UAE Entrepreneur : Aida Al Busaidy

She’s the latest successful entrepreneur of the week, co-founder of the “E7 Daughters of the Emirates” project. The project is a leadership program advanced by a community forum in the UAE, Promise of a Generation [POAG]. This project is a leading platform established to prepare young women of the ages 18 to 25 with the relevant skills to explore their talents and effectively deliver to the communities in the most positive and accurate way.

The E7 Daughters of the Emirates took off to a great start in April 2015, when a group of women from each of the UAE’S seven Emirates assembled in Dubai for the first yearly launching of the project.

“E7 stems out of POAG which established itself as an open majlis for all. In its second year, the format of E7 changed to have multiple mentors coaching multiple girls. It has seen a huge growth in young women who are being encouraged to take on more challenges, grow, change perspectives, and create something on their own,” Al- Busaidy says.

After an entire year of training, prudently coordinated groups of young women introduced their ideas about the project before a panel of judges, with the winners provided with guidance and support to deliver to the community as expected. Al- Busaidy’s says, “What we did discover is that there is a lack of mentorship in the region. The youth today need a support system that helps to boost their confidence,” she added. “We also realize that the youth today look more into social media to build their ideas or even promote them, and to create a holistic approach for a business proposition, in which every element from strategy and budgeting to marketing and resourcing plays an equally important role.”

The outstanding initiative recently progressed to its 2016 class where nine [9] winning projects received credit, funding from Emirates NBD.

According to Al-Busaidy, it takes hard work, patience, and good will to mould one to become a successful entrepreneur. She says, “Being an entrepreneur is not a win-win situation all the time. In order to win you need to falter a few times as well. Some of the well-known entrepreneurs started with nothing, working off a few loans out of a garage and at low cost to reach the first consumer.”

However, Al-Busaidy believes that there’s a future for entrepreneurs as the entrepreneurial disease is fast spreading. “Today, most people who consider becoming an entrepreneur already have a big support system, with family, money, education, a job, so they see success in all that. However, when it comes to starting a business, you do not see an immediate success, and that is the beauty of it. It is in constant learning because the market is always changing, consumers are finding new ways to purchase items. Do not let these things bother you. And finally, find a unique selling proposition. It might not seem successful today, but it will tomorrow.”

Further, Al Busaidy’s experience and opportunities extend beyond being the co-founder of the E7 project. After gaining a ten plus years’ experience in communications, she’s had the urge to build a successful career as a Senior Manager of stakeholder communications at the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing [DCTCM]. What’s more, she’s also joined an English publication known as “Sail Magazine”, as a developmental editor aiming to assist young writers and nurture their unique writing voice. This publication is exclusively written by Emiratis.

In the words of Al-Busaidy, “There is no such thing as work and life balance. Working should be something that fulfils you as a person, grows you as an individual, helps you as a member of the community, and enhances you to contribute to something bigger than yourself.”

To all those young adults aspiring to be entrepreneurs, turn your twinkle into a shine and follow the entrepreneurial season. With the leading examples of successful entrepreneurs like Aida Al-Busaidy, the sky isn’t the limit because she inspires you to go beyond the clouds!

Afghanistan: Empowering Women Using Technology

The entire generation of youth in Afghanistan deserves to gain control over their futures says Roya Mahboob, chief executive of Afghan Citadel Software. When she first sighted a computer at age 16, Roya Mahboob knew she wanted to build a career in technology. In 2010, she became the first tech chief executive in Afghanistan, at age 23. She also founded Afghan Citadel Software (ACS) with the aim of involving more women in her country’s growing technology business.

She recalls growing up in Afghanistan saying, “We are not thinking, we are not supposed to do critical thinking”.

Mahboob was born in Iran to Afghan parents as one of seven children. Her parents had travelled to Iran during the Soviet invasion, and after the fall of the Taliban government, they travelled back to Afghanistan. That was where she began her university studies and learned English.

She founded ACS along with her sister Elaha. She believes that digital literacy can give women a voice in the global conversations, and that it can also open doors for skills and financial independence.

Recalling an incident, she narrates the day when she and a friend walked into an Internet café. A lot of the men stared at them because they were the only two women in the room, but she did not let this bother her. Henceforth, she immersed herself into the world of technology, and never looked back.

“I saw the incredible power of social media and technology in my life, and I saw how it connected me to the world, and that I could work from home, and grow my business,” Mahboob says.

She continues to explain that Afghanistan is male dominated, and that women are not allowed to do social things. They mostly stay indoors and interact with family members and close friends. She describes the women in Afghanistan as being given a “very narrow vision” of the world, and that technology and the internet are the door to the rest of the world.

Mahboob relates the numerous obstacles she faced in Afghanistan’s conservative society when she started Afghan Citadel. Among them was lack of trust from people because they were women. “They didn’t trust us, did not know what IT was, or wanted to pay us less. They put spies on my walls, they threatened the women not to work with me, they threatened me …”

After her futile attempt to find business locally, she devised an alternative strategy. Through social media, she contacted different international companies, asking if they wanted to outsource services in Afghanistan run by women only. Through this, she expanded her network and met Francesco Rulli, an Italian businessman and philanthropist based in New York. With his help, she founded Digital Citizen Fund (DCF), a non-profit company that helps women and girls in developing countries gain access to technology.

DCF has successfully built 11 Technology Centres in 11 schools, two stand-alone Media & Innovation centres and has trained 8,000 female students in digital literacy. Currently, they are planning to expand their program to Mexico and train 5,000 more girls.

