Tag: entrepreneurship

Global Entrepreneurship Forum – Lebanon – June 23rd 2010

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Following TechWadi‘s entrepreneurship conferences in Silicon Valley in March and Washington DC in April, they’re organizing their first Global Entrepreneurship Forum in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 23 2010 at the AUB Olayan School of Business.

The goal of the conference is to build the necessary bridges between business leaders in the US and the MENA region, acting as a platform for cross-border partnerships to accelerate the development of entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Forum will bring together regional investors, executives, entrepreneurs and policymakers who all have interest in creating a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Arab world, as well as a delegation led by the US State Department including prominent investors and entrepreneurs seeking to expand cross-border ties with the MENA region.

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4SITE Forum (Sustainability, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship) – Beirut – November 17-18th 2009

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4SITE Forum4SITE Forum (Investing in Sustainability, Innovation, Technology & Entrepeneurship) is an event being held in Beirut, Lebanon, bringing together over 200 investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs in Lebanon and the Middle East region. The goal of the event is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship towards sustainable economic development and social impact.

The event is organized by RootSpace and Baraka Group in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week (a yearly event taking place in November in over 80 countries worldwide), and will be held over two days, full of participatory panels, keynotes, workshops, demonstrations, and networking.

The event will be taking place at Bayt El-Tabib Conference Center in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 17-18th. The plan is for this event to be the first in a series of other 4SITE Forums to take place around the region.

The keynote speakers at the event include Joi Ito, the CEO of Creative Commons, John Wilbanks, the CEO of Science Commons, and Rabea Ataya, the CEO of Bayt.com.

Besides the fixed program, there are some slots in the schedule that are planned for Barcamp-style presentations and demos by the participants.

The full program schedule for the event can be viewed online at the official website here: 4SITE Forum Schedule. Tickets to the event can be bought here.

Along with the event, 4SITE Forum and Hibr are also hosting the Global Innovation Tournament (GIT), an initiative of Global Entrepreneurship Week, in Lebanon, with this year’s challenge being to come up with a way to make saving money fun, in light of the current global recession.

Bedaya Angel Network’s First Pitching Session For Startups

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Bedaya Angel NetworkA group of 10 Angel investors gathered in Jordan to attend the first match-making event for the newly created Bedaya Angel Network, where 20 pre-selected entrepreneurs got to pitch their projects to the investors.

Entrepreneurs were given 20 minutes to present their project and explain why they were looking for investment. Presentations were followed by another 20 minutes with questions from the attending Business Angels about their project’s details and concept, business development, the market for their project and what any eventually invested money would be used for.

The Bedaya Angel Network initiative was launched only a few months ago, in May of 2009, and has attracted over 30 important figures from the Jordanian investment, business and economic development communities.

The founding institutions of the Bedaya Angel Network are: the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, the iPark business incubator and the Arab Science and Technology Foundation. It is supported by the European program Medibtikar.

The goal behind the creation of Bedaya is to offer national financing vehicles for innovative business startups as part of the El Hassan Science City’s mandate to foster knowledge-based enterprises with a promising potential for growth. The network will be offering investments for early stage start-ups with a focus on science and technology.

Bedaya Angel Network - Match-making Event

The process starts with the selection of entrepreneurs who are looking for funding and giving the ones that are most ready the opportunity to pitch their projects to an audience of business angels at match-making events that should be held every 2 months.

Before pitching to investors, the entrepreneurs received special full-day training and coaching by Mr. Nelson Grey, a seasonal expert on business angel investments.

The next Bedaya pitching session is planned to happen next October.

[Business Angels are private individuals willing to invest their own money into high growth potential startups; not only offering money to the companies they invest in, but also a lot of experience and their personal business networks.]

Tamakkan! Initiative to Support Young Emirati Entrepreneurs

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BrandMoxieTamakkan!, an initiative aimed at supporting young Emirati entrepreneurs who need industry insight to achieve their business dreams, has been launched by BrandMoxie, a UAE based marketing firm.

BrandMoxie has set up Tamakkan! to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship and provide an informal environment for the development of knowledge sharing and the spirit of mentorship for the benefit of young Emiratis.

Sana Bagersh, the CEO of BrandMoxie explained, “the idea is that through Tamakkan! industry professionals would be able to give back to the country, and the community, by helping to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. We hope to create a vibrant monthly platform of discussion, in the form of a free two hour seminar, open to those young entrepreneurs who want to attend an informative session presented by a professional, or expert, on a key topic in business.”

Bagersh explained that Tamakkan! would aim to provide high calibre seminars given by practicing professionals. The focus would be on the transfer of practical skills and information. “These would include short seminars on marketing such as branding, positioning, merchandising, franchising etc, and business topics such as the fundamentals of how to set up a business.”

