It began in India, where he was born, with research projects on robotics, and led him to earn a bachelor’s degree in visual effects from the University of Wales.

After working on various projects, creating visual effects (VFX) for movies, gaming and video advertisements, he moved to Dubai in 2010.

Confident that the future was bright for virtual and augmented reality, Yusuf launched his own venture, Takeleap. Starting with two employees in 2013, it now has more than 60 staff. Takeleap has won several awards from the Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments, including Most Innovative Technology Award for using virtual reality in real estate advertising. The venture was also listed by Forbes as part of its ‘50 Start–Ups to Watch’ list published in 2016.

In the past two years, Yusuf’s work in creating augmented reality and virtual reality experiences has been recognised by multinational brands such as Henkel, Samsung, Ford, Mastercard and Marvel Comics. He is also consulting with local government entities to adopt robotics and virtual reality into their businesses.

An avid public speaker, he has spoken at industry events such as GITEX 2017 and CET Middle East 2016.