Forum Agenda

Speakers

- Dr. AbdulAziz Al Hargan, Director of BADIR Program at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology – KACST

Dr. Abdulaziz is Director of the KACST-BADIR Program for Technology Incubation, which is now evolving into a technology innovation entrepreneurship and incubation program with a range of program elements being developed. He was the implementation Project Manager of KACST’s BADIR-ICT, and then Deputy Executive Director, before becoming Director in 2009. Dr. Alhargan has government and private sector experience. He worked in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Agricultureand was researcher at KACST’s Computer and Electronics Research Institute. Prior to this he was with the world bank in Washington DC as an IT Consultant. He has a PhD in computer science from George Washington University, a Masters in computer science from the American University, Washington DC, and BSc in engineering from King Saud University in Riyadh. Dr. Alhargan has spoken at number of international conferences and published several articles and books on computing.

- Omar Christidis, Founder, CEO at ArabNet

Omar Christidis is the Founder of ArabNet, the premier conference for the Arab web/mobile industry. In 2011, the ArabNet Digital Summit brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from more than 22 countries, and featured 20 pitches from promising entrepreneurs. He is also the Vice President of the family-owned business, IBAG, which has 15 years experience in organizing corporate events, and which manages ArabNet. Omar co-founded and serves as a Board Member of the Yale Arab Alumni Association (YAAA), a community of over 200 Yale alumni and affiliates with an active interest in the Arab World. Born and raised in Lebanon, Omar holds a BA and MBA from Yale University and has a background in consulting (Booz & Co) and finance (private wealth management - family office).

Saudi Arabia is one of the region's most important digital markets and has a tremendous pool of talent, as well as the resources to support young entrepreneurs.  What is the state of the Saudi entrepreneurship ecosystem, and what are the challenges and benefits of being a Saudi entrepreneur?

Moderator

- Omar Christidis, Founder, CEO at ArabNet

Omar Christidis is the Founder of ArabNet, the premier conference for the Arab web/mobile industry. In 2011, the ArabNet Digital Summit brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from more than 22 countries, and featured 20 pitches from promising entrepreneurs. He is also the Vice President of the family-owned business, IBAG, which has 15 years experience in organizing corporate events, and which manages ArabNet. Omar co-founded and serves as a Board Member of the Yale Arab Alumni Association (YAAA), a community of over 200 Yale alumni and affiliates with an active interest in the Arab World. Born and raised in Lebanon, Omar holds a BA and MBA from Yale University and has a background in consulting (Booz & Co) and finance (private wealth management - family office).

Speakers

- Saad AlKhudairy, Founder, CEO at Abu Nawaf Network

Saad is the founder and CEO of AbuNawaf Network, the largest e-mailing group in Saudi Arabia, and the producer of the first Saudi talk-show, Quarter to Nine. He is an investor and partner in Tech-wd.com, Unlimit-tech.com, and Saudishift.com.

- Dr. Sulaiman Mirdad, Deputy Governor of Information Technology at CITC - Communication and Information Technology Commission

Dr. Sulaiman Mirdad is the Deputy Governor for Information Technology at the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). Prior to Joining CITC, Dr. Mirdad was VP for Technology at the Advanced Arabian Systems (Naseej) and Co-founder and Principal Engineer at InfoLibria in the US. Dr. Mirdad also co-authored a number of worldwide patents on content distribution and delivery. For these achievements, he was awarded the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit (First Degree) in 2008.

- Essam AlZamel, Founder, CEO at Remal IT

Essam AlZamel is a serial web and technology entrepreneur with over 10 years’ experience in the web industry. He is the founder of Remal IT, a leading web services and portals company which owns and operates one of the largest networks in the Arab world. Essam was named "Young Entrepreneur of The Year" in 2009 by the Prince Salman Awards for Young Entrepreneurs. Essam has created multiple successful and innovative products, including Awamer, an online service that automates stock trading in the Saudi Market; ProVise, patent-pending software that measures actual work time of employees; and Kammelna.com, an online card gaming website which was later acquired by Peak Games in one of the largest deals in the region. Essam is currently developing a new educational game, "Areeb World”, an immersive virtual world combining social media, education, and entertainment that provides K-12 students with learning activities tied to their curriculums. Essam has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University.

