Digital Boom

Category: Startups

  • Egypt’s NowPay Raises $600k from Endure Capital, 500 Startups

    Egypt’s NowPay Raises $600k from Endure Capital, 500 Startups

    Egyptian fintech startup, NowPay, said it’s closing a new undisclosed round after raising USD 600,000 in Seed funding from Silicon Valley’s Endure Capital and 500 Startups.

    The Cairo-based startup, launched in early 2019, came out of stealth promising to improve financial wellness of corporate employees in emerging markets through its fintech solution that helps people get their salaries in advance at any point during the month.

    “Saving, spending, budgeting and borrowing. Those are the four pillars of financial-wellness. We want to improve every aspect of those for employees,” said Mostafa Ashour, Cofounder and CEO of NowPay who previously led Innovation teams at Microsoft Research.

    Ashour started NowPay with co-founders Ahmed Sabry of Amazon Lending, and Cherif Radi who led special projects at Orange.

    “In order to reduce money worries, lower financial stress and cut down attrition rates, employees need to feel that they can get their salaries whenever they are cash-strapped,” said Ashour, explaining that his solution helps employees better manage their budgets, overcome cash flow problems and avoid unexpected events.

  • Middle Eastern Female Entrepreneurs Outpacing Other Nations

    Middle Eastern Female Entrepreneurs Outpacing Other Nations

    The number of new startups in the Middle East has risen by more than 42% in the past three years, according to a report from Markets&Markets. Of all the new startups being launched in the region, 25% are headed up by female entrepreneurs, reports Al Masah. In comparison, just 17% of startups in America are founded by women. So, why are Middle Eastern female entrepreneurs outpacing other nations?

    Better education

    An impressive 91.5% of young women in the Middle East are educated, according to Global Female Leaders. The International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa report highlights that the majority of women who own their own businesses are well educated, with 91% of those in Bahrain, 79% in Tunisia, and 76% in Jordan having attended further education. Women are also growing increasingly knowledge in expert fields. UNESCO states that between 34% and 57% of students graduate in science, agriculture, or engineering. And despite women in the region facing increasing pressure to stay at home as housewives, technology is making it increasingly easy for them to launch their own business from their own four walls.

    With little more than a business plan, their education, knowledge, and some common sense, females in the area can launch any number of profitable businesses. They will, however, require a computer to keep things running over smoothly. Thankfully, the STEM skills that these women have obtained will make it easy for them to determine what they require from their computers. From there, they can opt for a custom-built one to suit their needs and their business’s requirements. The Middle East Eye highlights how one of the most important skills females in education can learn is computer coding as this will aid them in building computers and understanding basic programming. And once it’s all off the ground, they have the potential to add to the $2.7 trillion that Mckinsey predicts the nation’s women will raise if equality in the labor market grows.

    When contacted about the workforce benefits a good education gives Middle Eastern women, Start-Engineering advised that their research had revealed that the more women who enrolled in education and training, the larger number of female entrepreneurs there would be. They also added that this was particularly the case in “countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, UAE, and the Palestinian territories.” However, they did advise that this correlation isn’t always witnessed in more conservative countries.

    Financially responsible for others

    The Economist reports that one in every three tech startups in the Middle East is owned by women. Entrepreneur and IT graduate Rasha Oudeh believes that Middle Eastern women are excelling in this field as well as multiple others due to them being financially responsible for their loved ones. Local culture means that individuals take it upon themselves to financially provide for their loved ones. As the majority of female business owners in the Middle East are aged between 35 and 54 years of age, they are of child-bearing age and are likely to have children. When reviewed further by the IFC, women entrepreneurs average between 1.4 and 3.2 children each, with those in Jordan tending to have more dependents. Oudeh says that it’s common for women to become even more financially responsible when they start earning. As a result, they’re more inclined to start up on their own, as this can lead to increased earnings.

    Extensive experience

    The majority of female entrepreneurs in the Middle East launch their first startup between the ages of 25 and 34. This means that they gain plenty of hands-on experience and knowledge between leaving education and starting up. The upshot of this is that they are dedicated to their roles. One in five put in a minimum of a 60 hour week in order to see their business thrive. Ultimately, every additional hour that they work will increase their confidence, skills, and ambition and will encourage the growth of their business. This determination and dedication is what is helping them to outshine their rivals in other countries. One study reviewed more than 3,000 technology startups in America and found that 90% failed before they reached their third birthday. In contrast, in the Middle East, a study reviewing female-founded startups found that they’d been in business for between 5.9 years and 10.6 years, depending on their location.

