ArabNetMe Roadshow

I just got an email from ArabNet announcing their Roadshow event in Jordan. A free training workshop about entrepreneurship in the technology sector. It’s taking place on Dec 8, 2010 at the Friendship Auditorium in PSUT.

This traveling workshop is part of the ArabNet Roadshow, which will span 7 countries including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Egypt.

The workshop will give you the tools and expertise you need to grow your company and gain further exposure by helping you:

• meet with investors and learn about how to secure financing
• meet with experienced entrepreneurs and learn about growing your business, managing talent, and building a corporate culture
• learn more about the latest trends in the web space
• network and meet with skillful employees you can hire if you’ re looking to expand

Organized by the International Business Alliance Group / ArabNet, the workshop will feature a panel of experts from diverse backgrounds, and a roundtable breakout session where you can talk to the speakers in a close setting and get personalized advice.

It is an ideal opportunity for you to network and get expert insights to help you grow your business.

For more details click here to download the workshop flyer. For registration and information about the speakers, venue and more; click here.

Nakhweh.com - 3rd beta version

Amman – Nakhweh.com team launches the third beta version of the website dedicated to link volunteers with opportunities to volunteer. The new version comes a year after establishing the initiative under the slogan “Connecting hearts to change the world”.

Kamel Al-Asmar, a co-founder of the initiative, says: “The update includes new initiatives, such as (The Blood Channel), which aims to build a database of blood donors, to be informed in cases in need of blood, using all channels of social media, email and cellular phone.”

The Nakhweh.com Blog (blog.nakhweh.com) was also released with the third beta version. The blog is concerned first and foremost by disseminating information on social causes, allowing visitors to see the opportunities available for them to provide moral and in-kind help. It also includes stories, projects and news dealing with social issues in the Arab world.

With reference to the experience of the first year; Hadi Nasereddin, the other co-founder added: “The idea of the website had the admiration and support of individuals, organizations and corporations. The most important of the examples is the support provided by Aramex to the initiative (Give Back); which operates to collect in-kind contributions, where Aramex collects them from donor sites and homes, while the Nakhweh.com team distribute them to the needy with the assistance of volunteers”

“At Aramex, we are committed to supporting initiatives that serve our communities” said Hussam Baraqouni, Aramex Chief Executive Officer for the Levant “especially those that are initiated by youth who enjoy an entrepreneurial drive and who aim to create opportunities for themselves and the people around them”.

Also the website team started to hold partnership agreements with a number of institutions and individuals inside and outside Jordan to deliver its message to the largest number of beneficiaries in the Arab world.

It’s worth mentioning that the website team will enhance its activities in the coming days to collect as many information on volunteering opportunities and charity during the holy month of Ramadan.

AmmanTT

Tomorrow I will be missing the first #AmmanTT event that will be held in Amman as the beginning of a new platform for the tech-community by the tech-community. Amman Tech Tuesdays will bring engineers, business people, experts, investors, marketers, entrepreneurs, students and regular enthusiasts from the technology community together on the first Tuesday of every month in a casual but structured setting. The main goal behind the program is to organically fortify and interweave ties in Amman to further our position as the region’s new Tech Hub.

The spin on all of this is that #AmmanTT is an adoptable platform. Looking at Amman’s tech community, we easily realize that it operates in small groups according to specialization. Today, we see little activity between these groups and most are blind to what innovations and ideas are being developed at the local level. So from month to month, #AmmanTT will be managed and hosted by a different part of the tech community to promote and expand reach. Anyone can step up to the plate and take ownership!

#AmmanTT first event will be held in the Friendship Auditorium at Princess Sumaya University for Technology at 7:00PM. The agenda of the evening includes speeches by:

• My ex-mentor for Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition, Dr. Usama Fayyad.
• Ibrahim Manna our friend and the co-founder of Wheels Express will speak about the challenges of an e-commerce business in Jordan.
• Lawyer Omar Al-Taweel (Al-Taweel Law) will give the audience some information about registering companies in Jordan in addition to some information about the new Cyber Crime Laws.

From the other part of the world; I hope that my friends in Amman, especially Fouad Jeryes, will be able to deliver a unique and informative evening.

ArabNet Pre-conference Workshop

Couple of hours ago we were at Al-Hasan Science City  (the campus that hosts QRCE) interacting and working together to explain the idea behind the first international conference for the Arab web industry; ArabNet 2010.

The workshop started with an introduction about the conference by Mohamad Khawaja (QRCE) and Ayman Azzeh (YEA), the introduction also included some stories on entrepreneurship in the Arab world. We were 9 in the hall when it started, then people started to join until we reached 14 people who introduced themselves in front of everyone.

Based on the agenda Khawaja and Azzeh started to explain the idea of the “Ideathon” giving an example for the template of a business case, and to make more useful, one of the attendees presented the business case he submitted to the “Ideation” already and discussed the idea with the audience. Also a good question came from one of the attendees asking about the benefits of submitting an idea, Khawaja answered that the people who will be there in Beirut during the conference time are a mix of entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, venture capitalists… etc; that obviously helps in taking any idea that will be presented to another level with the input from all people there. I also added to Khawaja’s answer the cash prize that the best 3 ideas will get (2500$, 1500$ and 1000$).

