Recently, I’ve been very busy working on a project that I’m very passionate about and that I personally view as an important community project really.
Today, I think it’s gotten to a stage where I can launch it for everyone to check out and have access to.
The project is StartUpArabia, a weblog dedicated to new Arab technology startups and services, profiling and reviewing them, providing interesting market news and information, and sharing tips and advice for the entrepreneurs behind them.
In addition to covering these new startups, existing services and companies that are making interesting new changes and big steps in the Arab world will be mentioned and discussed.
The idea and goal behind this project for me is to give a push to Arab entrepreneurs and the startups they’ve started by shedding the light on them and introducing them to a wider audience, and providing them with information that could come in very handy for them.
Another goal is to help promote a whole Arab startup culture that brings entrepreneurs, to-be-entrepreneurs and people who are interested in startups from the Arab region together, creating a better buzz, opening more doors, and really making the Arab world a new hub for creative ideas and projects.
Something my friend Isam Bayazidi said when he took the blog for a beta spin, and which I think portrays one of the main reasons behind me launching this project in the first place is that, and I’m paraphrasing here: It’s easier to hear and know about a newly launched one-man startup in San Francisco than an Arab startup that has been working hard for the two past years.
That is so true, we have many talented people who come up with very cool ideas and projects, some of them work on them and launch them from their own bedrooms or garages, some of them have a company behind them to support them a bit more, and they all do some really great work, but many people don’t even hear about them in the first place, they don’t get the chance nor the support to keep their projects going, and they end up by shutting them down. StartUpArabia aims to change all that.
I know the project sounds very ambitious, but believe me that’s only the beginning of what I have in mind and where I want to take this, and it’s all very possible. Up to now, I’ve had some very positive and encouraging feedback from the people I shared the project with.
Please do take the time to pass by StartUpArabia and take a little tour, I’ve already put up a dozen or so interesting posts for you to read. If you have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions or anything at all, please do not hesitate to share them with me, they are more than welcome and will be greatly appreciated.
If you have any startups you’d like me to write about, please do share, so that we can spread the love even more and get more people covered and promoted.
Congrats, really great work and initiative .. I think that the hard part just started in the project 🙂
Thanks a bunch Isam 🙂
Yep, it is true, now that the launch is done, the hard part begins, but I’m very optimistic, I’ve been getting some great feedback already and I think this just might work as I want it to 🙂
هذه فكرة رائعة، و حسب ما فهمت يتوجه هذا المشروع بالأساس إلى العرب (مُستثمرون، طلاب إلخ)
من المنطقي إذا أن يتخاطب الناس في الغة التي تجمعهم، أي العربية!
أرجوا إذا كل التوفيق (مع نُسخة عربية إذا أمكن ذلك!)
@Anis: Thanks 🙂 Happy you like the idea. An Arabic version of StartUpArabia is planned for really soon 🙂
Thank you so much for this great idea and website. I was very excited when the Sindibad entrepreneurship blog launched. But that seems to have died unfortunately. So i am really glad to see a replacement that is fueled by personal interest and enthusiasm. We truly need to shed some light on those unsung startup heros in the Arabia.
I had a comment as Anis before me mentioned, I also think that such a blog dedicated to Arabs should be in Arabic (or at least have an equally vibrant Arabic version). So i am glad to hear that you are working on that as well.
Thanks again, and i’ll be checking in for that regularly inshallah.
Ok – I shouldn’t really be one here. I should actually be havng my head down and stuck in a book, but I feel the need to comment here: this is such a great idea.
Living in a non-Arab country, I am surrounded by the stupid sterotypes and misconceptions of Arabs. But there is oen thing that all mention, and one that I myself agree on, we spend so much time talking about the past and not the future. We talk about what we Arabs have done back then and what we have given to world – but where are we now? We need to step up and actually do something; show to the world that the Arab world is much more than what they think and what they see on the TV.
Promise me one thing though, don’t push yourself and your project in too fast or you’ll become a stupid thing as those who are creating too much in Dubai. Promise me that you are doing this more for your region/people and not so much for the world. Yes, let the world see what you are capable of. But don’t sell yourself to them… sign of desperation.
Let me know what you think of this.