⛵Dhow Dispatch │ Yusuf Omar & The Rise of AI-Native Media

Yusuf Omar is one of the most important media founders of the decade.

For Muslim tech builders, Yusuf shows what it looks like to build at the intersection of identity, storytelling, and frontier technology.

Founded: 2022 (SEEN)
HQ: Global. Yusuf operates across Cape Town, Dubai, London Sector: Media, creator economy, AI tooling Known for: Vertical video, citizen journalism, rapid editing systems

Elevator pitch: SEEN is the creator studio for the world’s untold stories, powered by AI-assisted editing and a global network of mobile reporters.

Yusuf Omar started as a reporter who believed the media could be more open, more human, and more democratic. He was a foreign correspondent at eNCA, then led mobile journalism at Hindustan Times, and became CNN’s senior social reporter.
What made him different was his refusal to separate journalism from real people.
He believed that if you put the right tools in their hands, citizens would become the most powerful storytellers alive.

This idea became #OurStories.
It grew into a global mobile journalism movement. Millions of viewers. Dozens of creators. Stories from villages, favelas, and neighborhoods that traditional newsrooms ignored.

Then Yusuf took a bigger swing.He saw two things happening at once:

So he built SEEN.

A studio designed for the era of vertical video, fast stories, and mobile production.
A newsroom without a newsroom.
A media company built from the phone outward.

And he did it while staying grounded in his identity as a Muslim journalist who champions dignity and representation. He talks openly about bias in global media and how citizen journalism can correct the record.

Phase 1: Mobile Journalism Pioneer

Early training programs at CNN
Global stage at social video conferences
Mobile-first storytelling experiments before TikTok even took off

Phase 2: Hashtag Our Stories

Launched in 2017
Scaled citizen journalism globally
Won awards across media festivals
Built community-led content that reached millions

Phase 3: SEEN (2022–present)

A creator studio fused with AI automation
Thousands of videos each month
Partnerships with NGOs, global brands, and media platforms
Scaled operations by blending creators, editors, and AI copilots

Phase 4: Today

SEEN positions itself as a bridge between grassroots voices and high-quality digital storytelling
Yusuf is a speaker, founder, teacher, and media futurist all at once
He is shaping what the next generation of journalism looks like

There are very few Muslim founders shaping global media at scale.
Yusuf is one of them.
And he is doing it not as a token or a checkbox but as a builder whose thesis is winning. Here is what stands out:

Identity as an innovation lens:

His work centers on dignity, representation, and community.
That gives him intuition that others do not have.
He sees blind spots in the media world and builds products around them.

Technical courage:

He embraces frontier tech early.
Mobile journalism in 2012.
Vertical video before Reels and Shorts.
AI editing pipelines before most studios had even tried them.

Global distribution from day one:

Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, the West.
A truly global content supply chain.

Community-driven moat:

When creators trust you, the entire distribution model compounds.

Yusuf’s approach maps almost perfectly onto the Dhow thesis:
mission-driven founders who build with clarity, speed, and community advantage.

Yusuf Omar is building one of the most important media companies in the world.
Not because it’s big, but because it’s honest, it’s fast, and because it empowers creators who have been cut out of the story for decades.

For Dhow, his work illustrates the power of Muslim founders who build with mission and technical ambition.

SEEN is not just a media studio.
It is a blueprint for how storytelling will work in the next decade.

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

If you enjoyed this, you’d be doing us a HUGE FAVOR by just clicking the ad above - we appreciate it!