Wamda chairman hits back after Shaun Maguire's Mamdani 'Islamist' post

Backlash prompts Middle East start-up leaders to question ethics in global venture capital

Racists are not welcome to do business in the Middle East, Fadi Ghandour, executive chairman of investment company Wamda, has said.

He spoke after Islamophobic comments by a Sequoia Capital partner that have led to a wave of public criticism from the Middle East and North Africa's tech sector.

Speaking to The National, Mr Ghandour said the region remains open and diverse, but that tolerance must be mutual.

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“If these people want to be racist, then they’re not welcome in the region,” he said. “If they want to engage us, we are so open for engagement.”

His comments follow a July 4 post by Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire, who referred to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as an “Islamist” and claimed he “comes from a culture that lies about everything”.

Mr Maguire later published a 30-minute apology video on X, stating that his remarks were directed at political Islam, not religion or ethnicity.

Mr Ghandour said the apology was not enough and rejected the idea that such remarks should be dismissed as personal opinion. “Islamophobia is not freedom of opinion,” he said. “This is simple prejudice.”

In a LinkedIn post, Mr Ghandour strongly criticised Mr Maguire's remarks, calling them racist and ignorant.

“Clearly Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital thinks it is OK for him to show off his racism and hatred of the 'non‑western' cultures and religions and is proud to show off his total ignorance,” he wrote.

His post linked to an open letter demanding that Sequoia Capital publicly condemn Mr Maguire's statements.

Regional pushback

The open letter was initiated by the founder of one of the region’s largest tech companies, based in the UAE. However, it was Mr Ghandour who helped amplify the effort, sharing it widely on social media and encouraging others to speak out.

He stated that the Sequoia partner had long utilised his platform to disseminate offensive views.

“He’s been, for the past two years, extremely aggressive on social media, specifically after October 7 [2023],” he said, referring to the Hamas-led attack on Israel that caused the Gaza war to break out.

The letter, which had more than 500 signatories by Monday afternoon, calls on Sequoia to issue a formal apology, launch an internal investigation and adopt a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech. It also demands a confidential reporting channel for founders to raise concerns about discriminatory behaviour.

The open letter sets a July 14 deadline for Sequoia's formal response.

Signatories from the region include Hosam Arab, chief executive of Tabby, Hisham Al Falih, chief executive of Lean Technologies, Ahmed Sabbah from Telda, and Eslam Hussein from Invygo.

Some signatures contained companies that have previously raised funding from Sequoia Capital India before it separated from Sequoia Capital in the US.

Mr Ghandour said the reaction from the region showed such remarks would not be tolerated. “Everyone that spells it out the way he does, or similar statements, they’re going to be called out,” he said.

Double standards and silence

Mr Ghandour also criticised the standards in western discourse around racism and religion.

He said if similar comments had been made about Judaism in the US, the reaction would have been far more severe. “You think a simple, straightforward video that says, ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean it’ passes? No, it doesn’t pass,” he said.

He added that many in the tech world are still hesitant to speak out, especially since the attack on October 7, 2023. Mr Ghandour said many in Silicon Valley have privately expressed support but are afraid to speak out publicly.

“And this is coming out of a culture that historically has celebrated diversity, in fact, really propagated it. They talk about democracy all the time, about sharing opinion and hearing other opinions, and they basically scared a lot of people out.”

He added that people are “scared of him because he is from Sequoia, a very powerful venture fund”.

“If you want to raise money in this region, if you want to invest in this region, you’d better come out very strongly against this guy [Shaun McGuire]

Fadi Ghandour,
chairman of Wamda

Mr Ghandour said this is not simply a matter of values, there are also business implications. “If I was a start-up and I had this guy as a partner … I wouldn’t take his money,” he said.

Sequoia, he argued, needs to take a clear stand. “If you want to raise money in this region, if you want to invest in this region, you’d better come out very strongly against this guy,” he said. “The minimum that’s expected of Sequoia.”

He also said the region is no longer dependent on foreign capital. “We have our own funding, we have our own venture capital funds,” he added. “We can build our own businesses.”

Message of respect

While the incident may affect how founders evaluate foreign funding, Mr Ghandour insisted the region remains open for business, provided one condition is met.

“We’re happy to have anybody that wants to do business with us on a mutual respect basis,” he said. “It’s very simple, we’re not asking for much.”

His message to the global venture community was clear: “Racism and Islamophobia are extremely unacceptable in any way, shape or form.”

Sequoia has yet to comment publicly.

As the July 14 deadline looms, global founders are watching closely to see if Sequoia will address the concerns raised by Mr Ghandour and others, and what that might mean for the relationship between values and capital in the tech sector.