Category: United Arab Emirates

Businessbuyandsell.me, Middle East’s First Business & Franchise Marketplace

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Businessbuyandsell.meDubai-based RichWeb, a member of Tharaa Holding, has just launched the beta version of BusinessBuyAndSell.me, the region’s first portal dedicated to buying and selling businesses and franchises, in a move that aims to cater to and boost company acquisitions and expansion activities by business establishments in the Middle East and North Africa (including Turkey and Iran).

BusinessBuyAndSell.me offers a number of services, such as listing businesses for buying and selling with the option to search by category and region; listing and finding global franchise opportunities available for the Middle East; receiving auto-updates on new listings based on saved search criteria; advertising opportunities; with a number of other value-added services that will be launched with the non-beta version within the next 6 Months.

The directory of listings on BusinessBuyAndSell.me is a free service for buyers, which will enable them to search opportunities by location, category and size of businesses. Potential buyers can also have their search criteria saved and regularly receive listing updates, based on their specific requirements. Owners who plan to sell their businesses or franchises can register online and list their offerings on the website and find potential buyers in a much faster, easier and convenient way, as opposed to traditional methods of newspaper advertising.

As an introductory offer, all listings are free of cost during the trial period and huge reductions in advertising rates are available.

Businessbuyandsell.me

Commenting on the portal’s launch, Mr. Shabeer Mohamed, RichWeb’s Managing Partner, said: “Buying and selling businesses and franchises is a key area of economic activity all over the world. However, until now, there has been no proper domain in the region for potential buyers and sellers to come in contact with each in a fast and easy manner, I am sure our service will come as a saviour to many establishments seeking to restructure their operations.”

Other related services that BusinessBuyAndSell.me plans to offer include providing details of available business loans, business-related services and other useful resources. 

# Source: Maktoob Business

Abu Dhabi Authority For Culture And Heritage To Launch Online Poetry Encyclopaedia

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Poetry EncyclopaediaThe Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) has announced that it will soon launch a website that serves as the latest issue of the poetry encyclopaedia, to coincide with the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, held on March 2009. 

The fourth edition of the encyclopaedia, whose publishing rights are owned by ADACH, will include: 2,693 poetry collections (which mount to 2,890,301 verses or 138,641 poems). In addition, it will have 1,081 books on scientific, literary and historical heritage.

Many of the original poetry collections have been provided with huge additional content. For example, the third edition Ahmed Shawqi’s collection had 376 poems (11,724 verses), while the fourth edition includes 776 poems (16,517 verses). 

Work on the poetry encyclopaedia began in 1997 and the National Library launched the first edition in 1998, which included nearly 180,000 verses of 88 poets, in addition to the Arabic dictionary ‘Lisan Al Arab’ (the Arab tongue) of Ibn Mandhour. 

Jumaa Al Qubaisi, Director of the National Library, said ADACH was keen that the poetry encyclopaedia, in its new look, remains committed to the high refined taste of its Arab readers, in its collections of selected Arab poets – old and new. The poetry encyclopaedia did not set as a pre-condition of only including previously published poetry collections as its editors believe that many glorious poets, whose poems can be found in different places, did not have their poetry collections published, while not every poet whose work has been fully published means that his/her work is of a valuable significance. 

There are books that deal with the poetry of some of the Arab tribes, the poetry of a certain country or region, the poems of people belonging to certain religion or sect, as well as ones focused on female poets only.

The encyclopaedia also provides a search engine to help researchers. 

The fourth edition of the poetry encyclopaedia will be available online for all visitors of the ADACH website.

Nokia Music Store Officially Goes Live In The UAE

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As planned and previously announced here, Nokia went live with their Music Store in the United Arab Emirates a couple of days ago, the first in the Middle East and twelfth globally.

The online store can be accessed at http://music.nokia.ae, and boasts a comprehensive catalog from four main international labels – Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI – as well as Arab label Rotana and content aggregator Qanawat. 

Once subscribers set up an account on the site, they can access the Nokia Music Store via their computer using the freely downloadable Nokia Music for PC software, which allows users to manage their music, create playlists and synchronise their music library with their Nokia device. Users can also access the software directly from compatible devices, and listen to a 30 second clip of any track on the store before buying it.

Nokia Music Store

Individual tracks, irrespective of language or genre, will cost AED 3 and complete albums will be priced at AED 30. Additionally, subscribers can also enjoy unlimited PC streaming of the entire online catalog at a competitive price of just AED 20 per month.

