'Avatar Information Technology' the 18th Team to Qualify for this Years's MIT Semi-finalist Round

This story is provided by MIT Enterprise Forum - Pan-Arab Region.

Palestinian “Avatar IT” has been selected as one of the semi-finalist teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region Start-Up Competition for the Start-up Track

Avatar Information Technology (AIT) was established in 2010 as a company specializing in developing and designing Arabic multimedia productions, mobile games and web applications. We recently interviewed the founder of the company Salah Ahmed who spoke to us about why he started the company and what lies in the future of AIT.

Idea Inspiration

“Growing up I used to spend my time watching cartoons and surfing the internet. Most if not all of what I was exposed to the English language and rarely did I come across a cartoon that was in Arabic. As I grew older I realized the impact this had on my life and how my personality had become a mix of Arab and western cultures. Being an IT specialist I decided to establish a company that would fill this gap by providing innovative products and services all offered in the Arabic language that would hopefully positively affect the children of our region. I teamed up with a couple of colleagues who shared the same vision and we began working on developing the company and the services we offer. ” says Salah.

Enriching Online Arabic Content

With more than 86.1 million Arabic users online only 3% of the content available is in the Arabic language. AIT hopes to change that by enriching online Arabic content specifically content that is related to the entertainment industry. The company currently has one main business unit but aims at increasing its services and products to include two additional units. These include:

Shakhabeet Unit which produces original animation videos, music productions, personations, games and comics' magazines directed towards the Middle East and Arabs across the world. Shakhabeet uses the power of animation to represent important issues related to our society in an enjoyable way. Future units

Darebna Unit which will offer innovative consultancy service and Arabic online video training courses in fields of IT, multimedia and management, these courses will be directed to young Arabic speakers worldwide. Darebna will also provide distinctive video ad campaign services in addition to free-lancing training vacancies for expert users.

Tatweer Unit will produce HQ creative Arabic based apps in field of publishing, networking, education, learning, entertainment and health based on customer’s needs.

Advice for Entrepreneurs

“Stay focused and always plan your steps, nothing good can come out of being disorganized or leaving things till the last minute. I have learned that good planning can save you a lot of time and money.” Advises Salah.

Avatar IT will attend a two day workshop in Qatar in April along with 49 other teams, where they will receive coaching, training and networking with other entrepreneurs from the Arab region and meet the region’s major players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Semi-finalist ideas or startups in ICT, digital media, and mobile will automatically qualify for the Oasis 500 training and acceleration program http://www.oasis500.com/ , which is a six-day training program that covers all business aspects, including business modeling, financials, pitching, facilitation and marketing

Find out more about Avatar IT by:

Visiting their website: http://www.ait.ps

Visiting their Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/AvatarTech

Watching their 1 minute pitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhYLTilejC4

Following them on Twitter: @AvatarIT