BUSINESS LIFE GADGETS ELITE LUXURY STARTUPS

HATEMALAKEELT A K I N G K A N D O U R A S N E X T G E N

N Y C WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

T H E I N S& O U T SANGEL INVESTING

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A u g u s t I s s u e

5 UnusualTraits

Of SuccessfulPEOPLE

G U L F E L I T E

What’s Your Backup PlanWhy You Need a plan A, B, C...

Think Outside The CubicleStartup Vs Corporate Life

Elite 10 Must Haves

Destination Luxury5 Place To Visit Before You Die

Elite DestinationNew York

HANNA AASERevolutionizing Social Networking

Elite ProfileHATEM ALAKEEL

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

CONTENT

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3

4

5

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7

8Gulf Elite

Think Outside The CubicleStartup Vs Corporate Life

5 Unusual ThingsCommon to Succesful People

Elon MuskHow On Earth Did He Do It?

INSTAGRAMWhen Pics Are Worth Billions

FIFA World CupWhat It Can Teach You About Entrepreneurship

WATCHOUTM o d e r n T i m e s

HUSTLEThe Secret Formula To Success

YOUSEF HAMZAIns And Outs Of Ange l Inves t ing

PCRFSaving Palestine A Kid At A Time

CONTENT

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16Gulf Elite

EDITOR’S LETTER

You are limitless... Now I know it may sound a little cliché, hearing people telling you how great your are, that you can accomplish any-thing you want - that you’re limitless… It can

feel a little too mainstream sometimes. But as much as it sounds like mere big words with no truth to them, I gotta tell, they are as true and applicable as the walls surrounding you (walls you should be banging your head against to get all that “good enough” pessimism out of your little head). Remember, the only thing that’s standing between you and your goal is the bull-shit story you keep on telling yourself as to why you can’t. The only barrier, the only obstacle that prevents you from achieving greatness, is YOU. Your mind is capable of doing so much - quite literally anything you want! You could wake up one day and decide to learn the art of coding or take on MMA, and chances are, you’ll be great at it, as long as you really put your mind to it. You want to become a pilot, you could do it. You want to run for Presidency in the US, there is a way. Humans are all created equally, but as we grow we either build ourselves to be the greatest version of what we can be or slowly filter our minds, accepting mediocrity as the norm. If someone else can do it, so can you - simple. If someone tried it out, if someone succeeded, then you have absolutely no excuse not to go for it.

Practice makes perfect, and when we want something really bad, we try again and again, we build a routine and we discipline ourselves into following our goals. And the results always end up positive. Remember that we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act but a habit. So being successful is just a matter of doing the right thing, repeatedly. If you find yourself crashing on the couch everyday, with a drink in one hand and your phone in the other, watching your favorite TV series, you’ll never accom-plish what you want and you’ll always keep on telling yourself that it wasn’t your fault, blaming your failures on god knows what - because you convince yourself that your aspiration was impossible in the first place. Let’s cut the crap shall we? Man up and start act- Mohamed Amine Belarbi - Co-founder/Editor

A U G U S T I S S U E - 1 1Gulf Elite

ing up to your full potential. You weren’t created to just consume and die away leaving no trace behind you. You weren’t born to be the useless prick you are now, being a liability to everyone else and spreading negativ-ity and complacency around you. You were born unique, there is only ONE you, and that’s for a reason. You were born to make great things happen. You were born to be remembered. You were born to set goals and go on to achieving them. You were born to have your Steve Jobs moment, your Na-poleon victory and your Bill Gates idea. You were born to stand out, to have people look up to you, to cre-ate mind-blowing things that’ll make everyone’s life so much better. You were born to live, not to survive. If you go about your life thinking this way, the only words you would be using are the same words the greatest of our time used to say: “I came, I saw, I conquered” (Veni, Vidi, Vici)

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What’s Your Backup PlanWHY YOU ALWAYS NEED A PLAN B

We humans love plan-ning, thinking ahead about how to deal with life and organiz-

ing our everyday schedule accord-ing to a routine. We like things to turn out as expected, and boy do we hate surprises or unexpected events. In high school we all had plans, or to be precise, a plan A. We wanted to be astronauts, some of us wanted to be Pilots, others eyed congress and few dreamt of becoming presidents.

As we moved ahead to college our Plan A changed: now we wanted to find a job that would fit the ed-ucation we have been pursuing, preferably a job that pays well and doesn’t expect us to go out of our way. Truth of the story is, once you graduate you realize that your planning wasn’t as viable as you thought it to be.

See, Plan As are just good for mak-ing you feel comfortable, giving you the false impression that you are all set. They never turn out to be useful, and the most likely plan you’ll end up following is proba-

bly a couple of letters down the chain. You see, there are two types of people in this world, those with only one plan, and those with many. Those with a one primary plan are the ones who end up stuck in life, not knowing what to do with their days, getting depressed be-cause there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel and those who ultimately end up seeing a shrink every Tuesday afternoon.

Having a Plan A only means that you don’t know jack about life and how things work on this love-ly planet. Nothing is for granted, nothing is for sure, it’s all about adapting to new circumstances and finding a way of moving forward. Those with Plan Bs, Cs and Ds are the modern day predators at the top of the food chain. They are the millionaires and billionaires, the successful athletes and the celebri-ties you see on the big screen.

Whatever your plan A is, always as-sume it will never work. Never put all your eggs in the same basket. It’s all about risk diversification, if one plan doesn’t work, you have 99

other options.

You love theater and want to work as an actor? Make sure you have other qualifications and ventures under the belt, and be prepared to work in those busi-ness fields should the need arise. You are an engineer and can’t live without being in a lab or a facility fixing things? Well, shit happens and you may need to cope with a position in investment banking. It’s all about getting ready for the possibility of not getting what you want, at least temporarily.

The way to see this is to think that you’re not unique, you’re not one of a kind. There are thousands of other people just like you, hold-ing the same degree, having the same ambition, knowing the same people and fighting for the same position. And this is not only rel-evant for jobs. It’s the same for relationships, friendships, financ-ing and professional endeavors of all sorts. Successful people are not stuck with one plan, they have a bunch of roads to follow and are always ready to switch lanes if things don’t work out.

Imagine what life would be like if you walked into McDonalds and all you could see on the menu was cheeseburgers? Now that would be catastrophic, unimaginable,

right? Well, that’s exactly what you do to yourself when you only stick to a plan A. You would only be giving yourself the cheese-burger option, while your friend next door is having a blast order-ing every meal on the menue.

Life is not as easy and predict-able as we grow up to believe. We don’t always get what we want or what we deserve. That’s why there are people doing the 8-5 routine, hating their jobs and waiting for a promotion that comes only once every 5 years, adding a few bucks to their salary. Those people stuck with jobs they don’t like, working for bosses they hate just so that they can keep up with a life they’re unhappy about are people with Plan As only. Now think to yourself, do you want to be in that position?

Exactly. The answer is obvious, but the way you think and the way you polish that plan A every morning doesn’t seem to show that you’re thinking correctly about this. Ditch your plan A and start drafting that list of Plan B, C, D until freaking Z so that you have 26 ways to make things right in life!

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WISE WORDS

FROM THE GREATEST

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Steve Jobs

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Henry Ford

“You become what you believe.”

Oprah Winfrey

5 Places to Visit Before You Die

Amandari, Ubud, Indonesia

The trip may be long and you might have to pay $30 for a cab ride, but once you arrive and step foot in this palace, greeted by the most devoted & gentle individuals, embracing the whole magical setting and unbelievable atmosphere, you’ll be glad you spent the time to get here.

Located about 60 minutes from Denpasar’s international airport, lies the Ba-linese designed kingdom, accommodated with top-of-the-line features and accommodations that simply seizes the mind, allowing you to capture hold of a moment you’ll never forget. Dressed in traditional yet luxurious quali-ties, it truly brings you the peace you’ve been looking for.

D e s t i n a t i o n L u x u r y

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Bristol Panama - Panama City, Panama

As an unobtrusive hide-away, privacy is valued where guests can expect to be welcomed with classic elegance and embraced in a tranquil setting. The luxurious accommodations are accentuated by original print impressions by Pan-amanian and Latin American artists, and the sumptuous gourmet dining is nothing but inviting. The Bristol Panama is a rare jewel where luxury is em-phasized and service excellence is a tradition. Honored with an outstanding reputation, experience this precious treasure, refined and cultured in taste.

Half Moon, A Rock Resort - Montego Bay, Jamaica

Half Moon, A Rock Resort is a 400-acre luxury resort located on Jamaica’s North Coast. The 56-year-old resort features two miles of private, white-sand beach with 197 spacious rooms and suites. Additionally, the AAA Four-Dia-mond resort offers 33 expansive four-, five-, six- and seven-bedroom villas all with private pools and personal staff of butler, cook and housekeeper.

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Gansevoort Turks and Caicos

Ganesvoort Resort is on the west end of Grace Bay and 3 miles from the Providencie airport. Guests arriving at this five-level stucco resort are struck immediately by the starck white and glass design. The lobby opens directly onto an immense, palm-studded pool that stretches out to gleaming white sand and turquoise water where white sunbrellas shade soft white lounge beds.

Taj Exotica Resort and Spa - Maldives

Taj Exotica Resort and Spa Set in one of the largest lagoons in Maldives, the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives is a paradise on an exclusive island. Ro-mantics have fallen head over heels for the Jiva Grande Spa, for its authentic Indian wellness experience with yoga and meditation; eclectic gourmet dining options (in every atmosphere, from casual to formal); and the myriad water-sports, including scuba diving, sea kayaking and catamaran sailing.

