Wamda

TechGirls summer program to host 27 girls from the Arab region to study in the US

US Embassies across the Arab region are now accepting applications for 2014’s TechGirls exchange program, which for two years now have s...

usa legacy international techgirls

Egyptian surgeon turns his passion for driftwood into a business

“My passion for wood is something I’ve had for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been making small projects since I was seven,” says Shah...

Hardware Handicrafts Egypt

Startup Weekend Damascus launches this month to create a 'paradigm shift' in Syria

It goes without saying that Startup Weekend Damascus will be unlike the other Startup Weekends that have cropped up around the Arab world...

Startup Weekend

Anghami launches 'industry disruptive' $1 music streaming service

A little over a year ago, Anghami’s Strategy and Business Development Lead George Audi mentioned to Wamda that the platform was set to b...

alfa anghami Music

What makes stories go viral, and why it may be dangerous

How many times in the past month have you clicked on a BuzzFeed list or an Upworthy headline promising to make you feel amazed and/or...

baraka bits buzzfeed upworthy

Qordoba announces $1.5 million USD Series A investment

Qordoba, the multinational online localization company headquartered in Dubai, has announced a $1.5 million USD Series A fundraising round...

fundraising Series A Qordoba

Startup Weekend Kuwait

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and ...

kuwait Startup Weekend

Can a young woman entrepreneur succeed in Morocco with a new online medical appointment service?

Finding the right doctor and booking an upcoming appointment is a complex task, especially in Morocco, where public-sector doctors don’t t...

Health

Online education platform Coursera blocks students in Syria and Iran

UPDATE: Coursera has released a statement explaining the blocks on which Wamda reported here, stating that it has reinstated...

Online courseware MOOCs

Here's what Morocco-based video advertising agency Buzzeff learned when opening a Dubai office

Every three weeks, Casablanca-based Jérôme Mouthon makes the seven-hour flight to Dubai to work for one week at his company’s Dubai off...

morocco Dubai Video Advertising

Wamda hosts MIT Media Lab innovation workshop in Abu Dhabi from Feb 24-27

To support the community of innovators throughout the Middle East, Wamda and MIT Media Lab are hosting a multi-day workshop to explore best...

MIT Media Lab MIT Innovation

Startup news ticker: PricePanda secures 3 million dollars from Tengelmann Group

Welcome to Wamda's weekly startup news ticker, which will offer quick announcements and stories relevant to the region. If you have a quick...

ticker Rocket Internet Investment

An Emirates-developed screenshot sharing app makes a flashing success

Smartphone users are becoming increasingly addicted to sharing screenshots from their mobile devices, as opposed to links that require...

sharing screenshots Social Networks

Two successful Saudi game developers eye the international market

“We felt like aliens,” says Bandar Al Mashari, on how he and his friend Sultan Al Sharif related to the mobile gaming industry four years a...

game Mobile Gaming Mobile

Mobibus, a multilingual app maker designed for the Arab world

New entrepreneurs welcome all the help they can get, especially because most of them need to invest their every penny in development...

Saudi Arabia

Saudi startup Feelit provides teenage girls with a forum to express their feelings

The rise of social networks has shown just how much people like to express themselves. Feelit, as the name implies, is one social...

teenagers Bootstrapping Saudi Arabia

5 tips for budding regional entrepreneurs, from Dubizzle founder J.C. Butler

J.C. Butler and Sim Whatley, founders of Dubizzle, the UAE's biggest classifieds site, created a multinational, multimillion dollar...

Dubizzle

Should your startup get rid of traditional corporate hierarchy?

Ever since online retailer Zappos announced last month that it was getting rid of job titles, the web has been buzzing with cheers – and s...

zappos holacracy

Hello Tomorrow Challenge kickoff

With the February-March Hello Tomorrow Challenge kicking off in Istanbul on January 28th, among others cities across the world, there’s on...

hello tomorrow hello tomorrow challenge istanbul

Hello Tomorrow Competition offers startups access to a world stage

Istanbul increasingly seems like the place to be in 2014 if you’re an entrepreneur. We’ve previously reported on three can’t-miss tech conf...

communications it medtech

Pakistani entrepreneur launches social network for learning

"We are the first social network that parents want their kids to use," says Hassan Siddiq, the CEO of DailyThem.es, a writing and review ...

E-Learning Technology Education

What are we talking about when we talk about innovation?

Every industry has jargon: words people say to sound informed whose true meanings have been diluted from overuse. People who hear others...

bayt.com scott berkun Innovation

Two new online payment options emerge in Morocco as telecom monopoly ends

[Update: this article has been edited to add corrections concerning Fast Payment and the FNEM following a discussion with El Amine...

Payment Gateways E-commerce

How Big Hass sold hip hop to Saudi Arabia

Brash hip hop and conservative Saudi Arabia are two things that wouldn’t seem to be a natural fit. But Hassane Dennaoui, blogger at ReVolt ...

mix fm revolt radio hassane dennaoui

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