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The Latest Job Opportunities On The StartUpArabia Job Board

November 10, 2008November 10, 2008 MMM

A number of new job vacancies are available on the StartUpArabia job board.

The jobs available now come from a number of startups and companies operating in the Arab world, and are as follows:

AnyAd.com is looking for a couple of technical partners; one in Boston and another in Amman.
Wikeez is looking for a Webmaster, a Marketing Manager, and a Journalist in Beirut.
A new online advertising startup is looking for a Co-founder/CTO in the MENA region.
An Arab blog network is looking for an English language blogger and an Arabic language blogger.
A media sales company is looking for an Online Sales Manager in Dubai.
A French company is looking for a Web Marketing Consultant in Tunisia.
PV Tribal DDB is looking for a Web Marketing Project Manager in Beirut.

For those of you interesed in applying for one of those positions, click on the position of your choice to find more details.

And if you’re a startup operating in the Arab world and looking to hire someone just right for your startup, you can post your job vacancies for free at the StartUpArabia Job Board.

eSpace Integrating Yamli Transliteration Technology In Popular Online Text Editors

November 9, 2008November 9, 2008 MMM 4 Comments

eSpace, the Egyptian software company behind services like meOwns and weNear, has been a supporter of the advancement of Arabic content on the web, through contributing to Wikimania2008 in Egypt and other various activities, in their attempt to realize the true potential of one of the World’s most spoken languages.

The company is currently taking another step to try to promote and simplify the use of the Arabic language on the internet, and that is by integrating Yamli‘s award-winning transliteration technology, that enables users to type Arabic using Latin characters by converting their words in real time into Arabic text, as a rich text formatting option in a number of the most prominent and popular online text editors, such as FCKeditor, TinyMice editor, as well as in popular forum software like VBulletin and PHPBB.

By bringing Yamli’s technology directly into the tools people are using to write on the web, publishing Arabic language content becomes even easier and more straight-forward, eliminating the fuss of having to keep going back and forth between the Yamli website and whatever other website or tool is being used to write and publish content.

It’s great to see Arab startups and companies working with each other’s technologies and tools to advance a common goal like promoting Arabic content on the web. I certainly wish we see more efforts like this in the future.

Microsoft BizSpark Offers Startups Free Software And Services

November 9, 2008November 9, 2008 MMM 1 Comment

Microsoft launched a new program called BizSpark to help Internet companies by giving them free access to software, tech support and introductions to its business partners around the world.

BizSpark is intended to “accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and early-stage startups” using, of course, Microsoft technology, according to the Redmond, Washington-based software colossus.

To be eligible for the program, companies must be privately owned; less than three years old, and have annual revenues of no more than a million dollars.

Startups must be “nominated” by BizSpark Network Partners including economic development agencies, venture capitalists, business incubators, and groups such as global nonprofit The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

There is no cap on the number of startups that can get into the BizSpark program and they can come from any of 82 countries.

Startups will be profiled in an online BizSparkDB directory and also get discounted access to Microsoft “cloud computing” resources.

Startups pay nothing to be involved with BizSpark but there is a 100 dollar “exit fee” at the end of the three-year program or if companies leave for other reasons, such as being acquired or going bust.

More information about BizSpark can be found online at Microsoft Startup Zone and Microsoft BizSpark.

eMapia Location Based Marketplace Launches Full Screen Mode

November 8, 2008November 8, 2008 MMM

eMapia, the location based marketplace, which was previously reviewed here, and that integrates Google Maps technology to enable sellers (businesses or individuals) to add their items and link them to specific locations on the map, where they are available for sale (shop or person’s home), recently launched the possibility to view the site in Full Screen mode.

This feature gives users the ability to use the whole width of their screen to navigate through the world map and find products for sale near them; they can zoom by scrolling in and out.

By passing the cursor over the selected item, a little box shows providing a summary of that item’s details.

In this full Screen mode, visitors can also click on the “Show Items” link available in the site’s header to see all items within the current zoom level in the form of a left-side panel showing all the items’ thumbnails; allowing visitors to conveniently and quickly check out the available items.

SMELink.ae, Business Community Portal For UAE SMEs

November 7, 2008November 7, 2008 MMM

The Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders (SME) and Tejari, the leading online B2B marketplace for global emerging markets, has announced the launch of SMELink.ae, a new online portal specifically catering to small and medium businesses.

The launch of this portal marks yet another addition to the rapidly expanding portfolio of services provided to Tejari members. “This achievement is a big step for Tejari and we are convinced that e-commerce will only grow from strength to strength through our initiatives,” said Omar Hijazi, CEO of Tejari.

Members registered with the Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment For Young Business Leaders automatically become a member of this portal, gaining access to an online community of over quarter million members. In addition to this, all members of the community are eligible for an eExhibit package, whereby they can set up an online showroom to display their products and services.

“The new portal will without doubt benefit members of the establishment and will open up new windows of opportunity for existing and new small and medium size enterprises,” said Adbul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Mohammed bin Rashid Est. for Young Business Leaders (SME).

# Source: Khaleej Times

Wikeez, A New Social Entertainment Platform

November 6, 2008November 6, 2008 MMM 12 Comments

Wikeez, is a new Lebanon-based startup, focusing on user generated content around entertainment topics, which was founded by Kuv Capital with a seed investment of US$250,000.