- Rashid Al-Ballaa, CEO at National Net Ventures N2V

Rashid Al Ballaa is the founder and CEO of N2V, an Internet holding company that is “disrupting digital Arabia” and stimulating the growth of a multi-billion USD Internet industry in Arabia. N2V enables web ventures in Arabia through investing capital and offering essential infrastructure services, mentorship, and support to help accelerate their growth. Rashid is also a board member of National Technology Group (NTG), MENA’s largest ICT conglomerate and key provider of financial technology and services. NTG’s annual revenue grew to over 700 million through 20+ subsidiaries and JVs in the MENA region. Before N2V, Rashid founded and managed Mubasher Financial Services (MFS), MENA’s first STP e-brokerage company and the only provider of direct market access to MENA equity markets. Rashid now serves on the board of MFS. Rashid holds a BSc in computer science with an honors degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

- Tuba Ozlem Terekli, Co-founder, CEO at Qutof

A Saudi of foreign origin, Tuba Terekli is the cofounder and CEO of Qotuf Al Riyadah Development Company – which reports to a steering committee of Saudi Arabian ministries to help formulate the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Working with the various chambers, ministries, universities, accelerator programs, and venture capitals, she has used her global and local networks to help develop entrepreneurship and women empowerment. She was a key initiator of the Saudi Fast Growth 100 and later the Arabia 500 initiatives that highlighted the most successful, innovative, high-impact businesses throughout the region. Her expertise was noted at Harvard by Professor Michael Porter and she became an iconic supporter known as the ‘Entrepreneur of the Entrepreneurship Support Movement in KSA’. Tuba also founded the first female-managed healthcare consultancy in the region which had been awarded by National Arab US Chamber of Commerce as one of the region’s most promising projects. She holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Saudi Arabia, a Master’s in Business Administration from the UK and an Advanced Studies degree from the USA. She is also the cofounder and member of numerous local and international societies.

Moderator

- Omar Christidis, Founder, CEO at ArabNet

Omar Christidis is the Founder of ArabNet, the premier conference for the Arab web/mobile industry. In 2011, the ArabNet Digital Summit brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from more than 22 countries, and featured 20 pitches from promising entrepreneurs. He is also the Vice President of the family-owned business, IBAG, which has 15 years experience in organizing corporate events, and which manages ArabNet. Omar co-founded and serves as a Board Member of the Yale Arab Alumni Association (YAAA), a community of over 200 Yale alumni and affiliates with an active interest in the Arab World. Born and raised in Lebanon, Omar holds a BA and MBA from Yale University and has a background in consulting (Booz & Co) and finance (private wealth management - family office).

Speakers

- Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO at Souq.com

Ronaldo is the co-founder and CEO of souq.com, which has grown to be the largest online retailer and marketplace in the Arab world. Recently souq.com acquired the private shopping club Sukar.com as well as invested in Run2sport.com; which offers sporting goods and apparel online. Ronaldo Mouchawar holds a Master's degree in Digital Communications and a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He has accumulative 15 years of experience in technology, and business management. He served as a technical and systems consultant with EDS in the US. In 2000, he spearheaded a consulting company that managed numerous, web and e-commerce projects in the Arab world. In 2005, he launched souq.com the first online marketplace for the Arab world

One of the biggest milestones for digital entrepreneurs is raising investment to develop and expand their business.  Many deals fall through because of a mismatch between the expectations of the entrepreneur and those of the investor.  How should you approach investors, what are they looking for, and what should you expect when negotiating the deal?  Bring your burning questions to our panel of investors who are constantly on the lookout for promising startups. 

