Month: January 2009

RIP Fadi Francis Dababneh, Founder & CEO of SouqElArab.com

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Fadi Francis DababnehFadi Francis Dababneh, founder & CEO of SouqElArab, has passed away.

I only met Fadi a couple of times in person, but we got to talk many times and know each other over the internet, and something I admired about him was that he was a true entrepreneur; very passionate about his work, a hard worker, a true believer, a risk taker and strongly determined to succeed, sticking to his objectives through the hard and good times.

Fadi, as you can read in this profile that he wrote himself, was an academic lecturer at the German-Jordanian University, an entrepreneur behind businesses like Fast Print and SouqElArab.com, and a highly qualified e-commerce professional. 

The Arab entrepreneur community has lost a great entrepreneur and a very helpful and kind person.

Fadi, God bless you and may you rest in peace.

My deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences go out to Fadi’s wife, family and loved ones.

Tunisia: Number Of Internet Users Reaches 2.8 Million

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TunisiaThe number of internet users has reached nearly 2,8 Million and the ADSL networking rate stands at 11,1 Gigabits per second, said Mrs Lamia Chaffai Sghaier, the Secretary of State in charge of computers and free software at the opening of the first edition of “2009 Technology Days on information systems” (JTSI 2009), which began at the El Ghazala technological park a couple of days ago.

The aim of the event is to offer a space of exchange and reflection to the many economic stakeholders involved in ICT. JTSI 2009 presents a number of case studies, discussion panels and workshops.

The Secretary of State talked about the government’s push to boost ICT among industrial units with a view of increasing their competitiveness and creating employment opportunities; as well as the development of the ADSL basic infrastructure services, through the use of optic fibres, to cover 300 industrial areas.

She also said that the government has launched a program aimed at generalizing the use of the internet within the administration through the creation of specialized computer centres.
The setup of an integrated administrative network is currently underway, she said.

[Source: Tunisia Online News]

Partnership Agreement Signed between QRCE and Al-Ahli Holding Group

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Press Release: Partnership Agreement Signed between QRCE and Al-Ahli Holding Grp.
AMMAN, Jordan – (Jan. 2009)

Under the patronage of Dr. Adel Al-Twaysi – Chairman of the founding committee of El-Hassan Science City – the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) held a press conference to announce partnership with Al-Ahli Holding Group-UAE through which it will provide technical support to the 2nd round of the “Global Economic Opportunities” program. Mr. Mohammad Khammas –the CEO of the Al-Ahli Holding Group was present, while QRCE was represented by Mr. Mohammad Khawaja –the Deputy Director.

QRCE - Al AhliThe “Global Economic Opportunities” program was launched last year aiming at expanding Arab youth capacity to work with peers from various countries and cultures in developing successful world-class ventures, as well as establishing newly-born companies that supply global markets with products and services of high economic value. A group of Arab youth and participants from Argentina took place in the program’s first trial, in which they underwent specialized courses in business development, which helped them acquire the entrepreneurial skills needed for venture success.

This year, the program is going to include participants from Jordan, South Africa, Brazil, UAE and Argentina. In addition to the specialized training courses, QRCE will provide seasoned mentors from leading companies around the world to support participating teams in enhancing their business plans and honing their abilities to seize global economic opportunities, as well as building successful global companies. The program will also include field visits to major companies and factories in hosting countries in order to expand the participants’ knowledge and increase their understanding of work environment in different countries, as well as understanding each country’s specificity, both culturally and socially.

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CareerJunction Middle East Launches Mobile Version

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Career Junction MECareerJunction Middle East, an online recruitment web service, has just launched a mobile version of their application that allows its registered users to search and apply for jobs using their mobile phones, furthering their goal to provide CareerSeekers access to top regional jobs anywhere and anytime in all confidentiality.

CareerJunction Middle East’s mobile application gives registered job seekers the opportunity to search and apply for jobs on the go, or email the jobs to themselves or their friends.

It also enables them to customize their cover letters before sending out their job applications through the service.

Ihab Hashwa, Regional Operations Manager of CareerJunction Middle East, said: “… Our new application is fully optimised for a mobile phone interface with easy navigation and quick download time. There is no difference in the application process on our website and the mobile phone, making it simple and easy to find and apply to hundreds of jobs, especially for those who do not have easy access to the internet.”

Hashwa added: “We believe the new service will be an invaluable tool for our clients who are always looking for innovative ways to extend the reach of their job ads. Coupled with our state-of-the-art job competency profiling, candidate screening and online interviewing technology, the mobile service means that our clients can receive greater exposure for their job ads while receiving qualified and appropriately matching candidates.”

Within a year of its launch, CareerJunction Middle East announced numbers of more than 100,000 registered users from all over the world. 

DemoCamp Dubai 4 – January 28th 2009 – The Agenda

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DemoCamp DubaiAs previously announced, the fourth DemoCamp Dubai will be taking place at the Radisson SAS in Dubai Media City on January 28th at 7:30PM.

The following four demos will be taking place at the event:

  • restate.ae iPhone application: restate.ae is a real estate portal for the city of Dubai, built by the guys at SpinBits. A new iPhone application was created to make it easier to find properties on the go, get more information about neighborhoods and have access to news.
     
  • StartUpArabia Database: StartUpArabia will be officially launching StartUpArabia Database, which is a free wiki-based directory of Arab technology startups, entrepreneurs and financial organizations that anyone can edit and enrich.
     