Tamakkan! is intended to facilitate contributions by the business sector, and welcomes the participation of companies and individuals who can lend their support by giving their time or assistance in kind.

BrandMoxie won the Tamayyuz Award in June for its commitment to young students, offering them practical experience and professional guidance. Bagersh explained, “what has encouraged us to do more is our surprise at the high calibre of work performed by university interns. These students are very good; they have built up the skills and are passionate at what they do, but they lack the ‘street smarts’ and the understanding of the broad work context. And this is only something they can pick up through experience and professional guidance.”

Bagersh believes that Tamakkan! would support fresh graduates with entrepreneurship dreams by providing them exposure to knowledge from industry practitioners.

Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship Organises The Entrepreneurs Week – May 16-21 (Amman, Jordan)

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QRCEThe Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship is organizing a really interesting event ‘The Entrepreneurs Week‘ between 16th-21st of May, in Amman, Jordan.

The event aims to open an interactive discussion with a number of interesting international speakers who will speak about several important topics in Entrepreneurship, Business and Management.

The topics to be discussed are the following:

  • BlueOcean Strategy: How to transform a new business idea into a winning strategy
    Speaker: Mohammad Ajlouni (Managing Director, MDS)
      
  • Identifying your Strengths as an Entrepreneur
    Speaker: Ronald Evans (CEO, SIMA International)
      
  • Idea to Reality
    Speaker: Habib Haddad (Co-Founder, Yamli.com)
      
  • Innovation in Open Networks – Perspectives from an Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist
    Speaker: Joi Ito (CEO, Creative Commons)
      
  • Cross-cultural business issues as companies expand internationally
    Speaker: Doug Christgau (Director, Cross-Cultural Development)
      
  • The current U.S. and world financial market situation.
    Speaker: Larry Hutchins (Certified Financial Planner, Wachovia)
      
  • Insights into family-owned companies in regards to economic and human resource issues.
    Speaker: John Carmon (President, Carmon Community Funeral Homes)

The event is free of charge. For registration or any further information, you can check out their website http://www.qrce.org/eweek or call +962 6 515 4892.

If you’re registered to the StartUpArabia Events iCal feed in your calendar software, the event should already be showing up in your calendar for the days of the event.

Beirut Media City First Open Discussion – Beirut – April 29th 2009

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Beirut Media City First Open DiscussionPlans to create a media city in Beirut, that were recently launched by Kuv Capital, are still moving ahead steadily, with the date for the first open discussion scheduled for April 29th 2009 at 6:30PM in Beirut. It will be at GEM – Beirut, Gemeyzeh, St. Nicolas Stairs.

This first open discussion will be to get more people involved and giving their opinions and suggestions, and to brainstorm on services the community thinks should be available at the Beirut Media City, among other things. 

People interested in attending the event can register for it on EventBrite here: Beirut Media City First Open Discussion.

In the mean time, they are also still looking for places for the media city, and ask people to suggest any old buildings they think could be refurbished anywhere around Beirut.

They’re also in discussions with architects (both young talents, as well as big names) to work on the project.

Talks are also ongoing with international companies who could be interested in working out of this future Media City.

A site has been launched to follow the developments of the project at: beirutmediacity.info

If you want to be involved in any way or help in growing this project, you can contact Kuv Capital at: info@kuvcapital.com

Update: The open discussion will be taking place at GEM – Beirut, Gemeyzeh, St. Nicolas Stairs.

Kuv Capital Launches Project To Create A Media City In Lebanon (Updated)

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Lebanon FlagMy friend Hervé Cuviliez, Founder and Managing Director of Kuv Capital just wrote about a great and ambitious new project that they’re launching in Beirut, Lebanon: The creation of a Media City in Lebanon.

This stems out of their belief that Beirut has a window to become a Digital Middle East Hub, and that despite the weak broadband infrastructure, unreliable power grid and Lebanon’s inability to reform itself, it still is a country that offers a great opportunity to entrepreneurs with all the necessary ingredients to create a startup and have a low burn rate.

Creating a company is cheap and easy (limited liability company starts at 3500 USD) and so are office space and expenses. There’s a great pool of talent available, at lower costs than the GCC countries for example.

The idea is to find old warehouses or factories, rehabilitate them into offices with decent broadband and electricity, free spaces for students who want to work on innovative projects, showrooms for high tech companies …etc.

They’ve already started working on the project; they’ve spotted three places around Beirut, talked to investors, convinced six digital related companies and a media group to move in, and they’re still reaching out to more.

The hope is that by doing this, and grouping all these innovative companies and people in one place over time, they will be able to replicate to a certain extent the creation and growth of Silicon Valley.