    Going it alone

    If there’s one thing that women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) aren’t afraid of, it’s going it alone. In Bahrain, 59% are sole owners of their business, while 55% of female entrepreneurs in Tunisia say the same. Even Jordan and the UAE have impressive female-only ownership rates at 48% and 41%. According to Your Story, this makes MENA the most successful region for sole female-owned businesses. Branching out alone is helping the nation’s solo female entrepreneurs achieve success as:

    • They haven’t got to meet anyone else’s expectations
    • Can work the hours which suit them and their family
    • There’s no one else to run business decisions past

    Fighting for equality

    There’s no denying that women who own businesses in the Middle East are doing well for themselves. Research shows that 33% in the UAE make more than $100,00 USD per annum. Whereas, in America, this figure is a mere 13%. However, these women have had to work hard to get to this point. Yemen-born Rahma recalls how she quit her beloved job in medicine due to being grossly underpaid. Meanwhile, Jordan’s Fida Taha had to face the wrath of her family when she left her job to launch her own digital business. Admiringly, she plowed on without their support and went on to run multiple successful video companies.

    Entrepreneurship is encouraged

    If women engage in the labor market, they have the potential to add $600 billion to the local economy every year. As a result of this, there are initiatives in place in the region that encourage and support women looking to start their own businesses. This includes Bahrain’s Bahraini Women Development Portfolio Fund which provides everything females in the Kingdom require to get their startup up and running. In addition, KPMG states that it’s up to 35% cheaper to launch a company in Bahrain than in other countries.

    Businesswomen in the Middle East are thriving thanks to a number of factors, including having a great education and the desire to look after their loved ones. As a consequence, they are running digital businesses which are surging billions into the local economy and which are standing the test of time. And it’s these factors combined that are putting Middle Eastern female entrepreneurs one step ahead of the businesswomen in neighboring areas.

  • Match Group Acquires Egyptian Dating Startup ‘Harmonica’

    Match Group Acquires Egyptian Dating Startup ‘Harmonica’

    Online dating giant Match Group has acquired “Harmonica”, an Egyptian online dating startup. Financial details were not disclosed. Announced Flat6Labs today.

    Match Group is an American Internet company that owns and operates several online dating websites, including OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, Tinder, and Match.com.

    Harmonica was founded in 2017 by Sameh Saleh, Tamer Saleh, Shaymaa Aly & Aly Khaled. The app empowers singles in the MENA region to connect concerning traditions and culture and helps users find their potential life partners freely and securely.

    The Egyptian startup serves over 33 countries in Asia and MENA that have a large Muslim population.

    Harmonica’s team has 12 full-time employees. The app comes only in Arabic. With this acquisition, it might expand to more languages, including English, shortly.

  • SeedStars visits Baghdad to find promising Iraqi startups

    SeedStars visits Baghdad to find promising Iraqi startups

    Seedstars World, the largest startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes will land for the first time in Baghdad between 1-2 of August.

    Around 20 of Iraq’s best seed-stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Seedstars Summit for a chance to win up to USD 500,000 in equity investments and other prizes.

    Seedstars will be holding a dynamic training for entrepreneurs on the first day of the event which will indulge in the topics around Investment Readiness, the Art of the Pitch, in addition to tailored mentorship sessions with experts from the market. The list of experts will include Ali Ismail, Co-founder & Curator at Fikraspace Solo Creative Studio, Montather Rassoul, Consultant, Council of the European Union and Ammar Rafid, Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility Senior Officer at Zain Iraq

    As for the participation criteria, the companies invited to the training session and to privately pitch at the Seedstars Baghdad event need to be less than two years old, have raised less than USD 500k in funding and built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. Nonetheless, the Seedstars team is searching for a one additional criterion which is the startup’s regional and global scalability.

