On Thursday and Friday, Beirut will host the largest and most significant gathering of web industry leaders ever to take place in the Arab world. 40 top-notch speakers, 11 supporting partners, 18 media partners including The Next Web Middle East, 35 startups, 50 ideas, 25 ambassadors, and over 300 decision makers will gather on March 25 & 26 at the Habtoor Grand Hotel to network and discuss emerging opportunities in Arab web business.
The Next Web Middle East will be at ArabNet to keep you up-to-speed with the developments as they take place. I will be also moderating the Social Networking panel, so bring on your suggested questions and we’ll try to address them.
ArabNet’s unique conference format integrates the audience in candid talks between global giants (including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Nokia, Intel, Cisco) and regional powerhouses (including Aramex, Jabbar Group, Bayt, anf Al Jazeera).
With 8 comprehensive panels, each featuring 6 experts from the Arab World, Europe, and Silicon Valley, participants will discover cutting-edge trends in Social Media, Content, Online Advertising, Mobile, Gaming, E-commerce, Startup Financing, and the Ecosystem as a whole. Speakers include Samih Toukan, founder of Maktoob.com, acquired by Yahoo for over $150M; Russell Buckley, VP of Global Alliances at AdMob and Global Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association; Ghassan Haddad, Director of Internationalization at Facebook; Wael Ghonim, Marketing and Product Manager, MENA, Google; and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chair of UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
ArabNet is dedicated to nurturing the Arab Internet ecosystem. Day one, March 25th 2010, will feature two exclusive competitions highlighting web entrepreneurship in the Arab World: 1) the Startup Demo, sponsored by Aramex, showcasing 10 of the region’s most promising Internet startups and 2) the Ideathon, sponsored by Google, starring 10 of the region’s most innovative web business ideas. Over 50 ideas & 35 startups have been submitted for consideration from across the region.
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