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“...As part of our exclusive rebranding, we are setting sale in the hopes of discovering a new elegant and luxurious face of CBP, portraing a new

extravagant perception that will absolutly rediscover the defintion of our high-end society...” - Philippe Baltz Nielsen

Circle Of Beautiful People International

Think Outside The CubicleSTARTUP VS CORPORATE LIFE

Never have I ever been one of those diehard corporate types. You know, keeping track of a 9-to-5 schedule, standing in the elevator with another

ten people wearing the same outfit to then just sit behind a cubicle, staring blankly at a screen, typing the same shit I wrote yester-day.

Ever since I can remember, I knew I just wasn’t cut out for that kind of lifestyle, you know, the dull corporate culture, because of plenty of reasons. First of all, I have a prob-lem with bureaucracy and narrow-minded-ness, two things that are givens in the whole office setting. I just find it soo difficult to have someone constantly over my head, dictating how, what and when to do things – it’s like a match made in hell.

Nevertheless, I took the courage to make the leap of faith and worked within the corporate sector, only to bounce back about six months later. Now I’m not saying that the corporate division is the source of all evil (even though it might sound like it), some people love the consistency and stability a corporate life has to offer – some don’t. But having tasted the entrepreneurial life and the sheer excitements that comes with it, I would never return back to a corporate position, as the startup-culture is so much more interesting, crazy comfort-able and the snacks are just heaven!Don’t believe me? Here are 5 irreplaceable as-pects of startups that simply blow the corpo-rate world out of the water!

1. Every day differs from the next

When running or working with a startup, every day is different, presenting you with a bunch of unalike happenings and occurrenc-

es. Your trajectory is completely indefinite and every day is exactly the way it should be – different! Rarely do you find yourself doing the same task you did yesterday in a square gloomy cubicle taking orders from your “su-perior.”Welcome to entrepreneurship! Balling ideas and concepts is fortified, especially when confronting a situation you haven’t dealt with before. You’re almost frequently push-ing yourself to take on challenges, finding creative ways to solve a problem, adapting to find better ways to boost both your ca-reer and the entity, something the corporate world would never allow you to do.

2. A dress code is non-existent

Honestly, I am so happy I don’t have to throw on a suit five times a week and quite frankly, I think women are crazy happy not having to spend more money on their formal wardrobe.People don’t stare if you’re wearing a pair of jeans, you’re not judged by the color of your skirt and you sure as hell won’t be looked down upon if you’re not wearing a suit and tie. As a matter of fact, it’s okay and even encouraged to wear whatever you want while “at the office” as it reflects on your character and portrays your individualities. That’s one of the major perks about the startup environ-ment; you can be comfortable and still show results, because they know that “looks” don’t reflect on your ability to perform.

3. It’s okay to be politically incor-rect

When at a startup, you’re surrounded and working with a bunch of creative and outspo-ken individuals that just don’t give a damn.

I mean it’s not like they got to where they are today by following and abiding to rules set by their “superiors.” Speaking your mind and sticking to your beliefs is what inno-vates the next big thing, and is therefore encouraged. So it doesn’t matter if you’re nerdy, weird, outspoken – you’ll find your right place in the team.

4. You’re not strained to a one sin-gle job

When applying for the corporate sector you’re only evaluated and valued based on what’s on paper, that’s it, everything else – worthless. At a startup though, you’re so much more valued in terms of capability of contributing to several sectors within the company. Being an all-rounded guy might sound bad, considering you’re all over the place, but the fact of the matter is that knowledge of different subject matters only means that you’re more accessible and adaptable, diversifying your skills and being able to pitch-in wherever support is needed, raising

the odds for innovation and development.

5. Your boss understands and ap-preciates what you do

When it comes to the corporate life, you’re just one in the crowd – just another black suit, so that personal level of appreciation doesn’t really exist, because the only thing that proves that you’ve done your job is that little corporate paycheck you land by the end of every month – it sucks!At a startup they know who you are, where you come from and what you’re capable of achieving. Your interactions with the top-dogs are so much more intensive, giving your “superiors” an insight on your charac-ter, allowing them to personally praise and applaud you and motivating you to reach higher grounds. Your boss is able to relate to certain circumstances, not wanting to antagonize you or mess with you, but to guide you and work with you, as opposed to against you.

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10 APPS YOU MUST HAVE

ALLRECIPES

CIRCA NEWS EASILYDO

ANY.DO

TECH

Tell me you never wished you could blow your date away by cooking the ultimate dinner? Better yet, imagine you could have the best recipes in the world, a click away, with all the ingre-dients you could ever imagine.

That’s what Allrecipes is about, and as entrepreneurs, young professionals and Gen-Y in general, it’s time we master the fine art of cooking, instead of relying on Sub-way or McDonalds to get us our daily dose of proteins. And I get it; it’s hard to eat fancy when it costs a fortune - tomato soup for a 100 bucks, no thank you!

The dream of every Entrepreneur: crunching as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time! Between running your busi-ness, scribbling your business plan on a napkin and running endless meetings, you’re unconsciously

counting the minutes of your precious day. Now with that in mind, how on earth are we supposed to stay up to date with the latest news when there are thousands of different news sources? There is a solution: Circa News! Circa News crowdsources the most important news events and puts it in a newsfeed for you, with every story just 3 or 4 lines long. That way you can scroll through hundreds of head-lines, and if you’re interested in knowing more you can just flick downwards and read the details.

We’ve all dreamt of having a personal assistant to make our lives easier. Or-ganizing our stuff, setting up meet-ings and letting us focus on what we do best.

EasilyDo is your own personal free of charge PA, there for you 24/7. It accesses your contacts, emails, calendars, and anything that goes through your smartphone in order to organize your day to the last minute! I know it’s not like having an actual Vanessa or Christine sitting at the other side of the room, but hey, we’ll take what we get!

Am I the only one who finds it hard to keep track of a To-Do-List? I mean we all know they help getting your day set and eventually make us more produc-tive, but it’s just painful to grab a piece of paper, scribble tasks and then try

to find it in between our stacks of books and unwashed clothes. With Any.DO, you can finally have a To Do List at the tip of your fingers; check in at any time you need, write down tasks through voice commands, and the best part, you check off each task by shaking your phone. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for an app that lets you shake the hell out of your phone as a sign of victory?

IFTTT

LUMINOSITY

CLOUD MAGIC REFRESH

DROPBOX

PIANO TILESWhat if you could tell your Facebook page to automatically share any arti-cle that pops up on Business Insider? How about setting a trick that lets you receive an email if your crush tweets about relationships? Better

yet, how about you get an automated SMS with the weather conditions updates on Yahoo? See, automation has gone a long way, and in the world of tech, IFTTT is the new talk of the hour. IFTTT, If This Then That, allows you to set triggers for any action you want. It works with Facebook, Twitter, Emails, Foursquare, and pretty much anything you are interested in. Just select the “If This Happens”, then select “Then That” action. Simple, genius, and can go a long way to making your life so much easier.

There is a bunch of ways to enhance your memory and enrich your IQ, everything from the good ol´ mem-ory game to fish-oil. But never have I honestly been this entertained by an app designed by - neuroscien-

tists. Quite frankly, I don’t really know what a neurosci-entist is, but they’ve done one hell of a job.It’s a brain training game that builds on breakthrough concepts such as neuroplasticity and fluid intelligence, which approaches certain brain workouts with such cre-ativity and simplicity, improving your overall intelligence, focusing on reasoning, memory, response and so many other aspects of your brain. Crazy right, we’ve come to live in a time where playing games actually makes you smarter!

I thought this was just another “magical” e-mail app that had way too many non-functioning tabs that didn’t hold their prom-ise of “simple, accessible and flexible.” Turns out, it’s actually

magical!

This award winning email app gathers all of your accounts on one page – simple, clean and functional! Working with Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, Google Apps, Office and even any IMAP account, you’re bound to access any of your email accounts without any hustle.

Ever end up scheduling a meeting with a guy “you met once”, know-ing absolutely nothing about him. Well, Refresh allows you to crack up a background check on whoever

you’re meeting, giving you interesting insights on the in-dividual, bringing back memories of the potential client you look forward to close. On an even better side note, picking up essential info from your little research might spark interesting small talk and noteworthy conversa-tions, which might be to great help when wanting to kill time.

DropBox is truly the main rea-son why USB sticks are becoming ancient history – and why I haven’t been “forgetting my assignments” at home.

You see, it allows you to compile all of your secret pho-tos, documents and videos on a single platform, which can be accessed on almost any device you have, be it your smartphone, touchpad or laptop, anywhere, at any time - as long as you’re connected to the Wifi. An abso-lute lifesaver that you’ll always have at your disposal to keep track of your important stuff.

You know when you’re kinda bored and don’t really want to spend an eternity launching a game on your smartphone, going through a bunch of tabs and options before you actually start

playing – you just want something that’s quick, simple and entertaining? I give you, Piano Tiles. Now it might not be the hottest game on the market, but it’s sure as hell entertaining, and slightly aggressively addictive I must say. You see, due to its simplicity, you’d think pressing black tiles (NOT white!) would be a no brain-er – but it’s not! As you feel the pace increasing, the “so easy” game becomes a little harder, giving you that Flappy Bird syndrome! But nevertheless, an awesome game!

First of all let me state that, as an Arab, born and raised in Swe-den, I absolutely worship this mind-blowing innovation! I mean

taking such a traditional and old-fash-ioned Middle Eastern outfit and turning it into something contemporary and sexy is truly one hell of an achievement, giving it a whole new facelift! I’m obvi-ously talking about the traditional Ara-bic Kandoura!