    After a careful screening and training on Day 1, the Seedstars team will shortlist around ten of the best seed-stage startups in Iraq to pitch on August 2 for the opportunity to compete at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland. The list of the Jury members will include Ali Hili, Youth and Entrepreneurship at Zain Iraq, Bassem Abdel Hadi Hassan, Spokesperson for the Central Bank, Noor Alhandal, Chairman at Ashur International Bank, Khaled Alabadi, Project Manager at GE, Dhafer Hasan, Programme Analyst at UNDP and Anas Al-Chalabi, Business Development Manager at Social n’ Tech

    A lot of partners have supported Seedstars at making this event happen. The Main Partners of the Event are Central Bank of Iraq continue to position themselves as great believers in the impact of entrepreneurship. The Local Partners of the event are The Station and Social N’ Tech . Further support is provided by Careem, one of the regions most successful startups, as Entrepreneurship Partners.

    In order to provide local entrepreneurs with this opportunity and aiming to deliver the best possible event, Seedstars is closely working with Mohammad Salah, who is representing the initiative throughout the year. “As the Seedstars ambassadors in Baghdad, we’re more than proud to host the competition in Iraq; This event will be a massive networking and funding opportunity to the finalists. Bringing Seedstars to Iraq will open the door for other global incubators, accelerators and competitions by encouraging them to expand to Iraq. we are here to make a difference, to create opportunities and give exposure to the ecosystem” explains Mohamad Salah , Managing Director at Social N Tech.

    “At Seedstars, we believe talent and good ideas are everywhere. We see ourselves as a platform connecting investors to the next generation of startup entrepreneurs in places where normally people wouldn’t think startup ecosystem have such traction, growth and buzz. We are very excited to be in Baghdad, highlighting such a bustling entrepreneurship ecosystem and we are here to witness the reality”, explains Mira Charkawi, Community Events Manager at Seedstars, “We are also experts in identifying which are the ones to pull through and how. We’re impressed by what we have seen in the region so far and cannot wait to add startups from Iraq on our map.”

  • Stanford-born Startup Strives to End Elderly Social Isolation

    Stanford-born Startup Strives to End Elderly Social Isolation

    In the midst of calls to break up Facebook, struggling IPOs, and some fan drama over the Game of Thrones finale — no spoilers we promise — some people are working away at smaller, very specific issues. There are many thrones to conquer, but focusing on particular problems goes a long way when it comes to entrepreneurship.

    We’ve got Stanford alumnae building a platform that provides companionship to aging loved ones. Former execs of GBH Communications gathered video conferencing data to prevent those dreaded video call disconnects. And last but not least, an ex-Googler helping policyholders manage their auto insurance.

    Get ready for a roundup of startups that know exactly what they’re doing, and whom they’re helping!

    Mon Ami

    Ending Social Isolation for Aging People

    Marketplaces for shared rides, rental spaces, e-commerce, and food delivery are becoming more and more abundant. There are, however, other overlooked pressing issues that affect different communities. With 50 million Americans over the age of 65, senior citizens are affected by problems like social isolation, which is what Mon Ami is aiding for one home at a time.

    French for ‘my friend’, Mon Ami is aptly named. The San Francisco-based online platform brewed at Stanford connects elderly family caregivers with ‘Activity Companions’ who provide IT help, transportation, and visits to play games that aid in dementia healing. From socialization to brain stimulation to emotional support, the benefits are many. Check out Mon Ami’s Companion Diaries for some heartwarming stories.

    Founding Team

    It all started with these two Stanford-ettes. One with a track record in product and digital media, the other with experience in hospice care and health. Madeline Dangerfield-Cha and Joy Zhang met in Stanford School of Business for their MBA in 2016.

    Madeline graduated from Columbia as a creative writer to become a digital media and analytics whiz. She worked at Essence for five years, acquiring digital media positions to eventually become their Director of Analytics. She is passionate about using technology for effecting change and believes in “the magic at the intersection of generations” that sprouted Mon Ami. She also believes in the power of gaming and plays designed to support elderly wellbeing, particularly for improving brain activity and social interaction for those suffering from dementia.

    Joy Zhang is no newbie to elderly care. She has almost a decade of experience in welfare and aging. She was a World Health Organization consultant for healthy aging innovation. She was also an Associate at Skoll Foundation, which invests in social entrepreneurs driving large-scale impact. An advocate for the aging population, Joy notes how vulnerable they are especially in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. “Social isolation is a major risk factor for older adults, and social connections are the most important asset, especially during a crisis,” she wrote.

