'Fatooosh' the 20th Team to Qualify for this Years's MIT Semi-finalist Round
This story is provided by MIT Enterprise Forum - Pan-Arab Region.
Emirati “FatoooshTV” has been selected as one of the semi-finalist teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region Start-Up Competition for the Start-up Track
FatoooshTV is a social video platform that localizes video experiences for users and offers video content specifically tailored for Arabic audiences in multiple screens. Fatooosh allows users to seamlessly follow their favorite videos via desktop computers, tablets, mobile phones or Smart TVs by allowing users to personalize web content through FatoooshTv’s web and mobile applications.
Idea Inspiration
“Arab users spend a lot of time watching videos online, in Saudi Arabia alone there are 140 million daily YouTube hits. This number alone indicated that there was a high demand for online videos however when we analyzed the market we realized that there weren’t any companies offering video services specifically tailored to the Arab user. This made me thinking and I began to share my ideas with 4 of my colleagues all of whom believed that we should initiate change.” Says Ahmad Barqawi the C.E.O of FatoooshTV.
“The whole idea started out two years ago where my teammates and I would regularly meet after work in coffee shops to discuss and plan our business and entrepreneurial ideas. It took us a while before we took the leap of faith and decided to start our own company but eventually we did it. We quit our jobs and here we are today creating products that we hope will affect people’s lives.” Continues Ahmad.
Videos on Demand
FatoooshTV is a social video on demand application where users can watch their favorite shows and videos anytime anywhere, it provides online video content tailored specifically for Arab viewers. FatoooshTV personalizes web content in way that videos by giving the user the ability to watch videos on multiple Smart devices simultaneously. The company’s staff overlook each and every video uploaded in order to ensure that the highest content quality is delivered to users.
Videos are categorized into Entertainment, Comedy and TV and users can share content with friends through social networking channels such as Facebook, receive Push Notifications on selected programs, rate videos, create a 'Favorites' list, and view the Top 10 videos. Fatooosh also allows subscribers to suggest specific videos to add and report content they see as inappropriate. FatoooshTV currently runs on Apple's iOS and Google's Android system and will initially be aimed at the Samsung Smart TV in the region. The children’s version of FatoooshTV aims to solve a stressful problem for parents who are concerned about the quality of the content that their children may be exposed to online. Through FatoooshTV parents can control and monitor what their children are watching. Content producers also benefit from the company’s services by sharing premium ads and subscription revenue with FatoooshTV.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
"The only barrier between you and your goal is the barrier that you put for yourself. I believe in great ideas, but I think they are worth nothing unless you go out and make something out of them" advises Ahmad.
FatoooshTV will attend a two day workshop in Qatar in April 25 along with 49 other teams, where they will receive coaching, training and network with other entrepreneurs from the Arab region and meet the region’s major players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. “I applied to the competition to take advantage from the training courses and the feedback we will be receiving. We are also excited about meeting the 49 other teams to learn from their experience as well.” Says Ahmad.
Semi-finalist ideas or startups in ICT, digital media, and mobile will automatically qualify for the Oasis 500 training and acceleration program http://www.oasis500.com/ , which is a six-day training program that covers all business aspects, including business modeling, financials, pitching, facilitation and marketing
Find out more about FatoooshTV by:
Visiting their website: www.fatooosh.com
Visiting their Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/fatoooshtv
Watching their 1 minute pitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95mYpb67dp0
Following them on Twitter: @FatoooshTV
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