MENA Opportunities

Hisham Al Gurg is a man of many talents. With almost two decades of experience in setting up and running new businesses across MENA in a variety of sectors, he is also one of the UAE’s leading lights when it comes to investment. So much so that he was recruited by the royal family of Dubai to be an investment advisor, working in the Private Office of HH Sheikh Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, as well as being the CEO of Al Fajer Investments and Development – the investment division of Al Fajer Enterprises, a holding group of companies owned by HH Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum. Having worked at Emirates and Global Management Consultants following graduation from Southwest Texas State University, Al Gurg is also a graduate of the Sheikh Mohammed Leadership Programme, UAE sponsor for Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec Group, board member of private equity company Signature Group, and group CEO of SEED Group. With SEED Group, he has helped start and manage eight growing companies in six different fi...

Two young Lebanese were selected last week as part of the MIT Technology Review's 2014 35 Innovators Under 35 list. The magazine honored entrepreneur Ayah Bdeir, 31, and inventor Fadel Adib, 25, for their work with littleBits and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, respectively. According to Javier Garcia Martinez, the Director of Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory at Spain’s University of Alicante, who served as one of the competition’s judges, increased access to technology has been the reason behind an increase in regional innovators. “Technology is lowering the bar for young innovators to make an impact, regardless of their location, providing easy access to millions of potential customers, but also to information, education, and financing,” Martinez said in an email. According to the judge, this year’s results are part of an ongoing trend of awardees hailing from the Arab region. This isn’t the first accolade for Bdeir’s littleBits (the entrepreneur i...

Over the past few years, we’ve stumbled upon the expression Big Data ever more frequently, and heard many conflicting definitions for the term. One recent definition I read and liked was Lisa Arthur’s article in Forbes, where she presents it as “a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis.” As big data has become more popular, challenges have arisen in terms of presentation, quality control, and dissemination. To surmount these obstacles, a Lebanese startup has launched, with the goal of commercializing reliable and accurate data, on often-misreported topics relevant to the MENA, through a subscription-based online service. EQLIM, which means ‘region’ or ‘territory’ in Arabic, wants to build fundamental real-time data on human activities in emerging economies. “We identified a lack of data availability and accessibility across the Middle East, in addition to frequent distorted a...

Entrepreneurship has become faddish of late, and business school students are not immune to the fervor. Entrepreneurship is almost never about working in flip-flops in an incubator; it is tough work that requires extraordinary effort. It is super full-time and super risky. In today’s tough job market, “doing a startup” may sound better than “unemployed,” “getting my third master’s degree,” or “staying with my folks awhile.” But entrepreneurship is for those who are laser-focused on building a company that will scale; it is a marathon, not a sprint, usually requiring a decade or longer of commitment. Students, like the rest of us, should be prepared to separate myth from reality. Like most fads, entrepreneurship has its own mythology. Here are some examples: Having a startup makes you an entrepreneur: Saying that starting a new venture automatically makes you an entrepreneur is a little like saying that if you put on skates and grab a stick, you’re a hockey player. The vast majority ...

When it comes to analysis, research and advice, Gallup is at the top of the tree. So when Gallup publishes a new book about finding your entrepreneurial strengths, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice. Available at the end of September this year, Entrepreneurial StrenghtsFinder claims to “delve into the psychology of the entrepreneur,” and to show that “decisions and actions, influenced by the personality of the entrepreneur, affect the survival and growth of any venture.” The book’s author, Gallup’s chairman Jim Clifton, lauds the role entrepreneurs play in reviving the global economy, stating that the solution for the worldwide problem of job creation is not in pursuing innovation but encouraging entrepreneurship. On the basis of his vast experience at Gallup, Clifton advises leaders to abandon the misguided belief that innovation and entrepreneurship are like the chicken and the egg, which keeps them wondering which one comes first. He explains that the right analogy to use is...

Not to put too fine a point on it, banks across the world are not renowned for their transparency. Small print, hidden costs, lack of information, misleading interest rates and other frustrating issues have left customers feeling varying degrees of disappointment, anger, suspicion and confusion as they try to find clarity before making important financial and life decisions. Websites overseas, such as moneysupermarket.com in the UK, and bankrate.com in the US have become consumer mainstays, helping people find the best, cheapest, most appropriate offerings on the market, paving the way for expat-driven businesses to be launched in the UAE and Gulf region, such as souqalmal.com, moneyshop.ae, moneycamel.com, and compareit4me.com. But, until recently, there wasn’t a website focused solely on the banks. In 2013 Bayzat.com arrived to fill that gap. Meaning ‘cash’ or ‘change’ in Arabic, Bayzat allows users to compare and contrast banking products, from credit cards and loans to time depo...

