Jordan-based Oasis500 held its 8th angel network event during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), a leading event for innovation, entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized businesses across the Middle East and Africa, held in Dubai.
 
A premier early stage and seed investment company in the Mena region, Oasis500 said it hosted the event at the GES in an effort to build a culture for early stage investment in the region.

The event provided 10 promising start-ups from Jordan with a platform to pitch their business ideas in front of potential angel investors from across the Middle East and the world. The 10 chosen entrepreneurs have previously taken part in previous Oasis500 Boot Camps that offered intensive training workshops and professional guidance.

These fast-growth and investment-ready entrepreneurial start-ups were from across the Information and Communications Technology (ICT), digital media and mobile technologies sectors, said the Amman-based firm.
 
The start-ups that pitched their ideas included: Gallery Al Sharq, a website that sells oriental media services such as images, sound effects and videos; Jamalon.com, an online portal that sells both Arabic and English books; and Sajilni.com, an event discovery platform and e-ticketing engine for all types of occasions. Also presenting their ideas were: Gweet, the first online service in the Middle East that provides a regional network of alternative accommodation for rent; Zaytouneh, a digital library of high quality short cooking videos; and Shopgo.me, an e-commerce platform developed to establish e-stores at affordable prices across the Mena region.

Arabiaweddings.com, a comprehensive bilingual e-commerce website that caters to Jordan and the Arab World’s wedding industry; Feesheh, the first online store in the Middle East offering a wide range of music instruments and equipment at competitive prices; Littlethinkingminds.com, which produces educational multimedia products such as applications, DVDs, CDs and flash cards for children; and Abjjad.com, a social network for book enthusiasts that allows avid readers to create reading lists and share book reviews and recommendations with friends, were amongst the start-ups that participated in the angel network event.

Dr Usama Fayyad, the chairman of Oasis500 and former executive VP and chief data officer of Yahoo! Inc. partook in two discussion panels entitled Incubating Innovation: Structuring a Sustainable Ecosystem for Tech Startups, as well as Ever Failed? Fail Again. Fail Better. Turn Failures into Fortunes.

“Holding our 8th Angel Network Event during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Dubai has added great value to our efforts to support entrepreneurship in Jordan and across the region. We were impressed by the presentations of our 10 promising Jordanian start-ups and believe that they are great models for innovation and undeterred ambition that deserve an expanded network of support from the region and the world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service