Now, if you’re not completely sure about what I’m talking about, it’s this long, traditionally white dull “man-dresses” that we usually throw on whenever we’re headed to the mosque or just headed out on a hot afternoon. At least in my world, that was the out-fit I got most bullied for in my “early days.” Still don’t know what I’m talking about – Google it!

Till this day, I still remember discussing the “ugliness” of the Kandouras with my younger cousin: “man, do they re-ally have to suck the life out of these things? It just looks like a huge blan-ket…only with holes poked in it.” I just couldn’t wrap it around my head; why was our traditional custom so “unex-citing” while the Swedes on the other hand, had a bunch of roses, colors and symmetrical patterns that really indi-vidualized it into something unique?

God bless Hatem Alakeel! The man be-hind Toby, who had the guts to take on the most iconic Middle Eastern piece and revolutionized it into something extraordinary! A man who has absolutly no limits, no boundaries to what he can achieve, creating the most breathtaking pieces and resculpting the most tradi-tional culture by collaborating with the worlds’ most iconic brands.

But I still wonder, given that the con-ventional Kandoura was so well estab-lished in the region, how did he actually manage to integrate such a unique and modern brand into an already estab-lished traditional society? “At first the more mature generations resisted but the younger generation embraced my avant grade style which is primarily designed for runways. It wasn’t until I started designing the more classic de-signs that I started attracting an older and more serious demographic.”His singular aesthetic vision, keen ar-tistic eye for detail & immaculately ex-ecuted designs have propelled Toby by Hatem Alakeel to the fashion forefront after the resounding success of his first collection’s debut at Dubai Fashion Week in 2008.

Jil Sander & Tom Ford have emulat-ed Toby by Hatem Alakeel’s creative & innovative East Meets West con-cept which has become the definitive

ELITE PROFILEHATEM ALAKEEL

benchmark for traditional fashion. But what inspires such a bold and, quite frankly, courageous act? I mean it’s not like you just wake up one day deciding to transform one of the fiercest markets in the Arabic fashion ecosphere, modernizing the very existence of the Kandouras that millions of people put on, every day, representing the proud culture they stand by. Alakeel emphasizes on the importance of personal perception when it comes to doing business, as it represents and reflects on who you are. “When I moved back to Saudi Ara-bia, I had to wear the thobe (Kan-doura) every day at work. And in a way, I felt like it was necessary for me to express myself in the way I dressed - so it started out as a per-sonal requirement and then I start-ed changing the details with subtle touches. After having worn my own creations, people wanted to wear my designs and I realized their appeal, so next thing you know, I decided to open my first boutique in Jeddah in 2007.”

Together with his dynamic and artis-tically futuristic vision, exploiting his keen creative eye for the smallest of details, creating the most sophisti-cated and flawless designs ever seen on a Kandoura, he has been shaking the whole fashion world up.

But when deciding to take on the giants, the heavyweights, you real-ly have to have something up your

sleeve – something amazing has to come flying out in order for you to prove that there’s a new kid on the block. Taking on the big guys with nothing extraordinary in mind will leave you breathless and knocked out by the first round. Alakeel spent most of his early years in Europe and the US, so he had that natural com-petitive advantage that would wow the world. He explains “I spent most of my earlier years in Europe and the States, which has obviously shaped my westernized design ethos. But with that being said, I always like to go back in time and revive old Hollywood classic elegance or even historical influences from Japanese inspirations. You see, I always like to show a different side of tradition, because tradition can also be just as polished and high fashioned as west-ern wear.”

So he didn’t spend years and years creating something new, he didn’t invent a whole new product – he just took an existing creation, in an ex-isting market, and made it a hell of a lot better. This proves that you don’t have to create something completely new; you’re not obligated to invent something that hasn’t been seen before to be called an entrepreneur or innovator. As long as you’re taking something that’s currently setting the bar, and refining it, making it so much more better, skyrocketing it to stratospheric heights and raising that bar – you’re a successful entrepre-neur!

Alakeel explains that “even with the very simple classic designs that cur-rently rule the market, I’m quite em-pathic on the assurance of taking it to the next level of quality.”

Now there is nothing more important than to understand and really grasp who your audience is, and more im-portantly, how their interests shifts. Because there is no way you’ll be able to succeed if you can’t adapt to alterations. The key here is adapta-tion and variation. In order for you to thrive and for your business to suc-ceed, you need to be able to adjust to certain strategic circumstances and push your ego aside. Because when it comes to Alakeel, he truly adapted his work and learnt the ins and outs of his clientele in order to create the ultimate piece.

“Over the years I have learned what their needs are and how to accom-modate their fashion requirements. In the beginning it was more about self expression and designing to ful-fill my artistic integrity but over the years, one learns that it’s important to design and dream and try to exe-cute your dreams, but to never for-get the importance to understand your clients and cater to what they require.”

But time has shown that when it comes to entrepreneurship, your biggest enemy is yourself. You see how your ego, personality and other individualistic characteristics slow-ly creep up on you, allowing you to

rationalize certain dumb decisions. I mean check out Zuckerbergs’ recent purchase of Oculus – was it really a strategic business move or did he just want to fulfill a wish?

He’s been featured in the New York Times and The National; he part-nered up with Tag Heuer and has even worked beside HH Princes Lulu Al Sabah. He managed to end up on so many fashion-platforms, work-ing with such exceptional industry leaders and brands across so many countless regions in the world. You see, Hatem Alakeel didn’t just “im-prove” a product; he broke the norm, did the unexpected, transformed a tradition and dared to stick his neck out for something he believed in – all desirable traits of a successful entre-preneur that, with the right drive and creativity, can reach unimaginable heights.

It takes great determination, vision and perseverance to create such a distinctive product and to penetrate such a culturally resilient market. So what secret ingredient did Alakeel use to skyrocket his business? What can you learn from his venture? “Rome was certainly not built in a day, but with hard work and determi-nation, passion and persistence, the sky is the limit. My advice is to iden-tify what your own signature style is and to stick with it. Be original and don’t worry about trends, because instead of following them, set them yourself!

I b r a h i m N a j i

NEW YORKElite Destination Of The Month

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NYC

NEWYORK

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Just namedropping the city is enough to make everyone shut up and wonder for a while, letting the awesomeness take its time to settle in. Yes, we’re talking about New York, the Big Apple, the capital of everything that rimes

with opportunity, entertainment, sensation and even adrenaline. Now, New York is nothing new for you, you’ve heard about it, know about it, seen it in countless TV series and probably vis-ited it once in your life (not always for good reasons), but we’ll try to get you to think about this magical city in a completely different way!

New York: The Ultimate Place For Millennial Entrepreneurs

There is a reason why New York is the most populated city in the US, and it’s not weed (Amsterdam has that covered). It’s the history of the city. The 8.4 million faces that walk through its concrete streets, the iconic skyline, the empire state building,

Wall Street and the hectic dynamic that makes it the ultimate destination for people looking to make big bucks and amazing breakthroughs. The New York metropolitan area alone gener-ates over $1.4 trillion a year, and that’s Trillion with a capital T! As the second largest city economy in the world, there really is no doubt that this truly is the IT place to be in when it comes to discovering what you’re really made of.

If you’re hungry, passionate and in you’re early twenties, look-ing to make you’re dreams come true, then New York City is the place to head towards. Mark Twain, the famous American author and comedian, once said, “Make your mark in New York and you’re a made man” and quite frankly, we agree! It’s the real deal, where the magic happens, where you can get a bil-lion dollar contract written on a napkin or a selfie taken with Sarah Jessica Parker. But most importantly, it’s the ultimate place for entrepreneurs looking for their new breakthrough

because everything and anything can happen! Eat Or Get Eaten

New York City is one of the most ruthless cities in the world - it waits for no one. Because as you’re waiting for the right moment to strike and be on your A game, somebody will have already swooped in and filled your spot. And with everyone so damn worried about their own lives, you’re assured that they don’t really give a shit about yours. It’s competitive, fast paced and cold blooded, all the secret ingredients for a full on royal rumble, for people to be pushed to their limits, finding out what they’re really made of. Because if you think that your current situation is a jungle, having everyone challenging each other, trying to get a piece of the pie, then NYC is just that, only on crack. Because I shit you not, you won’t be pitied, comforted or sympathized with. If you’re not man enough to stand against the stream, you’ll get washed up just like the rest. But on the other hand, all you need to survive in New York is a hot cup(s) of Starbucks, a sharp eye for detail and a sense of willingness to be the best you can be.

A booming hub for entrepreneurs

Besides the thousands of startups emerging in NYC every year and the billions generated through multiple startups in the area, everyone seems to be so “high on entrepreneurship”. Now I’m not talking about entre-preneurship on a personal level, I’m

talking about the whole city living and swearing by the name entre-preneurship. So starting a business in NYC is really not as crazy and as hipped up as it’s portrayed to be. Launching startups is as casual as getting your morning Starbucks, and successes and failures are not seen as the end of a journey, but rather, as just another milestone in your path to success.

Although the city helps with a cou-ple of funds for entrepreneurs, and deep-pocketed investors easily dis-tributing their money around to stumble on the right business idea, there is another player in the mix who wants to make your life easy: incuba-tors! New York is famous for amaz-ing programs for entrepreneurs, and accelerators like General Assembly, Techstars, DreamIt Ventures and NYC SeedStart who will surely give you access to the fast lanes of success.

