Report: MENA Advertising Growth To Double In 2009

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An industry report released by ZenithOptimedia, a media-buying arm of one of the world’s largest advertising firms, Publicis Group, says 2009 advertising growth for the MENA region will grow by 10 percent, nearly the double of this year’s expected growth rate of 5.8 percent.

Egypt should be a strong contributor to the growth of advertising in the region, with most of the gains coming from the GCC and the growing pan-Arab advertising market.

This stands out against a gloomy worldwide outlook, forecasting a 0.2 percent drop in advertising spend next year, with the North American market taking the worst hit, expected to decline 5.7 percent. 

Internet advertising is expected to grow 18 percent next year though, both globally and in the North American market, taking a 15.6 percent share of global ad expenditures in 2011, 5.2 percentage points ahead of magazines and 5.6 points behind newspapers. The gap between internet and newspapers currently stands at 15.1 points.

Reduced advertising budgets are expected to help boost internet advertising, which costs fractions of what it costs to advertise via traditional media, and offers advertisers a clear way to track audience.

The report also expects television to do relatively well in the downturn, making up a record 38.5 percent of global ad expenditure in 2010 and 2011.

Muxlim Launches Muxlim Pal, The Virtual World For Muslims

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MuxlimMuxlim, the online Muslim social media community service, has just launched the beta version of “Muxlim Pal”, a Muslim oriented virtual world, complete with its own currency and culture, pretty similar in principle to Second Life.

Muxlim users can now login to the new “Pal” service, and get their personal avatars, called Pals, for this virtual world. First users will also get some free coins to get started with.

Each user gets their own room, that they can decorate and personalize with furniture and gifts, that are already there by default or that they can add from their inventory. These personal rooms are also the place where users can change their Pal’s appearance, by clicking on the wardrobe to change their clothing and accessories, or clicking on their Pal to change their hair, skin and other features.
Pals also get to pray in their own personal rooms.

Getting around in Pal is pretty easy; A red “Navigation” button enables users to visit different parts of the world; and once there, just clicking on the ground is enough to move the Pal from place to place. Clicking on people will tell you who they are. Users can chat and get to know each other through the built-in chat system. The Mosque Social Yard, one of the areas in this virual world, seems like a good place for people to meet. 

Muxlim Pal

One of the places in the virtual world is the Mall, where users can to go shopping for new clothes for their Pal, buy furniture for their room, and get gifts for friends you make in the virtual world.  

A green “Wallet” button shows how many coins your Pal has. These coins can be bought from the website for use in the virtual world.

A bronze “Inventory” button displays all the gifts and items that belong to your Pal, and that haven’t been placed in your personal room.

Muxlim Pal is meant to create an open community for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, enabling people from all over the world to explore Muslim culture. And while there will be religious spaces, Muxlim Pal isn’t really designed to be a religious platform, it will be open to people who are religious and not religious.

# Muxlim Pal   

What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial?

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About a year ago, I came across a really interesting study by Saras D. Sarasvathy from University of Washington’s School of Business on “What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial?“. Today, I remebered it, thought I’d dig it up and share it here.

In her study, Sarasvathy  examined the reasoning of 30 founders of companies, ranging in size from $200 Million to $6.5 Billion. What she found was that these founders shared a distinct form of rationality that we have all long recognized intuitively as “Entrepreneurial”. She termed this type of rationality “Effectual Reasoning”.

Here is a bit from her study that basically explains this “Effectual Reasoning”:

“Effectual reasoning […] does not begin with a specific goal. Instead, it begins with a given set of means and allows goals to emerge contingently over time from the varied imagination and diverse aspirations of the founders and the people they interact with. While causal thinkers are like great generals seeking to conquer fertile lands (Genghis Khan conquering two thirds of the known world), effectual thinkers are like explorers setting out on voyages into uncharted waters (Columbus discovering the new world).”

And on the process entrepreneurs follow:

“All entrepreneurs begin with three categories of means: (1) Who they are – their traits, tastes and abilities; (2) What they know – their education, training, expertise, and experience; and, (3) Whom they know – their social and professional networks. Using these means, the entrepreneurs begin to imagine and implement possible effects that can be created with them.”