Mobile phones in emerging markets are still widely used for texting, making phone calls, taking pictures, reading news, and using social networks, but countries like Kenya are also using them as a method of payment. M-Pesa in Kenya is a mobile payment and transaction service that was launched in 2007, and it’s now used by 70% of Kenyan adults in the country. Operating through Vodafone, it allows users to send money, pay their bills, recharge their prepaid cards, and withdraw money from other digital wallets or bank accounts. Due to its reliance on text messaging to send verification codes to complete transactions rather than the internet, the service has gained huge popularity. Now, around 20% of the country’s GDP goes through M-Pesa. Arab countries are now getting their share of the cake with ever more mobile payment and banking apps and services cropping up. In 2012, PayPal partnered with Aramex to launch its operations in the MENA. In the same year, mobile payment company MOBIbuc...

You may not have heard of Hills Advertising, but if you are a frequent traveller down Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road, then you’ll be more than familiar with the company’s product. Run by founder and chief executive Sami Al-Mufleh, Hills has grown to become by far the largest player in the UAE’s outdoor advertising industry, with what he says is an estimated 65 percent of the market. Despite only launching in 2003, the company has tied up with some of the city’s biggest entities, including the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Meraas Holding and Dubai World Central. The result? A mixture of locations for static banner advertising that have been hard for Hills’ peer firms to compete with. So it’s not surprising to find that Al-Mufleh, a 44-year-old Jordanian, has so much to say. A 30-minute interview with the man that refers to himself and his workforce as “innovation engineers” ends up going well over the hour mark. And, as he says, the firm is still just getting into its stride. “Duba...

Internet has become the most common use of marketing by the people around the world. This MENA business depends on the e-commerce for the online marketing strategy. Electronic Commerce commonly known as e-commerce is used for trading products or services using computer networks such as Internet. This is generally considered to be the sales aspect of business done online. This online store of buying and selling in the shopping sector includes mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction and processing, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Inventory management systems and automated data collection systems. This is a most effective and an efficient way of communicating within an organization in the useful ways of conducting business. By this way, the people in the MENA parts are gaining more and more income, without putting more efforts. Introduction to Marketing: Marketing in online is the best way to create awareness, publi...

The psychology behind business is something about which Sameer Al Ansari seems to give plenty of thought. As we sit in a plush boardroom in Dubai International Financial Centre — the emirate’s economic nucleus — issues such as human nature, motivation and a real concern as to whether those currently at the helm in Dubai have really learnt any lessons from the global recession of 2009 are subjects he has clearly considered for some time. “Human nature impacts everything. When things begin to pick up, general optimism and positive energy, all these things begin to feed on themselves,” he says, before counterbalancing it with a cautious footnote to bring proceedings back down to earth. “People have short memories. Several things have changed... [But in] human nature deep, deep down, we are all greedy, so if they get the chance to do it, they’ll do it again. In five years’ time, ten years’ time, 20 years’ time? I don’t know. It will happen again.” Of course, if anyone is in a position t...

Soaring temperatures across Gulf countries can go above 50 degree Celsius with high humidity levels. As temperatures climb during the summertime, it’s only natural for employees’ minds to wander to exotic, far-flung locations and vacation days left unspent. Depending on the kind of business, summer time can be hectic for some and more relaxed for others. Even though it may not be too hectic for many businesses, managers are still faced with challenges of keeping employees engaged and ensuring that productivity stays at a high level. Here are a few simple tweaks that businesses can make to help employees stay focused on work — and not the beach — during the warm months. Two words: iced coffee: A Cornell University study last decade linked uncomfortable office temperatures to an increase in errors. Offering a cool treat like iced coffee after a sweaty commute could return employees to a more comfortable (and productive) state quickly. Buy an iced coffee kit, splurge for a jug of cold ...