Mingle Mingle

The beauty of this mind-blowing city is that it’s a melting pot for so many different personalities and charac-ters, because no matter what boat you jumped off from, no matter what stage your startup is at, you’ll always find someone to help you out.

The word I’m looking for is diversity, and when it comes to business, diver-sity is king. It allows you to tap into niche markets and segmented con-sumer bases so much easier because, let’s face it, two heads are better than one. Now with all of these people

running around the same playground as you are, chances are you’ll meet that someone who’ll spark an idea or give you insight on an industry that you didn’t know about. You just never know who you’ll run into while walk-ing down the streets of New York City.

Wall Street Never Sleeps

Yup, if there is one single place I’d die to visit, it’s Wall Street. Wall Street is, no doubt, the capital of world financ-es. Better yet, it’s the “IT” place for greed, money, capitalism, exuberance, narcissism… you get it, it’s one of the right places to give your ego a boost and set sails to make all your visions come true. Because being in Wall Street is like hitting a really strong drug, without actually having to deal with real stuff. You know what, while we´re at it, we might as well throw in Gordon Gekko’s famous speech, be-cause that’s exactly what the financial engine is all about.

“The point is, ladies and gen-tleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere

After having finished all 6 seasons of Gossip Girl (I know), there is no doubt in my mind that NYC is truly the ulti-mate test for any individual. The actu-al experience here is so much denser than any other place, and it requires some serious thick-skin to make it out alive. You’ll get thrown through the concrete jungle and pushed down (literally when you’re at the 7 train, at 5:15 pm, in the middle of August) in order to find out if you’ve got what it takes to make it –anywhere!

It’s an unbelievably dynamic city with so much potential and crazy possibil-ities that you just wouldn’t find in any other city. But then again, a vigorous environment and competitive atmo-sphere commands a solid individual with a strong character that has the determination to walk down the en-trepreneurial path without looking back. If you make it here, you’ll make it anywhere!

M o h a m e d A m i n e B e l a r b i

Happily Ever AfterYOUR HAPPIEST HELLO AND HARDEST GOODBYE

We’ve all fallen in love, all felt that little tinder inside our bodies that made us so comfortably nervous,

so unusually happy. It’s the most excru-ciating, addictive and most affectionate feeling in the human freaking nervous system that just can’t be avoided. An uncertain emotion that plays out like a game of poker, you either go all in, sacrificing all your chips for that special gut feeling and win big or you fall for the bluff and get cracked down think-ing why you ever fell for it in the first place.

Love should be a game changer, an intentional act that throws your lives into the unimaginable. The individual you want to spend the rest of your life with shouldn’t just be “yet another try”, it should be something that really just makes you feel two things. The person should be your happiest, most unfor-gettable individual and should by all means be your favorite hello and – by far- your hardest goodbye. They should be the one you never forget about meeting the first time and the person you couldn’t imagine letting go of.Nevertheless, it never turns out like your favorite love-story, it never ends up like Hollywood’s well-crafted scripts. Because what mainstream media and todays’ pop culture has done, is that they’ve over-exaggerated the percep-

tion of love, overdosing it with over-am-bitious fairytales that they’ve slowly tried to ingrain into our lives. Forget about the Notebook, screw Gossip Girl and by all means ignore Hitch!Most probably, you won’t have an amazing, awkwardly cute, dreamlike, irreplaceable first meeting. In fact, your almost surely (unless you’re crazy lucky) going to meet your true love ex-actly the same way you meet any other individual – normally.

But then again I understand you, I un-derstand me! We love fairytales, they are absolutely magical! I mean who wouldn’t want to meet their soul-mate at a park during a warm autumn day, where your dog suddenly takes off, tak-ing care of the introduction for you. The romance and timing would be absolute-ly ideal, seeing things coming together just the way you thought they would. But, sorry to break it down to you, you don’t live in a chick-flick – you’re not Romeo fighting for your Juliet or vice versa – snap out of it.

You see, we all live on planet Earth (un-less that was unclear to anyone), we all live in a reality in which, don’t want to be a party pooper or anything; every-thing is normal, usual – plain. Now I’m not saying that you don’t have an ex-citing, thrilling life, I’m just saying, stop comparing it to last night’s movie.

Getty Images

The truth is, it doesn’t matter how, when or where you two meet, as long as the two of you actually meet, right? I mean if you’re looking to time your love, if you’re waiting for that special magical fictional moment, you’ll wait forever, missing out on amazing op-portunities, because the reason we tend to fall in love is not because of that specific special one-time mo-ment, it’s because of the moments you know you’ll have together.

Having a fairytale-like plan of how you want to meet that special someone will filter out so much of the good things happening to you in life. Be-cause as your bubble gets bigger and bigger, raising your expectations and putting that dream-like individual on a sky-high pedestal, you’ll filter even more things out, not seeing people for who they really are, comparing them to a fantasized picture that doesn’t exist. And before you know it, “puff”, the bubble bursts and you’re left all alone. And let’s be honest, we don’t meet that many people in our lives, I mean yeah, we probably see mil-lions during our life-span, but we only meet a fraction of those individuals, so don’t ruin a potential someone just because you illustrated them to be something completely different.

But how do you actually know that you’ve met the one? How do you fig-ure out if the person is the right one or not? Well let me put it this way, if you wake up every morning feeling so unbelievably happy about who you woke up next to, if you feel, deep down in your gut, that you’re going to

bed with the right person, you’re defi-nitely on the right track. If you catch yourself daydreaming, thinking about how your life might have turned out if you didn’t meet him at the subway or what you would be doing if you didn’t bump into her at the coffee shop that afternoon, you’re in a good place. But the most terrifying, the most difficult thing you ever could imagine, would be having to say goodbye.

I’m a sucker for love, I’ll admit that. And it’s not because I get to be with someone, it’s because of the power it has, to join two strangers together in a way no one and nothing else does. For some reason it makes us feel like this individual is a part of us, a limb that we can’t believe we have been living without. But here is the thing, the only way I can differentiate love from any other “love-like” emotion, is by the act of saying goodbye – re-ally saying goodbye, and living your life happily ever after with your heart still intact. Because if that’s what hap-pened, then that person wasn’t the right one for you.

So listen, step out of your comfort zone, leave all of the mainstream love-stories on the shelf and find your soul mate in the most regular and non-sexy way possible, and when you do, dare to hold on, dare to never say goodbye.

I b r a h i m N a j i

10

Buy it!SEE IT

NO BETTER REASON to start caring about the environment! As first seen in the Mission Impossible film, with the beautiful Paula Patton elegantly stepping out of the car – we all fell in love with it (the car that is). Its mind-blowing high-tech en-gineering with a strong trace of edginess and slight “badass” truly sets the Germans at a life-long pedestal, as it has truly revolutionized the vehicle industry, being the first ever sports car with the same consumption and emission values of a compact car besides Tesla.

Think the exterior is amazing; wait till you see the interior! Dripping with technolo-gy and superior complexity, refurbished to the smallest detail and designed to reflect the possibilities of the future, the BMW i8 captures the essence of revolutionary innovation.

BMW I8Price: $136,000

ELITE 10 MUST HAVES

WHEN IT COMES TO APPLE, I really don’t question their products or ser-vices because they’ve had a track record that’s been phenomenal! So when they introduced Apple TV, you knew it was going to be big!

Giving you access to the biggest names in entertainment, allows you to follow Netflix, ABC, HBO Go and so many other top class stations in full HD. All you have to do is plug it in, and dive in into a world of your favorite movies, sports, TV shows and even music! To top it all off, you can access this on your Mac and iOS devices with the help of the app! Trust me, you’re going to need a big-ger couch!

Apple TVPrice: $100

IN ALL SCI-FI BLOCKBUSTERS, we see a world where we don’t have to do jack, where we don’t have to remember a single thing because everything is taken care of… robots! Have we seen any? Nope! Thank god this promise is now taking place, well almost.

Jibo is a state of the art robot/computer that will make your life so much easier! Jibo will remind you about your To-Dos, will read you your emails, check whatever you need online and even tell you bedtime stories. With a nice interface, a beautiful design and great deal of abilities thanks to its AI advanced, Jibo will be a game changer once it goes full scale commercial!

JiboPrice: $599

IT ALL STARTED when a surfer couldn’t take a picture while riding a wave, today, Go Pro is almost as widespread as Starbucks coffee! It really isn’t a camera you take selfies with; it’s small, compact, shoots videos in stun-ning HD and can be taken while underwater, skydiving or jumping over a blazing fire.

The beauty of Go Pro is that it can be transported in so many ways, from strapping it on to your head to planting it onto a “stick” to take landscape images. Its brilliant mechanic systems allows it to be your perfect companion for whatever sport or crazy stuff you’re into!

Go ProPrice: $400

DON’T YOU JUST WISH you could throw your camera as far up as possi-ble, making it snap a 360° picture of whatever is up there? The Panono is truly an innovation that takes the concept of a camera to stratospheric heights, creating the unimaginable and capturing it all in one instant.

Panono doesn’t only capture pictures, it discovers a whole new experience and revolutionizes the way we take selfies, giving you a HD 360° x 360° full – spherical panoramic image. One quick throw of the Panono will capture a vision you’ve never seen before!

PANONO CAMERAPrice: $549

YOU KWNO HOW HADR it si… You see what I mean! It happens to all of us, typing a text on your smartphone, only to end up sounding like a drunk delusional creep on a late Saturday night, looking for a hookup. The “keyboards” on smartphones today are simply not fit for our 234 words/sec writing, their at least not as good as the good old keyboard.