    Madeline and Joy were recently joined by CTO Steve Fram to lead the tech arm. Before Mon Ami, Steve was CTO of Caring.com, a marketplace that helps caregivers of aging loved ones find the services they need. He was VP of Engineering at BabyCenter of Johnson & Johnson. He was also Technical Director of UNDP’s Rio Earth Summit, the biggest environmental conference ever held which gave the world its climate change framework and sustainable development blueprint. He holds a BS in Mathematics and Zoology from the University of Michigan, where his undergrad research focused on “the morphology of the basal ganglia” and “identifying mathematical errors in brain/body­weight allometry.”

    Trellis

    Managing P&C Insurance Services

    This San Francisco-based tech startup is a little stealthy and has only been brewing for five months. It’s neither the seed-to-sale Cannabis software Trellis nor the board game of vines, blooms, and flowers! Word on the street is that this Trellis is providing property and casualty insurance services. With more than 80 companies on Crunchbase using Trellis as part of their name, we dug into the meaning of the word: A metal or wooden framework made to support vines and fruit trees. Why Trellis though? Our AI wizards are still trying to figure that one out.

    Founding Team

    CEO Daniel Demetri is a serial entrepreneur with a blend of expertise in computer science and financial services skills, which he learned at Harvard and honed at Google, Earnest Inc., Angelo, Gordon & Co, and KAYAK.

    He previously co-founded States Title, a real estate insurance settlement startup which raised $10.2 million in seed funding and acquired North American Title Company early this year. As ex-Product Lead at Earnest Inc., Daniel was on a mission to democratize high-quality financial services where he created “the best-in-class student loan refinancing product.”

    Daniel proposes insightful ways to overcome decision-making hardships and deal with the mind’s working memory limitations. “Confronted with 24 pieces of data, we physically have no choice but to narrow our focus,” he writes recommending compressing complexity with cognitive reasoning, discarding less critical considerations and using gut feeling for difficult trade-offs. Daniel provides a super fact-based opinion piece but you’ve got to be careful with the gut feeling one as some neuroscientists are arguing against Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink!

    VisibilityOne

    Cutting Video Conferencing Troubleshooting Time

    VisibilityOne is a patented video conferencing monitoring solution that provides real-time performance and health data across multiple platforms, including Zoom, Cisco, and Poly. The California-based startup simply aims to make video collaboration management easier, minimize video call disconnection, and reduce IT troubleshooting time by 90% through its data collector.

    The startup was awarded the prestigious “Excellence in Product Innovation”from the National Systems Contractors Association. “These companies may not be unicorns, but they’re some of the workhorses behind countless organizations of all sizes,” says entrepreneur Rebekah Ilif in her Inc. piece, which featured VisibilityOne.

    Founding Team

    This powerful team of industry veterans is armed with decades of experience and a career track at leading firms. Jose De La Paz, CEO, holds three patents for his work in the communication and video conferencing space which spans over 20 years. Jose led GBH Communications as CTO and COO until its acquisition by SKC Communications in 2018.

    “I will continue to invent, create, and dream of ways to push the boundaries of technology,” he told Forbes. When he is not on tech duties, Jose plays video games with his five sons, and travels the world with his family. He enjoys a good old cup of coco with Mexican abuelita, paired with butter-toasted bolillo. Are you drooling too?! He also sparks his creativity with a blank canvas and some spray paint.

    An art enthusiast, Jose admires the stories portrayed in the work of Banksy, the UK’s mystery street artist!

    Chief Risk Officer, Von Bedikian, founded his first company, GBH Communications, at the age of 26 and reigned as President for 33 years. What kicked off as a one-man reseller, grew to become an industry leader, globally recognized value-added reseller for Fortune 100 clients, including Plantronics, Polycom and GN Netcom. He also served as President of Direct Access Systems, a leading supplier of conferencing solutions focused on reseller markets. He holds a BA in Business Administration and Marketing from San Jose State University. When he is not building long-standing successful tech firms, Von loves to unleash his creative juices in oil painting.

