Donia ElKhouli

About Beyond Cubicles

📢 #BeyondCubicles is a weekly LinkedIn series created by Carolina D’Souza, born out of her own experience transitioning from a corporate career to independent consulting. Since its launch in June 2024, the series has evolved into a platform that showcases the inspiring journeys of several founders who have redefined the traditional 9-to-5.

Through authentic narratives, #BeyondCubicles highlights themes of courage, resilience, and purpose. The stories feature individuals from diverse industries—ranging from tech and education to wellness and adventure—who share their experiences of stepping away from conventional roles to pursue passion-driven careers.

✨ Note: All features in this series are unpaid and shared as a way to honor and amplify real stories of transformation.

“Leaving a steady career was terrifying, but staying in a life that no longer reflected my priorities felt even more frightening,” says Donia ElKhouli.

For nearly 17 years she built a career across supply chain, business planning, and HR. Maraqah was growing alongside it, an idea from her kitchen turning into a business.

“I reached a point where I knew I could not continue giving my family, my corporate role, and Maraqah only fragments of myself. Something had to change,” she says.

Maraqah, Arabic for broth, launched in 2023 as a line of clean-label stock and broth concentrates made from whole ingredients. “Our mission is to become the region’s most trusted clean-label cooking foundation brand and, eventually, take a UAE-born pantry staple from the region to the world,” she says.

Building it meant trading a title and a salary for fear and doubt. “As a founder, the ground moves constantly,” she says. “You carry urgency that the people around you do not always share or fully understand,” she says.

She refused to treat hard emotions as proof of a wrong call, leaning on her mother during the early days.

Confidence returned in stages. “Someone buying once can be curiosity,” she says. “Someone buying again means you have become part of their life.”

Then came shelf space at #Spinneys and Waitrose, the Spinneys Incubator, and Retail Startup of the Year.

“I had to become a salesperson, storyteller, negotiator, fundraiser, and product developer, all in the same day,” she says.

On her personal brand evolution, she says, “I hope people now see me as someone who is not only capable of building within established systems, but also willing to create something from nothing.”

Originally from Egypt, she moved to the UAE from the UK with her husband eight years ago. It became home, then the birthplace of Maraqah. Fulfillment now means someone cooking a family meal with it, or telling her it’s part of their daily routine.

“It was worth it because I am living in alignment with the person I want to become, showing my children what courage looks like in practice,” she says.

“I would not describe it as the easier life. I would describe it as the more honest one.”