Forbes Under 30 Forum

In March, a global cohort from the Forbes’ Under 30 community gathered at the World Government Summit 2022 at Expo 2020 Dubai. Participating in a number of panels throughout the two-day event, the entrepreneurs gave their insights into tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Opening the Forbes Under 30 forum, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications for the U.A.E., spoke about how the emirates have become a hub for technology and industry solutions. “Two decades ago, we were an ambitious country,” he said. “There were a lot of naysayers, but we can see that this was achieved. Today, the U.A.E. is by far the technology leader of the region.”

How To Prevent The Next Pandemic

Since the global pandemic first hit in March 2020, various businesses and startups alike have had to weather one of their toughest challenges and adjust to the worldwide economic disruption. “One of the big challenges that I’ve seen is how fragile supply chains really are and how important it is to own your supply chain, especially in a future where pandemics are probably going to continue happening for the foreseeable future,” said Arturo Elizondo, Founder and CEO of animal-free protein firm The EVERY Company, during the panel discussion “Preventing the Next Pandemic.”

Addressing the challenges, Chirag Kulkarni, Cofounder and CMO of Medly, explained that his same-day prescription delivery pharmacy partnered with local governments and insurance companies to be able to deliver prescriptions to patients at home. “We definitely couldn’t predict the pandemic, but I think what we knew very early on is, especially in the U.S. healthcare system, the pharmacy is the one thing that connects all the major stakeholders in healthcare,” said Kulkarni. Four months after the start of the pandemic, the digital pharmacy raised $100 million in a Series B funding round to democratize access to the pharmacy across the nation.