http://www.wamda.com/ Wamda: inspiring, empowering and connecting entrepreneurs By their very nature diaspora networks (DNs) can be challenging to penetrate even if an entrepreneur is a member of the ethnic group. In fact, biases may even exist against second- generation or third-generation immigrants when interacting with members of their native country. This paper closes with some steps entrepreneurs can take to exploit their DNs, some of which are common sense, some of which are less obvious. The heterogeneity of these networks requires, however, that these steps be adapted to the particular characteristics of the DN in question.
Map out the DN: In any given city or country, members of DNs often cluster in residential neighbourhoods, in public rganizations, in schools, and in industries and companies. The first step in exploiting any DN is to develop an informal map of where the members are concentrated. In Tokyo, Americans tend to live in Azabu, shop in Omotesando and hang out at the American Club. Many of them work for professional service firms such as Morgan Stanley, McKinsey and subsidiaries of large American firms.
Identify the formal rganizations: Many countries have offices whose purpose is to facilitate trade and investment between countries and whose doors are open to nationals who are visiting from their home countries. These offices maintain formal databases and, informally, the officers can often give important advice on who to contact and what mistakes to avoid. These formal organizations are not in and of themselves DNs, but they are closely related. They are often an excellent source of information about DNs, including the names of specific individuals, companies or less visible informal DN rganizations, clubs or groupings. Furthermore, it is sometimes possible to recruit officers from such rganizations – they are often very knowledgeable, have good local contacts and view their current position as a stepping-stone to the private sector. 
Tap into informal rganizations: Great sources of contacts are the more or less informal rganizations of ethnic entrepreneurs and other business professionals. These rganizations are most frequently found in communities where there is a concentration of immigrant professionals living and working – in the US they are often centred on high-tech zones like Silicon Valley or universities like MIT. Two prominent Indian examples are The IndUS Entrepreneurs (http://www.tie.org) and Silicon India (http://www.siliconindia.com); Chinese examples include Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (http://www.hysta.org) and the Chinese Entrepreneur Association (www.ceaa.org).
Identify the influential members of your DN: When you have identified the formal and informal rganizations and the concentrations of people from your relevant network, it is very important to develop contacts with credible and influential individual DN members. This may sound obvious, but it can be a subtle exercise to identify people who have high credibility within the local business community and the DN immigrant or expatriate community. Some languages have mildly derogatory terms for those expatriates who have gained credibility in the host country, sometimes unjustifiably, but have lost it within their own ethnic community. Having a coach, confidant, advisor or board member who is respected by both ‘sides’ is a very scarce and valuable resource. Such informal intermediaries can provide information, contacts, institutional access and culturally informed guidance.
Remember to give back: When you have the experience, understanding, contacts and access yourself, remember to help others who are in the same position that you were in a few years before. Your own carefully created credibility will be useful to others and will further enhance your credibility, stature and leadership ability on both ‘sides’ of the DN.
Summing up
Many of the benefits of DNs are obvious. The launch of a new venture, however, is a very intense time, and it is often easy to overlook the simple but powerful resources that can aid you. DNs are one such important resource for international entrepreneurs. Some founders will be able to tap into a DN naturally due to their ethnicity; others may need to assemble complementary team members or advisors who have access to these communities. Due to the informal nature of DNs, entrepreneurs should invest in developing these relationships well in advance of specific needs. Only with such investments will DNs deliver their full potential.
[photo of the Arab Diaspora courtesy of Wikipedia]
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Daniel Isenberg is Professor of Management Practice at Babson Global, and founding Executive Director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project. Formerly an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he has also taught at Harvard, Columbia, and Insead, and most recently published ‘How to start an entrepreneurial revolution’ (HBR, June 2010).
William Kerr is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation. His work examines the role of immigrant scientists and entrepreneurs in US technology development and commercialization, as well as the subsequent diffusion of new innovations to the immigrants’ home countries.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/how-can-entrepreneurs-access-and-utilise-diaspora-networksWed, 22 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000 View an excerpt of the piece on Wamda and download the full document here.  
Daniel Isenberg is Professor of Management Practice at Babson Global, and founding Executive Director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project. Formerly an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he has also taught at Harvard, Columbia, and Insead, and most recently published ‘How to start an entrepreneurial revolution’ (HBR, June 2010).
William Kerr is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation. His work examines the role of immigrant scientists and entrepreneurs in US technology development and commercialization, as well as the subsequent diffusion of new innovations to the immigrants’ home countries.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/take-advantage-of-your-diaspora-networkWed, 22 Feb 2012 16:06:00 +0000 When I tell people that I make a living by helping companies in Saudi Arabia become more responsible towards their communities and the public at large, they mostly assume that I am a hopeless idealist. The general perception is that companies in Saudi Arabia don’t really care about being responsible. The rumors are widespread of sponsors mistreating expat employees, companies exploiting a monopolistic position, or disregarding customers.
Yet having worked with mostly Saudi companies over the past three years, I know better.  It’s true that the corporate culture here is far from ideal, but some local companies have made impressive moves towards sustainable development over the past few years. Here I’ll give you below my honest take on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) landscape in KSA.
The Good
The good news is that a strong and deeply embedded culture of giving already exists in the corporate sector, especially in family-owned businesses with separate charity offices and family constitutions that define how the funds will be used for community welfare.  The social infrastructure is mainly driven by cultural and religious causes, a fact that fosters a culture conducive for philanthropy. Company leadership has been spending huge amounts on charity for so long that now making the business case for CSR is about swaying them from their well-trodden path of ad hoc community initiatives towards strategic CSR, rather than convincing them to spend money in the first place.
The landscape is ready for strategic CSR, with consulting companies eager to help businesses take the leap, a public sector ready to support the spread of CSR, and plenty of other socially responsible business opportunities. According to the Harvard Kennedy School and SAGIA Report on CSR in Saudi Arabia and Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked 16th (of 181 economies) in the World Bank’s 2009 Ease of Doing Business index, 27th (of 134 economies) in the World Economic Forum’s 2008-2009 Global Competitiveness Index. It’s also the top foreign direct investment destination for the Arab world, per the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report.
The Bad
CSR has been misinterpreted as charity for so long that general perception of what it entails, in mind of the Saudi public, is far from the reality of what responsible business involves. This lack of understanding has slowed the spread of CSR, with companies focusing on one-off community initiatives in an effort to appease the general public. Why should a company bother with a full CSR strategy when others get such positive media coverage by cleaning the beach once every three months?