Moderator

- Walid Faza, Investment Manager at MENA Venture Investments

Walid is the investment manager at Mena Venture Investments Ltd. and Wamda Capital. He works to empower entrepreneurs across the region in various capacities; as the Entrepreneurial Unit Coordinator at Aramex International, the Regional Support Unit Coordinator for the M.I.T. Enterprise Forum Arab Business Plan Competition, and also as a mentor at Mowgli, Oasis500, and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, among others. Walid helps with screening, selection, negotiation and investment at the seed / startup stage of ventures and provides access to a network of training, coaching and consultancy resources. Walid holds a B.Comm. in marketing from Concordia University. Upon graduating, Walid became the founder and director of 101 Immigration Inc., an immigration consultancy firm headquartered in Montreal, Canada that has eight offices in the MENA region. Walid also holds an MBA with honors from the American University of Beirut and has over 12 years of managerial, leadership and marketing experience.

Speakers

- Ahmad Mahayri, VP - Venture Capital at LMC Venture

Mr Mahayri is the Vice President of a pioneering investment management company that invests in several entrepreneurial ventures, a global public equity portfolio and a local real estate properties. Mr Mahayri got his MBA from Oxford University in the UK with a focus on Management and Investments. Prior to that, he got his BSc in international business from KAU with a first honor. He also participated in the Private Equity and Venture Capital program of Harvard Business School and Financing the Entrepreneurial Business from London Business School. Mahayri showed sustained interest in writing researches on the venture capital field as part of his studies in Oxford university and his professional field.

- Ramez Mohamed, CEO at Flat6Labs

Saudi Arabia is the hottest destination for e-commerce today, with MarkaVIP and Namshi both raising large rounds of financing to expand in this market, and local companies like Ecommerce Sea establishing a strong presence and growing rapidly.  Who will win in this game to conquer the Saudi market, and is it all about competition, or is it about growing the market together?

Moderator

- Hassan Mikail, Regional Manager E-Commerce Services at Aramex

Mr. Mikail is the global director of e-commerce at Aramex. He is an active member of the company’s Global Management Team and offers a wealth of knowledge of the e-commerce industry and an in depth understanding of current and future markets trends. Prior to joining the Aramex team, he held a number of managerial positions, specifically in the marketing communications industry, where he managed the teams of internationally renowned agencies such as Grey Advertising, Bates PanGulf and LOWE MENA, among others. Mr. Mikail obtained his BA in marketing from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).

Speakers

- Ahmed AlKhatib, Founder, CEO at MarkaVIP

Ahmed Al Khatib is the founder and CEO of MarkaVIP, a private sales website that focuses on the Middle East. After working in Silicon Valley for 10 years, Ahmed moved to the Middle East in early 2010 and founded MarkaVIP in Jordan in November of that year. Earlier in his career, Ahmed worked at a number of exciting e-commerce businesses including eBay, Amazon and Zazzle.com, where he developed the worldwide content-delivery of Zazzle.com’s e-commerce application platform. Ahmed possesses a wealth of expertise in developing business and technology solutions and applying them to augment, improve and transform e-commerce environments.

- Hosam Arab, Co-founder, Managing Director at Namshi.com

Hosam is a co-founder and managing director at Namshi, the Middle East's premier fashion e-commerce destination. Prior to joining Namshi, Hosam worked in private equity with Waha Capital in Abu Dhabi focusing on managing Waha's portfolio of assets in addition to sourcing new investments for the firm across multiple industries. Previously, Hosam was a project manager at GE's Water and Process Technologies business across the Middle East and East Africa region. Prior to that, he worked at Schlumberger as a project engineer across Europe and Africa. Hosam has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Queen's University in Canada and an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston.

- Mazen ElDarrab, CEO at Ecommerce Sea

Mazen AlDarrab is specialized in e-commerce and helping businesses and organizations to empower their enterprises through the power of (e). Mazen is currently heading eCommerce SEA, a Saudi start up focusing on building ecommerce ventures in Arabia, in addition to sitting on the boards of several e-marketing and social media startups. Mazen holds a master’s degree in e-commerce/e-marketing from the University of Western Australia and a bachelor’s degree in information and computer science from King Saud University.

