Month: November 2008

Biz Report Middle East, First Corporate Internet TV Channel In The Middle East

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Biz Report Middle EastBiz Report Middle East (BRME) was recently launched as the Middle East’s first dedicated corporate web television channel. This Middle East channel will be the first of a series of similar channels to be launched around the world over the next 6 – 12 months. Future channels will include Biz Report North America, Biz Report Europe, Biz Report Sub Continent, and Biz Report Far East & Pacific.

The channel concept is simple. Clients (or their PR agency or corporate video production company) upload their recorded press conference or corporate video to the web channel through a control panel for a nominal fee.

Once the material is uploaded to the channel relevant journalists around the Middle East are notified that a press conference or other release is available to view taken from an up-to-date 20,000 strong Middle East media database. In addition, business executives and any other international journalists who have registered on the channel as ‘Power Users’ receive a notification that there is a new release available to view. Further to this, the client also has the option to attach a press kit, event photographs or digital marketing materials to the release when it is uploaded so that journalists can download this information too and it can all be available to view or download within an hour of the event taking place.

Whilst the channel can be viewed by anyone, it is targeted primarily to journalists and business executives.

Biz Report Middle East

The channel concept was developed by Marketing Strategist and Corporate Media Producer, John Robins. “The the idea for Biz Report TV came about as a result of the years I have been working on international corporate communication projects” explained Robins. “Over the years, I have been responsible for the recording and editing of countless press conferences, corporate events and corporate videos and it has always staggered me how many of these have ended up being burnt to DVD and then left on a shelf somewhere in someone’s office. It seemed such a waste given the amount spent on the material in the first place. From this thought I developed the idea of having a TV channel that would enable companies to broadcast their productions and significantly increase viewership, generate far more media coverage and get a significantly increased ROI on large chunks of marketing budget.”

Robins first developed the idea 4 years ago, and teamed up with freelance web designer and software engineer David Lear to develop it, and work on the sophisticated technology that will power their new channel network. Robins and Lear believe that there are few web TV channels, if any that offer the full range of features that BRME does.

# Biz Report Middle East (BRME)

What kind of name do you prefer for a startup? [Poll Results]

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In the latest poll on StartUpArabia, the question to the readers was: 

What kind of name do you prefer for a startup?

The result of reader voting came out as follows:  

Startup name poll

Out of 79 readers who responded to the poll:
– 35% of them prefer names that sound cool or a bit weird 
– 32% think self explanatory names are a better choice 
– 27% responded that they like names that reflect the local culture 
– and the remaining 6% chose generic, not necessarily related names

I’m personally torn between the different choices in this poll, but I have to say that I really like startup names that reflect the local culture in some way and that come out sounding very cool.

Third Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition Winners Announced

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QRNEC LogoThe winners of the third annual Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC) were announced just a few days ago in Amman, Jordan.

HRH Princess Sumaya, who was deputising for Her Majesty Queen Rania at the award ceremony, said that Jordan’s large pool of graduates “represents a tremendous value that Jordan creates every year”, and that the participants in this year’s competition represent “job makers rather than job seekers”, adding that their success is “important to Jordan as role models for the next generation of entrepreneurs whom they will inspire, as future employers and as innovators who are solving valuable problems for society”.

The competition, which aims to encourage a business culture among Jordanian youths, focuses on launching new competitive products and services in various technical sectors, including the environment, information, communications, water desalination, energy and agricultural technologies. It also hopes to promote the spirit of creativity and innovation among young people and highlight the significant role citizens play in social and economic development.

In her address, the Princess stressed that Jordan’s human capital is needed at home to build the country’s economy and advance society. “If we are to examine the numbers of Jordanians abroad, we learn that more than 500,000 live in the Gulf states alone, and nearly one million worldwide,” she said, adding that if the figures are examined “on how much it costs Jordan to educate these expatriates, Jordan is in fact a donor to the global economy in the form of billions of dollars worth of human capital”.

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The Latest Job Opportunities On The StartUpArabia Job Board

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A number of new job vacancies are available on the StartUpArabia job board.

The jobs available now come from a number of startups and companies operating in the Arab world, and are as follows:

For those of you interesed in applying for one of those positions, click on the position of your choice to find more details.

And if you’re a startup operating in the Arab world and looking to hire someone just right for your startup, you can post your job vacancies for free at the StartUpArabia Job Board.

eSpace Integrating Yamli Transliteration Technology In Popular Online Text Editors

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eSpaceeSpace, the Egyptian software company behind services like meOwns and weNear, has been a supporter of the advancement of Arabic content on the web, through contributing to Wikimania2008 in Egypt and other various activities, in their attempt to realize the true potential of one of the World’s most spoken languages.

The company is currently taking another step to try to promote and simplify the use of the Arabic language on the internet, and that is by integrating Yamli‘s award-winning transliteration technology, that enables users to type Arabic using Latin characters by converting their words in real time into Arabic text, as a rich text formatting option in a number of the most prominent and popular online text editors, such as FCKeditor, TinyMice editor, as well as in popular forum software like VBulletin and PHPBB.

YamliBy bringing Yamli’s technology directly into the tools people are using to write on the web, publishing Arabic language content becomes even easier and more straight-forward, eliminating the fuss of having to keep going back and forth between the Yamli website and whatever other website or tool is being used to write and publish content.