Then, there is the role of government in the CSR agenda. While different ministries at different governmental levels deal with CSR, there is a need for a more strategic governmental umbrella for CSR that encourages, incentivizes and supports companies considering making the leap.
Last but not the least is the non-existent role of consumer-driven CSR. The consumer in KSA is woefully unaware of the implications of irresponsible business practices, so purchasing decisions are solely based on price or, at the very least, value for money. The only industries where the consumer is not as price-sensitive are the healthcare and education industry. This is currently an impediment to the spread of CSR, as many companies do not see the tangible business benefits of being more responsible.
The Ugly
The archenemies of any well-meaning company are the ugly aspects of CSR in the kingdom. First and foremost is business-related corruption. Although the data on corporate corruption in KSA is not publically available, Transparency International gave Saudi Arabia a score of 4.7 (on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is "highly corrupt" and 10 is "highly clean") in its 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index.  This index reveals not only the risks involved in doing business in Saudi Arabia, but also the limits on the nation’s ability to attract foreign investment.
Another prominent issue in Saudi corporate culture is the treatment of labor force by local companies. From health and safety issues, to decent wages, to basic human rights, we occasionally see complete disregard of labor standards. While the government has taken strict notice of all incidents, and formal inquiries have been launched at the government level, the responsibility also lies with companies themselves, who have yet to assume prominent roles in tackling these issues and encouraging transparency.
Yet despite all of the above issues or perhaps because of them, the kingdom offers huge potential for good CSR and sustainability practices. Yes, there are challenges and it is definitely an uphill task, but we are seeing companies who accept their local realities, yet are eager to explore the terrain of CSR in the Kingdom and create truly strategic programs. We will likely be seeing a lot more of the Good in the years to come and then we will have to find some other topic of perpetual annoyance for our dinner table discussions…. spouses maybe?
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Bushra Azhar is the Founder of Good Business Sense (GBS), a CSR and Sustainability Knowledge Advisory based in the Middle East. A former corporate VP and academic, she has 14 years of experience under her belt with almost 5 years in CSR related areas. She is the author of a research study examining the growth of CSR in Saudi Arabia and is also responsible for developing 3 out of a total of 6 CSR reports released in the Kingdom. Her latest publication “The Concise Dictionary of CSR: Simple, Practical, No-Nonsense Introduction to the Main Concepts” is available for free on her company website. You can follow her on Twitter @bushraazhar.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/csr-in-saudi-arabia-the-good-the-bad-and-the-uglyWed, 22 Feb 2012 15:01:03 +0000 How can you achieve the maximum benefit from Startup Weekend?
You can increase your chance of winning at Startup Weekend by 100%, by taking advantage of every moment at the event, which is rich with opportunities to set up new projects. Youth here are surrounded with a wonderful atmosphere that includes organizers and supporters, practical advice and enjoyable stress, and face to face meetings with successful entrepreneurs who offer the lessons of their experiences.
Unique opportunity
In my own experience at Startup Weekend in Cairo this past month, I admit that I could achieve only about half of the goals I set. Perhaps this was due to encoutering new challenges that surprised me, but I will try to discuss them here and find solutions so that others can be better prepared in the future and receive maximum benefit from the event.
Learn and unleash creativity and madness
Because Startup Weekend is only three days long, don’t try to exploit any minute for anything else, because you simply can’t. Finish all of your work and commitments, and consider Startup Weekend as a holiday and time to relax. And do not forget to use your creativity and madness, creating a startup company is like a game. There might not be conclusive results stemming from the ideas and madness, but regardless, you can build a professional team, learn from advisers, and enjoy. 
Start from the first second
The most important and the easiest target of the Startup Weekend is the formation of new relationships. Most participants share this goal of meeting potential co-workers, so take advantage of it and start quickly, because it will then be easier for you to enjoy and benefit from your time in the three days. Also the second and third days will be more monotonous, with more people focusing on their ideas, so it will be more difficult to start building relationships.
Of course, entrepreneurs and professionals will attend to support and provide advice to the participating teams, so do not miss the free opportunity to identify them. It is sufficient to know some information about their projects and their work and talk to them about it. You should sit near the front chairs, and offer assistance to everyone, even your competition.
Anas Emad, who participated in Startup Weekend twice before, points out that networking is not just about building a startup. "I noticed that some companies and entrepreneurs are looking for staff, so I would recommend building relations and exercising your marketing skills during the first three days in order to get job offers," he says.
The one-minute pitch
The first question you will be asked the moment you arrive and after the routine registration is “Are you going to pitch?”
Note: At Startup Weekend Cairo, most participants use a blend of English and Arabic. Verbs are usually kept in English like “pitch” or “plan” while maintaining the Arabic prefix to the verbs (ha-) that means “Will you”.
The moment you hear that question and utter the answer “yes,” your heart rate will elevate, even more so when you realize that the attendees are not less than 150 people. You will continue to get more and more nervous when you know that many of the people in the audience will not be pitching. Your heart rate may hit the roof when you realize that ideas are accepted based on your 60 second pitch, regardless of how good and innovative they are.
I can hear you now screaming, “Life is not fair!” but as we have assured you before, the main purpose of Startup Weekend is to learn through experience in the easiest, fastest and least expensive way possible, not necessarily through establishing independent companies. 
That’s why one minute is enough time for every participant to present their idea, which will surely not involve building a spaceship. Your idea should be fairly simple and easily comprehended, and perhaps also related to information technology (IT), such as a website or mobile phone application, because the majority of the Startup Weekend participants are professionals and students from the IT world, who will only be able to participate in the field they know and understand well. The idea should also be simple enough that 80% of can be executed within only 36 hours by a team of 4 to 5 individuals who aren't all experts.
5 Tips for Pitching
The pitch is one entire minute without using PowerPoint. Just a crazy idea, a microphone and speakers that broadcast what you’re saying live to 150 sets of eyes and ears. So, the solution is to trick the system! You can use the following ideas:
1. You can save over 30 seconds if you draw your idea on a big piece of paper and ask one of the participants to hold it as you pitch instead of using PowerPoint.
2. If you have no way to improvise your presentation, you can write it down and read it.
3. Say it loud and clear. Scream it if you want! This will boost your confidence (especially if the participant pitching before you was quiet) and it will excite the audience.
4. Run through a short dialogue with one of the listeners prior to your pitch. This strategy worked very well for the Wareiny team in the final pitch.
5. All the participants want to be the last to pitch. That could be good for some in order to learn from the mistakes of others; however, the long wait might make some people nervous. If you get nervous easily, it will be better for you to be one of the first teams to pitch.
It's a good idea to jump in. If you don’t have an idea and you don’t pitch, it will be such a loss for you, my friend, because you will be wasting a free opportunity to introduce yourself to participants and promote your ideas and skills to them. Come up with any idea or create a solution to any problem, even if you’re sure that you will not win any votes, just to put yourself out there. You can follow the ideas that were pitched during the previous Startup Weekend and notice that most of the ideas are simple; it doesn’t take a genius to come up with one.
The password is IT