Women make up 58% of Saudi Arabia’s university students, but only 14% of its workforce.  There is tremendous economic and business potential that can be unlocked through women in entrepreneurship in the Kingdom.  What are the challenges facing female entrepreneurs, and how are successful women entrepreneurs overcoming these hurdles and building fast-growing new businesses?

Moderator

- Maria Mahdaly, Co-Founder, Managing Director at Rumman Company

Maria is an entrepreneur who is passionate about the social aspect of the business by supporting the youth of the community. In 2009 Maria was named one of top 30 student entrepreneurs in the world at the Global Student Entrepreneur Award and continues to explore entrepreneurial ventures. In 2010 her company was named the fastest growing start up in Saudi Arabia at the Global Competitiveness Forum. Maria participated in many local and international conferences as a youth motivator and a role model, at the age of 21 Maria was appointed a board member and head of business development at Rumman Company and in one year period she raised the value of the company by 300%. In 2012 Maria was named one of the Arabian Business Power 500-Most Influential Arabs, and listed in the Gulf Business GCC's 30 under 30 top young achievers.

Speakers

- Noor AbdelKarim, Entrepreneurship Center Executive Manager at Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University

- Rafah AlKhatib, CEO at Reach Holdings limited

Rafah has 17 years of experience in technology and management fields, where she worked for international consulting firms as well as in senior management positions at local companies. She is a serial entrepreneur who started several projects and startups in Saudi Arabia. Since 2008, her main focus has been social media; she established Reach Holdings Ltd, an agency for managing social media presence and offering social media marketing in the Saudi market. In January 2010, she launched 3eesho.com , a social network that provides support, information and ongoing advice to users to increase health awareness about obesity, diabetes and the problems resulting from leading an inactive lifestyle. In February 2012, Rafah launched an interactive iPad magazine for 3eesho, the first of its kind in Arabic. Soon 3eesho will be launching live webinars and a mobile application for food intake and calorie calculations. Reach has been selected as an Arabia500 winner in 2011 and 2012.

Saudi Arabia has the highest consumption of youtube videos per capita in the world.  Young Saudi production studios, like U-Turn and C3, are revolutionizing media and creating new models for monetizing online video.  Who are the stars of Youtube, and what is the secret to their success?

Moderator

- Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, Head of Emerging Arabia at Google Inc.

Heading Google Emerging Arabia, Abdulrahman is in charge of shaping Google’s investments in emerging markets in Arabia, streamlining business operations, and solidifying partnerships with governments and TMT companies. Abdulrahman led Emerging Arabia to become Google's 2nd fastest growing business operation worldwide and crafted a number of key strategic deals that Google is replicating across emerging markets globally. Prior to Google, Abdulrahman led different bets at Blueprint, Oracle, Morgan Stanley, and Atos Origin. He is co-founder of several tech ventures including Honeybee Tech Ventures, Syphir, Laimoon.com, and PopOver Games. Abdulrahman is an advisory board member of multiple non-profits, an ambassador to the "Innovation for Peace" initiative sponsored by the UN and the World Summit for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a founding mentor of the Mohammed bin Rashed Foundation's Sawaed ICT initiative. Abdulrahman was named one of the most influential Arabs under 30 by Arabian Business. He holds BSc and MEng degrees in EECS from MIT.

Speakers

- Abdulaziz Al-Shalan, Marketing Manager at C3 Films

Abdulaziz Al-Shalan is a marketing graduate from the College of Business Administration (CBA), Jeddah, working currently at C3 Films / Telfaz11.tv as the marketing manager and social media specialist. 

- Abdullah Mando, Co-founder, CEO at Uturn Enterntainment

Abdullah Mando is the Co-Founder and CEO of UTURN, an online network that creates and distributes local and entertaining content. Abdullah’s vision is to stimulate and nourish thought through mass media. Under his leadership, UTURN has sparked the new media industry in Saudi Arabia and has created a hub for talents and content creators in the region. In UTURN’s early days, Abdullah was involved in every aspect of the organization, including content development and creation. Today, his role is to ensure that UTURN is in the right direction and meeting its objectives as he develops processes and departments. His academic background enabled him to put the company on the right track to success, with its balance between content creation and business aspirations.