If you’re active in the Lebanese startup ecosystem, then you’ve probably already met the young entrepreneur behind Sociatag, the social integration platform hailing from Beirut. In less than two years, Wassim Hakim and his booth have quickly become staple figures at startup events. With a background as a web developer at digital advertising agencies ClearTag (which has smartly been acquiring startups and is part of digital media umbrella group DNY, and also owns Innovo) and Eastline Marketing, launching a product to bridge the online and offline worlds seemed like the logical next step. Hakim thought up the idea during graduate school, but needed some time to find the right edge, as it is, granted, not the first idea of its kind. But the idea didn’t stop evolving when he eventually launched. What started as a way to allow event attendees to interact with any online platform by simply swiping magnetic cards over physical boxes quickly evolved into a full-fledged social integration pl...

The first time ever, on 13 July 2006, the Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar was in fighting mode. His company was the biggest property developer on the planet, worth $36bn. He had just delivered a 21 percent rise in half year profits to $1.38bn, and announced $21bn worth of new projects in the previous six months. He told us then: “You know what separates the men from the boys? Do you know what? It’s when you have to run a very large publicly listed company, and every 90 days you have to report the figures. You have to explain exactly what you’ve been doing. No excuses, just results. That’s what separates the men from the boys.” Nearly eight years on, and actually not very much has changed. Sure, there was a mega recession, and yes the numbers today sound better in dirhams than dollars. But you want growth? You want relentless energy? You want determination? And most of all, do you want to see the 2006 numbers replicated possibly within just two years from now? Then Mohamed Alabbar is ...

Time and money are precious when building a startup. Because going green is often seen as expensive on both fronts, and because it’s a relatively new thing in the MENA region, many entrepreneurs feel intimidated, and stop their efforts before even starting. Contrary to common beliefs, there are many simple things you can do to green your business without any previous expertise, dedicated budget, or waste of time. And the good news is, they’ll also help your startup save money! Here are a few tips to make your MENA startup environmentally friendly: Reduce paper waste : This is the easiest thing you can do at your startup to reduce your carbon footprint, and it will definitely cut your paper and ink cartridge budget. Only print what absolutely must be printed. If you have to print, print double-sided pages, with small fonts, use post-consumer waste paper, and print in draft mode. And don’t forget to use scrap paper to take notes. Pay attention to your workspace: Last year, our contrib...

More and more individual and collective initiatives are being launched every day across the Arab region – and the whole world for that matter – to shed light and raise awareness on the current war in Gaza. A significant number of these initiatives come from entrepreneurs who have invested all their abilities and efforts for the cause. This the first in a series about entrepreneurial initiatives attempting to highlight or help the situation in Gaza Two Arab startups, Visualizing Palestine, which produces carefully designed infographics in hopes of changing how the media and public think about Palestine, and The Online Project (TOP), the Middle East's leading social media agency, last month launched a long-term relationship to help publicize the Gaza solidarity movement. In an interview with Wamda last year, VP co-founder Ramzi Jaber told us why he and Joumana al-Jabri focused on infographics when launching their startup, saying that “images are simply more visceral – we’ve been ...

Ronaldo Mouchawar is standing at the entrance of Souq.com’s cavernous warehouse in Dubai’s Al Quoz district, getting patted down by one of his own security staff. “There’s always rumours flying around,” the chief executive smiles, batting away a question about a recent report that suggested his firm might be bought by American internet leviathan Amazon. “You see, we touch on so many people. “There was a recent study in the UAE that 50 percent of online shoppers have bought on our site, and we know from our traffic that 50 percent of the population come to the site once a month.” Perhaps it’s not surprising that the only route in and out of the Souq.com fulfillment centre looks more like an airport security barrier than a passageway. Despite only being opened just over a year ago, the warehouse is packed to the rafters with flat-screen TVs, tablets, clothing, diapers and jewellery. For Souq.com itself, it’s not just products on the shelves that are starting to stack up — the numbers ...

Mobile advertising is the next big thing: analysts say that mobile ad spending is growing seven times faster than desktop internet spending globally. Mobile ads grew by 77% in 2013, and are expected to grow 56% in 2014 and 48% in 2015. Within the next two years, mobile advertising is expected to become the fourth most popular advertising medium globally, contributing 7.7% to total ad spending by 2016, Wamda reported earlier this year. But in the MENA region, where mobile penetration rates are hitting new heights, reaching 109% last year, this promising segment remains untapped. Globally, mobile advertising grew 82.8% in 2012, while mobile ad spend in the Middle East grew only 68%. Convinced that there is a lot to do with mobile advertising in the region, four Jordanian friends decided to create AdFalcon, the first mobile advertising platform in the region to bridge the gap between local publishers and advertisers. On the strength of a $3 million USD round of angel investment, they l...