Startup Weekend revolves mostly around the IT field and most of the participants are IT students and professionals, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for ideas from other fields. There are many tasks that fully IT-foucsed teams might not accomplish well, like promotion, development and business analysis- these are opportunities.
The mentors are there to support non-IT ideas as well. Samuel Bishoy (a successful businessman with 30 years of experience in business management who worked as a consultant for the UAE government and participated in Startup Weekend Cairo) said, “I was amazed by the zealous and innovative environment but disappointed with the fact that the event focused solely on the IT field. Unfortunately, I will not be participating on the second and third days.”
Choosing a team
If you were successful and your idea was accepted, you will have a great opportunity to learn how to put together a suitable team quickly. If you become a team leader, it will be your responsibility to see your team to success. It’s important to understand that you only have 36 hours and you will not be able to change your team during that short time, so pick it carefully!
First, set your goal. You might prefer a team that gives you experience more than anything else, or a team with a brilliant idea that boosts its chances of success. The important thing is to seize your chance at Startup Weekend with a crazy, keen team. Another tip: it's better to avoid teams of employees and focus on teams of freelancers.
Only 22 hours
They say Startup Weekend is 54 hours, but the truth is, the team has only 22 hours. It’s important to prepare quickly and divide tasks according to these limited resources in the first day before heading home. The team should also sleep well after the first day to be able to keep working for 12 hours between the second and third day. Some previous participants of Startup Weekend have even worked through the night before the third day.
Mustafa Kamel, a member of the Shoghlana team that won third place at Startup Weekend Cairo, stated, “What we gained from working those few hours at Startup Weekend Cairo was similar to that at the 'Startup Camp' that I participated in, and it had lasted for three months.”
Take advantage of your authority
Google, Nokia, Microsoft, Nile University… these are all popular brands and sponsors of Startup Weekend Cairo, and they will always happily lend you a hand, so why not make them your first clients and partners?
Adding an Artistic Touch
Some beautiful touches won’t hurt. You can perform an artistic show like playing a musical instrument during lunch in afternoon on the second day or during the winding down period of that day. If you’re a talented artist, you could even do some caricature drawings of the attendees and put them up on the wall, to keep creativity flowing.
“During the morning on the second day, Mustafa Seraj, who came up with an idead for a Social News platform, motivated the participants with some light exercise.
But I didn’t get an invitation to Startup Weekend
If you did not receive an invitation, I will tell you the secret to getting in. Some people were able to attend as visitors in the audience, so that's one possibility- ask the organizers. You can also attend as an investor- putting in effort but not necessarily money- or a blogger. The important thing is to try and not give up for your chance to participate. 
--Khaled Sadek is the Financial Editor at Alam Al-Mal Newspaper in Egypt, and previously worked as a freelance Financial Writer and Editor at Amoaly.com, and has won awards for his performance as a stock trader on the Egyptian market. You can find him on Twitter at @khaled_sadek_a. ]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-startup-weekendWed, 22 Feb 2012 13:15:00 +0000 After several months of working from coffee shops, Mathews began realizing he wasn’t the only one. “It started becoming more and more obvious that these places were becoming mini offices,” he says. “There seemed to be a need for a physical space where these people could work. I quickly put out the restaurant-only ideas and started thinking more about the idea of a mobile workspace.”
In December 2010, the itch to enact his vision took over; Mathews quit his fulltime job and set out to create the ideal mobile workspace in Dubai. Yet, as Omar Christidis of ArabNet discussed earlier this week, the startup process in Dubai proves to be a Catch-22: '“expatriates cannot live in the UAE without a visa, and cannot get a visa without having a job." As Mathews discovered, it’s not exactly the ideal place to start up if you are a twenty-something entrepreneur hoping to establish a new food & beverage concept.
In addition to visa challenges, it was also difficult to get government entities to approve a business idea when the concept cannot be “checked off a list,” says Mathews. It was also difficult to rent space as an independent food and beverage business. Several major vendors would not allow him to set up shop at their location unless he could show proof of profits of other branches locally, or at a minimum, internationally.
Yet with perseverance, Mathews succeeded in overcoming these challenges, securing investment for his idea and launching the MAKE business hub last week on Monday February 13th. Perhaps the most eye-catching aspect of MAKE is the level of detail and attention that went into designing the space. Unlike the standard coffeeshops where entrepreneurs and creatives typically work, MAKE has customized its entire design, from the furniture to the food, around the concept of the “mobile worker.” It includes “pitching” booths that entrepreneurs can reserve in order to have meetings and a chalkboard dedicated to group brainstorming sessions.  
By establishing MAKE, Mathews believes he has tapped into a real opportunity in Dubai, where there is a genuine desire for authentic and independent places that are far away from Dubai’s regular commercial and franchise restaurants. Mathews believes this presents an opportunity both for him and his potential clients as the space for the “independent” worker in Dubai grows. 
For those considering starting their own thing in Dubai, Mathews has two pieces of advice. First, there is a “wealth of creative people in Dubai. If you can tap into their skills and abilities, you can get a lot done on a very lean budget.” Second, and more importantly, he says, “don’t overplan.” It’s important to plan for the future and take calculated risks, but he says, “don’t let a business plan be what gets between you and doing what you want to do in life.” 
It’s too early to predict whether MAKE will be a success or not, but places like MAKE can go a long way to create and drive a culture of entrepreneurship and creativity in Dubai. Yet Mathews’s experience highlights the broader question: how many independent workers will need a second fulltime job in order to be entrepreneurs in Dubai? In Mathews’s words, “it’s difficult but not impossible."
--Nafez is a recent Yale Alum who majored in Economics and International Studies. Nafez wrote his Yale thesis on Obstacles towards curriculum reform in Jordan and the UAE. He is currently a consultant for PricewaterhouseCooper's Education Team based in Dubai. He is interested in Education Reform, MENA politics, social entrepreneurship, and tech start-ups and is a firm believer in the power of gamfication. His main passion is the intersection between technology and education entrepreneurship. You can reach him on twitter @ndakkak.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/new-collective-workspace-make-launches-in-dubaiTue, 21 Feb 2012 13:25:00 +0000 It's clear that the revolutions have been both a boon and a challenge, opening up new opportunities for some, while forcing many small businesses to adopt even leaner strategies. Political turmoil has further highlighted the need for economic growth and job creation in the region over the next few years, causing policymakers and thought leaders to set forth agendas and calls for entrepreneurial initiatives in the Arab World.
As we continue to debate what the region needs and push for change, it helps to examine a holistic view of the ecosystem and its various players.
Especially for those who have become irritated by the word "ecosystem," a visual definition might ground the idea in tangible elements rather than allow it to become an overused buzzword.
Here, Daniel Isenberg, Professor of the Management Practice at Babson Global and founder of the the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP), offers a complete protrait of the elements necessary for a fully fledged entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Isenberg has worked around the globe to foster entrepreneurship, piloting programs and adivsing policymakers in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Ireland, South Africa, China, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi, and blogging for Forbes and Harvard Business Review.
Explore his vision and let us know what you think. Which element is most important to you?  
Click here to see the large version.