- Khalid AlFarraj, Executive Manager at Sa7i Channel

Khaled AlFarraj was born in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. His work in visual media started in 2002 as the writer of the famous “Tash ma Tash” series as well as “Biyout Nadima”, a dramatic series aired on Infinity and Saudi Channel One. He also contributed to the first part of the famous CBM program, and he wrote and produced “3iyal Ka7ah”, a play starring the Kuwaiti actor Mohamad Al Ajami, in addition to writing for various dramatic works and various other disciplines. He joined “Sa7i” YouTube channel since it was first established at the end of 2011 and became its executive manager by the end of 2012. Khaled also wrote and acted in “Bazaar Al Diyah”, the first of Sa7i’s films.

- Malik Nejer, Founder at Nejer Studio

Speakers

- Mohamad Khawaja, CEO at StartAppz

Mohamad Khawaja is the CEO of Startappz. Before joining N2V, Khawaja worked for several years at the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship as the Executive Director. He is one of the co-creators of "Business Model Generation", selected as of one of the top 10 business books on Amazon in 2010. Mohamad holds a Bachelors degree in Communication Engineering from the Hashemite University in Jordan.

Speakers

- Eammon Carey, EMEA Director at Kiip

Eamonn Carey works on Kiip's expansion in EMEA and APAC markets. Kiip is a network that rewards people for their achievements in games and applications. They work with brands like Pepsi, P&G, Sony, Disney, YO! Sushi and many others. Prior to Kiip, Eamonn started up, succeeded and failed with several startups in Europe and the Middle East - working with clients like Diageo, Best Buy, O2, 3, the Abu Dhabi Government and many others. He first started developing games to impress girls in the mid 1980s. His efforts were unsuccessful. His love for games lived on in spite of that.

Moderator

- Sultan M. Al-Malik, Director General of Public Relation & Media at CITC - Communication and Information Technology Commission

Sultan Al-Malik holds a Master of Science (Msc.) in International Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, (1993). Also, Advanced Diploma in Commerce and English Language, The Economic Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.(1990). And Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.(1989). He attended several advanced training programs with Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Also, attended advanced executives training programs with INSEAD and Harvard Business School. He has 25 years of experience in the field of Marketing, market research, PR , International relations and general management. On 2006 he joined Ccommunication and Information Technology Commission (CITC),as Director General for (international affairs, PR and media). For the period from 2001-2006 he worked with Advanced Electronics Company Ltd (AEC) as Marketing Director and Corporate Development Vice President Assistant for five years. He also had worked for 13 years ( 1989 -2001) with Saudi Industrial Development Fund as Marketing Team Leader and Consultant. In his current job at CITC he is responsible for several main functions namely: media affairs, PR and event activates, and international affairs. He is also the spokesperson for CITC. Also , he is a member of CITC executives committee. He is a member of Young Arab leaders and Member of the Marketing committee at Riyadh Chamber of commerce.

Speakers

- Bassam Al Hakim, Director, Business Development at Ethos Interactive

Bassam has been a digital entrepreneur since 2005. He is the co-founder of Ethos Interactive, an award-winning digital agency that handles leading local and international brands in the Middle East including American Express and IKEA. Bassam is a board member of ABI Media Network, a digital media startup in Saudi Arabia that recently launched the Abisayara.com portal designed to assist online car shoppers with formulating opinions on which cars to buy, when to buy them and how much to pay for them. He recently founded Qwallety, a mobile social application that will launch its beta in early 2013. Qwallety introduces an innovative way to help shoppers with their purchasing decisions.