But what if we could use the same old style of typing on anything we want, from tablets to smartphones? The idea is great, except that no one wants to carry a huge keyboard around. That’s where Airtype comes in! Airtype is an invisible keyboard, using sensors to locate your fingers and determine what you are actually typing on any surface. Crazy, right!?

AirtypePrice: $599

APPLE REALLY pulled it of this time! With such an elegant and entirely fresh design, yet quite inherent-ly familiar, you’re absolutely blown away with their new features and qualities. To even take it a step further, they’ve finally managed to find a simple and flexible synergy between your Mac and your iOS devices, mak-ing everything sync-able, altering the way you see your Mac and its functionalities.

OS X YosemitePrice: Free

YOU KWNO HOW HADR it si… You see what I mean! It happens to all of us, typing a text on your smartphone, only to end up sounding like a drunk delusional creep on a late Saturday night, looking for a hookup. The “keyboards” on smartphones today are simply not fit for our 234 words/sec writing, their at least not as good as the good old keyboard.

But what if we could use the same old style of typing on anything we want, from tablets to smartphones? The idea is great, except that no one wants to carry a huge keyboard around. That’s where Airtype comes in! Airtype is an invisible keyboard, using sensors to locate your fingers and determine what you are actually typing on any surface. Crazy, right!?

AirtypePrice: $599

THIS THING is absolutely gorgeous! The quilted black leather cover-ing its simple yet elegant figure with a touch of gold that just completes its glorifying aura, is utterly dazzling. Trust me ladies, together with a white outfit and a pair of black pumps, having the Michael Kors clutch around your arm, you’ll look stunning!

Kors truly hit a home run with this baby, making it an iconic figure on the red carpet with celebrities boasting this elegant piece of art. With that being said, this is definitely a must have for the Mrs.

MICHAEL KORS QUILTED CLUTCHPrice: $220

LET’S FACE IT, summer is getting to an end, but that doesn’t mean we can’t embrace the last breeze of it. Nike created these badass pair of warm-weather hipster classics, mainly designed to tap into the skate and surf culture, with a minimalist aesthetic and a no-hassle fit.

Nevertheless, they do look amazing, with a unique dark-blue shade, yellow Swoosh and toped off with an “or-angy” color that embraces its “I don’t give a f**k” style.If you’re looking to really hold on to the last weeks of summer, these are the ultimate shoes to buy, presenting you with a first-class version of a timeless design.

Nike SB Braata LR CanvasPrice: $65

FOUR WORDS:Google Glass on steroids! That’s what Oculus has in store for you. Imagine immersing yourself com-pletely in a virtual world, riding your dream Porsche or exploring the Egyptian pyramids from the inside.

The technology that went into making Oculus is state of the art electronics, years of R&D and sleek designing, no wonder Facebook jumped all over this golden company with a $2 billion check! The applications are endless, from surreal gaming to educa-tional simulations, Oculus is set to take the world by storm as we further lean into the sic-fi future we’ve been promised for so long!

Oculus RiftPrice: $350

HANNA AASETHE WOMAN REVOLUTIONIZING SOCIAL NETWORKING

In times where talk is raging about the tech world being so hostile to female entrepreneurs, a rising star is proving everyone wrong and showing that it

doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a wom-an, because at the end of the day your success will not be determined by your gender, but by how great you are and how amazing your product is. This is the point Hanna Aase, the founder of Wonderloop made when she decided to take on the entrepreneurial road and challenge a fierce and competitive market: social media apps. Now before you shout “Oh, another one trying to replicate Facebook”, let me just stop you there because she isent creating another Facebook, she’s disrupting how we see social media and creating a new way for us to connect, network and get to know each other. But before rushing into the app and what its all about, a quick overview of who Hanna is!

So Hanna, what inspired you to jump on the entrepreneurial roller coaster at such a young age?

“I lived alone in my own house since just turning 14, and while I may have had a comfortable upbringing, I wash´t happy as a person. I had lost all the closest peo-ple in my life and the only thing that didn’t chang was that Oprah was still on TV in our living room. You could say she took over raising me. The only time I felt joy while being alone was when Oprah gave away opportunities on TV to people who needed it, and made them pretty much

the happiest people on earth. From that point on I started thinking about how we all can become life changing people like Oprah, how I can enable everyone to be able to give and connect just like she does. What I realized is that we do favors and connect our friends to people in our circle when they need it, but what would make us do it for a stranger? The conclusion was always that the person would have to be-come less of stranger, you would have to see who they were first and become famil-iar and comfortable with them! But there is just no time to meet every person in the world or have that first coffee meeting with someone, right? What if you could see every person in the world with a click of a button? That would change everything. You speed up how many people you get to meet in your life, you’d feel you had met them just after seeing their video intro.

We’re talking about something differ-ent than just scrolling through photos. Wonderloop is the new social network I launched, where you get to build familiarity with strangers through video introductions instead of pictures and statuses. The pur-pose is to ultimately change the way we give, hire, invest and connect by changing the way we see each other. This is all I have ever wanted to do, getting everyone into that Oprah set and making sure the app changes their lives for the better.”

What makes the app such an innova-tive product?

“There is no app that adopts video introductions as its main entry point. There isn´t a search tool that is good for looking up people you haven´t meet yet. There really isn´t a great tool for meeting new people at all and getting a good feel of them. (LinkedIn advices against connecting to people you haven´t met ). The closest thing we actually have are dating apps, but we believe we need a broader tool where it´s about people and not the connection between them, because connections are something people can approach themselves, getting to know the people is what we ought to be focusing on. Wonderloop is the only service where you can shorten down the time needed to get a first impres-sion of a person in your own privacy without necessarily being face to face with the person in question.”

What are your goals for the fu-ture of Wonderloop? Where do you see it heading?

“Right now people use Wonderloop to meet new people for coffee, to find people when they travel to a new place. Companies use it to look for new employees and networks use hashtags to see who is in the network. My end vision for Wonderloop is sim-ply to be able to see every person in the world with a click of a button., to take down time it takes to get ac-quainted with a new person, to have us meet as many people as possible during our life, so that the odds of connecting with life changing people becomes higher. My vision is to get you to become Oprah and have access to a huge audience you can connect

with comfortably. And personally, I’d like to see this network grow to be-come a place where you can give away anything, whether it´s money or op-portunities, as long as you feel com-fortable doing it by seeing the person and who they truly are. That´s why we already now encourage people to share what they do or have done in life and to share what they want to do. When only allowing 10-20 seconds for the video intro, you can be on point, honest about yourself and daring to share what you want in life so that the world can respond to it.

Our next step at Wonderloop is to raise a 1M seed round and hire more talented people to work on the prod-uct and marketing.”

What are some of the biggest adversities you’ve faced while building your own path? Biggest successes?

“One of the biggest hurdles for me has been the chicken and egg challenge. Basically, it’s the issue that no one will invest in your company before you have a finished product. And building a technical product with designers involved is quite expensive and impos-sible without substantial investments. I solved it with covering the cost myself which cost me a lot, and then an in-vestor went in and helped finance the launch of our first version. We decided to go for a soft launch in order to cre-ate a valuable community. Sometimes it seems impossible to solve this dilem-ma, but I guess in many ways you can also call this the biggest success for our startup. From a Norwegian stand

point we have probably gotten more international press than any other so-cial consumer app on the market, so that’s a great achievement on its own!”

You’re an iconic entrepreneurial figure in scandinavia, do you see the region as full of potential for entrepreneurs?

“Full of potential for entrepreneurs, yes. If the necessary system for build-ing and incubating tech companies is there, not so sure! It’s a mix of lack of support systems and lack of govern-ment interest in the entrepreneurial scene. Moreover, there isn’t an es-tablished Entrepreneurship-focused culture amongst the people here. We need to believe more in ourselves and what young companies can do, have higher goals and support each other rather than thinking it´s wired if one is not living the more traditional life everyone is accustomed to. We were grateful at the end to have the support of the Norwegian Government, which makes us push even harder to show that a Norwegian start-up can set it´s mark in the tech world and can pave the way for other Norwegian startups to join in the tech revolution.”

Are there any mentors or public figures you look up to?

“This one is obvious for me, Oprah!”

What advice could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

“Give away equity to an advisory board or developers early. In reality, very few people are willing to help you in

an extended way without there being anything in it for them. It is just the way it is. So share as much as you can to make it happen. And also, do Yoga to not go crazy with all the work! Also, remember that it is necessary to sac-rifice other things in life if you want it bad enough. Often we want big chang-es and mind-blowing achievements but without wanting to change for it. “

What are some quotes that you live by?

“I don´t, I believe that if you are con-stantly in need of external inspiration then you’re not doing what you are passionate about. My internal inspira-tion is picturing users meet life chang-ing people. That´s all I need to live by.”

Any special thing for our readers?

“Wonderloop is in the App Store as invite-only, but we will approve all readers of Gulf Elite. We made the app invite-only to focus on creating a great community rather than just going for a high number of users in the beginning. I believe Gulf Elite audience is the right fit for our app, and we encourage them all to join and use the hashtag #Gul-fElite so that they can start building a community on our social network!”

M o h a m e d A m i n e B e l a r b i

START ING FROM THE BOT TOM

“If th ings are not fa i l ing , you are not innovat ing enough.”- E lon MuskNet Wor th: $11.7 B i l l ion TODAY

1971

Born in Pretoria, South Africa. Spent his childhood learning how to code.

Zip2

Started a web soft-ware company with his brother. Sold it to Compaq for $341 M.