It’s a very interesting study that I really recommend reading: 
What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial? (Saras D. Sarasvathy)

Mezed Expands Into Italian Market With BidBloom

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BidBloomMezed, the online auctions site that was launched by Tunisian startup La Référence in mid-2007, and that seems to be doing pretty well, is expanding into the Italian market through its recent launch of an Italian version of the site called ‘BidBloom‘.

BidBloom, applies the same auctions system and logic used in the Tunisian site, as well as the new design that was recently introduced.

Mezed was previously reviewed here, with details about their system, and how their auctions system works, but in short the system used by it and BidBloom is as follows: Users get to buy a number of “bids”, that they then place on an item, raising its price by a certain predefined amount and adding time to the life of the auction. The winner then pays the final amount that was reached for the item.

BidBloom

Something I found weird about the Tunisian version is that the site is only open for auctions during working hours, meaning from 9AM to 6PM. The Italian version stays open a bit longer, from 8AM to 11PM.
But I still don’t get why an online service has to go on pause, and not enable people to bid whenever they feel like it. 

# BidBloom

Questler Content Available Under Creative Commons License

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Questler LogoQuestler, the online learning and knowledge network, announced that they have finally been able to license all content on their website under a Creative Commons license.

The chosen licence is the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License: which means anyone will be able to copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works out of it; as long as they attribute the work, not use it commercially, and make it available under the same license or a similar one.

All existing content on Questler, as well as all newly user submitted content to the website will automatically be available under this license.

The license has been added to all the site’s pages signalling the change, and the terms of use are currently being updated to reflect this as well.

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

Sahritna Unveils Site Redesign And Launches New Features

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SahritnaPress Release: Sahritna.com Unveils Next Evolution of Site feature and Design
Amman, Dec. 1st, 2008

Sahritna.com today released a new, cleaner and simpler new design, along with the opportunity for users to preview the next-generation features and functionality. The company is inviting people to use the new design and try out the improved features and engage with the community. The new design is available to all of Sahritna’s more than 50,000 Arabic users and the new registered users over the coming days.

“Based on our vision to create a unique interactive Arabic community and the demand of our loyal users, we have launched a simpler and cleaner design in order to highlight the most recent and relevant information that users value” said Sahritna founder and CEO Bashar Shannak. “Sahritna’s new features make it a lot easier for users to share information and engage in the community.”

The company has been developing the new design since four months. Over the past two months, more than 3,000 Sahritna users offered constructive suggestions on the layout and features, many of which were included in the final version.

Public Profiles: Sahritna allowed its users to create their personal unique pages to deliver their information in a social context. The evolution of the public profiles focuses on user’s identity, their friends, post comments, mutual friends, rating and more. The profile now surfaces more current and pertinent information, about a user and their friends’ on Sahritna.

Profile Comments: Users have complete control over the comments published on their profile. Users are able to delete unwanted comments. And they can post comments on their profile and friend’s profiles.

User Rating: Located on the right hand of the user’s profile, the users are able to rate other users profiles in simple way. This feature enables users to know the popularity of their profile and how their friends think of them.

My Mood: It’s a mean for the user to express his/her current mood and tell his friends how he feels currently. Upon user login he will be able to express his/her mood.

Read More

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 

StartUpArabia Launches Arab World Tech Events Calendar

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CalendarIn an attempt to provide Arab entrepreneurs and technology fans with information about the various events taking place all around the Arab world; that are related to technology, internet, entrepreneurship, investment and more; and that might be of interest to them; StartUpArabia has gone ahead and launched its Events calendar.

The events calendar can be accessed through the ‘Events‘ link in the menu above, where a monthly calendar displays events all over the Arab world for each month.

On the site’s sidebar, you’ll also be able to quickly find the next five upcoming events around the region.

By clicking on the events in either the calendar page or the upcoming events list, you will be redirected either to the event’s official website or to a local page providing more information on the event.

Another option is to add the event calendar’s iCal feed to your calendar software (iCal, Google Calendar, Lightning …etc), and have all events pulled automatically from StartUpArabia into your own calendars.

And finally, if you have an event that is related to Arab startups, entrepreneurship, investment, or technology; that isn’t already included in the StartUpArabia Events Calendar, you can submit it by following this link: Submit Event.

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