- Omar AlShoubaki, General Manager of Online Media & Digital Marketing at EmailCiti

Omar holds an MBA of international business/Electronic Integrated Marketing and Communication (e-IMC). He has more than 10 years of digital and email marketing, marketing planning, research and strategies experience in addition to being Google AdWords certified and a PMP. Omar’s diversified experience began with Orange, Jordan Petroleum Refinery, Dubai Holding (Marketing Manager), Co-founder of Imagine eMarketing and finally General Manager for EmailCiti - a leader email behavior and lead generation company in the MENA Region (over 15 million Email Users). Planned, adopted and managed sustainable digital integration marketing campaigns with millions of $US. EmailCiti deals with elite 100+ brands in the region such as Emirates, STC, Mobily, Emirates, GM, BMW, Mercedes, Apple, HP, Burberry, British Airline, Aramex, Jordan Tourism Board, Jordan Dubai Energy, Royal Jordanian among others.

- Omar Kattan, Chief Strategy Officer at Sandstorm Digital

Omar is the chief strategy officer at Sandstorm Digital, a new age brand communications agency focused on digital, content marketing and transmedia corporate and brand storytelling. Omar has over 20 years’ experience in brand strategy and marketing communications gained in the Middle East and Europe, with the last 10 being in digital within large media agency environments. During that time, Omar developed and implemented cutting edge digital campaigns for some of the world's leading brands.  Omar is considered a thought leader in the digital space and regularly blogs about SEO, social, mobile, new age brand building, and digital strategy on various sites including the Huffington Post.  Omar is also passionate about entrepreneurship (being an entrepreneur himself) and is currently offering his time and expertise to support the marketing efforts of various Arab digital startups in the Middle East.

Social Media has become an essential part of any company's digital communication strategy.  This session presents a series of back-to-back case studies and research focused on the Saudi market, produced by rising local and regional social media agencies. 

Speakers

- Amer Massimi, Founder at Hashtag Social Media Agency

Amer comes from an advertising background, where he spent the last 7 years between big agencies like Leo Burnett, Y&R, and BBDO. Throughout his work at various international agencies, his clients have included prominent brands like STC, Ford, Danone and Microsoft. A believer in the new rules of advertising and marketing, he has a great passion for the new age of digital communications. Convinced that brands can capitalize on the power of social media to connect with their customers, Amer left the traditional advertising agencies to bring Hashtag to life. Hashtag is a new media agency that specializes in humanizing brands on the social web. Its main purpose is to help brands bridge the communication gap online and join the ongoing conversation. Amer is also a blogger at interactiveme.com, where he writes about social media marketing practices in the Middle East.

- Hussain Al-Essa, Co-founder at The Marketing Department

Hussain Al Essa is a content marketer, branding consultant, a partner at The Marketing Department and the founder of Muhtawa Content Marketing.

- Mohammed AlModhayan, Co-founder and Department Head at The Marketing Department

Mohammed AlModhayan is an entrepreneur and online marketing specialist who is Google AdWords certified. He is a co-founder and managing partner at The Marketing Department and the former head of marketing and product development at Derayah.com.

- Rayan Alwabil, Co-founder, CEO at Rayz

Rayan Alwabil is the co-founder and CEO of Rayz, a Saudi startup specialized in social media management and creative marketing. He is a consumer behavior and marketing graduate from the University of Reading, UK. Rayan is a passionate entrepreneur with a mission to enhance the quality of Arabic content online and a vision of creating the next "big thing" in social media.

- Zafer Younis, Co-founder, CEO at The Online Project

Zafer Younes is the co-founder and CEO of The Online Project, where his team develops and executes social media strategies for Fortune 500 companies and high-profile organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa. At the age of 23, Zafer co-founded Modern Media, LTD, a Jordanian media house that owns and operates two popular radio stations including the award-winning Play 99.6. Modern Media offers consulting services to regional radio stations and designs direct marketing promotions for advertisers. Zafer's focus today is on scaling The Online Project whose latest release, Content Scorer (a registered trademark), is currently used by more than 250 media agencies and brands across the US and Europe to monitor the effectiveness of their social media content. Zafer serves on the Mentorship Network of Oasis 500. In 2007, Zafer was selected by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) for its Emerging Leaders Fellowship for media professionals. In 2010, he was recognized as a high impact entrepreneur by Endeavour Global.

