Pamella de Leon | Page 9

Interested in an inventive look at Dubai's culinary scene? Co-founders and sisters Arva Ahmed and Farida Ahmed launched Frying Pan Adventures (FPA) to offer culinary tours around old Dubai with authentic food and cultural experiences in the city.

In March this year, Q&A website Quora announced its acquisition of the startup, with Parlio's founding team and operations joining Quora too.

Sweden has become the first country to roll out its own phone number­- and it's for anyone in the world to dial up and talk about anything to a citizen or resident in the country.

Orange Jordan, a telecom company providing integrated communications services in the Kingdom, has announced the launch of Business Innovation Growth (BIG), an accelerator program for growth stage Jordanian startups for entrepreneurs.

Anna Bolton-Riley and Annabelle Fitzsimmons launched Little Majlis, an online community and e-commerce boutique platform for art, edibles, and craft and design products from GCC-based brands and independent artists and designers.

At Wamda's 2016 Mix N' Mentor event in Cairo in March, online gateway PayFort announced the launch of its regional fintech accelerator Fintech Factory.

Staying true to its founding roots of educating children, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization that brought Sesame Street to the screens, has introduced Sesame Ventures, a venture capital arm that will invest in startups geared towards children's educative products and services.

In early February, 16 entrepreneurs graduated from MTB Startup School 2016, an acceleration program from the partnerships between Mind the Bridge (MTB), its MENA partner Kuwait's Brilliant Lab, Kuwait's Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, Zain Group, IE Business School, Al Hamra Kuwait, and Gatehouse Capital.

Perhaps you already know of his hospitality ventures, but now Raed Dabbous has another enterprise up his sleeve: Bespoke Ride, a bicycle studio and endurance center.

A year after raising US$500,000 in its seed round with angel investors and individual investors, ChefXChange, an online platform to search and hire chefs locally for private or corporate events, is back raising $2 million for its Series A round.

Boxit can't provide the emotional space the title might suggest, but the company can, however, connect people seeking extra storage space with credible logistic companies with just the click of a button.

While they may be only 16 years of age, IB students Zaid Amer Rahhal and Mazen Rid Hashem are no strangers to the entrepreneurial itch.

Mobility and convenience is a strong factor in the luxury online market, and The Luxury Closet, an e-commerce marketplace for authentic high-end pre-owned items at discounted price, is banking on this trend.

Teach Me Now founder Thea Myhrvold talks about Infiniti Middle East's first speed pitching session and establishing her educational tech platform.

If Theeb wins at this year's Oscars, it will be the first Arab film to be awarded an Academy Award.

The founder and CEO says that the core motivation behind her startup, which connects street sellers with consumers, was to try and meet the challenge of creating a stable consumer base for those forced to turn to touristic, traffic-heavy streets to sell their wares in cities around the world that are rife with economic challenges.

Instead of going for the usual funding routes taken by startups in the Middle East region, Artscoops chose another option to grow its business: crowdinvesting.

Corporate gifting this holiday season? We suggest supporting local entrepreneurs by sending over a lux gourmet basket guaranteed to please your professional associates.

ArabNet CEO and founder, Omar Christidis on the KSA entrepreneurial ecosystem and what's ahead of the ArabNet Riyadh 2015.

Vaniday founder and Managing Director Vera Futorjanski says that while there's an on-demand booking app for "virtually every kind of product or service," there was a gap in the market when it came to discovering and booking beauty and wellness services- which is now filled by her app.

Whether you're a great detective or a mediocre one, your team will surely love the adrenaline rush.

In a region where directions are a major hassle since addresses are often too difficult to locate (or in some cases, may not exist at all), Fetchr has found its window of opportunity.

Squash champion Raneem El Welily says it's not just the hours that you put in toward your goal, but "what you work on, how well you manage your weak points, and how you work on improving them."

Dubai Internet City's tech incubation hub in5 center, brought together developers, coders and designers for the third edition of Decode Dubai.

Startup ChefXChange offers food enthusiasts an online platform to search for chefs who'll cook for you, manage everything from the menu to the grocery shopping, and even the washing up.

With this year's focus on the travel and the fintech sectors, the Switzerland-based startup contest held its Middle East regional event, Seedstars Dubai, at The Cribb in September.

Founded in India in 2008, and subsequently launching in the UAE in 2012, Zomato, the restaurant discovery platform now present in 22 countries, is keen for more.

The founders of the café, who are all aged between 24 and 25 years old and are currently pursuing Master's degrees, bootstrapped and set up their homegrown concept in Dubai's JLT neighborhood at the end of February this year.

It was with curiosity, a bit of anxiety and excitement that the Entrepreneur Middle East editorial staff entered The Explorers Library room (one of the three Escape Quest challenges).

Rukun Gallery wants you to see how materials are manipulated and hopefully, "transform our preconceived notions of the way they behave."