Wamda

Dubizzle founders step down as Naspers takes a majority stake: What's next

Note: photo submitted by Dubizzle. After eight years of running Dubizzle, the biggest classified ads site in the UAE, founders...

Dubizzle Departures classified

Bahraini startup becomes popular by turning Instagram photos into art

As serendipity would have it, entrepreneur Yazin Al-Irhayim stumbled into a lucrative business idea while attending a workshop at the...

Artist Entrepreneurs instagram Art

Why we left Dubai: A Bahraini startup's challenges

In a previous post, I wrote about the reasons why my startup (fishfishme.com) made the move to Dubai and how we settled there. Following...

Incubator

Uber launches in Dubai, gives Riz Khan a ride

UPDATE #2: Uber has now announced its launch in Dubai, on August 27th, by offering Riz Khan a ride in a BMW 7-series. UPDATE: A...

Transportation

This SMS service helps Algerians connect to online news. Can it be the next big thing?

Algeria is not famous for its Internet. The country still doesn’t have 3G and is ranked 3rd worst in the world when it comes to upload s...

3G SMS

Maghreb

3 ways Moroccan online gift retailer Mescadeaux is acquiring customers

When Youssef Hassar got married last year, there was only one problem: he and his wife couldn’t agree on the wedding list. His wife w...

Gifts Lean Methodology E-commerce

How CashU spinoff PayFort is trying to improve Cash on Delivery

The region’s newest payment gateway is pioneering some interesting new options for consumers to buy online. Launched in Dubai in late ...

Payment Gateways E-commerce

Meet Morocco's first low-cost smartphone

International mobile phone manufacturers keep on making the headlines: this one is suing that one over a patent, their competitor is...

smartphone

Must-read of the summer: Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East

After over three years of traversing the Middle East, interviewing over 150 investors, entrepreneurs, and startup leaders, D.C.-based...

Trends Book Reviews

How a grad student is tackling the Yemeni market with a wildly unfocused Islamic Google+ clone

Launching a new social network in the age of Facebook is difficult. But entrepreneurs seem to be having an easier time of it, in a market...

Islamic products Social Networks Social Media

Edfa3ly secures Series A investment from Tamkeen Capital, plans regional expansion

Living in Egypt is hard. Even having a high disposable income brings its own difficulties because you see a plethora of enticing products...

Series A Investment Logistics

New jobs portal launches in Lebanon. Can it differentiate in a crowded market?

While the Arab world has seen several job portals popping up over the past few years, the newest entrant into the market is instead...

Job Recruitment Programme

How a Dubai venture hopes to gamify education and government

Gamification, as defined by PwC’s Technology Forecast, is the use of a wide range of game design techniques in non-game environments to m...

Gamification

Moroccan iftars à la geek: a look at how the Maghreb ecosystem is developing

In Morocco, the geek and startup social life doesn’t stop during Ramadan. Au contraire! Two major events take place during the holy month: t...

Talks Marrakech Casablanca

Overcoming failure, Jordan's Wheels Express founder launches logistics startup in Dubai

When we last caught up with Ibrahim Manna, he was just closing down his delivery startup, Wheels Express, one of Jordan’s early s...

Logistics Shipping Failure

How a young women's rights activist launched Egypt's 'Best Hostel'

In an old building in downtown Cairo, Dina’s Hostel was founded over three years ago by Egyptian entrepreneur Dina Abou El Soud, b...

hospitality Egypt

Can this Jordanian startup revolutionize social networking using voice?

Sowt could be called Twitter for audiophiles. As a social network based upon short voice recordings, this Jordan-based platform (whose...

Social Networks Social Media

Football e-commerce store launches in Dubai to offer fans more niche apparel

It's not hard to see a Barca jersey almost anywhere in the Arab world these days. But when it comes to finding more obscure jerseys, the...

Sports E-commerce

Will this coupons directory startup replace daily deals in Dubai?

Groupon, LivingSocial, Gonabit, Cobone and other daily-deal group-buying sites have been around for ages. But as their popularity...

Dubai Daily Deals

What it takes to build a global luxury jewelry brand: Egypt's Azza Fahmy

The tech startup boom and seemingly overnight successes like Facebook and Instagram have mistakenly led many to believe that success is...

Success Stories Scaling Fashion

Pakistani entrepreneur builds country’s first private aircraft

Cross-posted and adapted from the original version published on Techies.pk on June 26, 2013. “That, my friend, is the very f...

Airlines

Meet the siblings building the Alibaba of Egypt to support the textile industry

Before political turmoil was making headlines, Egypt was well-known for its cotton. Yet these days, the industry that set a global...

Egypt Digital Media

Using technology to conquer harassment in Egypt: A look at HarassMap

When we see major social problems around us continue to grow, we can either ignore them, deny them, or face them head on to find solutions...

Crowdmapping Social Change Social Entrepreneurship

Meet the British entrepreneur teaching yoga to children in Bahrain

Kate Bartram-Brown, founder of Mini Me Yoga, brings an inventive approach to helping children become spiritually whole and grounded human...

Sports

Thought Leadership

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