Founder Stories – Sibly
Someone to Talk to
The technology sector still is the engine of productivity and economic growth, and this pandemic is actually accelerating the digitization of many sectors.
Sibly – a mobile platform that provides companies the ability to give employees and their families on-demand support for a wide range of emotional and behavioral health challenges – is a great example of a start-up leader stepping up and making a difference in these challenging times.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Sibly launched a US initiative that provides organizations, including employees and their family members, with complimentary three-month wellness coaching, which provides:
- Someone to talk to, anytime, anywhere, anonymously, about anything. Sibly’s chat-based application has real people trained in empathic listening available to each user 24/7, within minutes, to address a range of concerns and challenges one may be facing.
- Real-time navigation to the national COVID-19 resources, and individualized access to resources that meet a user’s specific needs.
“The effects of the current pandemic on communities have wider ramifications than just physical illness,” says Moe AlKadi, CEO and co-founder of Sibly. “Social distancing, while imperative at a time such as this, can have dire effects on our social, professional, and emotional lives. Our issues don’t occur in a vacuum, but are in fact complex and interconnected. What helps is simple: a friend in your pocket that understands the whole you and is able to give you the right help at the right time. We call that friend Sibly.”
Mohammed AlKadi has won many entrepreneurial Awards including 1st place at the Arabnet Startup Competition and the Henkel Innovation Challenge. He previously built Feelit, a social network that went viral in the Middle East with over 200K users.
Paula Wilbourne is co-founder and CSO at Sibly. She has over 18 years experience building mental health treatment services and was the National Program Coordinator for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Paula earned a Post Doctoral Fellowship Health Science Researcher and Development from Stanford University, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Psychology, Statistics, Addiction, Program Evaluation at the University of New Mexico.
Omar AlEisa is co-founder & Head of Design at Sibly. He is passionate about mental health, wellness, and designing high-quality, user-centered digital products. As a seasoned founder and product designer, Omar built expertise in consumer products & user experience by designing and building scalable applications that have been used by hundreds of thousands of users. He received his Software Engineering degree with honors from King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals. When Omar is not working, he enjoys running, exploring new places, or doing both at the same time.
