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Yea that’s right, MENA wins Global Startup Battle!

YallaStartup Weekend is one Weekend to remember, it was our first but certainly not our last! The amount of energy passion and talent was unbelievable, more than 200 people showed on up on Friday to pitch ideas and form teams. Teams got formed with people from various skills backgrounds but most importantly various nationalities. The weekend ended on Sunday evening with more than 30 startups created in just 2 days! Yes, it was an intense high energy but fun and productive Weekend!

We will write other posts summarizing the event and list all the amazing startups but first we want to share that WE WON GLOBAL STARTUP BATTLE!

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Creative Commons comes to Beirut on October 25!

Creative Commons is finally coming to Lebanon and we are super excited about it.  Joi Ito and Larry Lessig one of the two most prominent names in the history of the internet will be speaking live at AUB on the 25th! Make sure you don’t miss this one in a life time oppotunity to mingle with the Internet Wizards! On the same night there will be a very fun Creative Commons Salon party in Karaj Beirut.

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First YallaStartup Weekend! Spend a weekend like no other and build something awesome!

Many great companies started as a weekend project and we want you to be next! If you are passionate about building great things and are up for a fun intense weekend then YallaStartup Weekend is for you.

StartupWeekend is a famous event that has taken place in 54 cities in the US and around the world and we are bringing it to Beirut on November 12, 13 and 14 at Berytech. The weekend is a hands-on event that encourages out of the box creative thinking and startup creation. The idea is very simple, you join us on the first day of the weekend with a group of highly motivated developers, product, marketing, graphic and business guys and girls together, you team up, decide on an idea, code and deliver a prototype on Sunday. During the weekend, VCs and experts will be spending walking around the venue and giving some short talks in the hope of scouting the next big thing! Winning teams will receive prizes and recognition on YallaStartup and our press partners.

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YallaStartub invests $8.6 Million in Arabic voice technology

YallaStartub is broud to announce its first investment in a stealth voice technology startub and comes only after a few month of launching. The startub develobs voice technologies to track, analyze and enhance Arabic accents. For examble the technology detects “b”s and replace them with “p”s so that “Oben Source” becomes “Open Source”.  The hobe is to bridge the cultural gab between the east and the west and allow petter ease of communication. The technology will also helb beoble from Arabic countries to communicate with each others for example it will translate “Shekhbaresh” into “shoo fi ma fi” or “Malek ya habebti?” …

Update: More on this ground breaking technology here !

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SXSW Texas is about to get some Hummus flavor

Howdy y’all, YallaStartup is heading to Austin Texas to represent the Middle Eastern startup community at SXSW!

SXSW is one of the hottest, and biggest conferences in the US around Film, Music and Interactive Media. For the first time this year there will be panel on Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and YallaStartup will be taking part of it. The panel will take place on March 14 at 9:30am and will discuss the state of digital entrepreneurship, obstacles, opportunities and success stories.

If you happen to be at SXSW, pass by say “howdy y’all” and make sure to cheer us. If you are not around, feel free to give us ideas and thoughts to talk about by commenting below, tweeting, emailing, texting, buzzing, yamlifying, foursquaring or even pigeon posting (unless the pigeon gets shot down by our Texan hosts).

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Google’s Blogger.com wiz Siobhan Quinn to answer your questions! Yalla ask the expert


“Ask the Expert”
is part of an ongoing series of Q&A sessions with industry experts where you, our readers, are given the opportunity to have your questions answered.

Our next “Ask the expert” series will be with Google Product Manager, Siobhan Quinn. Siobhan is responsible for one of largest web properties in the world, Blogger.com. She is excited about the region and has offered to share her expertise with you. Now it is up to you to ask her the hard questions.

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YallaStartup as a Global Redesign Initiative

We are very excited to let everyone know that YallaStartup has been selected to be part of the Global Redesign Initiative by the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum. This means that as a initiative and a community we will have access to some amazing people who will help us in our mission.

This great honour was only made possible by the support of the great MENA entrepreneurial community and  will help raise the awareness and importance of entrepreneurship in the MENA. We as individuals, entrepreneurs and leaders need to take this issue head on, not because it is just good, but because it is a critical component for our future prosperity and stability.

The journey is just starting but it looks pretty exciting so far so YallaStartup!

Please visit our GRI page and endorse our work!

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About The Forum of Young Global Leaders
Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multistakeholder community of the world’s most extraordinary young leaders who dedicate a part of their time to jointly address global challenges and who are committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future. Together the Young Global Leaders work to discover innovative solutions to today’s most pressing problems through various initiatives and workstreams as well as catalysing the next generation of leaders.

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About The World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. (www.weforum.org)