels connected to something meaningful,” El Najjar tells Inc. Arabia. El Najjar adds that, to streamline communication, the team combines automation, structured meetings, and real-time messaging. “Our content management system automatically updates project statuses, keeping everyone aligned without the need for unnecessary follow-ups,” she explains.

“For complex projects, we hold weekly catch-up calls with cameras on, fostering engagement and active participation. To keep discussions focused, we require a clear agenda before meetings, ensuring everyone comes prepared.”

El Najjar also points out that Silkhaus’ organizational structure and communication are designed to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, with clear expectations set from the top down.

“Each department has leaders who align on cross-functional projects and challenges,” she shares. “These leaders help maintain smooth coordination, tracking key developments, and knowing exactly who to contact when issues arise. That’s the shiny theory—but in reality, as a guest-facing operator and a startup, things don’t always go by the book. When there’s an urgent issue, we use whatever gets the fastest response— calls, WhatsApp, Slack, or just tracking someone down in person. We haven’t nailed it perfectly yet, but we’re all used to making exceptions when needed. It can get a bit chaotic, but that’s just part of running a fast-moving business.”

As a client-facing enterprise that strives to avoid overwhelming team members while ensuring quality delivery to clients, the company has codified escalation protocols and emergency response protocols to handle urgent requests. “Emergencies are inevitable, but they shouldn’t define our work environment,” she says. “At Silkhaus, where we frequently handle guest-related urgencies, complaints, and last-minute requests, we’ve implemented a structured response path through our ops team. Clear escalation protocols and well-defined roles ensure issues are addressed efficiently without disrupting workflow or leading to burnout.”

Plus, in order to manage expectations among team members and provide them with uninterrupted time to do deep, reflective work, they’ve set aside Tuesday and Thursday mornings as half days without internal meetings.

Another challenge that the team has had to adapt to is managing communication between teams as the company has scaled. El Najjar tells us that, when she first joined Silkhaus, communication was simple—everyone was in the same office. But as the company expanded, scaling that same level of clarity became more challenging. “With teams now working across different locations—and in some cases, speaking different languages—we’ve made English our primary language for communication to ensure clarity and consistency,” El Najjar says.

“Since we no longer share a single office, we introduced bi-weekly update meetings, where attendance (even remotely) is mandatory. These meetings ensure that everyone stays informed about key developments, challenges, and cross-team initiatives, helping us maintain strong alignment despite the geographical spread.”

El Najjar reveals that Silkhaus uses tools like Slack, a customer relationship management (CRM) platform HubSpot, and email to organize communication and work between team members. “Slack is great for quick updates, but to prevent pressure to respond immediately, we encourage status updates,” she says. “HubSpot helps structure workflows with clear timelines and priorities, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth, while email remains key for strategic discussions and larger projects that require reflection.” As for prioritization, El Najjar tells us that Silkhaus has built structured workflows in HubSpot to ensure that team members are aligned on expectations and required action for each task.

“We use ‘action required’ tags and blockers within our system,” El Najjar explains. “Progression through different stages is only possible when all prerequisites are met, preventing missteps that could create significant operational challenges. For example, activating a property before it is furnished or before utilities are set up would lead to major disruptions. By enforcing structured workflows and clear dependencies, we ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, allowing us to deliver seamless experiences to both property owners and guests.”

El Najjar tells us that one of the most important values that she is personally keen to prioritize and advocate for is respecting personal time. “As a mum, I’m very conscious of balancing work and personal time, so I try to avoid sending messages late at night or over the weekend,” she says. “Even if I’m working, I hold off on replying to emails after hours because I want to set the tone: if I expect my boundaries to be respected, I need to respect my team’s as well.”

However, this can be especially challenging for a team that has members in different countries and across time zones. “Of course, sometimes I just need to get a thought out before I forget, and so, I’ll drop a message; but I make it clear that it’s not urgent, and that it doesn’t need to be addressed until working hours. I encourage my team to do the same and to be comfortable setting their own boundaries. At the end of the day, we all work hard, but we also need time to disconnect—so, we try to be intentional about not creating pressure for immediate responses outside of work hours or when not urgently needed.”

Now, all said and done, things might not always go according to plan when it comes to communications, but El Najjar says the company makes use of a philosophy that at least keeps it on the right track. “We don’t always get it right, but what makes a difference is our culture of open feedback,” she says. “When something isn’t working, we tweak it. That mindset helps us stay efficient, reduce stress, and build a work environment where people feel heard and supported.”

Hamza Khan, co-founder and CEO, Letswork

Letswork, founded in 2019 as a platform offering on-demand access to coworking spaces, cafés, and meeting rooms, operates across multiple countries, including the UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Portugal, Spain, Pakistan, and Jordan. And in his role as the co-founder and CEO of Letswork, Hamza Khan says that he is all about flexibility—but with a strong emphasis on structure.

“Our team is made up of 18 people, working in what I would describe as a hybrid-flexible setup,” Khan shares. “Some of us are fully remote, while others work from spaces within our Letswork network. For teams with more than one person in the same city, we encourage them to cowork together in person at least once a week. It’s a great way to stay connected and, in our case, also allows team members to engage with our customers directly in the spaces we offer.”

To maintain effective communication across different time zones, Letswork relies on tools like Slack, Google Docs, and the project management platform Motion for task management, while monthly town halls bring the entire team together virtually to align on goals and share updates.

“We try to keep most communication asynchronous unless something is time-sensitive,” he says. “When something truly requires immediate attention, we’ll escalate via WhatsApp or a phone call.”

A key aspect of the company’s strategy is reducing distractions and clutter, and to achieve that, they’ve eliminated email communication between team members. “There is no such thing as internal emails—email correspondence is only with the outside world,” Khan reveals. “We also use tools like Granola to transcribe meetings and automatically generate notes, so everyone stays in the loop even if they couldn’t attend live.”

Khan also reveals that the team uses tools within each platform, including scheduling messages, to ensure that they are respecting the time of individual team members.

“We’re big believers in protecting personal time,” he says. “One of my favorite tools is to schedule messages. So, if someone is working outside of traditional hours—maybe they’re in another time zone, or they just prefer working late—they can queue their messages to be sent first thing in the morning. That way, it doesn’t interrupt others or create an unspoken pressure to respond immediately. We’ve set the tone from the top: there’s no expectation of being ‘always on,’ and urgent matters are handled via phone or WhatsApp, not a Slack ping at 11 pm. It’s about building a culture where people are trusted to get their work done without feeling tethered to notifications 24/7.”

So, what’s Khan’s advice to other founders trying to master the art of communications with their teams? “Organize your tools, be intentional with your communication, and build in space for deep work,” Khan replies. “Ultimately, we’ve found that creating a respectful, transparent, and well-organized communication culture doesn’t just improve productivity—it also makes the team happier and more engaged. And in a remote or hybrid world, that’s everything.”

This article first appeared in the April/May 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia magazine. To read the full issue online, click here.