startup
IN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH TAMKEEN
JULY 2013 005
Bahrain
Special Ramadan Issue
A Bahraini Franchise
Opening opportunities for growth
Take advantage of Tamkeen’s Career Progression Programme which works with employers to provide career development opportunities for their Bahraini employees and help increase productivity. Tamkeen will cover the Training Needs Analysis fees, training costs and will subsidise salary increases for up to a period of 24 months for eligible employees.
Advantage for employers: • Improves Bahraini employees’ skills and employee retention rate • Increases productivity of the employees • Covers training costs • Subsidises pay increase up to 24 months
Advantage for employees: • Improves skills for career growth • Eligible for a pay increase ranging from BD 50 to BD 100 • Receive expert guidance to climb up the corporate ladder Call now or visit: Tamkeen Career Progression Office 3rd Floor, Nuetel Building, Amwaj Islands. Tel: 17 383333, Fax: 16 030422 e-Mail: info.cpp@tamkeen.bh
Follow TamkeenBahrain
www.tamkeen.bh
CONTENTS
Tap on a topic to go to it
Features
Bahrain
Tamkeen opens ‘One Stop Shop’
Maya la chocolaterie, A Bahraini franchise
Entrelab, the Entrepreneurs Showcase
QuranWorks, The holy Quran in the digital age
Advice
Resources
Feedme, I am Bahraini Lessons from Vimto Consistency is King
Websites We Like Gadgets Debrief APPS Debrief
The Island’s Tangled Web
Worldwide The Zappos Way Oprah Winefrey
An Exclusive interview with the founder of
StartupBahrain team was truly honored to meet with Ms. Sonya Janahi, the lady entrepreneur behind Maya le Chocolaterie. Ms. Janahi is a true role model for all young and ambitious entrepreneurs. Our interview with her reveals a lot of her success recipe and secrets to starting a business and growing it beyond the local boundaries. Ms. Janahi, tell us a bit about Maya La Chocolaterie ? Prior to starting Maya La Chocolaterie, I spent years in the banking industry and wanted to start a concept which is both fun and unique. Like many, my passion for chocolate, and specifically dark chocolate drove me to visit and admire some of the most renowned chocolatiers in Europe, leaving me mesmerized in a chocolate heaven. This same love and passion for chocolate is what drove me to start, manage and enjoy this incredibly exciting venture; the art of chocolate and baking. Date Pie - A Ramadan Special
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What’s behind the name “Maya” ? A lot of people think “Maya” is the name of a girl, while in reality the name comes from the Mayan tribe who discovered and used choco beans thousands of years ago. What are your plans for Ramadan? Ramadan has always been a special month for us at Maya La Chocolaterie and Maya Delices. All our shops in Bahrain and abroad will have a special Ramadan theme. We are introducing 3 new items for Ramadan; Ramadan mousse, chocolate rangeena and a date pie. In addition to our special ‘Gerga3on’ collections, as well as catering for Ramadan ‘Ghabgahs’ and ‘majalis’.
The ‘Gerga3on’ Collection
How did you expand your business beyond Bahain ? Franchising the business was the first item on our agenda of the Maya business strategy, right from the planning phase, with of course the vision of an IPO future. We were very well prepared and consulted with key experts in franchising. It was extremely important for us to make Bahrain a great success to help us with our plans and we were successful at that. Unfortunately, the consultation was mainly from international parties, as it was difficult to acquire local expertise without divulging the details of the concept and facing the threat of Plagiarism, specially that we have a limitation to experts in artisan chocolate and dessert production which lacks additives and preservatives. Page 3/6
We received our first franchisee application after just 3 months of opening the Bahrain shop, and this confirmed that we are on the right track. It was one of our Khaleeji customers who has extreme passion for the concept. Today, we have branches in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon. We are also in discussion with investors in the US, UK, North Africa and Asia. Since our initiation in 2007, we have successfully managed to on average open 3 franchised locations per year, and all out of Bahrain. Chocolate Mousse
What were the biggest challenges you encountered? Funding was one of the biggest challenges specially when creating and developing a brand at an international level from inception. We started this business using our own personal savings and acquiring personal loans. Despite the times we applied for funding from local banks including the ones that cater to small and medium businesses, we were turned down, as we were considered as a major risk! Not only that, but some of the banks actually took our ideas and instead of funding a venture capital project, they started competing by franchising foreign brands and introducing it in Bahrain! Such situations challenged us Page 4/6
more and pushed our determination to create a success story, as we believe in our concept, its uniqueness and its future prospect. Another challenge is the absence of a regulation, which protects business owners from employees who resign and give away your trade secrets. Although we have a clear clause in our employment contracts which protects us in this regard, in reality no law or regulation in Bahrain supports us as the business owners to control such situations. What do you think of the entrepreneurship support programs and Bahrain and have you benefited from any of them? Unfortunately not. We tried to apply for a number of the support programs offered by Tamkeen but we could not get any because of an administrative issue where our address could not be accepted by the ‘system’. We have 3 businesses, which share the same building and address, and this seems to be ‘un-processable’. We are also not convinced with the fact that businesses are being treated equally. This just does not help the economy in any way. We initiate ideas, develop news concepts and export products out of Bahrain, this means we are contributing to the country’s GDP. Does it make sense for us to be treated just like businesses that import and resell foreign products? We don’t think so. What has been the biggest rewards of having your own business? I would say self-satisfaction and impact. Self-satisfaction justifies your theory and makes you a stronger person, while impact shows you the effect of your hard work on your team, economy, and even customers. Having our own business also gives us the opportunity to contribute back to the community through joint programs and campaigns with Page 5/6
various charity organizations in Bahrain. Every member of Maya has an obligation to give back to the community, as we owe our success to the community, to our customers. What’s your advice to young entrepreneurs? Never give up and think BIG! You are bound to make mistakes, and it’s such mistakes that makes you a better and stronger leader. Be creative and have faith in whatever you do. Lead a strong team who will be committed and have passion for your vision. A lot of people might put you down and have doubts in what you do. Use such negativity to push your determination to create a success story. Such obstacles should never break your vision and belief in what you do; instead it should make you indestructible and aim for bigger success stories. Entrepreneurship is not a rosy journey, it’s actually full of obstacles and challenges, but the taste of success is exquisite.
