UNCAGED With Hazem Mulhim

Hazem Mulhim's business was born on a street-side shop thousands of miles away from epicenters of technology. He started it in Amman, Jordan 35 years ago, and EastNets now is a recognized global developer of financial solutions serving 1000 financial institutes on five continents. His career began with Siemens in Kuwait where he first saw how computing saved the medical industry. He had just graduated with a Master’s degree in Electronics Engineering and Medical Electronics from Bulgaria in 1980. He also hold a Certificate of Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the prestigious Institute of INSEAD, France and an OWP from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland. While in Kuwait, the IT industry was starting to take off in the US and elsewhere, and Hazem foresaw how computers would dominate our future.He applied for work in the US in 1982, and it was there that he developedhis deeper insights into technology and entrepreneurship. Hazem's journey has been dotted with a lot of growing pains and sacrifices. Throughout his career, he had to pivot with the times to ensure his business survived. Since 1984, EastNets has been transforming. They have shifted from smart cards to networks and computers, and finally to provider solutions for the critical operations of anti-money laundering (AML), KYC, payments and antifraud. Survival eventually meant global expansion, and the fastest track forward was to acquire an entity with access to new markets. His choice in 2007 would rest on SIDE International, a leader in AML solutions based in Belgium. In 2018, a patent was published in the USA for designing a system for cross border remittances while securing financial regulatory compliance. With fresh blood injected in EastNets, they penetrated new markets, winning multiple prestigious international awards. In 2017, Chartis ranked EastNets as Category Leader in its RiskTech Quadrants, the industry’s leading report on financial crime and risk management. Currently, their teams are optimizing solutions with artificial intelligence and blockchain capabilities. In no small part, EastNets success is its dedication to investing in competitive human resources. Hazem joined Rewell in 2016 as the executive committee chairman. Today, the Society is training more Jordanians and building more capacity for women entrepreneurs in underprivileged communities.