For a region so dependent for so long on fishing to survive, it’s surprisingly difficult to charter a fishing trip. Where the Arabian Gulf has succeeded in fishing for food and commercial purposes, it is incredibly lacking in sport fishing. That was the conclusion, at least, of Kuwaiti Abdullah Alshalabi, whose own attempts to organise fishing trips for himself and his friends seemed to run aground on numerous occasions and for numerous reasons. Rather that complain about it, he decided to do something about it. And so Fishfishme was born. “I used to organise trips for my friends in Oman and other place, but it was a disaster to find charters or boats to take us out,” he says. “One time, I found a fisherman to take us out but the waves were so bad that we crashed and nearly drowned. “When I was in Singapore, it was a similar situation. Nobody spoke English or Arabic, so a Chinese friend of mine organised things for us, but it turned out to be a disaster as well. “I couldn’t find one...

These days, someone asking for stamps or stationery is about as common as someone asking for change to use the pay phone. But the rarity of writing and sending a hand-written note, and the even rarer pleasure of receiving one, makes it all the more special. To serve these letter-writing romantics in the region, Amman-based graphic designer Rasha Hamdan has brought to market cleverly designed cards and paper in a contemporary Arabic style. During her market research prior to launch, she didn’t find anything close to the product she envisioned: “If there was something in the shops it was old school, old fashioned and restricted to religious holidays.” For Hamdan there was a real gap in the market when it came to finding cool and witty cards in Arabic that could be used to commemorate birthdays, new babies, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. So in 2011 she set to work. With her background in corporate design, coming up with some initial designs wasn’t a problem. Other designers were skep...

Working in the entrepreneurship world you hear optimism all the time – especially in the Arab world. According to the polished pitches and many TED-style talks in this industry, innovation is the salve for the region’s problems and new, Middle Eastern Silicon Valleys will be buzzing with activity, with full governmental and private sector support, in no time. Well-measured hope for the future is one thing, but blind optimism inspires, if anything, even more uncertainty. That’s why it was so refreshing to hear Badr Jafar present his clear-eyed perspective on the problems the region faces when it comes to doing business, as well as the concrete steps the organization he founded, the Pearl Initiative, is taking to address them. The threat of value destruction: As a region, he says, “we’re not doing what we should and could be doing” to propel business forward in a sustainable way. The situation is especially serious given projections for the not-so-distant future. “Over the next 10 yea...

Leading Arabic health and lifestyle portal Webteb has announced the launch of its mobile WebTeb App, the first of its kind in Arabic. The app, which targets Arabic speakers in the MENA markets, contains information about health and wellness that seeks to enable users to make informed health decisions. It also allows users to interact with health practitioners, hospitals, doctors, dentists, pharmaceutical companies and health education institutions. WebTeb was founded in 2011 and licensed by Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic. The mobile app is currently available on iOS. As previously reported, health-conscious visitors are accessing the site in increasing numbers. Since last year, the application has added new sections including diet and lifestyle programs, disease and treatments, and content related to pregnancy. Driven by the support of the Siraj Palestine Fund, the Amman-based startup launched the mobile app in Arabic so as to take advantage of high levels of mobile pe...

There’s a familiar childhood warning of counting to 10 before speaking when you’re angry. From a young age, we’re encouraged to have emotional managing skills to be the better person, if not, to at least have the upper hand in facing conflict. Is ‘managing emotional skills’ really possible? Research by psychology professors John Mayer of University of New Hampshire and Peter Salovey of Yale demonstrates how thinking and emotions together can convey information to push forward your potential. They also maintain its influence in everything from decision-making to your entrepreneurial streak, and yes, it’s present in your workplace too. Staff and prospective employees are being measured not just by skills, experience and intellectual capabilities, but also how we handle each other and ourselves. It’s important to understand how to develop these capabilities for the success of your career- after all, it’s being smart with your feelings. It’s not about being nice or freeing your emotions...