Fresh tracks and albums will be added periodically, with specially compiled playlists, specific to the region, to help music fans discover more.

The UAE was selected for its high internet penetration and statistics showing that an important percentage of the target audience is comfortable shopping online.

Purchased songs are Windows Media DRM protected, with no limits on the number of transfers for a song, but with a maximum of 10 CDs to be burnt. 

# music.nokia.ae

Accelarabia, Online Lending Portal For The Middle East

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AccelarabiaAccelarabia is an online portal with the goal to enable mortgage and loan seekers to compare the different options available out there, select the best product for their individual needs, pre-qualify and apply for it directly from the portal in real-time.

Users can also use the site to submit the documents required in order to complete their loan applications, and to follow all progress updates throughout the life of their application, getting instantly notified of any developments.

On the other hand, the portal helps providers of these products reach out to mortgage and loan seekers to obtain pre-qualified customers in a direct and efficient manner.

Accelarabia

 
Earlier this year, Accelarabia launched its Mortgage Automation Platform (MAP); providing banks, mortgage companies, and real estate developers an end-to-end fully automated loan origination solution. MAP encompasses all aspects of mortgage origination from capturing customer’s data, pre-qualifying customers on the fly, obtaining instant credit agency reports to contract generation through an intuitive workflow and document management system enabling mortgage originators to track loan application progress through dashboards, reports, and other management tools.

Accelarabia is based in Dubai, was founded in 2006, secured a first round of funding, and officially launched in early 2007, serving the UAE real estate market with over 10 lenders and 35 real estate partners as part of its network.

Their goal is to provide solutions and services to end-users, financial institutions and real estate companies in the Middle East enabling them to fully automate their origination and fulfillment processes.

# Accelarabia 

Hozpitality.com, Hospitality Career and Networking Portal

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hozpitality.comIn the backdrop of the continuing growth trail and potential of the regional hospitality industry, a new hospitality networking and human resources portal, Hozpitality.com, was launched yesterday by Dubai-based VR Online Group.

Promoters of the new portal said the sector’s rate of growth in job opportunities in the Middle East, North Africa and Levant is estimated to be at 24 per cent between 2008-2011 while in GCC it would be some 20 per cent in the next four years.

“The Middle East, North Africa and Levant is now the fastest growing region for global hospitality industry with approximately 300 new committed hotel projects coming up between 2008-2011, cumulatively adding up approximately 85,900 rooms.  Once the projects come on stream they will face an enormous need for manpower, which we estimate will be to the tune of 111,650 staff. In this context, we believe Hozpitality.com could play a salient role, be it global sourcing of manpower, hotel supplies or in offering an exclusive networking platform for industry professionals,” said Mr. Raj Bhatt, Director, Hozpitality.com.

He said that the aim of Hozpitality.com was to grow beyond the confines of a conventional portal and to add more value-innovations to its offer portfolio in tandem with the growth and sophistication of the regional hospitality industry.  

“Hozpitality.com is much more than an ordinary job portal. We are trying to build a dedicated hospitality company where everyone wins. Normally job boards have job postings and candidates applying and that’s it. We would have much more than this,” Mr. Bhatt said.

hozpitality.com

While recruitment will be the core activity on the website, the portal will be a platform where the entire hospitality community can network while posting jobs or applying for live jobs. Regular networking events for the hospitality community would also form one of the core activities.

Employers or Job seekers would have free access to focused hospitality supplier listing; registered employers can post any movements, promotions, transfers or post any announcements on the website. The portal would also extend services of professional CV designing to the candidates.

This move comes just a few months after the launch of Travel Yolk (previously reviewed here), that caters to the recruitment needs of the Travel industry, which signals a shift towards more specialized portals in such areas of service.

# Hozpitality.com

Abu Dhabi Media Company Launches Goalarabia.com

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Goal ArabiaAbu Dhabi Media Company, one of the largest media companies in the region, has launched goalarabia.com, the UAE’s first international standard fantasy football game which is playable both online and on mobile devices in Arabic and English.

Based on the English Premier League, players can compete in a virtual league to win the top prize of a Chevrolet Avalanche.

‘The beautiful game just got prettier,’ says Ricky Ghai, Executive Director of Digital Media at Abu Dhabi Media Company. ‘Goalarabia will be the biggest and best fantasy league in the region. We aim to tap into the popularity of sport across the Arab world and provide people with an easy to use platform to compete for great prizes and network with thousands of football fans online. For regional football fans, this is a digital revolution that is premier league in every sense.’