I’ve been invited to speak about Ideation Labs involvement to come back with ideas from the conference then I explained the “Startup Demo” part of the agenda and the event. We also announced the new deadline for applications and early registration.

Highly anticipated and finally here is the first international conference for the Arab internet industry: IBAG, International Business Alliance Group, presents ArabNet 2010: Trends and Opportunities in Arab Web Business. The conference will be held in Beirut on March 25-26, 2010 with the support of Endeavor Jordan, the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association and YallaStartup!.

ArabNet

ArabNet is bringing together the internet community to network and help launch the hottest startups from across the region – that means you! Top investors, internet executives and leaders from Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, AdMob and Intel will adress subjects that are critical to the Arab Web Industry including: e-commerce, gaming, mobile, content, online advertising, social networking, new media, and start-up fundraising.

Key to the conference are pitch sessions: Ideathon & Startup Demo.  This is the place to match talent with opportunity.

The Ideathon is looking for 10 select entrepreneurs to introduce their fresh startup ideas to eager investors in a rapid-fire pitch session. Similarly, the Demo will select startups with innovative products to pitch and exhibit their companies for the duration of the conference.

We are currently accepting applications from entrepreneurs and startups from all over the region with strong ideas and products.

Visit ArabNet.me to learn more and apply.

Hello people, I have an update for you; couple of days ago we announced the Ideation Labs with four ideators. Today we are welcoming Mohamad Khawaja, the Executive Director of the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE), as a new Ideator joining our team.

Stay tuned for what’s coming next

Few days ago I shared on this blog a story that happened between Aramex CEO (Fadi Ghandour) and one of my twitter friends while he was following up with her on Twitter about an issue that she was facing with Aramex. That was a good example of how Twitter became a new platform for customer service by getting in touch with the higher management of the corporates.

Few hours ago, apparently it was my turn to get into the same experience with Majd Shweikeh (@majd_shweikeh), Orange Mobile CEO, who apparently loves twitter and loves getting the feedback on her company’s performance from the tweeps around. I always see tweets coming in front of me between her and my friend Firas (@steitityeh).

I called a friend of mine today to say “mbrook” on the new iPhone he got, after our endless trials to convince him to get one, he told me that no “mbrook”; the phone has a defect and it’s at the service center of Orange. I asked why they didn’t give you a new one? He answered: they should do after testing it and it might take up to 3 days! That doesn’t make sense to anyone, so I decided to take a step further and ask Majd Shweikeh for the help.

What do you think her reaction was? Let the image speak on behalf of me:

Majd Shweikeh replying to my tweets

I have nothing to say more than: Thank GOD I’m on twitter and thank you Majd Shweikeh for following up with your loyal customers

Are you on Twitter? Are you aware that Aramex as a corporate has its own presence there with, at least, the two accounts I’m following (@Aramex & @ShopnShip)? But what you might not know is that Aramex Founder & CEO, Fadi Ghandour (@fadig), is taking care of his customers on Twitter and following up with them on their issues.

Yesterday’s morning it was when I logged into Twitter from my iPhone to find one of the tweeps I’m following (@Zahia_) complaining about a problem she’s facing with Aramex people in USA:

Fadi Ghandour (Aramex Founder & CEO) replys to Zahia Nasan on Twitter

Regardless if that issue has been fixed or not, but I’m really impressed how Twitter is being used as the new customer service tool, and how it’s helping the customers to get in touch directly with the higher management of the corporates.

@mkhawaja also shared on twitter today an article from @USATODAY with a review about the same subject.

MacBook Pro Charger

My MacBook Pro charger stopped working suddenly 2 days ago, definitely I wouldn’t stay without a charger at all as I do my work on my Mac! I called a friend of mine who used to work at iSystem and asked him if they can fix the charger and how much does it cost to get a new one.

Apparently the charger issue is a hopeless case, it can’t be fixed so I had no option but buying a new one which cost 120JD. Before going further with that step I took a charger from a friend of mine so I can proceed with my work until I get a new one.

I wanted to check how much does it cost to get it from the USA thorough Apple.com or Amazon.com, it was a surprise literally when I saw the price on Apple.com which is 75$ and it was a shock when I saw it on Amazon.com which is 41$. Can you imagine the profit iSystem are making when they sell it? They are basically making 100% of profit in the worst case scenarios! And they are taking the advantage of how much people are in need for the charger when they loose it. I can’t wait until I get it from the USA and I have no option but paying the 120JD to have my computer operating and my work done.

Finally, Arabic domain names.

Years ago, when I used to read a couple of local and regional computer magazines, they used to mentioned something about the future of the internet and if we will be able to use Arabic domain names instead of the English ones.

According to the BBC News, the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) board yesterday voted to allow non-Latin domain names; such as Arabic and Chinese.

The first Arabic or any other non-Latin domain name, or what they call Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), will be available within 9 month from now!