Moroccan startups wouldn’t have the same visibility and strength as they have now. This year, the Karim Jazouani Prize goes to Fatim-Zahra Biaz. Ever since she opened New Work Lab in May 2013, Biaz has managed to turn her coworking space into the meeting space of the main players in Moroccan entrepreneurship. Biaz hosted and organized many events dedicated to entrepreneurs, developers, and community managers, giving a voice to each profession of the startup and web field. She also managed to bring in international expertise both online and offline, from international players such as Elise Nebout, manager of Parisian accelerator Le Camping, the French entrepreneurs Michel & Augustin, and Harper Reed, the CTO for Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. Biaz has also helped Wamda in many ways. She not only hosted Wamda Debate event, but also wrote a series of articles on Moroccan startups and events, and frequently brings us news and insights on what’s going on in Morocco.

We hear a lot about creative thinking, but what does that really mean? Lebanese startup Innovo has one idea. The Lebanese engineering startup, which designs hardware gadgets for clients such as Lebanese telecom touch, Beirut kids’ entertainment park Kidzmondo, and Emirati telecom Du, has developed a unique working style that fosters creativity, by favoring thinking with a fresh perspective and experimentation. That’s what they define as creative thinking. With this mindset, Innovo has developed a few unique products like a Du vending machine that received tweets from visitors of the Gitex Exhibition in Dubai, processed them, selected winners, and dispensed the gift automatically, or a robot controlled through Microsoft’s XBox Kinect, or child-friendly petrol pump that children from the age of three can use to fill up their ‘cars’ at Kidzmondo. Kidzmondo's petrol pump: Innovo, which works from Beirut Digital District and is partly owned by digital media umbrella group DNY (which...

Mounia Rkha is not your average investor or entrepreneur. The former analyst at Ventech, the famous French venture capital fund, has used her experience in web startups to launch daily deals website MyDeal.ma in Morocco, which was, before it was put on hold, a leader in Moroccan e-commerce. When the young woman decided to move back to France, she went back to investment, but this time for a corporate fund, that of Schibsted, the Norwegian company behind many classifieds website successes like LeBonCoin in France or Bikhir in Morocco. Investment vs. entrepreneurship: “Both are great for different reasons,” she begins. Being an entrepreneur allows you to be in the action, to be focused on one project, she believes, whereas being an investor allows you to support projects, and monitor a great variety of startups. Ideally, she says, “I would do a bit of both.” Both activities are of course different jobs, requiring different skills, but they have one thing in common: the excitement of...

As any entrepreneur, SME owner, or member of a start-up will tell you, time spent on menial tasks is time wasted on important projects. Many a man hour is lost to journeys across town to deliver a product, deposit a cheque, or dry clean a favourite suit. The same can be said for people’s everyday lives, especially in a place like Dubai, where time is of the essence, and some ‘life admin’ seems to take an age to complete. But such a scenario also provides opportunities, and it’s against this backdrop that Hani El Sherbini launched Mashaweer – a personal errands service which can lighten your load and complete your time-consuming tasks, no matter what they are. Mashaweer – recongisable by its yellow and black branding – was launched in 2012, and has since helped growing numbers of customers save time and energy with its team of messengers which cover the length and breadth of Dubai. El Sherbini, hailing from Alexandria in Egypt, originally trained as a civil engineer and later ente...

There is a list of five basic economic concepts that can help guide decision making and structural analyses of entrepreneurs. Those first few ideas related more directly to the things a business owner ought to keep in mind as they makes choices about how to develop their business. The series continues here with four more essential ideas in economics. Most of these are broad indicators that help improve an individual’s overall understanding of the environment that they operate within. 1. Aggregate supply: Aggregate supply, like aggregate demand, is expressed as a curve. That’s because it defines how much stuff – broadly, goods and services – is produced within a country or economy at a specific price level over the course of a specific period of time. In the short term, aggregate supply can be affected by an increase or decrease in the quantity of goods or services demanded, which impacts the price level. In the longer term however, the only way to increase aggregate supply is throu...