2004

Co-founds Tesla Mo-tors, becomes CEO in 2008. His stake is worth $18 Billion.

2006

Helps start SolarCity with his cousins. Ap-pointed chairman of the company.

Hyperloop

On August 2013, Musk announces a proposal to build Hyperloop, a subsonic air travel machine.

2002

Sky is the limit?Musk puts $100 M of his money and co-founds SpaceX.

1999

Co-founded X.com, merged with Confinity (PayPal). After selling Paypal to eBay, Musk made $165 M.

Age 12

Sold his first computer code, “Blastar“, for $500.

Genius

Got his first bachelor in Physics, second bachelor in Business and started a PhD.

“I f th ings are not fa i l ing , you are not innovat ing enough.”- E lon MuskNet Wor th: $11.7 B i l l ion

ELONMUSK

Tumblr.

STORY OF INSTAGRAM

MOST FOLLOWED MOST USED

October 62010

Learnt how to code on the side,

ended up developing Burbn

Kevin

When Pictures Are Worth Billions

April 2014

April 2012

Launched on iPhones

25.000 usersjoined

Instagram

Got great feedback on Burbn, landed $500K

investment

Burbn didn’t cut itDecided to focus on

pictures only

Met co-founder Cleaned up Burbn

and renamed itInstagram

1 DAY

200 M!! 16 BillionPhotos uploaded in 2014

NYC

200 Million users

Person HashtagBrand GeotagRetailer Filter

Facebook acquires Instagram for

$1 Billion

#Selfie#NoFilter

Mike

16 BillionPhotos uploaded in 2014

Filter

InstagramWHEN PICTURES ARE WORTH BILLIONS

If I told you that it would be pos-sible to make a billion dollars in two years by launching a startup , would you call me crazy, out of

my mind, delusional or all of the above? See, there are people out there for whom impossible is not a problem, in fact, it’s a challenge and a dare they can’t wait to tear down and overcome. The story of Instagram is the story of an app that rose to fame and popularity in a flash of a second, but is it really as glorious as I’m making it sound? Was it that easy? Some people say Instagram was made in a matter of 8 weeks and racked thousands of users in a few hours, but few know what went on behind the scenes before Instagram saw light. Here, let me show you what I’m talking about.

Before you jump to conclusions and assume the guy behind Instagram is yet another coding genius who used to build apps by the age of six, Kevin, the primary co-founder, started learning the art of coding during late hours – after work. He hustled everyday and pulled off extra hours on his laptop just to understand how the whole coding thing worked. I mean most people would just come back from work

and switch on their favorite TV show, grab an “after work” or really, just hit the bed.

Kevin had an ambition, a vision and a drive to stand out and do things differently. Understanding how to code was just his gateway to be-coming a self-made entrepreneur, an individual who was going to revolutionize the app-world. Those long hours, absorbing the ins and outs of coding, eventually paid off when Kevin finalized his first app called Burbn.

Burbn was more like a check-in app that Kevin developed in light of the trend Foursquare set at that time. Believing strongly in user feedback and using everyone’s opinion to improve his product, Kevin shared his app with friends, family and any-one he could get his hands on. He was so obsessed with user feed-back that he would show his app to investors during parties. You can call that pushy, stubborn or “a little too much”, but it turned out pretty good for Kevin who ended up land-ing $500K in funding. Not only did he win big on funding, but he also took the leap of faith and quit his job in order to follow his passion and work on his baby product.

With more hours on his hands and no boss to satisfy but himself, Kevin went back to refine Burbn and tried to get his app to a stage where he could really test it out. Like any glo-rious story, shit happens, and for Kevin, rolling out his first photo app version of Burbn was pretty awful. But what do you do when things don’t work out? You pick yourself up, understand where things went south and move forward. You learn your lesson and capitalize on it, that’s how things get done and im-proved.

One week after his first flop, Kevin came up with a photo sharing app from scratch, this time focusing only on one thing: photos. Simplici-ty was key here, “simplicity is the ul-timate sophistication”, and simplic-ity is what Kevin went for to make his app kick off. But what’s a great idea and a great product without the right team? Kevin was quick to find a co-founder, Mike, who had the brains, the passion and the drive to work on this “Next Big Thing” Kevin was preparing the world for. With the right team, Kevin and Mike went on launching Burbn on the app store, spent a while clean-ing it up, removing all the glitter and the bling, leaving a simple photo sharing platform that even my grandmother could use (no of-fense grandma). The results were mind-blowing. The new app, now renamed Instagram, skyrocketed in a few hours after its initial launch on

a lucky Monday. In less than a day, Instagram had over 25.000 users! Like I wouldn’t be able to get those kinds of numbers even if was giving away free pot to high school frater-nities!

The rest is history as they say. Ins-tagram shot up to the #1 photo app on the App store, signing in users by the thousands and millions later on.

Instagram was definitely the new kid in the block, getting the atten-tion of tech giants who felt that this little guy was becoming an actual threat. In that spirit (and in order to avoid clashing with the rising titans), Facebook moved quick and made an offer Instagram couldn’t refuse: $1 billion! Yeah it looks small compared to their $16 billion acqui-sition of Whatsapp, but hey, we’re talking about 2012 here.

Fast-forward two years and Insta-gram today has over 200 million us-ers, gets 16 billion photos uploaded on its servers annually and hosts a steady growth. The only trouble is, the most followed “star” on Insta-gram is Justin Bieber - yeah I know, it ruins all the fun but you can’t have it all now can you?

P h i l i p p e B o r g e n

HUSTLE!THE SECRET FORMULA TO SUCCESS

What does Richard Bran-son, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison all have in common? What do suc-

cessful billionaires share that makes them so goddamn good at what they do? How come some people make it from the bottom, all the way to the top in such a fashion that it almost seems more like a miracle or out of mere luck?

They Hustle!

These visionaries, who set the stan-dards for success and triumphs, didn’t just sit on a couch, listening to self-help audio books or liking Facebook pages, they got their asses up and knocked on every single door they came across. They went after every opportunity; they sacrificed comfort and replaced it with grind for the sake of success.

Hustling is the magical word that opens up all doors. It’s the most es-sential qualification you’ll need to make it in life. Now some would ar-gue that the whole work-life balance is important and that hustling ruins your personal life. Guess what? When our ancestors were running down the freaking Amazon, hunting down Go-rillas, their personal life wasn’t their number one priority. They sacrificed

that comfort; turning on the beast mode, using their survival instinct to maximizing their potential to suc-ceed.

Hustling isn’t really an option, it real-ly isn’t. It’s not like the overall human standard is average and hustling is only an option for those who wish to take that extra mile. Hustling is the norm, we’re built to perform at the highest level and achieve grand am-bitions. Every single one of us has the potential to make shit happen, everyone has a dream, a passion and a goal they want to achieve. Now we can let society poison us and make us believe that things are impossible OR we just follow our guts and fight until we see our dreams come true.

Why Hustle?

When was the last time derivatives helped you land a deal? Tell me more about the time knowing who wrote Hamlet led you to make a million dol-lars. See my point? Formal education, high school and the whole college routine can only help you so far, but when it really comes to it, if you don’t become street smart and learn the rules of the game by getting your hands dirty, you’re as good as a 300 page thesis that no one reads - ever. You’re full of mind-blowing knowl-

edge that is simply irrelevant to real life conditions. Successful people have the good habit of going out of their way to complement their edu-cation with business savvy or street education and salesmanship to be-come well rounded and relevant at all times. Hustling will offer you that missing lesson you were never taught in a classroom. Hustling will teach you that while playing by the rules is how you should proceed, it might not always work. Hustling will show you that getting an F doesn’t really mean you’ve failed, but that you’ve learned a lesson and progressed in the right direction. Hustling will clarify that people are not understood through books or articles, but are decrypted through face-to-face interactions, body language and background checks. Education will get you a job, hustling will make you a fortune.

How To Hustle

Now when I say hustling, I don’t mean working endless hours, going to a bunch of meetings and working blindly until you burn out. Hustling is all about being smart, sharp and on point. You should know how to allo-cate your time and efforts. Knock on the right doors, connect with relevant people and follow opportunities that will further your path and bring you closer to your goals.

When To Hustle

Hustling takes a lot of guts and effort, so considering how we’ll be burnt out by our 50s, capitalize on your “youth-

fulness”! While you’re young, curious, hungry and slightly crazy, try to ex-ploit every ounce of energy you have. Live your early life like no other so that you can spend the rest of your life like no one can. It’s as simple as that. When you’re still able to recover from a knee injury, when you call pull all-nighters five times a week, when you can run a marathon under four hours, that’s when it’s time to invest in the foundations of your future.

Hustle Like a Muscle

Hustling is very much like (may sound a little corky) bodybuilding. You have to push the limits of your muscles, going through tons of pain all while keeping a committed and disciplined schedule. The result? A greater body, lean muscles and a shape everyone would die for (coming with other certain benefits). If you can manage to expand your potential and capa-bilities, if you can take on hit after hit, surviving through failures and crit-icism, you’re set for a glorious end result.

At the end of the day, no one ever makes it far without pulling out the big guns. Our days on this polluted planet are numbered. We’re not im-mortals and we can’t request dead-line extensions when it comes to our lives. All we can do is make every day, every hour and every minute count. How to do that? Exploit every second to make sure it goes into building a brighter and better future.