    A tech architect, with two-decade expertise in data and cloud architecture, CTO Frankie Alvarado was also former GBH Communications, where he headed the company’s market strategies of emerging technologies. Frankie was BT Lead Technology Engineer in London, where he played a key role in making the 2012 Olympics the most connected.

    Frankie describes “communication” as the biggest and easiest problem to solve. “The simplest way to get the ball rolling into optimizing your technology and your user rates is to communicate. [Everything] starts from that — which is kind of what video conferencing is all about, when you think about it,” he wrote.

    When he is not too busy building scalable technologies, you’ll find Frankiecleaning local beaches or holding competitive video game tournaments with his children.

    As you can tell, startups that are focused on specific technical or human needs are the ones that make it past the eighth season — we mean, past ideation. Our stargazing powers tell us that these founders will conquer all the thrones in their way.

  • Egyptian Startup Mumm Launches ‘Mumm Prime’ Egypt’s First Premium Chef

    Egyptian Startup Mumm Launches ‘Mumm Prime’ Egypt’s First Premium Chef

    Egypt’s homemade food service Mumm has launched “Mumm Prime”, Egypt’s premium online chef subscription service on Sunday. For an affordable monthly subscription fee; the service offers customers clean, freshly cooked homemade food for the same price of its raw supermarket ingredients.

    Saving time and effort on daily chores and money on monthly household budget; Mumm Prime also gives its customers the convenience of ordering for next day or pre­scheduling their meals for up to a week in advance.

    The Mumm Prime service launch marks the latest success in Mumm Prime’s significantly fast expansion in the Egyptian market since its initial launch to a limited segment of the market as a closed beta on the 2nd of April.

    Soft launching in Tagamoa and Downtown areas on the 5th of May by Mumm, local homemade food startup, Mumm Prime garnered highly positive feedback; facilitating its market growth and setting ground for its delivery coverage expansion to all of Mumm’s active delivery locations last Thursday.

    Parallel to its launch, Mumm attracted many partnerships with giant household names in the industry; including Etisalat, Kiri, and Nestle.

    Fadi Antaki, CEO of A15 and one of Mumm’s primary investors, expressed faith in Mumm Prime’s promising potential in the market. “This expansion is just the beginning. Mumm Prime is not only the first Chef subscription service in Egypt and the Middle East, it’s also an intuitive solution to a growing demand in the lives of modern­day Egyptian working mothers that wouldn’t have been possible without the technology and economies of scale that the team has built the past years.”

    According to the May 2019 issue of World Bank’s Women Economic Empowerment Study; 91 percent of surveyed women reported spending an inordinate amount of time on unpaid household activities, and 27 percent reported that they perform unpaid care for family members, the value of which the survey estimated at EGP 496 billion. Moreover, survey findings also show that domestic unpaid work for married women does not decrease when they join the labour market, resulting in women spending almost equal hours on unpaid domestic work a week as they do in their full­time jobs.

    Giving people access to freshly­cooked, clean homemade food for the highly affordable price of its raw supermarket ingredients, Mumm Prime presents working mothers with an opportunity to alleviate their household responsibilities on the consumer end and to increase their incomes on the home­cook end. Expressing optimism for the future of Mumm Prime, Sharif El­Badawi, Partner at 500 Startups and a primary investor in Mumm, remarked: “Mumm’s readiness and success in the Mumm Prime launch goes to show the operational efficiency of the product, and the startup’s quick response to emerging demand. I have absolute confidence in its imminent prosperity and long­term scalability, and I’m looking forward to seeing Mumm Prime in every Egyptian home.”

    Expanding on the concept of a homemade food subscription service; Waleed Abdelrahman, CEO and founder of Mumm, explains: “For the low subscription fee of EGP 300, working mothers everywhere can get the grueling chores of grocery shopping, food preparation, cooking, dishwashing and cleaning off their hands; saving them time, effort and money.” He adds: “Mumm Prime is more than a food subscription service, it’s the concept of a new lifestyle where working women don’t have to do twice the work on a normal week day, but rather focus on what really matters to them.”

    Protected by local and international hygiene certifications, Mumm Prime kitchens are inspected against 99 international quality standards by a HACCP­certified hygiene doctor on a regular and surprise basis, the approved chefs are certified by the Ministry of Health and all Mumm Prime meals go through a tasting panel before making it to the final menu. Ensuring a transparent feedback process, the menu items are also publicly rated by the consumers on the website.