Faris Zaher, CEO and co-founder of hotel bookings site Yamsafer, thinks his team may have come up with a solution to the region’s payment riddle – at least for their industry. Made possible by a $1 million USD investment from Sadara Ventures in September 2012, Zaher and his team spent last year “testing the waters… we iterated a lot in terms of the model,” he says in his sunny Ramallah office. And the potential for the concept they came up with – cardless booking – is something a lot of people are getting excited about. The idea is simple: allow customers using the site, which facilitates bookings at hotels big and small across the whole region, to make a reservation without their card being charged. They then pay in cash upon arriving at the hotel. This assuages the concerns of the region’s average internet user, plagued by fears about the security of their credit card information online. It’s also attractive for hotels, says Zaher, in that hotels receive a larger volume of busines...

Advertising is everywhere you look. Open a magazine and it’s there in front of you; get into your car and you see huge billboards as you drive along road; turn on the TV and you’re hit with a never-ending stream of commercials. Advertising is often unashamedly brash and in your face. But there’s another type of advertising away from the television, print media, and internet which is somewhat less obvious, perhaps a little more sophisticated, and certainly more targeted: Below the line advertising (BTL). Worth billions of dollars globally, BTL uses a series of methods to engage customers one-one-one, such as promotional gifts, brochures, email campaigns, and so one. One company which has taken the regional BTL market by storm is Traffik360, launched by Lebanese entrepreneur Marcel Khairallah in 2002. Focussing on promotional merchandising, point of sale material,advertising stands, print services, and - recently - brand activations and product launches, Traffik360 works with both loc...

“Microsoft is crucial for Qatar since the country is going through a transformational journey over the past and next few years to come, as they are trying to diversify their hydro-carbon economy into a technology-based economy. Basically, diversifying the economy to depend more on SMEs, stressing on education and healthcare to name a few, and all those areas are strategic ones for us,” says Naim Yazbeck, General Manager of Microsoft Qatar. Microsoft Qatar first opened in Doha more than a decade ago in partnership with Qatar Foundation. In 2008, Microsoft was one of the first tenants to move to the Qatar Science and Technology Park, and it is the largest multinational technology company in the Arabian Peninsula. Yazbeck adds that the Qatari market is one of a kind, since the country has a clear 2030 National Vision highlighting a well-defined execution plan in order to accomplish the vision. “This makes it pretty interesting
for us, because we can clearly focus on the vision, and be...

Leaving behind his Beirut childhood, Louay Eldada went off to New York City to attend Columbia University. The PhD he earned there is in Optical Engineering, but despite his Ivy League advanced degree he believes that “education is not worth much unless you generate value for shareholders and contribute to society.” Serving as an executive at leading US firms including Honeywell, Corning, Telephotonics, DuPont, HelioVolt, and SunEdison, he did just that. Eldada used what he learned from his life as an executive, especially from Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy and General Electric CEO Jack Welsh, to start four of his own companies: two in fiber optics in the telecommunications sector, one in solar energy, and, most recently, one in laser sensing. He sold the first three ventures to Fortune 50 companies. How did he accomplish all of that? On a personal level, by being “humble, ready to listen and learn” in addition to a “no-entitlement attitude,” says the engineer. On the business side, ...

In a striking reversal, Middle Eastern youth are increasingly looking past their government to address their employment woes. The MENA faces a colossal dilemma. It has an extraordinarily powerful resource—talented and hungry youth who are restless but who often lack the skills to compete in the modern workforce. The result? The Arab Spring—from Egypt to Tunisia to Libya—as restless youth with nowhere to focus their energy took to the streets. “The cause was unemployment, combined with corruption and demands for good governance,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, United Nations Special Envoy on Youth. The Rockefeller Foundation is set on tackling this problem and has launched a seven-year $97 million program to create digital jobs in six countries, including Egypt and Morocco, in addition to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. “There is a major youth unemployment challenge, and the impact of our program will not be just in terms of the [participant’s] lives but on families and communities,...

Zaid Farekh is as Jordanian as Mansaf. Born, bred and schooled in Jordan, he's a hardworking man from a hard working family. Before he had even reached his mid-teens, his father and eldest brother passed away, leaving his mother to care for him and his five siblings. Clearly, she excelled. At her mere mention, Zaid is very quick to say that practically everything good about him is there because of her. What this young, very innovative, risk-taking entrepreneur does, is what the future of Jordan - of the Arab world, for that matter - should look like. A software developer, Zaid started his first business with friends when he was still a freshman at college. By his 22nd birthday, he had already built himself a thriving if small freelance web development business, winning a UNHCR contract. So, while studying and freelancing, Zaid had, in effect, helped construct the tech backbone of several Jordanian startups, among them Mealadvisors.com, DaribniTV.com, tipntag.com, various mobile...

