Meet Patrick and Rabih, new business associates and friends. They met at a “Growing a Business” workshop at AMIDEAST’s Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and, by the end of the workshop four months later, were business associates and friends.

Patrick is the founder of EMAGINE Web Solutions, a website development and online marketing agency based in Zgharta, in northern Lebanon. He enrolled in the “Growing a Business” workshop to take his business to the next level.

Networking961 is an annual networking event organized by Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program with the goal of gathering entrepreneurs, startup fans and investors under the same roof, in order to exchange ideas and discuss business opportunities.

This year’s Networking961 event took place on the 19th of November at Rooj rooftop lounge in Hamra, and acted as the official opening of Global Entrepreneurship Week Lebanon 2013, which Bader was also hosting.

The Web Summit is a global gathering of the world's leading thinkers and doers in technology. It hosts over tens of thousands of the brightest minds every year and allows people to network, meet with journalists and connect with potential investors. The Summit is without a doubt the most awaited event of the year by entrepreneurs and anyone with a great tech idea or business will benefit from attending in many ways.

Among the 10,000 other attendees arriving from the four corners of the world, the Arab world - despite all the political tensions reigning the region - was still represented by several startups coming from the Gulf, Middle East, and North Africa. From Lebanon, six startups attended the event of which three had a stand in the exhibition area.

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

Language, computer and other necessary business skills can decide on a person’s employability in today’s job market. Seeing the struggle and wanting to help the youth, Marwan Ziadat founded DarebniTV, a Jordanian based online vocational training portal that aims to empower the Arab youth employability with video-based Arabic content.

This October, AMIDEAST and Citi Foundation launched the third phase of the Arab Women’s Entrepreneurship Project (AWEP), designed to empower women entrepreneurs by providing them with the skills and techniques that will enable them to fully realize their economic potential and to allow them to benefit from networking and mentoring relationships that foster business success. The third round of AWEP will be offered in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco, with 20 women selected in each country.

The economic participation of women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is lower than anywhere else in the world. MENA women have limited access to financial and training services, and face far higher unemployment rates than men. Added to this are common perceptions and beliefs that women should not be the financial heads of households.

BMB, a leading provider of ICT solutions in Lebanon and the MENA region, recently unveiled its new corporate identity which provides a complete overhaul of the company brand.

With a new look and feel, namely a new logo, a new website, a new brand promise & more, BMB has successfully translated its core values that revolve around human centered intelligence.

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

Some people are often dependent on the Internet, and tend to find themselves wasting time searching for the ideal image to include on their website, blog post or even advertisement.

This article is provided by MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab

Parents often find themselves overwhelmed when balancing their family and work life, not to mention their daily errands and children’s after-school activities.

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

Ensuring that a business will work in the Arab region is tough, especially during times of political instability and tension. Yet, to some Lebanese entrepreneurs today, the prospects are more positive than they have ever been.

Article provided by: Coworking +961

Ecommerce is currently experiencing strong growth in the Middle East and a number of online shopping websites have emerged in the past few years.