The author's dedication in the opening pages of Startup Arabia is "to anyone who dreamed of changing the world and decided to do something about it".
As such, Amir Hegazi aims to inspire the next generation of technology entrepreneurs in the Middle East with the stories of and advice from the Arab world's current crop of chief executives, founders and disruptors who are changing the economic landscape.
These 23 entrepreneurs have demonstrated their innovative approaches to solving problems, building businesses and providing services across a number of sectors from transport to fashion and retail, to logistics, music and networking.
They come from across the region, including Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait but predominantly the UAE, which Hegazi views as the new land of opportunity. He himself has experience as an entrepreneur with an online streaming platform and later worked at e-commerce company Souq.com.
Hegazi's Startup Arabia follows in the traditions of the vivid and groundbreaking book Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East,
written by the American investor Christopher Schroeder, which also explores the “quiet revolution” of entrepreneurial spirit that has been going on these last few years.
Hegazi and Schroeder challenge the typical narrative as told in the United States and elsewhere, of the Middle East as a place of conflict and stagnation. While Schroeder’s book is written as narrative non-fiction and tells a kind of history of the start-up scene in the region, Hegazi has pitched his book almost as a reference resource, giving each of his subjects a full question and answer format in which to convey their experiences, wisdom and points of view.
“This book is meant to shed light on a few of those insightful and inspiring stories being created by remarkable tech entrepreneurs in the Middle East who refused to accept the status quo, managed to transcend cultural beliefs and limitations, and are now rewriting the region’s destiny,” Hegazi writes in his introduction.
The Q&A aspect makes the book easy to navigate, if you know which of the 23 you are keen to read about most, but also quite frustrating because not all are household names, so to speak, and the interviews would have benefited from some more of Hegazi's frame of reference – leading the reader to and through each case study, with a linked narrative. Instead readers are left to connect the dots between each entrepreneur by themselves.
There are many patterns to be found, however. Pretty much a common feature of their stories is that their businesses emerged intact having passed through the crucible of fierce competition.
“There’s nothing like competition to get you running really, really fast,” says Mudassir Sheikha, the Pakistani co-founder of ride hailing platform Careem, which has taken on Uber.
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Samih Toukan, who says he Arabised the computer game "Football Manager" when he was just 16 years old, right from the beginning fought off competition from a competitor backed by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal to the tune of $22 million (Dh80.7m). His online portal Maktoob had only $2m to play with, in contrast, but it was the one that was eventually bought by Yahoo! in 2009 for $164m.
Toukan is the daddy of the sector in the Middle East. His early efforts with Maktoob spawned Souq and also online payments company Payfort. The latter’s co-founder Omar Soudodi also features in Startup Arabia.
Last year, Amazon agreed to buy Souq.com for a figure reportedly in the region of $650m, representing the largest exit for a Middle East and North Africa start-up and creating real belief in what is happening in the region. Many of the entrepreneurs also have experience of working outside of the Middle East – often in the United States – and also, in different ways, felt the pull of wanting to be closer to home. There is a sense of a circle being completed with many of these characters.
As Mumzworld founder Mona Ataya says: "I was driven by the constant urge to do something relevant for the region I loved and was proud of." She comes from a family of high-achieving entrepreneurs. Her brother Rabea Ataya, started Bayt.com, the jobs website, which was the reason Mona came back to the UAE. This is fundamentally the really exciting aspect of this collection of the experiences of these talented individuals.
They are building a whole new generation of corporate institutions that will have an influence well beyond profits, helping to develop the social fabric in the countries in which they operate.
Many of them were successful elsewhere and did not necessarily need to come to the Middle East for any other reason than they wanted their businesses to be here, to mean something more than just becoming another Silicon Valley winner.
They also, as the author intends, really do serve as inspiring examples for generations to come, who will see that they too can accomplish such things here at home.
In many ways those featured in this book are the pioneers that have made it easier for those to follow by building up the entrepreneurial ecosystem from scratch, setting the bar high and showing that money can be made from a host of concepts and ideas.
It is a liberation of sorts for the economies of the region that have traditionally been quite risk averse, making business challenging in terms of upward mobility and wealth creation.
Company%20Profile
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The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20profile
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Meydan race card
6pm Dubai Trophy – Conditions(TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,200m
6.35Dubai Trophy – Conditions(TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,200m
1,800m
7.10pm Jumeirah Derby Trial – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (T)
1,800m ,400m
7.45pm Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
8.20pm Al Fahidi Fort – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,400m
8.55pm Dubawi Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,200m
9.30pm Aliyah – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 2,000m
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell
Four stars
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs
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Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Pakistanis%20at%20the%20ILT20%20
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AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Company%20Profile
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