Speakers

- Mina Takla, Co-founder at Taghreedat

Mina Nagy Takla is the co-founder of Taghreedat, a regional and international Arabic digital content community-building initiative which has over 100,000 Twitter followers and has recently been selected as one the Middle East's top 25 technology initiatives leading the innovation scene in the region. Along with Co-Founder Sami Mubarak, Mina established Taghreedat as an unprecedented online community initiative that takes a user-centered approach to develop more and better-quality Arabic digital content on the web. Working with a number of prestigious international stakeholders including Twitter, the Wikimedia Foundation, Storify, and TED, Taghreedat has been able to have a profound impact on enriching Arabic digital content through localization and community projects, involving a wide community of over 2,500 voluntary Arab translators from 31 countries worldwide including the Middle East, the UK, the US and Australia.

Content portals like Tech-wd, Electrony, and iPhoneIslam have grown rapidly to become  some of most visited content sites and top references for technology enthusiasts in the region.  Meanwhile, traditional media like newspapers are building their digital offerings and communities.  What does it take to go from a blog or traditional newspaper to a successful technology or gaming news portal - creating relevant content, growing readership and bringing in revenues?

Speakers

- Hani AlGhofaily, Director Dept. of e-Media at AlRiyadh Newspaper

I work as a director of e-Media at alriyadh newspaper, where we build web sites in-house and follow up implement, develop & design, in addition to publishing latest news in (AlRiyadh.Net), producing the daily issue of the newspaper in Arabic & English, following up the mobile phones text messages, drafting and broadcasting them, together with all the e-Marketing issues. I worked as a lecturer in Al-Imam & Prince Sultan Universities, and I worked as director of of e-Services Section in Emirate Al-Riyadh , and Systems Analyst in Computer Department of King Saoud University , and a part time technical editor In some Saudi newspapers. I established and managed hawaaworld.com sites (the biggest Arab women network) and AlZaeem.com (The official site of Al-Hilal Al Saudi Club), in addition to participating in the implementation of “King Saud University Gate”, BAB.com Site & Asyah gate (asyeh.com). I was awarded the prize of “the Advanced Electronics Company” for the best university graduation project in the Kingdom in 2000.

- Mohammed AlBsimi, Managing Director at True-Gaming.net / Electroni

Mohammed AlBismi is a young Saudi entrepreneur with a degree in economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He founded a media institution specialized in presenting expert Arabic content in several areas including video games and consumer electronics. His first site, True-Gaming.net was launched in 2004, and his second, Electroni, was launched in 2010, both found great success in the region.

- Saud Alhawawi, Co-founder, Editor-in-chief at Tech World

Saud AlHawawi has a degree in computer programming. During his work as a programmer for the Saudi National Guard, AlHawawi founded Tech World with Abdel Malek Althari in 2008. Tech World is a site that aims to publish the latest news, studies, and articles about the tech industry, including news about web 2.0 services, the newest mobile and technological devices. Tech World also publishes programming and design lessons and interviews with important figures in the field and covers cutting edge issues, debates and events in the sector. Since 2008, Saud has managed the site and been its editor, and he has personally contributed in writing articles on the site. Under his leadership, Tech World has connected the best of the Arab World’s tech bloggers and writers with major international online media and websites including Mashable, Business Insider, and Read Write Web.

- Tarek Mansour, Founder, CEO at iPhoneIslam

Tarek Mansour is the Founder, Developer & Editor-in-Chief at iPhoneIslam.com iPhoneIslam the first and most popular Arabic website for iPhone,iPod Touch & iPad News & Apps Developing. iPhoneIslam team known as the first group of developers on the world who arabized the iPhone and add all the Arabic language capabilities support to that amazing device, also the only group who gives the iPad 3G capability to be used as GSM phone, Plus more than 25 app in the apple app store. iPhoneIslam Awards: First Place at Mobily Apps Developer Award, First place at QUWIC Mobile App Contest.