People working with Rasha recognize her by her “persistent focus on quality and efficiency combined with a genuine concern and commitment for all who work with her.” These attributes have been the characteristics of Rasha Abusaif’s career. Representing true Jordanian entrepreneurship whose success in the ICT sector; Ms. AbuSaif is a well-rounded business leader equipped and driven to turn challenges into opportunities.
A crucial bit of advice I give people when they ask how to bounce back from failure is to always stay focused and mission aligned.
The pandemic accelerated the speed of technological change and, in turn, showed us that the capacity to be dynamic, agile, and ready to change direction at a moment’s sight will be more important than ever. Indeed, the companies that succeeded during this time were the ones that aligned their strategies with these three essentials.
Being a C-level expert, or having any stake in the business world, means you must be prepared to take risks. As Garry Kasparov, the great chess champion, once said, “If you don’t take risks, you don’t drink champagne.”
Since then, that was the philosophy I’ve adopted throughout my entrepreneurial journey, and it’s what’s enabled me to be dynamic- the essence of which lies in always looking forward, not back. I always say never be completely satisfied because this can quickly evolve into complacency, and complacency is the death rattle for any business.
Through the combination of my passion for technology and vision, I was able to grow different international, local, and startup companies not only by size, geographic representation, and revenue, but also in technological innovation and in the application of technology in various fields. Some of my successful journey in innovations included the development of the Arabic artificial intelligence parser and the creation of an electronic data interchange solution, implemented in many large European institutions, in addition to market one of the top education solutions, EduWave®, which currently holds the largest base of countrywide deployments and users worldwide.
“I believe that information professionals need to navigate these ethical issues effectively because they are likely to use AI in delivering services as well as contribute to the adoption of AI more widely in their organizations. In this context, I always attend podcasts and AI global and local events and podcasts to empower using AI semantic solutions that embrace CX.”
When an AI solution can switch between languages, this can answer any user inquiry and keep the customer engaged. A full-fledged AI Arabic robotic solution will be able to answer millions of requests in real-time with zero downtime. Also, understanding Arabic dialects will create a semantic automation to users’ requests and, eventually, will lead to the end of a successful request -whether this request is conversational or transactional. This will lead to creating success factors in enterprises or SMEs- including but not limited to:
- Increase Customer Satisfaction.
- Improve Sales and Leads
- Decrease Complaints and obtain more Customer Loyalty
- Boost Real Data (Historical Data) to understand customer behaviors
- Accomplish Intelligent reports and dashboards to analyze users’ UI/UX to come up with better enhancements in the proposed solution.
“A major roadblock standing in the way of the rapid uptake of AI technology is a lack of trust in AI solutions,
which often operate in black boxes. In the MENA region, AI designed to acknowledge this fact is essential to
improving human comfortability with these solutions to automate customers’ requests in Arabic within multiple
dialects. Through better communication, collaboration, and enhanced processes, artificial intelligence will help
decision-makers act quickly when encountering unexpected situations.”
Education is essential to grow, thus I always believe in work experience yet, obtaining professional certificates to lead by example. In 2002, I received my bachelor’s degree in engineering with a specialization in architecture from the University of Jordan. However, my passion for education never stopped, and I continued my studies and obtained a professional certificate in marketing as a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) from the American Marketing Association (AMA). In 2019, I also obtained an advanced diploma certificate in Business Administration from Cambridge College, UK. Lately, I am joining Harvard Business Online to achieve a strategy implementation certificate.
With more than twenty years of experience in different companies in Fintech, Edutech, Healthtech, AI solutions ,and IT companies, and as an expert in the fields of Business and Partnership Development, including strategy implementation, marketing and communications, public relations management, projects planning and management, budgeting and commercial modeling, events, campaigns planning, customer experience (CX), and business growth, I was able to motivate cross-functional teams to be more efficient toward providing state-of-the-art solutions that generate more revenues and increase MENA outreach. Thus, I manage, lead, direct, and oversee the activities and operations of the business with excellent client relationship management to maintain a great customer experience impact.
Through joining FINCA in 2014, an international microfinance company located in 22 subsidiaries, I accomplished many assignments and target sets for the business through handling multiple tasks simultaneously and managing successful solution implementations in market intelligence functions, new procedures, and research, accomplishing over-indebtedness analysis, and client satisfaction surveys. Moreover, I was nominated as the top leader in all FINCA international organizations for leading CX from the inside-out and inspiring the team to achieve a growth of 35% by the end of 2016.
Naturally, moving from country to another, I learned to adapt, to appreciate not only the differences between cultures, but also the similarities between them. Above all, I learned to empathically listen to the words said by others. These invaluable skills I picked up, combined with my global experience, provided me with the perfect preparation for an entrepreneur in today’s fast-globalizing world.
In 2020, I joined WideBot, a startup company founded in 2016 and MENA’s No. 1 Arabic NLP cognitive AI business communications solutions provider, as Head of Business and Partnership, who was responsible for planning, developing, and implementing WideBot business strategies and MENA market growth. After a successful year of business growth, I was promoted to lead the company as WideBot Managing Director by offering quality end-to-end Arabic AI solutions and services worldwide. Rasha is also responsible for all development, communication, and physical facilities, leading the effort to enhance WideBot brand and increase its revenue in the MENA region.
WideBot is an intersection between scalable AI cognitive services and a customer experience (CX) platform. Founded in 2016, WideBot embraces building Arabic-focused AI solutions in the MENA region with the mission to empower businesses through AI-powered solutions that chat like human beings, so they can build strong relationships with their customers and maximize their outcomes through a seamless personalized experience.
“As Managing Director, I am glad to be engaged in supporting prospects towards using Arabic NLP AI solutions to increase customer experience (CX) and automate services seamlessly.“