    Commenting on Mumm Prime’s health features, which include displaying the nutritional components and calorie count of each meal, Waleed Abdelrahman added: “We have a lot of features in the pipeline for the upcoming months that will continuously improve this premium package as a staple in the daily lives of thousands of people throughout Egypt.”

    Since its launch in 2015, Mumm has been connecting hungry professionals with over 200 active kitchens around Cairo; providing them with a large variety of single, family­sized and frozen homemade meals for an affordable price tag.

    Adapting Egyptian, Arab and international cuisine into its recipes, Mumm meals attracted a lot of regular customers from different walks of life; including busy corporate employees, single parents, independent millennials and thriving baby boomers at the peak of their careers. Mumm continues to attract different segments of the Egyptian society with its affordable, adaptive offerings and easy­to­use online platform.

  • Egypt’s Direxiona wins 50,000 euro-prize in AFD Digital Challenge

    Egypt’s Direxiona wins 50,000 euro-prize in AFD Digital Challenge

    Egypt’s Direxiona matching platform for women drivers and instructors has won the first prize in the AFD Digital Challenge competition at total amount of 50,000 euros.

    The award was granted by the AFD, France’s inclusive public development bank, under the title “Digital Challenge Success” for two African startups at a value of 50,000 euros per each.

    Direxiona is Egypt’s first online platform that designed for each Egyptian girl to help her find her match with the nearest female driving instructors, based on time and location.

    According to the competition organizers, the rewarding two startups must be through the expansion phase and demonstrating an outstanding ability to scale up and develop.

    The competition is mainly aiming to promote entrepreneurial initiatives managed by women and/or men, tackling the challenges of women’s inclusion and gender inequalities – whether social, economic, cultural or political – and leveraging digital innovation for their development.

    Founded in 2017, the Cairo-based startup Direxiona aims to support more women who want to learn how to drive by using an online platform to match them to female driving instructors. It is essentially a driving platform and community for women by women.

    Nayrouz Talaat, Direxiona Founder and CEO says: “We are also working on leading the service to be solely technology-based and delivering the idea of driving through technological tools to raise the performance of the trainers,” Talaat added.

    “In Egypt, there was a larger number of girls and women who wanted to learn how to drive and to be more independent but could not do so. Beyond safety concerns, this is mainly because the number of female instructors is low and they are difficult to find and contact.

    Through a network of 85 field offices, the AFD currently finance, monitor, and assist more than 2,500 development projects in 108 countries in sectors of energy, healthcare, biodiversity, water, digital technology, and professional training.

    About 15 applications were short-listed by AFD experts from among the 300 received, based on their relevance, sustainability and impact on development. A panel of judges made up of six digital technology experts then whittled this list down to choose the 5 winning projects.

  • 3 Things You Should And Shouldn’t Do To Make Meetings Productive

    3 Things You Should And Shouldn’t Do To Make Meetings Productive

    It is necessary for every company to hold a workplace meeting every once in a while. The meetings are essential because it allows interaction for different departments within the company. However, there’s the truth that a lot of meetings are a waste of time when not done properly. On the other hand, a lively, collaborative, and productive meeting can help the company move forward. Here are the three do’s and don’ts that a manager should consider before, during, and after meetings.

     3 Do’s For Productive Meeting

    1. Use of a Conference Room Scheduling System

    A conference room scheduling system is a software that notifies people who are needed in the meeting real time. It also includes features that lets involved parties to know in real time if the meeting was canceled or if the location was changed. This way, miscommunication should be avoided and the meeting would start without any additional problems.

    1. List the Meeting Agenda Before Starting

    A meeting is an activity where a team discusses things that are important and essential in the company’s operation. To save time, it is recommended to list the agenda of the meeting before it even starts. Add the meeting agenda in the announcement so the involved parties can prepare additional documents when necessary. This way, the team will not be wasting time figuring out what are the things needed to be discussed.

    1. Make The Meetings Concise And Brief

    When you and your team members can sort problems and plan for solutions quickly, it gives you more time doing more things. Making meetings unnecessarily long will not make it more productive. It can even lead to a lot of distractions, like the discussion straying from the original topic. If there are a lot of topics to be discussed on the agenda, you can opt to divide the topics into different meetings. If a long meeting is needed for clarifying details or brainstorming, make sure to let your team have a break once in a while.