Va n e s s a P u p i c

After having watched every single Shark Tank episode, concluding that every inves-tor is, well, a jerk, the guy we

sat down with really wasn’t what I was expecting. The person in question is young, intelligent, humble and unbe-lievably well spoken as he intensely gave us the ins and outs of the inves-tor’s world. His story is a true inspi-ration that resonates with thousands of people out there, and his quest to become what he always dreamt of becoming will give you that little extra push that will get you off the couch and follow your dreams and aspira-tions. His name? Yousef Hamza, an individual who leads by example, a role model for driven entrepreneurs to fol-low and look up to. We had the chance to sit down with Hamza in order to get an insight on his life, unique work eth-ic and of course, what really goes on behind closed doors when it comes to angel investing.

Childhood

Although Hamza claims he had an av-erage, regular childhood, it’s hard to believe that jumping grades, graduat-ing early and showing premature signs of genius is anything close to “normal”. “I started out very young, I skipped grades, and although I was doing well

academically, I was so uninterested about the whole academic curriculum - my mind was elsewhere”. You see, he doesn’t hide the fact that the school-ing system was holding him back, con-ditioning him to become just another student. And frankly, this rings true with a lot of students and countless entrepreneurs out there who attend weekly classes and academic seminars just to feel like they’re almost internally drowning, having their creativity slowly bashed and drained, till finally, they’re turned into a number in a database headed to a corporate job with a set salary – from 9-to-5, five days a week.

“There is a lack of support systems in today’s academic landscape. I ex-perienced that at a young age and I wish things were different. Creativity should be nurtured, curiosity should be fed and risk should be rewarded. That’s what school should be about, not grades, exams and endless assign-ments.” The growing distrust in educa-tion today is something strongly rever-berated in Yousef’s stream of thoughts. From Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, who has been paying students 100k to leave college and work on ac-tual projects, to an increasing number of millionaires and billionaires who happen to be high school or college dropouts - the relevance of schools to-

YOUSEF HAMZATHE INS AND OUTS OF ANGEL INVESTING

day is strongly put in question.

“Education today is becoming ir-relevant. There are certain degrees that are important given their tech-nical nature, such as doctors, en-gineers etc. Others you just don’t need. Sometimes formal education ends up being a bad investment, a move towards the wrong direction. You can’t learn, absorb and have everything taught out in a bordered classroom, it just doesn’t work out that way anymore. You have to build a consistent mindset of persistence and determination to learn on your own. There is a clear lack of interest in emotional intelligence (EQ), on learning how to learn, observation skills and body language. We get bombarded with so much standard-ized rubbish, so much irrelevant knowledge that consumes us and our time, only to forget “ the value

of x” two days after the exam. Ed-ucation today impedes growth in some cases, and we need to under-stand that, not on a personal level only, but on a societal one. Back in the days parents were also more in-volved in the education of their kids, giving them the missing pieces they lacked in their academic quest, but today, most parents are busy most of the time, assuming that school alone would take care of their kids’ education.”

The reality check Yousef gave us didn’t stop here, and as expected, University education didn’t escape the wrath of his opinions. “I went to university and ended up skipping most of my classes. I was told that 80% of the material wouldn’t be ap-plicable by the time I graduated, so I decided to ‘learn how to learn”. Fit-ting into the “usual expectations in

Arabian Gazette

Arab families and societies in gener-al of the ‘Engineering-Medicine-Law holy trinity’” didn’t lead to much salvation. He then went on to reveal that “I jumped from law firm to law firm, but it still didn’t cut it. I was al-ways adapting and changing, trying out new things and experimenting in the quest to find what I was truly passionate about. Some people set-tle for less than they deserve, some people settle for average or medioc-rity, some people accept to be un-comfortable and bored, and others, well others just keep on grinding to find their true calling. “

The story obviously doesn’t end here, as a matter of fact; we’re just getting started, since Yousef’s rise in the world of angel investing started with a casual elevator chat.

“I was in an elevator and stum-bled upon David Moleshead the co-founder of Envestors, one of the only active Business Angel Network in the region at the time. I asked him what he was doing, and he asked me whether I knew how startup funding worked. I knew all about it, with stories from friends and fam-ily as well as personal experience. Knowing that it was a completely unstructured, inefficient and an un-der-served landscape, I simply re-sponded ‘yes’, to which he then said ‘We bring structure to that’. When David then further told me about their work at Envestors and how they were trying to change the rules

of the game when it came to angel investing, I instantly knew that ‘this was it’ and decided I had to join the team. I told David that this wasn’t an option or a request, I wasn’t nego-tiating. I told him I’d join their firm regardless of whether they wanted it or not. . I quit my job as a lawyer that same day and began my excit-ing journey at Envestors.”

Tradition & Modernity

A lot of people would question whether conservative societies are actually ready for the 21st century’s fast moving, ever changing, entre-preneurial landscapes. We do con-cede that it’ll be unimaginable to see something like Tinder, Grinder or CodeBabes emerge in traditional communities, yet that doesn’t mean entrepreneurship, angel investing or technological breakthroughs cannot grow in Eastern societies. A great example is the notion of “Majlis”, the precursor to Hackathons and pitch forums where the elderly will gather to pitch each other and discuss in-novative ways to help their commu-nity.

“What drove me towards angel in-vesting was the personal element. I missed the Majlis culture, which used to be prevalent but is slow-ly dying out. Just friends, from all walks of life, sitting around a camp-fire and sharing. . I used to be told stories of how, back in the day, Ma-jlises are what grew Dubai. Simple

conversations between friends, ev-eryone from the ruling families to the average Joes, discussing ways to improve the community or simply coming up with recommendations and suggestions. Everyone was open to learn about new things, to find ways to collaborate and to solve society’s most pressing issues. Back in the day, it was trust, friendship, partnership, vision and the wisdom to listen to others, consult, observe and act that created the UAE into the amazing place it is today, and I wanted to re-create that through in-vesting into new ideas and entrepre-neurs via a Majlis that would likewise begin to change the shape of the UAE for the better. “

Do What You Are Passionate About

As cliché and “mainstream” as it might sound, doing what you want, pursuing your dreams and finding new avenues for growth is indeed the way of life. We’re not brought up on this earth just to survive. We’re here to thrive, and thriving starts with people doing what they are motivated about. In those regards, Hamza had a pretty insightful rec-ommendation to everyone out there: “Do what you love and you’ll nev-er fail. When my work became my passion, I was going that extra mile” See, his passion is not to make mon-ey (although that doesn’t hurt) but to observe, understand and invest in people. “ I enjoy dealing with peo-ple, so I decided to shift my focus to

social intelligence. I wanted to de-velop an understanding of people, to get to know how they function and analyze what they really are made of.”

But in all honesty, how do you do that? Well, the key is to know how to observe. I’m not talking about a glance, giving the person a quick look and then just going back to your smartphone. Actually observe. Observation is an art, perfected over years.

Investor Talk

What makes Hamza’s work ethic unique, whether it’s with Envestors or any other project, lecture or ad-visory position, is his ability to blur the lines and support entrepreneurs not only with their business needs, but with their life struggles and questions as well. “We give more than just professional support, we find ourselves often times giving life advice to entrepreneurs, supporting them across a range of services that were not included in our areas of ex-pertise. We even dealt with people’s depression at times!” Business isn’t just about business anymore, it’s about people. Investors back the people behind the project, not the idea. If we like the entrepre-neur pitching the idea to us, that’s 90% of getting us to say yes and in-vest, and when we say yes, we invest ourselves in helping that entrepre-

neur to be the best version of what he or she can be, whether in terms of business practices or character.”

Pitch Perfect

Now for all the entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs out there making it this far, the burning question ev-eryone is trying to have answered is: How on earth can we execute the perfect pitch? How can we get investors to sign those checks and believe in us, allowing our startup to take off?

“Investors are sensitive to every-thing around them. They are sharp and can read people instantly. In-vestors are getting smarter so don’t assume you can lure your way into their pockets. The truth is, you have

one chance, a tiny chance to get their attention. When that happens, you have to win their hearts and minds from the first encounter. I remember a specific entrepreneur who entered the room, greeted me and walked straight for the chair. Before he even pulled it out, and went straight to the chair and sat down. You know what happened? I promptly asked him to leave the of-fice, not wanting to hear his idea or pitch, saying I wouldn’t invest in him anyway. Every single movement he made, from how he walked, smiled, where his gaze went, the tone of his voice and a thousand other things, was something I had seen in an en-trepreneur countless times before. The inability to be flexible and look after his cashflow, as well as a lot of arrogance. Surely enough, 5 months

Arabian Gazette

later, he raised $1m from family, friends and fools, and burnt through that in the first 3 months of opera-tions, forcing him to close down. ”

“We invest in people, and in that spirit, we need to trust and get well with entrepreneurs we’ll be working with. Everything is critical about the person pitching to us. Their person-ality, background, body language, tone - we analyze all the little details to have a thorough understanding of the individual we will be giving our money to. All of that has not only an impact on how much money they can raise, but also at what valu-ation.”

Stubbornness and inflexibility are two traits that will truly kill your mojo when you’re interacting with investors. “They need to be open to new ideas, changes to their busi-ness, recommendations and be able to pivot. If they’re flexible and able to adapt to new circumstances, they’re a winning ticket for sure. We love entrepreneurs who are confi-dent yet humble, full of happiness and positivity, sure of themselves and excited about their ideas.”

Any Pitch Tips?