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Nina is the Editor-in-Chief at Wamda. You can reach her through Wamda, on Twitter @9aa, on Facebook, Google+ or at nina [AT] wamda.com. ]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/what-makes-up-an-entrepreneurship-ecosystemTue, 21 Feb 2012 11:13:00 +0000 The Maroc Numeric Fund (MNF) announced last week an investment of 2.6 million Moroccan dirhams (around US$ 300K) last week in Majalatouki, a new Moroccan Arabic portal for women. 
Majalatouki, meaning "your magazine," publishes content focused on fashion, cooking, health, decoration, and psychology, all dedicated to Moroccan women. Updated regularly by a group of five journalists, the portal includes WebTV, a blog, games, competitions and recipes. Majalatouki also provides content to other influential websites like MSN Arabia. 
"We are very interested in funding online portals that provide Arabic content dedicated to women only, since we noticed Arabic content is more in demand than French content in Morocco. Majalatouki is so far the only Arabic portal dedicated for middle class Arabic women in Morocco", says Ali Bassit, General Director of MITC Capital, the Management Company of MNF.
Launched in January 2011, Majalatouki today has more than 3 million page views and 200,000 unique visitors per month, with an average of 10,000 visitors per day. In a country with 14 million internet users, only 3 million of which are in-house subscribers, it's a healthy number. "So far Majalatouki is the most visited non-commercial website in Morocco,"  says Bassit. 
The demand isn't surprising; building Arabic content for women has been popular this past year. Not only are sites like Egyptian portal Supermama expanding to serve mothers across the region, while shopping sites like DIA-style.com offer the first fully Arabic online designer shopping experience, but a similar site named Mjalati (meaning "my magazine") launched in Saudi Arabia in June of 2011, designed as an online beauty magazine designed to empower women by showcasing not just makeup or fashion tips but also local success stories. 
Majalatouki aims to continue expanding its user base in Morocco, where internet use is swiftly on the rise, growing at 75% in 2011. Yet the portal also seeks to expand into the rest of North Africa and region in the next couple of years, says Bassit. "Moroccan internet users consume mostly international bandwidth, which highlights the importance of developing local content in Arabic because the region will count more than 80 million internet users by 2013."
As they come at the Arab World from opposite corners, we'll be curious if Mjalati and Majalatouki will compete directly, or carve out separate userbases or content niches. 
MNF's investment of 2.6 million dirhams (US$ 300K) will facilitate the site's expansion, along with previous investment of 1.3 million dirhams (US$ 150K) from business angels.
Morocco Numeric Fund is the first fund of its kind to invest and support startups in Morocco. Since its launch in September 2010, MNF has invested 4.2 million dirhams (US $500K) in classified ads portal Soukaffaires.ma, 4.9 million dirhams (US$ 600K) in online bill payment platform Greendizer, 3.8 million dirhams (US$ 460K) in internet security company  NETpeas, and 3.5 million dirhams (US$ 400K) in utility management software company MEOlink, this fifth deal brings its investment total to date to 17 million dirhams (~U.S.$ 2 million).
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Maya works as the managing editor at Wamda. She is also founder of Jaridtak.com and a big believer in the power of citizen journalism. She is a multimedia journalist and a digital media trainer and instructor. She holds a masters degree in digital media production from the University of Toulon, France. You can reach her at maya[AT] wamda.com, find her on Twitter @RahalMaya or connect with her on LinkedIn.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/arabic-content-for-women-on-the-rise-maroc-numeric-fund-invests-300k-in-majalatoukiTue, 21 Feb 2012 10:57:00 +0000 When Samia Ataya first started dessert line Catwalk Cow two years ago in the United Arab Emirates, she had a vision of an ideal product that did not exist in the Middle East, or perhaps the world: a low fat, healthy, preservative- and additive-free dessert mix that was as delicious productivity off-the-shelf product.  
Her passion for creating the first gourmet all natural food manufacturer in the Arab World was inspired from her own experience adopting healthy eating habits, and discovering a lack of good dessert options, she says. “I believe that a lot of diseases can be prevented with good nutrition. For most people, once they learn to buy certain foods or eat healthily, it's a sustainable way of life. Yet people have a hard time finding healthy dessert recipes.”
After four years of research and development with nutritional and chemical specialists in the U.S., Ataya developed around 17 recipes, launching the first, fat free Chewy Fudge Brownies, in 2009, then a second, low fat Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy White Frosting, not long after that, and finally, a low fat Fondant Mix six months ago.  
The secret that has Catwalk Cow desserts beating out other ready-mix brownies in taste tests, says Ataya, is a blend of raw cane sugar, unbleached flour, high quality dark Belgian cocoa and hand scraped vanilla. How much better can it get? "In a way, it’s from our kitchen to yours in the sense that it's not a mass-produced product," she says.
While it’s perfect for consumers with chemical sensitivities, the products stand alone as desserts, she says. "It's the taste that differentiates our product. It's by far richer, and chewier than anything else on the shelf. People might buy Catwalk Cow because it's all natural, but then stick with it.”
While Ataya, who is originally Palestinian-American, launched her business in the UAE and expanded to Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, it’s not just the regional dessert market that she’s aiming to disrupt. “There is nothing that is like our product on the U.S. market today that we're aware of", says Ataya. "There's only one product like this in the U.S., a chocolate cappuccino brownie mix with no artificial substitutes.”
To manage the entire pipeline from ingredient sourcing to product placement, Ataya relied on several years of experience working in Dubai. She spent six months outfitting her factory with machinery, and hiring and training staff. After launching in an initial 13 outlets, she quickly scaled to 70 outlets, including Carrefour, Spinney’s, and Waitrose, within 18 months. 
Carefully building the business step-by-step and stocking factories first was critical for convincing so many outlets to sell her mixes, she says. “Outlets won't talk to you without stock and products, so we built stock with the risk that no orders would be placed." 
Another crucial element was knowing food safety regulations inside and out, in each country, and going beyond the necessary requirements. "Sometimes an inspector would insist on a particular requirement, but we had covered all angles,” says Ataya. This prevented the factory from facing delays in operation.
The journey hasn’t been easy, however. Catwalk Cow has had to face several challenges:

Educating the market. “Some stores don't understand what gourmet food is. It's been a challenge how to merchandize it and market it, not just in terms of educating mothers and consumers, but also to make stores understand how to display it," says Ataya. "We try to convince stores to put us with the rest of the regular baking products instead of in the specialty section, yet we try not to get lost among multinational brands,” Ataya laments. “Our price is also double or more," she points out. "Catwalk Cow is AED 20 (US$5.5), and the next highest brownie mix is AED 9.50 (US$2.50). This is because we don't have any volumizers or fillers. But we wouldn't have a positioning challenge if we had more gourmet stores."


Having a shelf life of one year. "We developed the product in the U.S.,” says Ataya, “but our climate in the UAE is very different. After we finalized the product there, we had to further refine the recipe so that it could work in this climate, so that if a shipment truck stopped and the AC was turned off, or if a customer runs a bunch of errands on the way home, the product survives intact.” 
Being a local-produced product. "Our product is made in Sharjah in the UAE. Yet food manufacturing is not a big industry here, so people tend look down on locally- made products; they think it must not be made well. Yet the image is changing slowly, because people are so impressed with the taste that they go onto our social media and mention it. But getting them to make that initial purchase is one of our biggest challenges."

Being a female entrepreneur in the food industry has not been a huge challenge for Ataya, however. While it's a very male-dominated industry, she says, “I've never felt any problems running a company as a woman.”
Ataya believes that today's generation has the necessary background to start more factories in the region. There’s no need to bring in outside brands or Western brands, she says. "The manufacturing industry should be stronger in the UAE. I'm willing to help in any way and consult anybody, who really a vision to create food brands here, until we a region become more self-reliant food-wise.”
Catwalk Cow is now looking to launch gluten-free and diabetic lines and expand into Jordan, with wider expansion to Saudi, Turkey and Cyprus planned soon. 
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Maya works as the managing editor at Wamda. She is also founder of Jaridtak.com and a big believer in the power of citizen journalism. She is a multimedia journalist and a digital media trainer and instructor. She holds a masters degree in digital media production from the University of Toulon, France. You can reach her at maya[AT] wamda.com, find her on Twitter @RahalMaya or connect with her on LinkedIn.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/catwalkcow-the-first-gourmet-fat-free-factory-in-the-meaMon, 20 Feb 2012 13:29:00 +0000 For Abraaj Capital, which last September acquired Amundi's stake in the Al Kantara fund, a fund dedicated to investing in SMEs in North Africa, the deal marks not just an expansion but a transformation of its SME investment platform. 
The deal will unite Aureos, which has over US$ 1.3 billion in funds under management and has completed over 250 deals over the past 20 years, with RED, Abraaj's existing $650 million SME-dedicated platform, to create the world's largest SME-focused private equity group, which will be branded Aureos. All Aureos and RED funds will continue according to their existing mandates and investment guidelines, however, Abraaj Capital noted in its press release. 
The deal will boost Abraaj Capital's overall position in emerging markets, creating a combined entity with US$ 7.5 billion in assets under management and a presence in over 30 countries. 
The acquisition is an exciting opportunity for Abraaj Capital, said Founder and Group Chief Executive, noting in a statement that the two firms have a great deal of synergy. "Both Abraaj Capital and Aureos are ‘home grown’ emerging markets private equity firms with a similar philosophy and shared values," he said. "This acquisition is an important step in our expansion into Latin America, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and a new chapter in the Abraaj Capital story."
Read the full press release here.
--
Nina is the Editor-in-Chief at Wamda. You can reach her through Wamda, on Twitter @9aa, on Facebook, Google+ or at nina [AT] wamda.com. ]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/abraaj-announces-acquisition-of-sme-focused-fund-aureos-capitalMon, 20 Feb 2012 09:56:00 +0000 If you’ve had the chance to visit Muscat, you’d agree that it is a quiet sanctuary with a laid-back atmosphere compared to its neighboring capital, Gulf business hub Dubai. But don’t be fooled by Oman’s apparent slow environment, where business meetings take place quietly in beachside coffee shops; the atmosphere at the second “Entrepreneur’s Jam” was charged with passion, excitement and a shared vision. You would have thought you’d stepped into a completely different market.
The event, spearheaded by the Oman Entrepreneur’s Network, which is organized by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, kicked off with an open dialogue on Oman’s entrepreneurial ecosystem from a grassroots point of view. A “Vent-Off” portion of the session highlighted entrepreneurs’ common concerns, challenges and solutions.
The “Vent-off” session is one of the most important aspects of the jam. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely place for some start-ups, yet an opportunity to discuss challenges can be what keeps them going. This is a key element that entrepreneurs in Oman currently lack, in addition to effective, efficient and easily located sources of information. (In fact, facilitating access to information is in fact a market need that could be a possible business opportunity for an entrepreneur reading this post right now).
One member of the community that came to share his insights was Anwar Al-Asmi, the founder and Art Director at RealityCG, a broadcasting, branding, and communication company that strives to provide an environment for creative works in an 'emerging marketplace.' Asmi, who was United Kingdom’s International Design Entrepreneur of the year (IYDEY UK) 2006, and won an Emmy Nomination for graphics delivered on National Geographic’s Maximum Snake, is an active and hardworking member of the network, and never fails to sprinkle the magic dust of his creative thinkinginto the conversation, introducing the rest of the network to the effectiveness of utilizing Google Apps for intra-member communication and value sharing.
The session wasn’t all venting; within 45 minutes of the Entrepreneur’s Jam, the coffee shop was buzzing with optimism, inspiration and great tales of personal business experiences. A significant portion of the session was focused on ways micro and small businesses survive in relatively rigid markets, such as Oman’s. Most entrepreneurs present agreed that the secret lies in delivering a personalized and high quality service or product, made with passionate attention to detail for both the service or product and customer.
The Entrepreneur’s Jam may be a new and building community, but entrepreneurship in Oman is hardly new. Indeed, since as far back as the first century AD, Oman has been an international trading hub, a source of frankincense and home to the world’s ancient seafarers. Today, the sleeping beauty that is Oman’s entrepreneurial spirit is waking up, and take my word for it, she is one to watch out for.
--
Sharifa is a passionate entrepreneurship development consultant, businesswoman and certified trainer with eleven years of experience in the public, private and social sectors in the Sultanate of Oman and the United Kingdom. She is the receipient of Businesswoman Personality of the year award 2011 from the AlRoya Business Publication House in Oman, as well as member of the SME committee at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI). Sharifa is an associate member of the Institute of Biomedical Scientists in the U.K. and she holds a Bachelors degree in Medical Sciences from the U.K. Driven by a passion to support projects that bring about cultural, social and business model transformation, she is working towards creating an entrepreneurial mindset that results in a culture paradigm shift through all sectors in the Omani Market. You can find her on her blog or on Twitter at @OmnEntrepreneur.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/reawakening-omans-entrepreneurial-spirit-at-the-entrepreneurs-jamFri, 17 Feb 2012 14:03:00 +0000 Students in seven classes at the two universities will work to write original content and translate existing content in Arabic, to boost the information portal's Arabic content, which now sits at a paltry 150,000 articles. To understand the relative content gap, consider that the English version of Wikipedia has around 3.8 million articles, and the Japanese version has around 800,000 articles, despite having a gobal population of 130 million speakers as compared to Arabic's 400 million.
Wikipedia doesn't take the inequality lightly. "We really see it as a problem that a language that is so common in the world has a Wikipedia version that is so small," said Annie Lin, a global education program manager who is spearheading the Cairo initiative for the Wikimedia Foundation. 
This announcement follows on Wikipedia's assertion in March last year that it was looking to open an office in the Arab World, in Egypt or Jordan. At that time, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales revealed to the National why Arabic content on Wikipedia was lagging- it wasn't due to cultural reasons, but rather issues of relatively low internet penetration, and the fact that Wikipedia initially only supported left-to-right text display.
Increased facility in Arabic won't simply be good for students and those interested in documenting the world online; it will also make Wikipedia a better platform for small businesses who want to list their information in Arabic on a readily accessible portal (aside from Wamda; email us if it's not clear how you can add your company on your individual profile).
Hopefully in the future, the initiative will scale to other universities, to support original documentation throguhout the region.
--
Nina is the Editor-in-Chief at Wamda. You can reach her through Wamda, on Twitter @9aa, on Facebook, Google+ or at nina [AT] wamda.com. ]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/wikipedia-build-arabic-pages-with-cairo-initiativeThu, 16 Feb 2012 16:59:00 +0000 The partnership, which is designed to cultivate innovation, stimulate online growth, and nurture entrepreneurship in Qatar and the broader MENA region, comes on the heels of a tough year for Yahoo!. Anemic sales and shrinking profits caused the company to dismiss CEO Carol Bartz in mid-2011, beginning an overhaul that included the resignation of founder Jerry Yang last month.
Yet in 2012, Yahoo! is firing up the year with a renewed focus on emerging markets, especially the MENA region, one of the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of internet use. "We have around 70 million people online in the MENA region today, with another 50 million coming on board in the next few years," says Christos Mastoras, Director of Business Development for Yahoo! Middle East. With offices in Dubai, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and Casablanca, "the MENA region is a high-priority region for Yahoo!," he says.
As Yahoo! and ictQATAR work together to bolster the digital media ecosystem, Yahoo! will work with local entrepreneurs on projects and initiatives, through ictQATAR's local incubator, and will partner with ictQATAR's Digital Content Cluster (DCC) to boost digital media companies.