BuzzFeed, the news and entertainment website best known for its pictures of cats, wants to expand into the MENA with the launch of an Arabic website. Launched in 2006, the United States website, which is steadily increasing its hard news content, has already launched UK, Australia, France, Brazil and Español (Spanish) editions. Since November 2013, the website has seen more than 130 million unique monthly visitors, of whom 30 per cent are from outside the United States. Scott Lamb, Vice-President of International, BuzzFeed, told Gulf News in a phone interview that the Middle East is one of two regions where BuzzFeed is most interested in expanding to. “There is nothing like BuzzFeed in the Arabic-speaking content,” he said. The other region is South East Asia with possible bureaus in the Philippines and Indonesia. Lamb spoke from Berlin where he is currently setting up the latest international bureau. The German edition fo the website is expected to go live in September/October an...

Venture Capital. Two words that simultaneously strike hope and fear deep into the core of an entrepreneur. Hope– that these mysterious groups of deep-pocketed professionals can help take your business to the next level. Fear– that you haven’t the first clue how to engage them. The good news is that seeking out and engaging a VC firm for funding doesn’t have to be daunting. It’s like any other skill, and with good guidance and a bit of practice, you will develop a comfort and proficiency in your approach. To help you embark on this journey, here are the three most important things you need to know before seeking venture capital. 1. Valuation Is An Art, Not A Science: The most difficult aspect of fundraising for an entrepreneur is the painful process of defining a valuation for your company. Numerous variables such as timing of the round, market size, founders’ experience and the chosen vehicle, convertible note or equity raise contribute to the valuation conversation, but addressing...

Fenicia Bank has a relatively quiet profile in the banking sector. While having a headquarters in downtown Beirut, the bank has just 17 branches dotted around the country, and does minimal marketing or advertising to bring in more clients and depositors. This is a calculated move, says Abdul Razzak Achour, chair and general manager, to go after a strategy of “quality not quantity” and to target the Lebanese diaspora. “Our strategy is to attract prime customers and companies, which is why we’re competitive in services and pricing, and we are specialized in the Lebanese diaspora — especially Africa — to attract prime business outside,” says Achour. The Achour Group, which owns 74 percent of the bank, is heavily invested in real estate and manufacturing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to a lesser extent in Angola, Romania and France. The bank is one of the country’s oldest, established in 1958 as the Bank of Kuwait and the Arab World. In 1992, the Achours took over management...

Stepping into the spacious offices of AltCity on Beirut’s bustling Hamra Street, the sense of keen minds working away, most likely at something they hope to be great someday, is palpable. It’s been three years now since the co-working space opened its doors; the space’s progression from a few rooms where people could rent desks, to a cafe, event venue, and a second floor due to open in the fall, is impressive. Overcoming obstacles such as sporadic bombings and heightened security issues, AltCity’s team has managed to keep the objective of becoming a key player in the Lebanese startup scene firmly at the forefront of their minds. Rather than specialize in one sector, the incubator initially accepted all kinds of startups so as to serve the broadest base. “When we started we were more diverse when it came to the projects we took on,” says co-founder and current CEO Munir David Nabti. “This was very helpful for us to mobilize different funding in order to help us survive.” Not having ...

In the tough economic environment today, sales departments in the MENA are facing immense challenges stemming from demands for higher revenue growth and cost efficiency. Mature sales structures are being put to the test everywhere. Large corporations and mid-sized firms are striving to improve their sales excellence in order to profit even more from the sales side. The ideal sales organization may look different depending on the industry and company, but a sales optimization always involves five components: 1. Sales Strategy: Set your priorities right: Putting the right sales targets and budgets in place can only be done when you are fully knowledgeable of the strategic importance of markets and customer segments. Yet this knowledge is often what’s missing: At a manufacturer of machine tools, the head of sales saw India as the most important future market. The vice-head of sales, however, felt that international marketing for highly complex specialty products was the most important...

