Meet the 31 Fast-Growing Digital Companies Participating in the Digital Showcase

This year’s ArabNet Digital Summit features a new and exciting segment, the Digital Showcase. It is the first growth platform in the region for up-and-coming digital enterprises looking to propel their business to new heights. With only five days separating us from the biggest digital event of the year, we are now ready to share with you the names of the 31 fast-growing enterprises participating in the Digital Showcase from countries all around the MENA region. MEVP, Badir, Oasis500, MarkaVIP, and Flat6Labs have decided to support some enterprises to join the Digital Showcase. 

The New #Hashtag on Facebook: How Is It Different from Twitter?

Facebook has invaded the hashtag turf, which is one of Twitter’s most successful stories. The new feature, which was rolled out on Wednesday, makes phrases clickable and helps 1.1 billion users engage in a large public conversation by pooling all the posts about a certain topic (e.g. #arabnet or #dubai) in a single feed.

Only the future will decide whether this step is a #success or a #fail for the Menlo Park, Calif. based firm. “Not everything that seems or sounds logical will be necessarily successful”, concludes Chouman.

An Arab B2B Online Platform Wakes Up a Sleeping Giant: the Story of SearchinMENA.com

The $15 billion B2C e-commerce industry has pulled the attention, and the money, of enthusiastic industry leaders and entrepreneurs in the MENA region. But what everyone seems to be overlooking is B2B e-commerce. A recent US survey estimated sales revenues from B2B e-commerce to reach $559 billion by the end of 2013, more than double the $252 billion generated from B2C online sales.

The B2B online sector in the MENA region is a sleeping giant. Although there are more than 90 million online users in the Arab world, only 15% of companies in the region have an online presence and benefit from this widespread exposure. This triggered Salim Akil to launch  SearchinMENA.com, a unique B2B online marketplace that specifically targets businesses in all Arab countries and across all sectors.

3 Days Left to Submit to the Intel Challenge Competition, $50000 & a Trip to Silicon Valley at Stake

The Intel challenge competition aims to support university students across the MENA region to develop their ideas into business models for a chance to win $50,000 and a trip to Silicon Valley.

The competition showcases business opportunities with the greatest potential for a positive impact on society through the commercialization of new and truly innovative technologies.

The projects submitted for the competition are required to represent new ideas or novel ways of using already-existing products, technologies, services, or processes.