In 2014, Mahboob was forced to leave Afghanistan because of the constant threats she received, which also put her family in danger. She is now based in New York, but still keeps close tabs to her projects and the girls and women she is teaching through her technology innovations.

She also mentioned that she and other women are developing a software called Edy Edy, a system that will connect schools and business. The aim of this system would be to grant the pupils practical training and apply skills that will make them employable in the private sector.

She believes that technology will lead the way to a better future, and says that her mission is to empower Afghan women and children through digital literacy, and connect them to a “world beyond their borders”.

Iranian Businessman: Omid R. Kordestani Profile

Bio

Born: 1963, Tehran, Iran

Residence: Atherton, California, United States

Organization founded: PARSA Community Foundation

Education: Stanford Graduate School of Business, San Jose State University

Omid R. Kordestani is an Iranian-American businessman and founder of the PARSA Community Foundation.

Mr. Kordestani has been the Executive Chairman of Twitter since October 2015. A few years ago, he was Senior Vice President, the Chief Business Officer, and a special advisor to the CEO and founders at Google from 2014 to October 2015. In addition, to all these top positions, Omar was also a Non-executive Director at Vodafone from March 2014 to October 2014. In May 1999, he was a Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations till April 2009.

Early life

Born in Tehran, Iran, Omar Kordestani grew up attending a Catholic school where the main emphasis was on education and language skills. When he turned 14, young Omid moved to San Jose, California after the tragic death of his father.

Career

Omar Kodestani has more than a dozen years of high-technology consumer and enterprise experience whilst attending San Jose State University including key positions at Internet Pioneer Netscape Communications. During his years at the communications agency, he became the vice president of Business Development and Sales and contributed immensely towards the development and expansion of Netscape’s website revenue from an annual income rate of $88 million to a staggering $200 million just within 18 months.

Mr. Kodestani started his career at Netscape as the director of OEM Sales, and just after four years, he was promoted and was responsible for establishing major customer relationships with Citibank, Intel, Amazon, Intuit, Travelocity, @Home, eBay, and Excite. Above all, Omar still held positions in marketing, product management and business development st the 3DO Company, Hewlett-Packard and Go Corporation. In May 1999, he joined Google and he controlled the development and implementation of the company’s initial business model.

Mr. Kodestani was also the Senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations until he left Google in April 2009. His work was highly appreciated by Google as he played a huge role in their worldwide revenue generation efforts as well as their daily operations.

In June 2014, Mr. Kordestani returned to Google with the sole aim to fill the vacancy of Chief Business at Google after Nikesh Arora, who ironically replaced Omar when he left Google back in April 2009.

Later in October 2015, Kordestani left Google again and became Executive Chairman at Twitter.

Anousheh Ansari: First Female Private Space Explorer & Entrepreneur

Anousheh Ansari caught the world’s attention on September 18, 2006, for being the first female private space explorer in history. She earned a place in history being the fourth private explorer to ever visit space and the first Iranian astronaut to do so.

Ms. Ansari is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, which is a company striving for the availability of the internet to all consumers and to dramatically alter and simplify consumers’ digital living experience. It is a leader in providing the platforms for the internet of things, making household products and appliances connected to the internet and therefore “smart”. She served as a co-founder and chairman of Telecom Technology, Inc. Later in the year 2000, the company merged with Sonus Networks, Inc because both parties believed they’d maximize profits if they joined forces.

Business career

Anousheh Ansari had a life-long dream of becoming an astronaut, as well as becoming an entrepreneur. With the help of her husband Hamid Ansari, and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, she managed to pool their resources and savings in pursuit to launch her own company named Telecom Technologies, in 1993.

Telecom Technologies is a company that supplied Softswitch technology and enabled telecom “service providers to enhance system performance, lower operating costs and furnish new revenue opportunities.”

Their main headquarters is located in Richardson, Texas, offering a variety of products enabling integration between existing legacy telecom networks and application-centric, next generation networks via switch software technology. In 2001, the company was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc in a stock-for-stock transaction worth 10.8 million shares of Sonus stock. Prior to Telecom Networks, Anousheh Ansari became the vice president of Sonus and general manager of Sonus’ new INtelligentIP division. She remained in that position as of March 2001.

In 2006, Ms. Ansari co-founded Prodea Systems and is the current chairman and CEO.

Anousheh and her family provided title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, which was a cash award worth up to $10 million with the sole aim to help drive commercialization of the space industry.

Ms. Ansari is currently a member of the X Prize Foundation’s Vision Circle, as well as its Board of Trustees. She is a life member of the Association of Space Explorers and on the advisory board of the Teacher’s in Space project.

Due to her numerous contributions towards society, she has received several awards including the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, the Working Woman’s National Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, George Washington University’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, George Mason University’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Southwest Region.

Upon its initiation, Telecom Technologies has been under her leadership and supervision and has earned recognition as one of Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies and Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 technology companies.

She currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally, with organizations such as X Prize, ASHOKA, and the PARSA Community Foundation.

Currently, she’s working towards ensuring that social entrepreneurs are able to bring about radical change globally, with the help and support of great organizations such as X Prize, ASHOKA, and the PARSA Community Foundation.

Objectives

Anousheh has always dreamed of traveling to space, and while she is extremely excited to realize this dream, she is also focused on sharing her experience with others. Her main objective for this mission is to become a Space Ambassador and help to bring the space travel experience to others.

As a Space Ambassador, she acts as a messenger to create public awareness and stimulate grassroots enthusiasm about the virtues of space exploration, including inspiring youths, especially girls, around the world to pursue their dreams and to promote peace and understanding amongst nations as the world’s first Space Ambassador.