If you want to be involved in any way or help in growing this project, you can contact Kuv Capital at: info@kuvcapital.com

Updated: Kuv Capital released more details on the project on their official blog.
They’re in the process of setting up a company  that will run this project, and will be creating a strategic committee to advise the company on what needs to be done in the Media City.
The timeframe is currently:

  • April-May(-June if needed) will be dedicated to identify potential locations and initiate discussions with landlords.
  • May: First community meeting to brainstorm on services that should be found in the media city.
  • June: second community meeting, presentation and business model finalization.
  • July-september: meetings with investors.
  • October: Go / No Go decision.

Submit Conference Tickets Discount For StartUpArabia Readers

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Submit ConferenceSubmit is a conference / gathering that will be taking place in Dubai’s Habtoor Grand Hotel next week, on the 8th & 9th of April 2009, for entrepreneurs and professionals involved in the Internet industry in the Middle East.

The goal of Submit is to kick-start a yearly gathering to get people with a common interest in the internet, building web applications, entrepreneurship, technology, marketing, and design together in one place, in an attempt to share the latest innovations and developments taking place in the Internet industry across the region and the globe.

Among the speakers at the event are: 

– Ray Milhem (Director and Chairman of the Board – AdvancedIO)
– Robert Hoekman, Jr. (Founder – Miskeeto)
– Ryan Carson (Founder – Carsonified)
– Simone Brunozzi (Web Services Evangelist, Europe – Amazon) 
– Tariq Al Asiri (General Manager – Argaam) 
– Alexander McNabb (Group Account Manager – Spot On PR) 
– Ashraf Khalil (Usability expert & University professor – Abu Dhabi University) 
– Cloves Carneiro Jr. (Co-Founder & CEO – SpinBits) 
– Rida Al Barazi (Co-Founder & Dev. Manager – SpinBits) 
– Mohamed Marwen Meddah (Founder – StartUpArabia) 

StartUpArabia has managed to get a limited offer to the next 10 readers interested in buying tickets to the event a 30% discount, if you buy through this link using the discount code ‘startuparabia’.

# Buy discounted tickets

Ruwad: The First Entrepreneur Focused Publication In Oman

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To promote entrepreneurship in the Sultanate of Oman, a new publication titled ‘Ruwad’ will be launched as a special presentation of Alam Aliktisaad Wala’mal, the leading Arabic business magazine of Oman.

United Press & Publishing, the publisher of Alam Aliktisaad Wala’mal signed an agreement with Intilaaqah (the social investment programme of Shell) and Sharakah (owned and operated by the Fund for the Development of Youth Projects) to launch Ruwad, with Intilaaqah and Sharakah as founding partners.

The bilingual (Arabic, English) publication will be launched in the first week of May, and will be the first and only publication targeted at startup small and medium businesses, providing information on the latest industry statistics, opportunities in the market and relevant business trends.

It will also provide matchmaking opportunities by bringing young entrepreneurs and industry experts on a common platform to share information and identify business opportunities.

The publication’s overall aim is to provide pertinent content to make a meaningful contribution in the growth of entrepreneurial culture in Oman.

Berytech Entrepreneurs Forum, BIEL, Lebanon (May 21-22, 2009)

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Berytech Entrepreneurs Forum

Berytech announced the launch of the Berytech Entrepreneurs Forum with the support of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF), to take place on May 21, 22, 2009 at the Pavillon Royal of the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center (BIEL), Lebanon. The event is specifically designed to help existing or aspiring entrepreneurs make contacts, start a business or take an existing business to the next level.

The forum comprises of an exhibition area, free seminars and activities on entrepreneurial best practice from Lebanon’s leading business practitioners as well as International SME experts, providing entrepreneurs with the opportunity to attend presentations and meet with an array of business support institutions.

Mr. Maroun N. Chammas, President of Berytech declared: “The wide range of services and special packages presented will help entrepreneurs become more successful in starting or expanding their enterprises. This will definitely allow them to improve their productivity and connectivity and getting access to finance”.

Several activities will be held during the forum, offering the chance to seek the advice and knowledge of experts tackling specific challenges, such as Branding, Business Law, Business Plan, Business Tax, Cash Flow, Employment, Franchising, Media relations, On-line and Smart Marketing, Raising Finance, Sales Strategies, etc.

Dr. Nicolas Rouhana, Director of Berytech Technology Pole, emphasized: “Entrepreneurs will build a professional network, relevant to all sectors through the networking and business matching activities that we are planning. Investment facilities will also be proposed to selected projects through matching to Angels and VC Funds.”

For more information on exhibitors’ section and visitors’ profile as well as for updates on the event, visit the officiel site here: www.entrepreneurs-forum.org