It’s great to see Arab startups and companies working with each other’s technologies and tools to advance a common goal like promoting Arabic content on the web. I certainly wish we see more efforts like this in the future.

Microsoft BizSpark Offers Startups Free Software And Services

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Microsoft BizSparkMicrosoft launched a new program called BizSpark to help Internet companies by giving them free access to software, tech support and introductions to its business partners around the world.

BizSpark is intended to “accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and early-stage startups” using, of course, Microsoft technology, according to the Redmond, Washington-based software colossus.

To be eligible for the program, companies must be privately owned; less than three years old, and have annual revenues of no more than a million dollars.

Startups must be “nominated” by BizSpark Network Partners including economic development agencies, venture capitalists, business incubators, and groups such as global nonprofit The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

There is no cap on the number of startups that can get into the BizSpark program and they can come from any of 82 countries.

Startups will be profiled in an online BizSparkDB directory and also get discounted access to Microsoft “cloud computing” resources.

Startups pay nothing to be involved with BizSpark but there is a 100 dollar “exit fee” at the end of the three-year program or if companies leave for other reasons, such as being acquired or going bust.

More information about BizSpark can be found online at Microsoft Startup Zone and Microsoft BizSpark.

eMapia Location Based Marketplace Launches Full Screen Mode

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eMapiaeMapia, the location based marketplace, which was previously reviewed here, and that integrates Google Maps technology to enable sellers (businesses or individuals) to add their items and link them to specific locations on the map, where they are available for sale (shop or person’s home), recently launched the possibility to view the site in Full Screen mode.

This feature gives users the ability to use the whole width of their screen to navigate through the world map and find products for sale near them; they can zoom by scrolling in and out.

By passing the cursor over the selected item, a little box shows providing a summary of that item’s details.

eMapia full screen mode

In this full Screen mode, visitors can also click on the “Show Items” link available in the site’s header to see all items within the current zoom level in the form of a left-side panel showing all the items’ thumbnails; allowing visitors to conveniently and quickly check out the available items.

SMELink.ae, Business Community Portal For UAE SMEs

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SMELinkThe Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders (SME) and Tejari, the leading online B2B marketplace for global emerging markets, has announced the launch of SMELink.ae, a new online portal specifically catering to small and medium businesses.

The launch of this portal marks yet another addition to the rapidly expanding portfolio of services provided to Tejari members. “This achievement is a big step for Tejari and we are convinced that e-commerce will only grow from strength to strength through our initiatives,” said Omar Hijazi, CEO of Tejari.

Members registered with the Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment For Young Business Leaders automatically become a member of this portal, gaining access to an online community of over quarter million members. In addition to this, all members of the community are eligible for an eExhibit package, whereby they can set up an online showroom to display their products and services.

“The new portal will without doubt benefit members of the establishment and will open up new windows of opportunity for existing and new small and medium size enterprises,” said Adbul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Mohammed bin Rashid Est. for Young Business Leaders (SME).

# Source: Khaleej Times

Wikeez, A New Social Entertainment Platform

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WikeezWikeez, is a new Lebanon-based startup, focusing on user generated content around entertainment topics, which was founded by Kuv Capital with a seed investment of US$250,000.

Wikeez aims to allow people to publish and exchange on their favorite subjects centered on entertainment topics (tv shows, movies, celebrities, music and sports).

Each topic is fragmented into 3 tiers:

  • Top Stories: Information on the subject; latest news, Bio,…
  • Blog Stories: content produced by Wikeez members
  • Micro Stories: reactions shared by Wikeez members

Wikeez will also enable people to create their own blogs, fan clubs, get the latest news centered on their passions, as well as socialize with other fans.

Wikeez

The site is still in alpha, with a beta version coming pretty soon.

The company is currently looking to recruit in Lebanon; You can check out their open job vacancies on the StartUpArabia Job Board.

Update: Wikeez is offering invites to their alpha version to all StartUpArabia readers; if you’re interested, just send an email to: invite@wikeez.com.

# Wikeez

Google Calendar Is Launched In Arabic

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Google Calendar (Arabic)Google today announced the launch of Google Calendar in Arabic. Google Calendar is a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments — whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you.

Google Calendar has become one of the most popular calendar services online. It has proven fast and easy to use; users can add events just by clicking on a time slot and typing in their event information. It’s also integrated with Gmail so they can add events mentioned in email messages to their calendars with just one click. Furthermore, any event on the calendar can be turned into an invitation just by adding the email addresses of the people to invite. Those invitees can then see and respond to the invitation, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves. The services also makes it easy to share calendars with friends and family, and the other way around.

“Calendar is a great tool for organizing your life,” said Husni Khuffash, UAE Country Manager, Google. “It’s another of our efforts to provide users with fast, easy-to-use applications that help to simplify your life. We’re really happy to be launching this tool in Arabic.”

Google Calendar (Arabic)

Another benefit of Calendar is that it’s open, with the possibility to talk to many other calendar applications, enabling users to easily get event data in and out. And with the integrated holiday calendar, users can see public and national holidays listed automatically on their Google Calendars.

To try Google Calendar out in Arabic just go to the Google Calendar site, then click through to “Settings” and change your language to Arabic.