Karim Yazbek the Vice President and Country Manager of Hill International Opines That in the Medium Term, Qatar’S Economy Will Outperform the Region As a Whole
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GET YOUR MONEY’S WORTH THE LOW-DOWN ON WHAT INVESTORS SHOULD LOOK FOR IN A STARTUP REAPING THE REWARDS MAKING HISTORY THE MENA (LITERALLY) REGION’S RONALDO ACHIEVING MOUCHAWAR WOMEN SUCCEss, MOTIVATION, SOUQ.COM’S CO-FOUNDER AND EXCEPTIONAL AND CEO HAS CHANGED ENTERPRISE CONDUCT THE MENA ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGIES FOR LANDSCAPE FOREVER WOMEN IN BUSINEss EXPANDING HORIZONS KARIM YAZBEK THE VICE PRESIDENT AND COUNTRY MANAGER OF HILL INTERNATIONAL OPINES THAT IN THE MEDIUM TERM, QATAR’S ECONOMY WILL OUTPERFORM THE REGION AS A WHOLE 9 772312 595000 > MAY 2017 | WWW.ENTREPRENEUR.COM/ME | QAR15 MAY 2017 CONTENTS 22 Karim Yazbek, Vice President and Country Manager, Hill International 16 28 22 70 INNOVATOR: INNOVATOR: INNOVATOR: MONEY: MAKING HIStorY REAPING THE REWARDS Expanding horizons YOUR MONEY (LITEraLLY) The MENA region’s Karim Yazbeck, Vice Get your money’s worth Ronaldo Mouchawar achieving women President and Country Erkki Aaltonen, Execu- Souq.com’s co-founder Success, motivation, and Manager of Hill tive Director of startAD and CEO has changed the exceptional enterprise International, opines that in by NYUAD, explains what entrepreneurial landscape conduct strategies for the medium term, Qatar’s investors should look for in in MENA forever. women in business. economy will outperform a startup. the region as a whole. 64 68 ‘TREPONOMICS: ‘TREPONOMICS: SKILLSET MARKETING Raising the stakes Brands on fleek Cadillac Middle East Man- Anne-Claude Wenger, aging Director Christian founder and CEO of Alston Soemmer believes that & Clayden, offers seven ensuring a stellar customer PR and marketing tips for experience is key for a brand luxury startups. to stand out. 16 Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Senior Vice President, International Consumer and Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO and co-Founder, SOUQ.com MAY 2017 ENTREPRENEUR 3 Natural Frequency Sleep Better Technology® Inside #ThatsMy_Wellbeing C M Y SLEEP BRACELETS CM Designed to help you sleep better MY CY and wake up feeling refreshed. 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Discover your wellbeing at philipstein.com WEAR YOUR WELLBEING - REJEE JEWELLERY - DAMAS - THE WATCH HOUSE - VICEROY - BURJ AL ARAB - WATCHES CORNER CONTENTS MAY 2017 72 48 START IT UP: TECH: Q&A SHINY Setting standards #TamTalksTech The co-founders of Al-Saeb Gadgets and doodads have built a smartwatch to that you might’ve missed safeguard Qatar’s blue- out on, sourced by a tech collar workers. aficionado. Yes, it’s okay to want them all… and no, 82 it’s not our fault. CULTURE: LIFE 50 Tissot Ballade Learning on the job Powermatic 80 SI Ahmed Moor, co-founder calibre 68 Seven PR and marketing tips for luxury startups and CEO, liwwa, believes that building a business 60 44 is about growing both the TECH: innovator: venture- and yourself. ONLINE ‘TREP REAPING THE REWARDS Measuring (online) success Up the career ladder and 52 Sekari’s Search through the glass ceiling ‘TREPONOMICS: Performance Director Suha Mardelli Haroun, ESQUIRE GUY Adrian Jennings lists four Regional Director of Less is more elements you need to Bayt.com, analyzes ways The Esquire Guy on what consider when setting up to empower the region’s not to do when you are a SEO campaign. women to lead. managing people. 38 Lama A. Younis, founder, Hissah Enrichment Center 6 ENTREPRENEUR MAY 2017 CONTENTS MAY 2017 58 AI can’t solve all of our customer 54 service problems (yet) CULTURE: LIFE 74 The road to smarter choices FRANCHISE James Clear on five common The customer comes first mental errors that stop you Hassan Jawad, Divisional from making good decisions. Manager of Costa Coffee Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and 80 Saudi Arabia, on making the START IT UP: brand stand out in Qatar. ECOSYSTEM Off to a flying start 76 Scout My Car pitches its START IT UP: way to victory at STEP Q&A Conference 2017. Democratizing insurance UAE startup Democrance 58 makes insurance accessible ‘TREPONOMICS: for MENA’s low-income PRO 62 50 population AI can’t solve all of our ‘TREPONOMICS: CULTURE: customer service problems SKILLSET TRAPPINGS 66 (yet) Starting up smart ‘Trep gear TECH: Compareit4me.com co- Nabbesh.com founder The executive selection ONLINE ‘TREP founder and CEO Jon and CEO Loulou Khazen for the entrepreneur The future of e-commerce Richards, explains why AI Baz, explores how on your list that has Whoopey.com founder and still can’t beat good old- entrepreneurs can convert everything. Okay, maybe CEO Saad Khan lists five fashioned human interaction their vision into a viable for a little self-reward as trends to watch out for in when it comes to customer product. well. the digital space in 2017. service. 30 Dr. Amina Al Rustamani, Group Chief Executive Officer, TECOM Group 8 ENTREPRENEUR MAY 2017 BLACK BAY BRONZE BRONZE CASE DIAMETER 43 MM WATERPROOF TO 200 M (660 FT) IN-HOUSE MOVEMENT Aluminium bronze alloy case. An aesthetic reference to historic ships and other diving equipment, this metal guarantees the development of a subtle and unique patina to match its user’s habits. TUDOR in-house movement MT5601. Offering a 70-hour power reserve and regulated by a variable inertia oscillator with silicon balance spring, it is certified by the Swiss Official #TUDORWATCH Chronometer Testing TUDORWATCH.COM Institute (COSC). 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Entrepreneur Middle East and all subsidiary Erkki Aaltonen Ross McCammon publications in the MENA region are officially licensed Loulou Khazen Baz Dorothy Mitchell exclusively to BNC Publishing in the MENA region by Fida Chaaban Aparajita Mukherjee Entrepreneur Media Inc. James Clear Ahmed Moor No part of this magazine may be reproduced or Suha Mardelli Haroun Jon Richards transmitted in any form or by any means without written Adrian Jennings John Small permission of the publisher. Saad Khan Christian Soemmer Spencer Lodge Anne-Claude Wenger Images used in Entrepreneur Middle East are credited when necessary. Attributed use of Printed by Raidy Emirates Printing Group LLC copyrighted images with permission. All images not credited otherwise Shutterstock. www.raidy.com In addition to our print edition, we’re bringing EntMagazineME you all sorts of industry news on our web mediums. 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EntMagazineME 10 ENTREPRENEUR MAY 2017 SUBSCRIBE EntMagazineME @EntMagazineME Entrepreneur-me EntrepreneurMiddleEast EntMagazineME EntMagazineME EntMagazineME Brioni Entrepreneur - SFP.indd 1 4/17/17 12:49 PM EDITOR’S NOTE Get connected Entrepreneurship is a two-way street ne of my favorite ecosystem, and that was something moments from this he needed to do as an entrepreneur year’s edition of STEP in this region. “Entrepreneurship is Conference was after a two-way street,” he told me. “You Souq.com co-founder have to build knowledge, [and] you Oand CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar’s ap- have to share it… People want to pearance on stage, when he stepped learn- they think you have done down and walked through what can a process that they might have perhaps best be described as an to go through. There are always adoring audience. It was a sight to learning pains, there are growing build the business, and continue behold as the affable entrepreneur, pains, there are experiences that to work with entrepreneurs,” he fresh off his company’s acquisition you learn [from]. And, I think, as says.) Mouchawar is aware of the by Amazon, weaved his way through much as we internally focus on value of what he does- as a Syrian the crowd, as they essentially the company and our customers hailing from the now-destroyed mobbed him with everything from (and that has been where we put a city of Aleppo, he knows that his heartfelt congratulations, to startup lot of our investment), I think you entrepreneurial journey that led pitches, to selfie requests. need to always be connected to this him to build a company that went What stood out to me was the ecosystem.” to Amazon, is something that can manner in which Mouchawar re- With an attitude like that, it’s provide hope to a lot of people in acted to all of the attention he was easy to see why Mouchawar has en- this region.