Harvard Arab Conference '19 at HBS
I had the pleasure attending Harvard Arab Conference last April at HBS, in Boston, MA. The event’s topic was about entrepreneurship in the Middle East.
They highlighted the top entrepreneurs in the Middle East like Ronaldo Mouchawar the Syrian entrepreneur and one of the most well-known startup founders in the Middle East. In 2005, he launched Souq.com, which has quickly grown to be the largest online shopping sites in the region. Known as the “Amazon of the Middle East,” along with Careem, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber.
The event had many sessions and I attended many sessions, two of them were for Middle Eastern entrepreneurs.
Hadia Ghaleb, Egyptian Instagrammer whose fashion sense has earned her more than 1.3 million followers to date. She is also the founder of the marketing consulting company Ghaleb Production House. She worked for the American University in Cairo's fashion magazine. She later became the head of the fashion section of TeenStuff Magazine.
Hadia spoke about the power of influencers on social media. She thinks that promoting products via social media influencers can be categorized as a form of subconscious marketing. She explained how for ages, brands and advertisers have been seeking to shape consumers’ thoughts, attitudes, and behavior, without us even being aware of it.
She explained how brands now are lining up to be associated with popular social media personas. The idea behind this promotion method is that by relaying a message to a handful of influencers, they will promote it to their immense networks. Creating a quick and effective approach to reaching a wide audience. But, what really sets social media influencers apart from other types of endorsers is their relatability. Despite having a large popularity and internet following, influencers are still perceived as mostly normal, down-to-earth people.
Another amazing speaker was Nadine Habayeb, Co-Founder, CEO of Bohana snacks
Nadine spoke her journey Starting her Bohana brand. She was always curious to learn about some of the world’s most ancient practices and traditional superfoods. When Nadine was introduced to this puffed super snack, she was hooked and made it her go-to snack. She never looked back and vowed to bring this ancient super snack to free spirit snackers everywhere.
Water lily seeds are the new snack supplanting kale chips among healthy eaters. These cheese-puff-looking morsels have been a traditional treat in India for centuries, but now they’re taking off in the West. Whole Foods even flagged water lily seeds as one of the big food trends of 2019. Several businesses have sprung up to bring puffed water lily seeds to the U.S., where the low-calorie snack is perfectly positioned as an alternative the potato chip.
The event was Harvard Arab Weekend attracted more than 1,300 students and professionals from North America.
The event had a Startup Pitch Competition – in which ten startups pitched to a panel of high-profile judges, get their feedback, and network with the attendees. The top three of the pitching competitions received cash prizes. The winning team received a prize of $20,000.
The top three teams also had the opportunity to participate in the Harvard Business School career fair alongside other large organizations the day following the competition.
Overall, my experience at Harvard Arab Conference was great! I’m a very proud Arab because I got to learn from great successful Middle Eastern entrepreneurs about their journey and I am excited to see a lot of these innovating ideas come to life in the future. I can’t wait to attend the conference again next year and see what's coming up next.
They highlighted the top entrepreneurs in the Middle East like Ronaldo Mouchawar the Syrian entrepreneur and one of the most well-known startup founders in the Middle East. In 2005, he launched Souq.com, which has quickly grown to be the largest online shopping sites in the region. Known as the “Amazon of the Middle East,” along with Careem, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber.
The event had many sessions and I attended many sessions, two of them were for Middle Eastern entrepreneurs.
Hadia Ghaleb, Egyptian Instagrammer whose fashion sense has earned her more than 1.3 million followers to date. She is also the founder of the marketing consulting company Ghaleb Production House. She worked for the American University in Cairo's fashion magazine. She later became the head of the fashion section of TeenStuff Magazine.
Hadia spoke about the power of influencers on social media. She thinks that promoting products via social media influencers can be categorized as a form of subconscious marketing. She explained how for ages, brands and advertisers have been seeking to shape consumers’ thoughts, attitudes, and behavior, without us even being aware of it.
She explained how brands now are lining up to be associated with popular social media personas. The idea behind this promotion method is that by relaying a message to a handful of influencers, they will promote it to their immense networks. Creating a quick and effective approach to reaching a wide audience. But, what really sets social media influencers apart from other types of endorsers is their relatability. Despite having a large popularity and internet following, influencers are still perceived as mostly normal, down-to-earth people.
Another amazing speaker was Nadine Habayeb, Co-Founder, CEO of Bohana snacks
Nadine spoke her journey Starting her Bohana brand. She was always curious to learn about some of the world’s most ancient practices and traditional superfoods. When Nadine was introduced to this puffed super snack, she was hooked and made it her go-to snack. She never looked back and vowed to bring this ancient super snack to free spirit snackers everywhere.
Water lily seeds are the new snack supplanting kale chips among healthy eaters. These cheese-puff-looking morsels have been a traditional treat in India for centuries, but now they’re taking off in the West. Whole Foods even flagged water lily seeds as one of the big food trends of 2019. Several businesses have sprung up to bring puffed water lily seeds to the U.S., where the low-calorie snack is perfectly positioned as an alternative the potato chip.
The event was Harvard Arab Weekend attracted more than 1,300 students and professionals from North America.
The event had a Startup Pitch Competition – in which ten startups pitched to a panel of high-profile judges, get their feedback, and network with the attendees. The top three of the pitching competitions received cash prizes. The winning team received a prize of $20,000.
The top three teams also had the opportunity to participate in the Harvard Business School career fair alongside other large organizations the day following the competition.
Overall, my experience at Harvard Arab Conference was great! I’m a very proud Arab because I got to learn from great successful Middle Eastern entrepreneurs about their journey and I am excited to see a lot of these innovating ideas come to life in the future. I can’t wait to attend the conference again next year and see what's coming up next.
