Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, plans to feature a number of audio books onboard its fleet in collaboration with the Bahrain-based AlRawi Audio Books.

The diverse collection of Arabic audio books will include various genres such as novels, management, education, self-development and children books ranging from 50 minutes to a few hours recording time that will entertain passengers in short, medium and long-haul flights. With this aspiring step, AlRawi Audio Books will soar with Gulf Air in its quest to revive reading in the Arab world.

Gulf Air’s deputy chief executive officer said: “We are happy to support Bahraini businesses and entrepreneurs and we are proud to feature AlRawi audio books on our in-flight entertainment system. This will promote Arabic literature to cater to many passengers and will provide another option to be entertained and learn at the same time during flights.”

AlRawi is an innovative technology-based cultural project that was launched from Bahrain with an aspiration for global reach out. It aims to stimulate reading in modern and innovative ways by converting traditional printed books into audible books in the authors’ voices or the voices of professional narrators. This has been achieved by developing a modern digital application and platform to invade the virtual world and enable everyone to buy, listen to and enjoy books while in their waiting periods or while commuting by car or at any other time where the books will be accessible to all.

“It is a great privilege for our startup to be onboard Gulf Air,” AlRawi CEO Mohamed Ebrahim said in a statement. “This is a great achievement for our startup and a crucial step for us to reach global audience and fly towards our vision. Gulf Air’s embrace of AlRawi is a great testimony to Bahrain’s fertile land for entrepreneurship and builds on the great support provided to the startup community by Tamkeen, Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (EDB) and Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Tourism," he said.

AlRawi is an award-winning audio book application and platform developed and cofounded by three Bahraini entrepreneurs - Hala Sulaiman, Ameera AlQubaiti and Mohamed Ebrahim. AlRawi recently won the People’s Choice Award at the Pitch@Palace Global 3.0  held in St. James Palace, London, UK.  Pitch@Palace was founded and held under the auspices of the Duke of York HRH Prince Andrew. Also, in January 2018, AlRawi was awarded the Mohamed bin Rashed Award for Young Business Leaders as the best Startup in the Arab World. - TradeArabia News Service