The new generation high net-worth (HNW) business owners in the MENA and Asia are committed to giving back to their communities amid their focus on growing their businesses and increasing market share, according to a recent study by Standard Chartered Private Bank in partnership with Campden Wealth Research. Almost 91 per cent of those surveyed currently contribute to philanthropic causes, with efforts extending beyond one-off donations. For these participants the preference is to become directly involved in the cases they support, over one-time donations and simple aid giving. They seek causes/programmes that will deliver measurable social, economic and environmental impact to their local communities as opposed to the developed world’s more common mode of disbursements of capital. “Philanthropy is an integral part of MENA culture. It is felt to be an essential component of one’s religious and cultural duties to give a portion of one’s wealth, however small, to those l...

Despite its size, the 416-room Maksoud Plaza has a cozy feel, like a comforting but well worn bar. While the interior is sharp and clean, it maintains a rustic charm that points toward its former glories. This partly comes from a strong sense of its history — the 35 year old hotel is the oldest five-star venue in São Paulo. In 1981 Frank Sinatra played one of his last ever Latin American concerts there, while other Western stars to have frequented the place in its musical heyday include Mick Jagger and Ozzy Osbourne. These kind of extravagances were the work of the then-owner Henry Maksoud. A self-made businessman, the engineer and entrepreneur became one of Brazil’s most prominent and powerful businessmen in the second half of the 20th century. His Hidroservice company designed major engineering projects across the world, while he also established a powerful computing company. In the late 1970s he decided to put some of his profits into establishing the hotel. Despite his empire, ...

In January 2014, Selim El Zyr, co-founder of Rotana, made what he described as “the most difficult speech in my life” as he handed over the reins of the company — which he established 21 years ago — to his close colleague, former Rotana executive vice president and chief operating officer, Omer Kaddouri. “I strongly believe that Omer is a dreamer and a doer,” El Zyr asserted on stage at his leaving ceremony at Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi — the company’s original property — in January as he welcomed his successor to the role of president and CEO. “I believe [he] can drive the company to new levels — Omer has everything it takes for success — drive, vision, passion, loyalty, charisma and modesty — which is a major plus for someone in this position.” El Zyr, who along with life-long friend Nasser Al Nowais, the company chairman, built Abu-Dhabi based Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC “the tough way, brick by brick” — as he explained to Hotelier Middle East in an interview in Decembe...

Social media has transformed the way people receive and share information in both personal and business settings. From a corporate governance perspective, this has created risks as well as opportunities that business leaders need to understand if they are to succeed in the digital economy. Most importantly, businesses in the MENA should always ensure that their use of social media is tailored to the specific cultural and demographic characteristics of the region. The adoption of social media by business is not an entirely new phenomenon. A study of more than 2,000 companies conducted by Harvard Business Review in 2010 found that more than two-thirds were already using social media or were planning to do so. These days, a corporate presence on social networks is even more widely expected as these tools embed themselves more deeply in our daily lives. This creates a number of new risks for businesses. These include the speed at which criticism of a company can spread over the web, th...

While Faisal Hakki was working at the Jordanian VC firm Accelerator Technology Holdings, where he screened, evaluated, and helped select investment opportunities, he began to notice the boom in the region’s e-commerce industry. Eager to launch of startup of his own, Hakki began to look at various commercial industries, isolating the ones with particular sets of problems or which had not yet been properly catered to in the region. After looking at several industries such as travel and hospitality, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, and toys, Hakki settled on cosmetics and beauty products. “What caught my attention about cosmetics is that it’s a really big market. It’s around $15 billion USD every year in the region and it’s growing at double-digit growth rates, mostly in the Gulf states,” says the entrepreneur. Kohlah, Hakki’s resulting venture, is aimed at becoming the premier online cosmetic and beauty products destination in the Arab world. The beta site launched in January, and w...

It’s the sad truth that not every great idea can become a great business. On top of the right service or product, you need to put together the right business model, the right marketing, the right pricing, the right support network, and the right number of people willing to pay for it. To use a hackneyed phrase, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail; an adage that’s as true in business as it is anywhere else. If you don’t put the time into finding out how you can turn your idea into a successful business, or whether it’s worth pursuing at all, then you could end up wasting a lot of time, energy and money.Here are a few pointers to get you started with your research. Ask yourself some questions: Before doing anything, be honest with yourself. Ask yourself some important questions. What problem does my product solve, or what gap does my service fill? Who will buy it, and why? Where would the buy it from? Who is my competition and how strong are they? What will my niche be? Aski...