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Interview by Ahmed AlSawafiri
QuranWorks is a technology and new media company founded with the purpose to present and share the Quran in a manner relevant to the digital age.
Most of us acquire certain helpful tools to simplify our daily lives, but only a few take on the challenge of building those essential tools. That was the case with Bahraini social entrepreneur Fahad Sarwani, who decided to join hands with Osama Osman from Chicago and Aqil Ahmed from Dubai to build QuranWorks which could possibly have a significant impact on millions of people across the globe. Quran In The Digital Age QuranWorks is an app for mobile devices that aims at introducing the Quran into the digital age by providing unprecedented access to it and its meanings through original content and innovative tools across all platforms and offering millions of users across the world an experience with the Quran like never before. It did to the Quran what GPS did to traditional maps transforming it from a two-dimensional book to a three-dimensional interactive multimedia encyclopedia with advanced functionalities and original content relevant to our times. An App To Fill The Gap Before embarking on the journey of building this amazing app, the Page 2/5
Snapshot of the iPad app - Tap on the image to grap the app
team did an extensive research of all the current Quran apps in the market across all platforms including Apple iOS and Android. The conclusion was lack of innovation, poor design and user interface, irrelevant content and low functionality. The reason was mainly due to the fact that most of these efforts were made by part-time software developers and programmers with good intentions but limited resources and lack of knowledge and experience of new media and content creation. All they did was make the Quran conveniently available for readers on their devices. There was so much more that could be done and QuranWorks saw the opportunity. QuranWords In order to create this amazing interplay of relevant content and excellent software, QuranWorks segmented the entire Quran into surah, verse, word and syllable levels. This complicated and lengthy segmentation process enabled the team to recently launch a unique feature in the app for the first time ever called QuranWords. This feature gives the user instant access to the meaning of every single word of the Page 3/5
Quran with a single tap. The current features give you five options in the English language to choose from which include basic translation, transliteration, grammar, morphology, and root word meaning. Future plans include adding all other common languages such as Arabic, Malaysian, Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Indonesian, and other European languages. Current Features -QuranWords -Audio recitations -Library of Tafsirs & Translations -Library font control -Dual Column Study Comparison -Powerful Search Engine -Beautiful Madani Mus’haf -Unique Page Curl effect -Page & Verse Bookmarks -Notes -Index (Surah, Juz’, Hizb) -Unique page scroll on footer -Arabic & English interface -Available for iOS and Android devices
Snapshot of the upcoming mobile version (iPhone & Android)
Upcoming Features -Enhanced library with over 50 Tafsirs and Quran related books. -Translated content in many other languages -Video and Audio Commentary and Explanations (Tafsirs) -Topical and Theme index search -Reading history and planner -Khatm services in collaboration with Facebook Page 4/5
-Multi-user login -Quran Chronology -QuranMiracles: Extensive multimedia library of scientific and linguistic miracles of the Quran Business Model QuranWorks is not just an app. It’s a beautiful Mus’haf, an interactive multimedia library and a complete personal tutor. And it’s all absolutely FREE. The team has made this tool free for everyone to maximize the general benefit and impact on people’s lives. The project is to be funded through a unique sponsorship gifting model. Potential sponsors such as individuals, families and institutions can purchase the app on behalf of the end users at a wholesale price and gift it to the users for free. So what’s in it for the sponsors? When you first download the app, a cover Ihda’ (Gift) page will appear with the gift message, which could be in the name of a beloved deceased family member, a gift from an institution as part of its community service or an anonymous gift in return for a continuous reward or sadaqa jariya that will remain on the device in perpetuity. There will be a self-service gifting option within the app in the near future, but if you are interested in gifting the app to users right now you can send an email to Gift@QuranWorks.com
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Resources
WEBSITES WE LIKE By Mohamed Isa. Tap the next or back arrows to browse the sites Tap on the snapshot to visit the site
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< saletab.com Saletab.com is a great online shopping website located in Saudi Arabia. The site offers a huge variety of gadgets and smartphones that are hard to find in local markets for prices that are cheaper than local vendors and sometimes cheaper than other international sites. Saletab can ship your items to you within days to Bahrain and complements your experience with warranty services and supports through multiple channels. Great start for this region.
Resources
APPS DEBRIEF By Mohamed Isa. click the next or back arrows to browse the apps click on the app itself to grab it from the apps store
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< Rise Alarm Clock (iOS) USD 1.99
There’s nothing wrong with default iOS alarm, but once you try Rise, you’ll never use the stock one again. Navigating the gesture-based interface is smooth and added features deliver a great value. What’s really missing is Siri integration.
Resources
Gadgets Debrief By Mohamed Isa. Tap on a gadget to read the review
Blackberry Q10 The Q10 is Blackberryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to regain their dwindling customer base recently lost to Android and iOS. The device comes right after the decent Z10, but features a full physical QWERTY keyboard along with the new operating system BB10. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perfect for Blackberry addicts is that there are no changes to the physical design of the keyboard, in addition to the various enhancements brought by the refreshed gesture based interface. Perfect for exciting Bold owners, but nowhere compelling to users of other smartphones.
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