    3 Don’ts To Avoid In Meetings

    1. Hold Meetings For The Sake Of Schedule

    Department meetings every Wednesday or Friday? Weekly management meeting every Monday morning? Monthly meetings at the end of the month? Although it is a good habit to check the teams from time to time, meetings without an agenda and just for the sake of scheduling are time wasted. Only hold a meeting if there are things needing to be discussed.

    There are ways to check your teams for notable problems, like talking to the leader and checking on the problems in the department. If there is a notable problem, then that’s the time you’ll need to hold a meeting.

    1. Waiting For Other Meeting Participants After The Time Started

    All meetings should be started on time, regardless of who can attend or not. Running late is never a valid excuse to wait for someone during a meeting unless the key person is the one who’s running late (it happens in rare cases because of the unforeseen circumstances).

    It is also important to mention that holding the time of other people just to wait for a person is not a good idea. If the key person failed to show up 15 to 30 minutes after the meeting started, postponing the meeting and moving it to another time might be a better choice. This is because time is a precious asset, and making the most out of it is essential to the company’s growth.

    1. Letting Something Disrupt The Meeting

    During a meeting, the focus of everyone participating should be on the topic or issue being discussed. Therefore, meeting disruptions such as a sudden ringing of phones or people doing other jobs while in the room should be avoided. The task of taking notes should be designated to a member of the team and they should focus on it. Notebooks and notepads are good things to have during a meeting.

    A meeting is an essential part of the company’s planning and development of projects that will help it grow and expand its operations. In order to improve cooperation, face to face interaction is needed. To call it a success, the agenda listed should have solutions and finalization by the end of the meeting.

  • How to Start A Digital Marketing SEO Agency?

    How to Start A Digital Marketing SEO Agency?

    Starting your digital marketing agency sounds like an exciting thing to do; however, it can also seem a little bit daunting. Digital marketing is viral nowadays, mainly due to the demand that it enjoys. As the population on the Internet continues to grow, so do opportunities for growth and businesses on the web. If you have the skills related to the same, starting your own Digital Marketing SEO Agency might be great for you. Here’s how you can get a headstart on yours today:

    1. Create a lead generation team

    As a newbie, it is natural that you are not yet as popular as your other counterparts. Because you have only started with building your name, you will need to have exposure to possible clients that can be your regular customers. This process is what lead generation is all about.

    Lead generation is the process where a team is tasked to look for leads or potential clients for your business. Here’s how you can be successful in your lead generation campaign:

    • Identify your target market and narrow down your options to limit only those within your market, as this can comprise your lead.
    • Inform your target market, or your leads, of what your services are.
    • Practice affiliate marketing or partner with other SEO agencies that might need digital marketing services
    • Please enter into the practice of cold calling, which refers to calling or emailing your potential leads, to reach out to them.

    Learn more about lead generation through webmarketing123.

    2. Create your website

    As a digital marketing SEO agency, you probably know by now that the best way for you to reach clients is through creating a website. The population on the Internet is vast, and almost all your advantages are on the tip of your fingers. With just one click through your website, you become visible to the whole world. Therefore, you must include a website as one of your modes of marketing, especially since you are in the digital marketing community.

    3. Create a brand identity

    As an agency, you are still functioning in the same manner as a business would. What sets you apart from other competitors is the specific brand name and identity that you are creating for your SEO agency. In this manner, it becomes easier for your clients to remember your agency and to feel like you are indeed a legitimate business.

    Here are some aspects related to branding through SEO that you would have to fulfill:

    • Your brand name
    • Your brand logo
    • Your brand’s vision and mission
    • Your brand’s slogan or motto
    • Your brand’s domain name and business email address

    4. Assemble your workforce

    One of the advantages of a digital marketing SEO agency is that you do not have to hire a team of full-time employees by the nature of its work, and you can even outsource the same. Because the services you offer are intangible and can mostly be completed remotely as long as there is an Internet connection, you can eliminate the hassle of having to maintain a full-blown workforce daily.