  • eMapia: An online location based marketplace. Using eMapia, people can browse through countries, cities and neighbourhoods on a map to find businesses/people who added items for sale nearby. 
     
  • w2task: is a web 2.0 task & time management web based software, where users can register online, create their own business (company) and projects, than attach efforts to them. In return the users will be able to track their own/team efforts and time spent on a particular project (time sheets) and invoice their customers (planned feature).

The format will be the same as the previous events, with the presenters giving 10 minute presentations of their work, with 5 minutes for Q&A.

The presenters will also be available to answer any further questions, receive feedback and share some thoughts after the event.

StartUpArabia will be covering the event live here for those of you who won’t be able to make it, and giving you a chance to ask any questions you might have to the people demoing.

Ras2Ras Releases New Version Of Their Comparison Service

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ras2rasRas2Ras, the comparison research service from Yemen; which is based on the simple of concept of putting any two comparable things against each other, and letting people vote on which they like best; has released a new version.

The new release comes with a slightly different new design and layout that still hangs on to the simplicity of the old one, but is just a bit more organized, more visually appealing and integrates their new features.

The service which is still in beta is looking more mature now, with the new design and a number of other previously hanging details ironed out.

Comparisons, or Battles as they’re called on the service, now end after 90 days. Then they can be found up in the site’s results section. Select battle results will also be highlighted by the Ras2Ras team on their blog and elsewhere on the web. 

Users can now also join discussions on battles, getting alerts whenever someone submits a reply on the discussion; making it easier for people to follow topics of interest to them.

Other little additions and tweaks have been added here and there, like the rotation of the latest comments on the homepage, the improved URL structure and the site becoming more search engine friendly.

# Ras2Ras

ABAN Signs MoUs To Set Up Three New Business Angel Networks In MENA Region

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ABANThe Arab Business Angels Network (ABAN), established by the Young Arab Leaders (YAL) with Dubai International Capital as its founder and lead investor, recently announced the signing of three strategic memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with companies in the MENA region to collaboratively work towards establishing three new business angel networks in the region.

ABAN’s agreement with the Saudi-based Siraj Capital in Jeddah and the National Enterprise Centre (NEC-Centennial Fund) in Riyadh, as well as the Beirut-based Bader Lebanon will facilitate the creation of the Jeddah Business Angels Network, Riyadh Business Angels Network, and the Lebanese Business Angels Network respectively.

ABAN will counsel the three partner companies on various aspects of establishing and maintaining a local Business Angels Network in their respective cities. The key components of their knowledge transfer will include full technical support and skill-set training, extensive onsite training on global best practices for recruiting angel investors, screening investment opportunities, and nurturing a spirit of entrepreneurialism within the organizational structure. ABAN will also equip each of the three partner networks with a training manual on effective practices to maintain day-to-day operations.

Other than sharing the responsibility of due diligence activities such as screening potential angel investors and seeding ventures, ABAN will be invited to participate in the three new networks’ future matchmaking events, opening up a new pool of seed capital for ABAN’s network. The events will help provide an organized and professional platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their companies to potential angel investors.

3zeema, An Arab Event Organization And Invitation Service

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3zeema3zeema is a new Arab service that was recently launched in its beta version to make it easier for people to organize events and invite their friends and contacts to them, whether it’s a personal or professional event.

The service is free and pretty simple to use; after signing up you can directly start creating events by following three easy steps: choosing a place to hold the event, either by selecting from the list of venues already existent in the site’s database or by specifying a new venue and locating it on a map; the next step is to add the friends and contacts that you want to invite to the event, either by choosing from your lists of friends or friend groups, both of which are administrable from seperate interfaces, or by adding your invitees directly through a little form; finally the last step is to put in the details of the event, confirm the invitation and have it sent out.

Invitations are sent by sms, providing invitees with the details of the event. Invitees can also use their phone number and invitation number to login and view more details about the event and the venue.

3zeema

As an organizer, you can also choose whether you want your event to be public, and thereby viewable by all site visitors, or whether you prefer it to be private. The same goes for the venue, as some people could be hosting the event at their homes, and don’t want to make their addresses public.

If the invitation is sent a long time in advance, it is possible to specify when you want the service to send a reminder to all invitees. It is also possible to specify if the event is a recurring one, inputting its periodicity so that the service automatically sends out reminders to invitees each time.

An events page for each user shows the events that they created as well as all the events that they were invited to.

3zeema was founded by Esam Alwagait, and its beta version was released earlier this month. The service is only available in Arabic and for events in Saudi Arabia for the time being.

# 3zeema 

Al Jazeera Goes Mobile In Both English And Arabic

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Al JazeeraAl Jazeera today announced the beta launch of its Arabic and English Mobile websites.  The websites will work on any mobile handset that has web browsing capabilities.  

Users can access the websites through their mobile phones and devices at the following addresses: for English news http://m.aljazeera.net and for Arabic news http://ma.aljazeera.net.

The mobile websites will provide Al Jazeera headline news, business reports, sports coverage and more.

This is yet another push by Al Jazeera to make their content more accessible and to get it out there through all existing channels, in order to broaden their reach and pass the information to as many people around the world as possible.

This move is also part of the ongoing Al Jazeera New Media initiative, which includes delivering video and other content over interactive platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes as well as other popular services.

Just a few days ago, Al Jazeera launched their Creative Commons Repository for video footage of ongoing events around the world, and only days earlier a service mapping the war on Gaza.

For more details about Al Jazeera’s other new media projects, you can check Al Jazeera Labs.