Goal Arabia screenshot

Explaining how the game works, Steve Battams, Web Editor of goalarabia said: ‘Players register at our website to claim a £100m fantasy budget to build their own Premiership football team. Using a virtual team selector, fantasy managers apply their tactical skills, football know-how and gut instinct to improve their chances of creating the best performing team, which is linked to how real-life football stars perform.’

‘Players can read, Al Ittihad, The National and Super Magazine for updates on the most successful fantasy teams, as well as checking results on-the-go over their mobile phones. Social networking is a major feature of goalarabia.com, as players will be able to use message boards and create mini-leagues to add to the competitive excitement. There’s a good incentive too, as the top performing manager will receive the keys to a new Chevrolet Avalanche at the end of the season and probably become a virtual football hero at the same time.

# goalarabia.com

Mohammed Bin Rashid Foundation Signs MoU With Syrian Computer Society’s ICT Incubator

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Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum FoundationThe Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation of Dubai today announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Syrian Computer Society’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Incubator.

Established to build the information society in Syria and nurture entrepreneurial ideas, the ICT Incubator currently provides a variety of services and training to projects that are commercially viable.

This announcement came during the fourteenth annual Information and Communication Technology exhibit which was held at Exhibition City in the Syrian capital Damascus. The MoU was signed by Sultan Lootah, Vice President of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation’s Entrepreneurship and Employment sector, and Dr Rakan Razouk, Chairman of the ICT Incubator, Syrian Computer Society, in the presence of senior Foundation officials and key Syrian officials from the private sector, public sector and academia.

The agreement marks a new milestone in the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship and Employment sector, which seeks to develop cooperative programmes to advance the creative talents of Arab entrepreneurs and create new job opportunities, as well as enhance research methodologies and information exchange.

The agreement mandates the creation of an extensive online network for regional incubators to encourage interaction, share experiences, discuss best-practices and exchange information between entrepreneurs and incubators throughout the Arab world.

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Content Syndicate Wins Cool Start-ups Award At TiE-ISB Connect

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Content SyndicateAt the recent TiE-ISB Connect 2008 event jointly organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the Indian School of Business (ISB), Dubai-based Content Syndicate (CS) emerged as the winner in the ‘Cool Start-ups‘ category.

The event took place at ISB Hyderabad from 5 to 7 November. Sponsors included Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Times of India Group Satyam, Totem Infrastructure and the Indu Group.

This is the third year for TiE-ISB Connect and it is also one of Asia’s largest investor-entrepreneurial events. Tie-ISB Connect 2008 featured over 700 delegates, 30 venture capital firms and various media companies.

The event attracted over 200 business plans of which 149 executive summaries were short-listed for the next round. 30 of the short-listed firms were invited for a final presentation before a judging panel comprising of senior partners and management from Accel Ventures, Google, Canaan Partners, Helion Ventures, Venture East, Clearstone, PA, Virtusa, IDG Ventures, Nexus Capital, Sun Microsystems, Ojas Ventures, Totem and Kuruvindam.

The criteria for selecting the winners were based on the strength of business model, innovation, the team, maturity of business, track record, financials, long-term plans and scalability.

Commenting on the award, Content Syndicate’s Founder & CEO, Maddy Reddy, said: “We are honoured to be a part of this prestigious event. It was a great experience and provided us with a strong validation of our business. I would like to extend my gratitude to our clients, team, investors and partners for playing a vital role in making this happen.”

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Dubai Hack Night – Knowledge Village, Dubai – Nov. 19th

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SpinBits, the web consultancy company that is also one of the organizers behind the DemoCamp Dubai events, are organizing a really cool new event titled Dubai Hack Night on Wednesday November 19th at 7PM, and are inviting all Web enthusiasts in Dubai to participate.

The goal of the event is to provide a place where people involved in the web industry in Dubai can get together in a more “geeky” environment. If you work as a Web developer, designer, or are just an enthusiast who wants to bounce some ideas around, you may enjoy attending.

The organizers of the event hope to provide a setting for people to:

  • Talk about the latest technology trends
  • Discuss ideas together in front of a computer
  • Meet interesting people
  • Eat pizza (SpinBits’ treat)

The event will take place at the SpinBits office located in the Knowledge Village area: Business Central Towers – Tower A, 18th floor, Office #02.

Attendance is free and open to everyone interested.

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.