The initiative will (appropriately) focus on Arabic content. It's no secret that while a lack of online content in Arabic in no longer a central issue, and digital content creation is exploding across MENA, the region is hungry for original, timely, culturally-native content, as Hosam Sokkari of Yahoo! Middle East and Najeeb Jarrar of Google discussed at our digital media-focused event CoE Animate 11 this fall. 
For ictQATAR, it's a chance to foster entrepreneurial spirit among local talent, Ali Al-Khulaifi, the ICT Market Development Manager of ictQATAR said in a statement.
Yet a physical presence in Qatar will not be necessary for startups looking to get involved, says Mastoras; it's open to entrepreneurs and startups throughout the region.
The partnership itself is also model that Yahoo! will look to replicate across the region. "We see this as the beginning of several initiatives," says Mastoras. "Entrepreneurs should look out for projects that we are announcing soon."
--
Nina is the Editor-in-Chief at Wamda. You can reach her through Wamda, on Twitter @9aa, on Facebook, Google+ or at nina [AT] wamda.com. ]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/yahoo-boosts-arabic-digital-content-creation-in-deal-with-ictqatar-Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:44:00 +0000http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/save-the-date-4th-oasis500-angel-network-eventThu, 16 Feb 2012 11:34:00 +0000http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/women-in-business-challenge-competition-2011-2012Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:17:00 +0000http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/open-diversity-using-tech-to-help-you-access-the-world-of-mediaThu, 16 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000 As there is more total retail space supply in the country than its entire population -- according to retail surveys, an estimated 5.75 million square meters by the end of 2014, or 1.27 square meters of shopping space for every UAE resident -- online retail has struggled to find room. Because of concerns about fraud, 45% of UAE shoppers said they would not buy online, according to a survey this year by MasterCard.
But that has not prevented the launch of a number of online group buying websites. The premise behind such websites -- offering vouchers for a discount on a product or service if there are enough willing buyers -- has struck a chord with shoppers here. In just a year, the UAE has become enough of a market that Chicago-based Groupon launched its own local website, while a local group buying startup was acquired by Washington, D.C.-based LivingSocial. Now, it is a race to corner the market, and claim regional dominance.
"The model is not overly complex, and there is space for local competitors who enter the market at least six months before the others," says Kartik Hosanagar, Associate Professor of Information and Operations Management at the Wharton Business School. "The first mover has a significant advantage in the daily deals space. The ideal player is a local first-mover that has carefully tracked Groupon but fully understands the local market."
A Proving Ground
The UAE is a proving ground for Internet companies in the Middle East because of its leading level of web penetration: Internet reaches 69% of UAE households, versus 32% in the Middle East as a whole. Also due to its wealthy local and expatriate population, the UAE is a tested market for adapting global trends into the region. The same MasterCard survey shows Internet commerce, while still small in volume, increased in the UAE by 42% from 2010.
The first group buying website to cater to the Middle East market was GoNabit, a local startup that launched last May. GoNabit first offered deals in Dubai, and then in Abu Dhabi a month later. Over its first year, the company claims hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern users have saved more than US$5 million. GoNabit has since expanded operational websites to Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.
Second to the Middle East was another local startup, Cobone, launching last September in the UAE. The company is presently in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Both Cobone and GoNabit have grown very fast and have hired many employees over the last year. Cobone claims monthly growth of up to 50%. According to its CEO, Paul Kenny, Cobone now has a 70% share market in the MENA region, and more than 500,000 Cobone users have saved US$10 million over 10 months. Cobone also prides itself as being part of the Jabbar Internet Group, which is currently owned by the same founders of the original Maktoob Group.
The small success of these startups attracted their Western counterparts to the Middle East. Groupon set up a UAE website with much fanfare in March, and then in June, Washington, D.C.-based LivingSocial, the second group buying leader after Groupon, bought GoNabit for an undisclosed amount. For GoNabit, this was the opportunity to be sustained by a larger company, a key factor enabling longer-term survival with this business model. In quick succession, the Gulf market now has close to a dozen competitors.
"The daily deals market has network effects and economies of scale," Hosanagar says. "So the larger players will have significant advantages over small players. Initially, the market is fragmented with lots of firms trying to grab market share. The early growth sustains these firms. But as the market matures, the growth slows down. As a result, a consolidation will occur."
The companies find themselves trying to distinguish themselves for the same pool of potential customers. "Our name might attract web-surfers," says Faisal Haq, general manager for Groupon Middle East. "Although, when we start in a new region, we face similar challenges as for any new business." Being first, they have learned, has its benefits. In Brazil and India, local group discount purveyors, such as Peixe Urbano and SnapDeal, are doing better than Groupon.
The 'Shoppertainment' Factor
One factor that every Internet retailer will have to overcome in the UAE and elsewhere in the Middle East is the reluctance on the part of shoppers to make online purchases. The UAE is by far the best market for any Internet retailer to succeed; according to a survey done by Effective Measure and Spot On Public Relations, 4 out of 10 Internet users in the Gulf used e-commerce in 2010. Whereas in the whole MENA region, it is less than one out of three. Gulf residents have been reluctant to buy products online for years.
One reason is that in the Gulf, going to a mall is, as locals have dubbed it, 'shoppertainment.' Massive air conditioned malls provide relief from a blazing desert sun, and Dubai's malls famously provide distractions that no American mall would -- such as indoor skating rinks, amusement parks, or shark-filled aquariums. "In a mall, not only can you shop, you can eat, let your children play, or go to the cinema," says Sana Toukan, research manager at Dubai's Euromonitor International. "The shopping experience lets you touch, feel, and try on the items. This is a whole experience, and a barrier for online shopping. However, the hectic life people live now means less time to go to the mall, and makes online shopping more attractive."
There is also the question of fraud and logistics. Commercial websites in the Middle East, even banking sites, have been hacked, and the public remains wary of parting with financial information online. Also, many residents do not have shipping addresses -- so packages are usually delivered after someone is reached by mobile, and cash is paid on delivery. "This is the reason why Jabbar Internet Group, our partner, launched CashU.com nearly 10 years ago," says Cobone's Kenny. "For people who don't want to use a credit card for online shopping, we offer the opportunity to pay with cash."
Regional retailers too were slow to embrace e-commerce. According to marketing research done by professors from the Al-Ain University of Science and Technology in 2008, only a third of local online shopping websites accepted payments through their websites. Now retailers are expanding their online presence, the largest being French supermarket retailer Carrefour, which only announced this spring that some of its consumer electronics inventory could be purchased online in the UAE.
Euromonitor International forecasts a modest yearly growth of 6.5% for UAE Internet retail in 2011, and between 11 % and 15% per year over the next five years. "In these figures, coupon buying remains a small fraction of e-commerce. It's growing, but still new," Toukan says. The companies agree. "Some people still do not know the concept of group buying," says Groupon Middle East's Haq. "Sometimes we have to open a pathway for online shopping, such as in Lebanon, which lacked the Internet legacy for e-commerce," adds GoNabit's Stuart.
What has helped the rapid growth of group buying websites in the Middle East has been the use of social networks to promote deals, and expand membership, Toukan notes. In the UAE, Facebook penetration is almost 50% of the population, compared to only 8% for the entire Middle East. "Word of mouth and social networking are the success keys for group buying, according to our survey," Stuart says.
The model for Middle East group buying websites exists elsewhere in Asia, Wharton's Hosanagar points out. "Lessons can be taken from India, where online shopping is limited, but people love a deal," he notes. "In addition, daily deals cater to a smaller set of users with some familiarity with the Internet and credit cards. Similarly, in the Gulf, daily deal sites might appeal to a smaller segment of users, but they might be very active to recurring visitors."
Luxury Spend, And Coupon Clipping?
The premise of group buying websites still remains at odds with the traditional retail scene in the Gulf, where shoppers often pay a premium for exclusive items -- such as designer shoes or Italian sports cars -- to ensure they have it first, and the summer brings shopping festivals for tourists that offer outstanding markdowns on even the highest-end labels. But in a market that accommodates numerous customers of US$20,000 Vertu mobile phones, for instance, where is the appeal for coupons?
Groupon and its competitors have found their first customers in the large expatriate communities, that are often more used to e-commerce, and looking to try something new. A number of offers available within these Middle Eastern group buying sites are for trips and cultural experiences. But some expatriates welcome the coupon option, because Dubai is an expensive city. "The economic crisis has made deals on group buying websites more appealing, than a small discount in a mall on luxury products," Toukan notes.
Expatriates have also been more amenable to the idea of using traditional coupons for services in the Middle East. Before the advent of group buying sites, some publishers were publishing voucher books for the expatriate population -- a popular brand is The Entertainer, which offers coupons for dining and family attractions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Attracting the local Arab population to the group buying concept has been more challenging. Kenny, the CEO of Cobone, admitted that only 45% of its clients are Arabic speakers. But there is no method to distinguish the nationalities of Arabic-speaking consumers from the UAE, other Gulf nations, or other countries from the Middle East or North Africa. Still, Cobone as well as GoNabit websites are in both Arabic and English.
