ArabNet expands prospects for entrepreneurs and digital professionals across an array of industries in the Arab region

As the web and mobile industry in the Middle East undergoes a period of unprecedented growth and expansion, so do the opportunities available to entrepreneurs and digital professionals in the Arab region, according to ArabNet. With the annual ArabNet Digital Summit drawing closer, the team is calling upon aspiring entrepreneurs and digital professionals in the region to showcase their talent, connect with their peers, and bring their visions to life through a series of competitions and activities designed to bring talent and funding together.

“ArabNet serves as a platform for innovative individuals in the region to not only connect and learn, but also leverage their ideas and talents in front of the right people,” stated Omar Christidis, Founder of ArabNet. “We aim to facilitate the growth of entrepreneurs and help them overcome challenges such as limited funding, support, and resources with the ultimate goal of strengthening the web and mobile industry in the region.”

ArabNet will be presenting opportunities to individuals shopping their innovative ideas through competitions such as the Ideathon and Startup Demo. The Ideathon aims at turning bright ideas into functional products and the Startup Demo helps early stage startups to bring their startup to the next level. ArabNet will introduce the top 20 entrepreneurs and startups in the region, exposing the latest in the digital sphere and giving entrants the chance to win big cash prizes and the attention of investors, incubators, and developers.

Additionally, The ArabNet Digital Summit 2012 will test the skills of coders and shed light on the most talented engineers through a challenge in which participants will have 12 hours overnight to build a simple web or mobile application. The Overnight competition is free to all developers, regardless of whether they are registered to attend the conference. However, developers attending the conference are urged to give 5-minute “lightning talks,” which will give them the rare opportunity to speak alongside representatives from leading organizations and convince attendees from organizations across the region of their talent.

“We’ve created a platform for the talent and exceptional work of digital professionals in the region to be recognized,” said Christidis. “The summit will give professionals across a variety of industries the opportunity to showcase their potential and be awarded for their excellence in the field of digital. In doing so, we hope that they will prove themselves to their peers and consequently advance their careers.”

Most recently, ArabNet announced the ArabNet Case Study Challenge (ACSC) which is aimed at individuals and agencies in the advertising industry and will recognize excellence in online advertising. Applications will be filtered by ArabNet and a panel of judges composed of individuals from top global agencies, brands, and publishers. Six finalists will be given 15 minutes on stage in front of hundreds of attendees at the ArabNet Digital Summit 2012 to present their case studies of campaigns that have leveraged technology and new media to promote a brand. One Case will be presented with an award for the Best Digital Campaign of 2012.

The five day summit will be split up into four parts: two Developer Days (March 27-28), which will host technical discussions and workshops for programmers, an Industry Day (March 28) focused on how web and mobile applications are transforming traditional industries, two Forum Days (March 29-30) which will feature pitches by some of the region’s top entrepreneurs and are aimed at bringing together digital business leaders in the region to cover the latest web and mobile trends and technologies, and finally, a Community Day (March 31) open to the public and focused on raising awareness about the power of digital.

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About ArabNet

ArabNet is the hub for Arab digital professionals and entrepreneurs to connect and learn. Our activities aimed at building the web industry and supporting entrepreneurship in the region include:

·       An annual summit in Beirut, widely acknowledged as the largest digital gathering in the MENA region, with a track record of bringing globally-renowned speakers to discuss the latest topics in the field, as well as successfully connecting entrepreneurs and startups with funding and incubation through the Ideathon and Startup Demo competitions

·       The ArabNet RoadShow, which held free training workshops for over 1,500 entrepreneurs across the region to teach them to successfully develop their business plans

·       Our newly launched Developer Program, which connects developers with potential employment at the region’s digital startups

·       The Startup Database Program, which connects startups with investors

·       ArabNet website, which has been redesigned to be the leading reference for digital businesses in the Middle East, featuring news, analysis and a growing database of startups, developers and entrepreneurs.

More about ArabNet can be found at: http://arabnet.me/

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