Back from ArabNet

Hibr is back from the first day of ArabNetME, a conference focusing on entrepreneurship in the emerging web industry in the Arab world. The venue was the huge (3500 m2) Emirates Hall at the Habtoor Grand Hotel Convention Center. A good thing too, as the place was packed. <link to pics?>

The conference had various panels populated by an impressive array of panelists who brought their expertise either as investors or as tried and true entrepreneurs themselves. The first panel discussed the ecosystem required for new, tech savvy, entrepreneurs. This is a critical issue in Lebanon since relevant infrastructure is often lacking. The second brought various angel investors and venture capitalists as well as their priceless advice for the region’s young entrepreneurs. The third and final panel focused on E-commerce: the hurdles it faces and the advantages it provides.

Another perhaps less traditional aspect of the conference was the Ideathon and the Startup demo. The aptly named Ideathon was a series of two to three minute presentations by ten different entrepreneurs, promoting their startup ideas and looking for funding. The startup demos were longer, sitting at around eight minutes each, presented by entrepreneurs who reached a more advanced stage in the building of their startups, and again pitching their work to potential investors.

For many, the biggest value the conference presented was opening up the potential for networking. Many startups were connected to investors and vice versa. Entrepreneurs were connected to peers, some learned of technologies that complemented their own which opened up the potential for collaboration.

This, in addition to inspiring, motivating, and giving invaluable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, further increased the significance of ArabNet. It can confidently be said that such ventures are a step in the right direction both in pushing Lebanon and the region to the forefront of Internet technology as well as in breathing life into a new generation of entrepreneurs. After all, there is a huge untapped market in the MENA region, and as we saw today, there is definitely no shortage neither of skills nor of motivation, be it from the technical or the business side.

Despite some internet connectivity issues for many attendees, there was an impressive amount of twitter coverage (constantly displayed on a big screen as a stream) as well a constant live stream of the conference at http://live.arabnet.me. This also included relevant sketches that were drawn on location by the talented Maya Zankoul.  #ArabNetME was even a globally twitter trending topic for a while, quite an impressive feat.

Before the day went to a close with a Gala dinner, there was a pleasant change of pace brought by the local twestival group whose cause for the night was helping funding girls’ education in poor countries.

The schedule for the second day can be found here: http://www.arabnet.me/schedule.php and the event can be followed live.