Obviously, the coupon model won't work for luxury handbags. "From a marketing perspective, a coupon is the wrong method for the luxury market," says Utpal Dholakia, associate professor at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. "An exclusive product does not offer 50% off. Strong brands barely give a discount." Groupon's Haq adds that fashion retail does not make up the bulk of their business. "Food and beverage, personal care, and leisure are the best drivers for deals," he says. "We are very lucky these three markets are very developed in the UAE."
Euromonitor's Toukan suggests a good niche for the group buying market to develop is the travel and leisure sector, already the fastest growing type of product sold online. For instance, airlines get 20 % of their business from online channels in the Gulf, and 35% in mature markets. GoNabit, which has already a separate section, 'Getaways', specializing in travel and leisure products, claims it has started well. The biggest deals GoNabit has sold were 7,000 passes for Ferrari World, an Abu Dhabi amusement park devoted to the exotic car, and a night at a Banyan Tree desert resort, which brought US$400,000 in three days. Cobone's record for the fastest-selling vouchers is when, in only 13 hours, it sold US$100,000 worth of brunches at the Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai. Usually, voucher prices are under the equivalent of US$100, but could be more; the priciest deal sold was a US$30,000 Cobone coupon to buy a Nissan Pathfinder.
Don't Call Us Cheap
Small deals for a discount on pizza or ice cream are extremely popular, the group buying sites report. "In America, coupons and price promotions are common and often used. Even a US$1 deal for a package of potato chips, consumers will use it," Dholakia says. "Americans who use coupons are considered as smart shoppers. But in Eastern countries, people sometimes do not want to seem cheap by using coupons."
In the Gulf, consumer perception and behavior deeply influence the coupon business model. For expatriates, a strong motivation to purchase a discount voucher is to try a new place. Whether they will come back later to buy a product at a regular price, is another matter. "By definition, consumers are attracted by discount or price promotion," Dholakia says. "It is psychological. Though it is hard to evaluate the return over the long term. According to my study, the average of repeat consumer behaviour at full-price is only 20%." Dholakia adds restaurants in particular might not gain consumers from an e-promotion, because diners often chose the eatery only because of the promotion. Moreover, offers are extensive in the UAE, so new 'restaurant bargains' seem to always be available.
"The business has to decide in which target it is interested," Dholakia continues. "It doesn't make sense to offer a deal if the company is already established. On the contrary, a startup could gain many new clients from a promotion." This is why a freshly installed beauty salon can be interested in offering deals, while an exclusive brand might not be willing to participate in a deal.
Dholakia's extended study on many group buying websites points out than less than half of the businesses are enthusiastic about running another daily deal in the future. Moreover, only 18% businesses reached a break-even with the promotion, while 26.6% lose money on the group buying effort. Cobone's CEO insists he has a long waiting list of businesses willing to do a deal on their website. The group buying model is a promotion for local businesses with free advertising included. This could be more appealing to businesses in fast-growing environments such as the Gulf.
"In the Gulf, the challenge is that the market in each individual country is small, and so the key is to have a MENA presence as opposed to being in only one or two countries," Wharton's Hosangar concludes. But Dholakia estimates that even in proportional terms, the UAE group buying business won't meet North American levels of success. In the U.S., the sector's revenue is expected to grow from US$1 billion last year to US$4.5 billion in 2011.---
This article was initially published August, 2011 on Arabic Knowledge@Wharton.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/group-buying-websites-battle-for-middle-east-shoppers-with-online-bargainsThu, 16 Feb 2012 08:58:00 +0000 De Soto’s intervention was riveting in its simplicity as he boiled down two days of workshops and plenary sessions to the fundamentals: “Entrepreneurship is possible because [entrepreneurs] work in a market and a market is about linkages.” Linkages, he continued to explain are “concrete things set in law” and therefore “the DNA of entrepreneurship is law.” Law is what allows the pieces to connect and create new value, and well, do business!
Essentially we cannot promote entrepreneurs without tackling the legal framework that gives an entrepreneur the rights to their land, house and capital. According to De Soto, “Without paper you’re dead… capitalism works on paper. It’s the second level of reality.” This reality is the context that entrepreneurs operate in, and without the proper legal titles entrepreneurship will never translate into job creation.
The theme of the conference, organized by PNB-NAPEO, a joint initiative of the Aspen Institute and the U.S. State Department, was “promoting entrepreneurship and job creation in the Maghreb,” yet it stressed this point- that entrepreneurship does not create jobs in a vacuum without the proper ecosystem. In the Maghreb region, regulatory frameworks exist for entrepreneurs that seem to have plenty of support. So why is it not working? To attack unemployment, especially among youth, it will be critical to dissect these frameworks and diagnose where they are falling short and why.
One step in right direction is realizing, as De Soto put it, “that behind the fight for dignity and democracy [that sparked the Arab Spring] there is essentially and entrepreneurial revolution.” According to studies done by De Soto’s organization, the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, there are over 180 million entrepreneurs in the Arab World that are undocumented. What’s even more remarkable, they discovered, is that all of the martyrs of the revolution who self-immolated themselves – specifically 35 people in the 53 days following Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunisia- did not share a religion or ideology but rather non-secured property rights. Each of them met despair in the face of having what little property and business they had taken away.
No legal identity equals no capital, no credit and therefore no ability to grow a business and create jobs. The governments of the Maghreb must wake up to this untapped source of employment and start implementing reforms welcome this population into the formal sector.
These reforms will only be possible with strong leadership.
I was pleased to see signs of this leadership coming from Mr. Hedi Ben Abbes, the new Tunisian Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Americas and Asia. His speech gave me hope that in this transitional period, Tunisia might be ready to heed De Soto’s advice.  In order to tackle unemployment, regional disparities and inequality he explained, “the role of the state in the economy needs to be redefined.”
He insisted on the need for the government to partner with the private sector and civil society for job creation. “We must promote a private sector that unites profit and purpose. Democracy can only thrive with economic and social development.” This may sound unremarkable to some, but for the entrepreneurs in the room I believe it meant a lot.
A few of those entrepreneurs gave testimonials on the struggles they faced in creating their businesses, including three winners of the Start-up Incubation Prize during the PNB-NAPEO business plan competition that took place on the U.S. Delegation trip in November 2011. This summer, these winners will head to Detroit, Michigan to receive a three-month membership in TechTown's Thrive program. Yet in Tunisia, the impediments they face include a lack of support, lack of entrepreneurial spirit, difficulty recruiting staff, a lack of skills in the market, and an overall lack of risk taking on all sides (investor, entrepreneurs and staff).
To attack some of these problems, a slew of new initiatives were announced during the conference. Some of them were the result of networking that happened on the spot, a testament to the ability of entrepreneurs to connect the dots. Check out the impressive list here.
After a dizzying two days, I left with the impression that there is a renewed cooperation between the Maghreb countries, now it just depends on what we do with it. As De Soto said, “The market has come to the Middle East.” Now it is up to the governments, private sector and civil society of each country to work together and tap this market in the right way to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs. 
--
Alia is a recent Masters graduate from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. She is a half Tunisian, half American from New York City who is passionate about entrepreneurship and the role of the private sector in economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation. She is currently living in Tunis to help launch a new non-profit called the Maghreb Enterprise Development Initiative (MEDI), in conjunction with the Mediterranean School of Business. She is excited to help nurture a new entrepreneurial spirit in Tunisia!!]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/what-entrepreneurs-in-tunisia-need-most-legal-reformWed, 15 Feb 2012 13:22:00 +0000 In the competition, conducted in partnership with ALJ Community Initiatives and GIST, a panel of 100 business professionals from across the Arab World assessed aspiring entrepreneurs based on their innovation, scalability and positive impact on the community.
This year, despite (or perhaps urged on by) upheaval in the Arab World, the total number of teams that made the cut in the semifinalist round has increased, says Hala Fadel, Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan-Arab Region. 
"We are very excited to have 50 teams this year, a 70% increase from 30 teams that we typically have as semifinalists. We've actually seen a big jump this year in the quality of the applications," says Fadel.
In terms of geography breakdown, having around 40% of semifinalists come from Egypt is no surprise, but Fadel said it's particularly exciting to see a team from Syria, two teams from Palestine, and two from Yemen as well. After opening the competition to French, they have also seen an increase in applications from Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, which comprise around 10% of the semifinalists.
As usual the high-tech and software development sector accounts for a big segment of applications, around 40%, while around 20% come from media and creative industries and 10% from environment, water, and energy. The rest are social networks and e-commerce sites, which Fadel says have taken a hit this year.
It's not because their ideas aren't good or the market isn't booming, says Fadel. Rather, she says, "It's simply difficult for an e-commerce website to show clear differentiation in the market, especially in a two-pager application."
What's next for the semifinalists is a workshop at the Higher College of Education in Abu Dhabi on the 17th & 18th of March. After receiving training from MIT professors there, teams will submit final business plans in April, and 12 finalists will be announced in early May. These finalists will travel to Beirut for a final awards ceremony on June 21st, where they will present their business models to a panel of judges in hopes of nabbing a spot as one of the three winners.  
Read the names below and find out more about the competition on the MITEF ABPC site.




Company Name


Country


Industry




Acadox


KSA


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Agzakhana


Egypt


Health and HealthCare




Artistry Egypt


Egypt


 Creative Industries 




ATA General Trading Co.


Egypt


Education and Training




Bangaia


Jordan


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Bedaya


UAE


 Creative Industries 




Blaze 


Yemen


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Brate


Lebanon


Social Network




Butterfleye


Lebanon


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Chill


Jordan


Entertainment, Recreation, Travel, and Tourism




Cloud Networks


Lebanon


High-Tech, Advertising 




Cloud Niners Ltd.


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




CureAid


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Draw me a Song


Lebanon


 Creative Industries




Earth Tipping Point


Lebanon


Social Network




eArtvolution.net


Tunisia


 Creative Industries 




Edfa3ly.com


Egypt


E-Commerce




Esouki.com


Lebanon


E-Commerce




Future Energy Development Organization (FEDO)


UAE


Energy, Environmental Services, Power, and Water




GenieTag Inc.


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Gloryette


Egypt


Education and Training




Hamid


Morocco


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Ibtaker for Technological Innovation


Palestine


Education and Training




I-DAW (Intelligent Development of Applications on Web)


Lebanon


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




KarmSolar S.A.E.


Egypt


Energy, Environmental Services, Power, and Water




Medi Shrimp & Krustacean  M S K


Tunisia


Agriculture




Meem


Egypt


 Creative Industries 




MobiCare


Jordan


Health and HealthCare




Modern Wall


Algeria


Construction, Engineering, and Transportation




Mudawat


Jordan


Health and HealthCare




Nitrate Production System (NPS)


Jordan


Agriculture




Nobel Chemist


Syria


Energy, Environmental Services, Power, and Water




OdBoards


Yemen


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Oilynet


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Palestine Outsourcing Company (POC)


Palestine


 Creative Industries 




Presto Wireless


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Qabila Media Productions


Egypt


 Creative Industries




QualiVid


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Scaduf


Egypt


Agriculture




Shighl Beit


Lebanon


 Creative Industries 




SilGenix


Egypt


High-Tech, Telecommunications and Software




Solar Lens


Jordan


Energy, Environmental Services, Power, and Water




Sweety Heaven


Egypt


E-Commerce




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]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/mitef-arab-business-plan-competition-announces-top-50-teamsWed, 15 Feb 2012 13:06:00 +0000 I’m glad to see more people are using Klout scores to build social media lists, as Reuters did recently. It's a useful way to assess social media influence, in a more nuanced manner than simply looking at a user's number of followers.
But how does Klout work? And how can you increase your score? Here's a primer.
 
Klout is a website that provides individuals and brands with analytics about their online influence. It collects data from your social media accounts and assesses how large your social network is, then measures how people react to your online content.  It uses an algorithm with 35 different variables to calculate a score from 1 to 100. The higher your score is, the more online influence you have.
So Klout is not based simply on the number of people following you but rather on the quality of your network.

Here are some of the variables that Klout uses:
 “True Reach”:  a measurement of the size of your engaged audience. These are the people who actively listen to what you say and then react to it.
“Amplification”:  scored out of 100, this measure is based on the likelihood that your messages will generate actions such as @mentions, retweets, likes, and comments
“Network Score”: this indicates how influential your engaged audience is, essentially tabulating how many other influential people you have in your network.
In sum, Klout is trying to build a complex algorithm that can measure one’s ability to drive others to take action online, using a large set of undisclosed variables.
So what exactly are those secret variables? They could be anything, starting from unique retweeters to follower/following ratio. I respect Klout’s decision to keep their exact algorithm off the radar, but if you are interested in raising your Klout Score, I can suggest two strategies that I follow that will help increase your number.
First, register to Klout and connect at least to Twitter, and if you are active on other social networks like Facebok and Google Plus, connect them to Klout. 
Then, deploy these two strategies to help raise your Klout score:
A)   The Follow Strategy
- Register at wefollow.com & Listorious.com.
- Watch your Follower / Following ratio.
- Uunfollow inactive accounts, anyone who hasn’t tweeted for 3 months or more. You can do so via ManageFlitter.
- Unfollow those who don’t contribute anything to you.
- Unfollow silent celebrities.
- Unfollow fully automated accounts.
- Follow only those with valuable fresh content with a creative bio and a good avatar.
- Drop news networks and find a news aggregator instead.
- Install a Klout widget on your browser, which shows the Klout score next to each Twitter name.
- Follow hashtags (#) and engage with new circles. Create your own hashtags as well.
- Lists are important. Good content and self branding can get you listed.
- Create great lists that a lot of people will subscribe to.
- Go offline as well- attend Tweetups and conferences.
B)   The Content Strategy
- Tweet valuable fresh content.
- Sustain your online presence, don't just vanish.
- Retweet to be retweeted.
- Thank people who retweet you and who recommend you to their followers via #FollowFriday.
- Get out of your inner online circle and engage with new people and thought leaders.
- Do engage influential people.
- Tweet articles with links.
- Mention people and give credit when credit is due.
- Reply to everyone who engages you.
- Promote positive initiatives.
- Do share videos & Photos.
- Tweet quotes, which get retweeted a lot.
- Avoid controversial subjects; it's not worth losing credibility over online arguments.
- Engage in #TwitterChat and position yourself as an expert in your field.
- Ask questions and tweet open end questions.
In the end this, raising your score is not about winning points at a game; it’s about being a good social media citizen.
This article was compiled by Adham Etoom (@AdhamEtoom) & Khaled El Ahmad (@Shusmo).
--
Khaled Elahmad is a Social Media Instructor in the Middle East. He can be found on Twitter @shusmo.]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/how-to-increase-your-social-media-influence-with-kloutWed, 15 Feb 2012 08:53:00 +0000 The video, following on the recent popularity of Kharabeesh's political cartoons, offers an example of how startups can create a viral marketing campaign by partnering with an animation studio to create novel digital media. Watch the first episode here:
The whole series consists of five episodes, each one to be released every two weeks. So stay tuned!]]>http://www.wamda.com/2012/02/yebab-com-and-kharabeesh-launch-emirati-wedding-cartoon-seriesTue, 14 Feb 2012 14:13:00 +0000