Wikeez aims to allow people to publish and exchange on their favorite subjects centered on entertainment topics (tv shows, movies, celebrities, music and sports).

Each topic is fragmented into 3 tiers:

Top Stories: Information on the subject; latest news, Bio,…
Blog Stories: content produced by Wikeez members
Micro Stories: reactions shared by Wikeez members

Wikeez will also enable people to create their own blogs, fan clubs, get the latest news centered on their passions, as well as socialize with other fans.

The site is still in alpha, with a beta version coming pretty soon.

The company is currently looking to recruit in Lebanon; You can check out their open job vacancies on the StartUpArabia Job Board.

Update: Wikeez is offering invites to their alpha version to all StartUpArabia readers; if you’re interested, just send an email to: invite@wikeez.com.

# Wikeez

Google Calendar Is Launched In Arabic

November 5, 2008November 5, 2008 MMM

Google today announced the launch of Google Calendar in Arabic. Google Calendar is a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments — whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you.

Google Calendar has become one of the most popular calendar services online. It has proven fast and easy to use; users can add events just by clicking on a time slot and typing in their event information. It’s also integrated with Gmail so they can add events mentioned in email messages to their calendars with just one click. Furthermore, any event on the calendar can be turned into an invitation just by adding the email addresses of the people to invite. Those invitees can then see and respond to the invitation, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves. The services also makes it easy to share calendars with friends and family, and the other way around.

“Calendar is a great tool for organizing your life,” said Husni Khuffash, UAE Country Manager, Google. “It’s another of our efforts to provide users with fast, easy-to-use applications that help to simplify your life. We’re really happy to be launching this tool in Arabic.”

Another benefit of Calendar is that it’s open, with the possibility to talk to many other calendar applications, enabling users to easily get event data in and out. And with the integrated holiday calendar, users can see public and national holidays listed automatically on their Google Calendars.

To try Google Calendar out in Arabic just go to the Google Calendar site, then click through to “Settings” and change your language to Arabic.

Young Arab Leaders & Microsoft Join Hands On Youth Empowerment and Development Programs (YED)

November 5, 2008November 5, 2008 MMM

Microsoft - YAL Signing Young Arab Leaders (YAL), the region’s foremost development platform for business, public sector and civil society leaders, signed a strategic partnership agreement with Microsoft Gulf to develop the Youth Empowerment and Development (YED) initiative.

The agreement was signed by Assem O. Kabesh, Chief Executive Officer, YAL, and Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf in the presence of Pamela Passman, Global Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corp. and Dr. Zaki Khoury, Gulf Citizenship Lead.

The partnership aims to foster the development of future Arab leaders and empower youth with the skills they need to compete in the global economy. In addition, YAL and Microsoft will work towards developing a set of guidelines that will address pressing issues across sectors such as education, employability and entrepreneurship to increase economic and social prosperity.

Commenting on the partnership, Pamela Passman, Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, Microsoft said, “As the Middle East continues to emerge as a dynamic region, we are committed to working closely with organisations such as YAL to further support the development of the individuals and communities in which we operate. We are delighted to join hands with YAL to develop a program that will allow young men and women in the region to gain insight into the rich, diverse and evolving business environment while gaining the skills they need to compete in today’s knowledge economy. Microsoft remains committed to helping countries in the region harness the power of technology for economic and social prosperity.”

Assem O. Kabesh, Chief Executive Officer, YAL, said, “With the Youth Empowerment and Development, YED, initiative, YAL and Microsoft seek to help Arab youth develop the knowledge and skills necessary for the 21st century workplace. One of the means by which we will achieve this is by facilitating access to the Microsoft Education & Technology platform. This initiative will offer support to participants of all of YAL’s related programs and projects over the next three years. Through our initiatives, YAL aims to develop a new generation of Arab youth who can lead the region to greater progress and prosperity. We are confident that our partnership with Microsoft will support us in the task of empowering and equipping young leaders who can drive productivity and competitiveness in the Arab world.”

The partnership with YAL is in line with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential initiatives that create social and economic opportunity through programs and products that transform education, foster local innovation and enable jobs and opportunities worldwide.

Mrrha, A New Arabic File Mirroring Service

November 5, 2008November 5, 2008 MMM 14 Comments

Mrrha is a new simple Arabic service that was just launched a few minutes ago from Egypt, and that aims to make the process of uploading files to the internet for sharing purposes and mirroring them on the most famous file uploading services a lot easier and faster.

The service allows users to upload a file and mirror it directly to five popular uploading sites of choice, from a list of twelve most famous ones, saving them time and effort, and cutting down by five the necessary time to upload the file to all these services.

Mrrha depends on a parallel uploading mechanism to make this possible, which means that the file will be uploaded to Mrrha and sent to the other uploading sites at the same time, meaning that the user won’t have to wait until it’s uploaded to each site.

The name is basically, an adaptation of the English word “Mirror” to Arabic, making it into a verb form; and so “Mrrha” basically means “Mirror it”, which refers to the process of re-uploading the file to other services.

The service is in Arabic only for the time being, and is mainly targeted at the Arabic market. An English version will be released soon though.

# Mrrha