Wamda

Addy raises $320K in Silicon Valley, launches address system for Middle East e-commerce

When we last checked in with Addy last summer, the startup was generating buzz after debuting at Stanford’s StartX Demo Day for its...

Addressing Mobile E-commerce

Can new media site Beacon create good revenue streams for longform journalists?

Beacon, billing itself as a new kind of media outlet, launched last week to considerable fanfare. The site works on a subscription...

revenue streams Citizen Journalism

Startup in Palestine launches crowdfunding campaign for rooftop farming in refugee camps

During one of her stints conducting field research in the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon in support of her...

Jordan

Can e-commerce site Cazamoda overcome the challenges of family business?

As a market for e-commerce builds in the region, many offline retailers are considering going online to launch their own e-commerce...

Challenges Logistics Namshi

Uber vs. Careem: as Goliath storms Dubai, can David own Saudi Arabia?

When Careem announced $1.7 million in investment from STC Ventures last week, it seemed like a timely response to the entrance of its...

Rivalries Car Service Transportation

NGO connects young Iraqis to international art scene

When war descends, art is often one of its first casualties. As gallery spaces close down and funding dries up, artists often have little...

ngos Social Change Social Entrepreneurship

Jidari: A sneak peek at an alternative to Facebook from Egypt

Nowadays it's safe to say everyone wants to be the next Facebook, but going head to head with the behemoth on its home turf is something...

Social Networks Facebook

Can these two students change Algeria by organizing TEDx events?

Who has not been moved, inspired or empowered by a TED video? Who has not wanted to take control of his or her life and change something...

Youth TEDx

Meet the Bahraini computer engineer launching a seafood delivery service

Two Bahrainis, Mohammed Toraif and Sayed Jaffer, are set to launch Fish Transporter in the last quarter of 2013. As suggested by the...

Delivery

iMENA invests $8m in HelloFood; why it is and isn't like Rocket Internet

iMENA Holdings made headlines yesterday with the news that it invested US $8 million in HelloFood, Rocket’s online food ordering platform ...

Scaling Rocket Internet Investment

Qatar's EduTechnoz makes learning Arabic fun for kids, with gamification

Two years ago, Diana Al-Dajani had a big problem. Her then five-year-old son loathed doing his Arabic homework. “It was an agonizing p...

Gamification Education

The challenges of bootstrapping a mobile app as a single female founder in Lebanon

This piece is part of a new series on the challenges of young entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping their startups. If you know someone who's...

Incubator Competitions Mobile

Stunning Kuwaiti marketplace for designers blends print magazine with e-commerce

Stunning architecture, sleek furniture, and bold recycled art fill the pages of “YourPages,” a new quarterly print and digital magazine rel...

Freelancers Design Programme

Edgy streetwear brand challenges sedate Egyptian fashion market

Young Egyptian streetwear brand Krak Baby has successfully brought 1990s-revival trucker hats and graphic t-shirts to the local fashion...

Mobile app MummyChitChats helps mothers in Egypt, UAE, and Saudi

“It all started as a BBM group with friends who became moms around the same time and were eager for help and advice,” says young Egyptian e...

Social Networks Women

How ArabHardware built a strong community in Egypt and pivoted into e-commerce

It’s not every day that a forum gains enough of a following to turn into an e-commerce store. But this is what Egypt’s ArabHardware has...

Hardware Content Portals Arabic Content

Why two Moroccan entrepreneurs chose to go global from day one

Some Moroccan entrepreneurs consider their market simply too small to focus on. For a few popular websites such as Bikhir.com or...

Scaling Advertising Marketing

Will the new MAKE Business Hub kill business by charging for WiFi?

After founder Leith Matthews left MAKE Business earlier this year, (under what many say were difficult circumstances), the...

Cafe Coworking Coworking Spaces

How two Bahraini filmmakers launched their own studio to galvanize storytelling in the Arab world

Five years ago, after a typical 18-hour day working on a particularly long and tiresome production in Bahrain, Saleh Nass and Chaker Ben...

Film Entertainment

Egyptian online pharmacy Agzakhana secures investment from Vodafone

Note: photo submitted by Agzakhana, credit: Batool Al Daawi Late last week, Agzakhana, Egypt’s first online pharmacy, announced ...

Mumzworld seeks investment from 'empowered' women angels; how it's persuading moms to buy online

Mumzworld, the Dubai-based e-commerce portal for goods related to mothers, children, and babies, has announced that it’s open for a new r...

Angel Investment E-commerce Women

Saudi photo editing app reaches #1 in UAE, Kuwait App Stores [Podcast]

Smartphones have brought photography, a once secondary feature in cellphones, to the center of the industry’s evolution, creating ripe o...

instagram Developers Mobile

4 inspiring TEDx videos from Arab entrepreneurs

To build a startup you need to go down a difficult road, overcoming obstacles, disappointments and challenges along the way; you will need...

TEDx

Lebanon

Wixel Studios launched Little Heroes, Big deeds; will it bring them long-awaited success?

“To make a successful game, you need to have a good product and a lot of money to market it,” says Ziad Feghali, one of the...

Education Gaming

Thought Leadership

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