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Baraa Safaa Ali

Product Visionary and Leader at Amazon

Baraa Safaa Ali is a Fintech and EdTech Product Manager known for scaling SaaS technology product lines to 8-figure revenues.

With a strategic mindset, Baraa Safaa Ali has managed a portfolio of products valued at over $30M in revenue, demonstrating a deep understanding of market needs.

Baraa Safaa Ali excels in turning customer insights into actionable strategies and roadmaps, exhibiting a customer-centric approach in product development.

Having a passion for best product practices, Baraa Safaa Ali also hosts a popular product management podcast.

Education wise, Baraa Safaa Ali has a diverse background, having studied Value Investing, Investing, and Finance at Columbia Business School Executive Education, Computer Information System, Information Security & Communications at the University of the Fraser Valley, Computer and Software Engineering at The University of Technology, and earning a Full Stack Web Development Certification in Computer Software Engineering at freeCodeCamp.

Baraa Safaa Ali's professional experience includes roles such as Senior Product Manager at Amazon, Product Manager at Thinkific, Product Manager at Trulioo, Host at Masters of Change, Product Specialist at Trulioo, Manager/Global Partnerships at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, CEO and Co-Founder of a Start-up Company at Kapish New Media Inc., Project Manager at University of the Fraser Valley, Network Security Support at CanSecWest in Vancouver, BC, Fundraising at The Abbotsford Society of Multiculturalism, and Network Technician and Web Designer at DynCorp International.

Highlights

Jun 13 · linkedin

3 Years at #Amazon , WoW, so Baraa how incredible this been for you?

I ask this question internally (conversation with my self) and externally (asked by others). Let me share a bit about the last three years, because its been a fast moving train for me, full of many stops, some are exciting and some are very challenging, that made me rethink about every aspect of career and life!   1)   Year 1 – was incredible at Amazon. I learned so many things, I met incredible people. I was challenged on every muscle cell in my brain to think about the customer and simplify the experience. Two of my managers (Kyle Sandburg Farah K.) have expanded my thinking and gave so much room to explore and experiment. I launched the first global CX for Amazon and simplified how customers add and manage their payments on Amazon. I also had the pleasure to work on setting the foundation for much simpler payment experience when buying on Amazon whether you shopping on the app, buying a subscription, paying with a card or splitting payments over multiple months. I met leaders from across the global to help put a single vision together and got the team to start building. I learned that customers are different and their decisions are different on how to buy and how to pay.

2)   Year 2 – was very challenge on the personal level. My wife got very sick and I had no means to support her. For two months, we used to spend our weekends in hospital in ER waiting area trying to see a doctor because we could not see a specialist. For the first time in my entire life I felt out of control of my career and for supporting my wife. I didn’t know what to do. I was almost at the point of leaving Amazon to look after my wife until my manager recommended a different path by taking a simple leave to take care of my wife . Kyle Sandburg was not just my manager, he was my partner and my friend, he provided all the support needed to help me look after my family. If it was not for Kyle, and his support, my career path would have been different.

3)   Year 3 – was very different. What happened with my wife, made me rethink a lot of things in life, for what matters and what is important to us as a family. I wanted to be close to family. I took an opportunity to move from Canada to Dubai managing payment experience for three of our stores (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt). It was a big move, I can’t believe how big it is until now. But my leaders (Prabhash Sharma Sarang Bafna here challenged me differently and gave me a big scope to simplify and improve the payment experience for our customers in the Middle East, through removing their friction points when shopping (launched one program and in the experimentation mode for two more). I realized the payments model in MENA stores is different from the global ones and I had to rebuild all my assumptions.   Year 1 was exciting, Year 2 was extremely challenging and Year 3 is incredible exciting again. Looking forward for Year 4

Mar 29 · linkedin

Columbia Buisness school is the centre where the concept of Value Investing was born and developed by the master .. Benjamin Graham and then taught it to his students. One of them was the legend Warren Buffett and followed by many more.

I have been fascinated to learn the craft from the best school that has taught this for over 80 years now. Last year I had the honour for taking Value Investing course at Columbia and got the certification of completing the program. This has helped me understand how to analyze and determine companies intrinsic value.

I am happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Value Investing from Columbia Business School Executive Education!

Baraa Safaa Ali
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Location

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada