--- title: "How One Man Is Transforming Access to Mental Health Across MENA | Ahmed Abu Elhaz" url: https://seedstars.com/content-hub/life/how-one-man-transforming-access-mental-health-across-mena-ahmed-abu-elhaz/ --- 1. [HOME](/) 2. [RESOURCES](/content-hub/) 3. [SEEDSTARS LIFE](/content-hub/life/) 4. HOW ONE MAN IS TRANSFORMING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH ACROSS MENA | AHMED ABU ELHAZ MENA • HEALTHCARE ## How One Man Is Transforming Access to Mental Health Across MENA | Ahmed Abu Elhaz Seedstars Global 03/03/2020 Being a developer, Ahmed created a website to connect therapists to their clients for Arab people all over the world. He came up with the idea after dealing with depression himself and not being able to find professional help online in the MENA region. Ahmed calls himself a risk taker as he resigned from his secure job to start the business. Now, his mental health startup [**Shezlong**](https://www.shezlong.com/en/) has 40 team members and lists more than 200 therapists from 20 countries who speak 7 different languages. In total, they have raised $666,000 USD. Ahmed and his team plan to turn the therapy platform into a hub of wellness in the Arabic world. Shezlong is one of the ten winners selected for the [**Entrepreneur Migration Prize**](https://www.seedstarsworld.com/summit/seedstars-summit-2020/prizes/) by [**HSD**](https://www.fdfa.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/fdfa/organisation-fdfa/directorates-divisions/directorate-political-affairs/hsd.html). This podcast along with the [**Migration Episode**](https://seedstarslife.com/summit/the-mag-migration) from the Online Seedstars Summit will give you a glimpse into how this company is changing mental health access in MENA. Speaker recommends reading: [**Alexander Osterwalder: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers**](https://amzn.to/3dWdeZL) **The podcast is also available in the video format:** PROUDLY PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH [ ![FDFA](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/logo_ch_print.max-350x350.png) ](https://www.fdfa.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/fdfa/organisation-fdfa/directorates-divisions/directorate-political-affairs/hsd.html) PODCAST / VIDEOCAST SEEDSTARS PODCASTS SEEDSTARS WORLD 2019/20 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AFGHANISTAN HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY HEALTHTECH ## More like this [ ![None](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/tushar-thumbnail.max-320x550.png) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA • HEALTHCARE Parenting Made Easy With Pregnancy and Child Health Management App Nurturey | Tushar Srivastava __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/parenting-made-easy-pregnancy-and-child-health-management-app-nurturey-tushar-srivastava/) [ ![None](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Ziad_thumbnail.max-320x550.png) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA • HEALTHCARE Change The Way You Manage Your Diabetes With Spike | Ziad __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/change-way-you-manage-your-diabetes-spike-ziad/) [ ![Marc Berrebi](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/P1.max-320x550.png) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA • HEALTHCARE From $100 M USD Exit to Street Art Activism | Marc Berrebi It is difficult to present Marc Berrebi in just a few sentences. An entrepreneur since he can remember, but an artist at heart, this multi-exit founder has, what one could say, lived it all. __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/100-m-usd-exit-street-art-activism-marc-berrebi/) [ ![People with Disabilities](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Untitled_design_31.max-320x550.png) LATIN AMERICA • HEALTHCARE Transforming the Lives of Millions of People with Disabilities Around the World | Alvaro Rios After watching the US TV show “The Six Million Dollar Man” at the age of 5 in Colombia, Alvaro Rio, founder of Human Assistive Technologies, knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/transforming-lives-millions-people-disabilities-around-world-alvaro-rios/) [ ![Bringing Sound and Sight](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Untitled_design_42.max-320x550.png) LATIN AMERICA • HEALTHCARE Bringing Sound and Sight to Over 700 Million People Worldwide | Hugo Jácome Andrade Hugo’s entrepreneurial journey started at a very young age when he was at primary school and selling dinosaur drawings during breaks. __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/bringing-sound-and-sight-to-over-700-million-people-worldwide-hugo-j%C3%A1come-andrade/) [ ![Tania Douglas](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Tania.max-320x550.png) GLOBAL • TECHNOLOGY Tania Douglas: HealthTech Is Not Only About Tech In her speech, she addresses the global health issues and how they can be tackled with the technology in a smart way. __ ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/life/tania-douglas-healthtech-not-only-about-tech/) --- ## Sitemap - [Sitemap](https://seedstars.com/sitemap.md): every public page on this site - [llms.txt](https://seedstars.com/llms.txt): what Seedstars does and where to start