    Through outsourcing, you can have a team comprised of digital marketing and SEO experts from all over the world. Plus, the payment terms are flexible, as most of these offer freelance positions. It means that you will only have to pay them for every piece of work they have completed. In this manner, you can save on the costs of employing a full-time team and maintaining an office.

    5. Create your business portfolio

    Creating your business portfolio is a task that you will have to do if you want your digital marketing business to remain successful and to stay in the industry. Your business portfolio is what you will put up on display on your website. It is here that your clients can benchmark their decision-making process to decide whether you are trustworthy enough to take on the responsibility.

    You should include the following in your portfolio:

    • Previous digital marketing and SEO services provided
    • Feedback and ratings by former clients
    • Recommendations by the general public
    • Comments and suggestion section
    • Goals and targets for all of your future clients

    When you have a business portfolio posted on your website, it will create an aura of professionalism, where first-time clients have more trust and confidence that you are a digital marketing agency that means business.

    Conclusion

    This article gives you the best tips to follow to get started on your digital marketing agency. However, you will learn the ins and outs only when you get your business up and running. With these tips to help you out, you can be assured that your venture of turning your skills into a profit-earning opportunity will work out for you. Digital marketing is enjoying increasing popularity, and it is here to stay.

  • Brimore, retail distribution platform, raises $800k in seed funding

    Brimore, retail distribution platform, raises $800k in seed funding

    ​Brimore​, the direct-selling distribution platform that connects manufacturers with consumers, announced that it has raised $800k in a seed funding round co-led by ​Algebra Ventures and ​Endure Capital​, with participation from ​500 Startups​, ​Flat6labs​, and angel investors.

    The platform connects manufacturers with consumers all over Egypt by leveraging the power of mobile applications and individual social networks to enable broad, cost-efficient market access.

    Brimore is a technology-powered retail distribution platform that allows manufacturers direct access to local communities who can both promote and consume their products. The platform creates significant efficiencies for local manufacturers by dramatically optimising their branding and distribution costs, providing them with better demand visibility, and allowing them to improve utilization.

    Directly selling into local communities, Brimore creates an entirely new marketing and distribution channel that is built on data analytics and the power of social networks. Brimore’s channel extends well into the depths of rural areas in Egypt where it is uniquely capable of moving a high volume of products seamlessly and efficiently.

    Brimore was founded in 2017 by Mohamed Abdulaziz, Ahmed Sheikha, and Mahmoud Refaay, a team with extensive domain experience in FMCGs, direct selling, and distribution management in multinationals including P&G and Oriflame.

    ‘Many local manufacturers and products have suffered and died because of inefficient and expensive distribution networks that are better suited to big multinationals,’ says Abdulaziz, CEO & co-founder. ‘We’re leveraging the power of people and their social networks to solve the problem of market access for SMEs in Egypt and disrupt the traditional distribution model. We’ve merged sales, marketing, and distribution in one transaction.’

    ‘92% of our distributors are women who want high-value jobs and the option to work from home,’ says Sheikha, CBO & co-founder. ‘We’re on a mission to support our distributors through economic empowerment and continuous training opportunities. We started in Egypt but we’re aiming to grow in other emerging markets, particularly in Africa.’

    The business has excited various investors. ‘We’re very impressed with the Brimore team and their approach to solving an expensive and complex problem’ says Tarek Assaad, Algebra Ventures’ Managing Partner. ‘We believe the company will change how small and medium manufacturers think about selling goods to the large base of Egyptian consumers.’

    ‘At a time when all major FMCGs are ‘buy one, get one free’ companies, distribution simply wins,’ says Tarek Fahim, Endure Capital’s Managing Partner. ‘We are proud to support Brimore in their endeavors to enable resellers and hopefully change their lives for the better.’

    ‘Brimore is solving a problem in many emerging markets – how to get products to reach a wider base and fix broken distribution channels,’ says Hasan Haider, Partner at 500 Startups. ‘In addition, the support being given to their partners and women all over Egypt to build their businesses and be self-sufficient is a great benefit.’

    Brimore was part of the Flat6labs accelerator in December and is the first startup to secure an investment before demo day. ‘Flat6Labs Cairo has been one of the first believers in Brimore,’ says Ramez El Serafy, CEO of Flat6Labs. ‘We are excited to continue our strategic partnership with the team and to be supporting them further through this round of follow-on investment.’