- Always smile- Be precise and start with what you’ll be doing. If the investor doesn’t completely understand what your business does in the first 60 seconds, every slide, set of numbers

and charts that you show afterwards have no relevance and you’ll lose them.- Try to excite the investors about your business by making them un-derstand what excites YOU about the business.- Keep the pitch under 8 minutes.- Do some quick research about body language and implement it to your advantage.- Everything is assessed: verbal, vi-sual and body messages.- Observe your audience and adapt to them.- Don’t play the ‘Smart Alec’ card and definitely don’t be cute with investors. - Don’t pull a background check on us in order to tell us about our lives – we know what we did or said, rather, use it to understand us and tailor your pitch to what we believe in. Don’t quote me to me or talk down to your investor, remember why you’re there, you’re looking for a partner, not bank account details.

Why do investors come off as high-ly unpleasant people sometimes?

We’ve all experienced it or seen it at some point. The “typical” greedy, old and grumpy investor, looking down on you while you’re about to pitch your idea, looking like they’ll be biting your head off at any sec-ond. Familiar? We’re not talking about the Shark Tank here; forget about that, those guys have ten cameras directed at them, so it’s

fairly dramatized. But something close to that happens in venture capitalists’ offices and entrepreneur-ship events all the time - and there is a reason for it.

“Investors aren’t being harsh just for the sake of being harsh. They try to push entrepreneurs outside of their comfort zone, they try to push them to the edge in order to see how much they can take, how they can get themselves out of a sticky situa-tion. We want to see their reactions; it’s all part of our assessment. If you can’t take some heat from an inves-tor, how will you deal with the reali-ties of entrepreneurship?”

But don’t be quick to judge inves-tors, because behind those profes-sional facades are amazing people who just want to help others achieve their dreams (while making a nice return on investment). Take Hamza for example, he might come across as stern and emotionless if you en-counter him on a pitch competition, but in reality, he’s a humble and comfortable guy to be around – a little surprising I have to say.

“I don’t like to intimidate and push back people through tons of con-tracts, hitting them up with lawyers here and there, clauses and hidden by-laws. I am a lawyer by profes-sion and education, but I don’t like to abuse that to get the upper hand over entrepreneurs. But that doesn’t mean that the process is all roses

and rainbows. Entrepreneurs need to understand that investors take risks, putting their own hard-earned money on the table. We’re not a charity; we look for a return on our investments. That’s why entrepre-neurs should never be offended by what investors have to say or put down in a contract. It might seem as we’re being greedy and unsym-pathetic, but in fact, we’re usually protecting ourselves from situations that we’ve seen too many times to count. Throw your ego aside and don’t take everything as a personal insult.”

Failures

Yousef Hamza’s life might come across as a smooth entrepreneurial ride. A genius student, who rose fast through academic ranks, went on to become a lawyer and then ended up becoming an investor and prin-cipal at Envestors who enjoys ev-erything life has to offer. Well, sorry to ruin the Disney-like story for you, but he’s had his fair share of disap-pointments and he has no problem talking about them.

“I failed a bunch of times. My life hasn’t really been as smooth as it might sound. I faced a lot of chal-lenges, I´ve had relationships fall apart, investments gone bad and projects breaking down, but I learned so much from them. You see, failure speeds one’s learning curve. If people can handle criticism,

if they can admit to their failures, they’ll fail forward. But for others who are stubborn, who stick to their projects no matter what happens, don’t want to admit that change is sometimes needed, then at the end of the day their failure is a disaster with no constructive results.”

What Entrepreneurship Should Be About

From the number of people who walk around claiming entrepreneur this and entrepreneur that, you’d think half of the world are setting up startups and launching businesses left and right, but the truth is, much of it is just talk. Entrepreneurship is becoming a sign of prestige, a med-al people put on to look and sound amazing, but in reality, there are few who take on the battleground and fight hard to reach their dreams. Entrepreneurship is about sweat, blood and tears, that’s what it takes to launch a startup and get it off the ground.

“Entrepreneurship is a mindset. Some people are born to be entre-preneurs; others learn it along the way. The way to become a success-ful entrepreneur is to get out of your comfort zone. It’s all about sacrific-es. Friends, time, sanity - how much you are willing to give up in order to pursue your dream, achieve your ob-jectives and see your business come to light? Some would take a day off or spend a few bucks to attend a

conference or a Hackathon and ap-point themselves as entrepreneurs. Who are you kidding? The philoso-phy of entrepreneurship is not about going to a few conferences or at-tending fancy-titled conventions, it’s about getting things done! And if getting things done is too much for you, then you’re not cut out for this.”

The 6 Keys of entrepreneurship

Be prepared to sacrificeNever stop developing yourselfObserve everythingIn the name of learning, most things are forgivableStop complaining, everyone is in the same boat, find solutions instead Always partner with people and ask how you can be of help to others

M o h a m e d A m i n e B e l a r b i

PCRFOperation Protective Edge,

that’s the name of Israel’s current “defensive” operation that launched on the 7th July,

massacring an entire population, exter-minating the very existence of Gaza by destroying their entire social infrastruc-ture. But this hasn’t just been going on for a couple of days or weeks, it’s been going on for decades, with the entire world watching. But between glob-al demonstrations, mainstream NGOs and so called superpowers; there was a clump of coal that slowly turned into a diamond, doing the absolute unimag-inable and redefining the concept of sacrifice for the greater good.

His name is Steve Sosebee, the found-er of the Palestinian Children Relief Fund, a non-political organization that was established to tackle medical and humanitarian catastrophes that’s been hitting the Palestinians, trying to treat and fund specific surgeries that aren’t really available to them – quite literally lifesavers! But if you think that’s incred-ible, wait till you hear the story of the founder!

Just like any other Superhero, he looks like a regular normal guy, an ordinary American citizen who does some fund-raisers here and there and considering his accent, you’d think he spends most

of his time in the States, doing what-ever ordinary guys do. But little do you know, there is so much more hiding behind the mask.

“I was raised by social conscious par-ents in a small town in Ohio called Kent, which in 1970 had an incident in which four unarmed students were killed by American soldiers for protesting the war in Vietnam. So I was raised in a small community in which we were aware of the world outside our borders, and that power has a way of promoting injustice through force and that we all have a duty as free people raised in a country that values individual rights to stand up for those who are denied their rights.”

Sosebee is truly an inspirational indi-vidual who, believe it or not, decided to settle in Palestine as an act of justice, as an act of love for the people, and has been going to Gaza since December of 1988, a place where he “feels at home, despite the occupation.” He explains that “I am in many ways a classically cultural American - I love baseball, the Beatles and the freedom to get in a car and drive 1,000 miles without being stopped. But I’m also very attached to Palestine and feel connected to the people and culture there in a way that respects the positive things. If you sur-

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

round yourself with positive energy in life, no matter where you are, and have friends and family who you love and respect, then you can live well anywhere. If you are tortured by fear and materialism, then life can be hard even in paradise. “ So when asked why he decided to take on such a gigantic sacrifice he humbly states “I was searching for something in my life which would give me a sense of service and meaning, where I could use my energy and talents in a pos-itive way, to help an oppressed peo-ple, but to do it out of love and heal-ing, not out of anything negative or destructive.”

Today, PCRF is perceived as one of the worlds most transparent and trusted non-profit charity organiza-tions, receiving a full 4 stars by the Charity Navigator and scored an amazing 70/70 in accountability and transparency, having a net asset of over 10 million dollars. And when you think it really cant get any better, it does, receiving a bunch of support and endorsements from the US Sen-ator Paul Sarbanes and even Jimmy Carter, the former US President, pub-lished an amazing video backing the organization.

But with all this backing and support from prominent figures in the US, is the superpower really doing every-thing to its ability? Are they doing everything in their power to end the war and saves millions of lives? He explains, “As an American, we have more of a responsibility to stand up for people who our government has

a role in oppressing, like the Palestin-ians. We should always stand with op-pressed people, no matter where they are.”

The fact is that if the world’s giants wanted the apartheid to be over, it already would be. I mean it’s not like the governments don’t have the re-sources or power to end a war like this, investing billions of dollars on national defense and spending sum-mer vacations on the moon - they just don’t want to. Sosby firmly em-phasizes on the private sectors huge contribution and support to the war in Gaza as “we take pride in having an organization that is able to do the work that we are doing on the ground there, which is completely privately funded, because that shows we have the support of people all over the world. “ He also strictly highlights on the “superpowers” lack (or almost non-existent) of backing and support as he explains, “If the international community, especially Gulf states and my government, wanted to end the conflict, it could happen overnight. The Saudis are the number one sup-plier of crude on the world market. The US is the main world super pow-er. The Europeans, the United Nations are all main powers who we are only asking to enforce international human rights laws, security council resolu-tions and to be unbiased and fair in brokering a peaceful resolution to the issue. “

Alright fine, we´ve established that the so called superpowers won’t do anything about the situation, what

about the media? Well considering that mainstream-monitored media, like FOX news, CNN and CNBC are reporting the news as if “this just happened,” we really have to rely on the incredible power of social online media, who has really been portray-ing the issue from a multidimension-al angle, shedding light on the most oppressed outlooks that have been hidden from the public. Because hon-estly, “there is a complete disconnect to the historical context of the con-flict in the Western media. There is no mention of 1917, when Palestine was 95% Arab Palestinian and promised to another people outside of it’s borders by a foreign colonial power or 1948, when half of the population were driven out of Palestine (what is now Israel) and their villages and homes were destroyed by the thousands. The western media is focused on the daily aspects of the conflict, particu-larly the violence and not on what is the root cause of the violence.

As a result, most Americans and oth-ers don’t understand the issue in the proper context, and cannot base their opinions on the root causes or what is the most just and proper solution.”But how can a fund, that is consid-ered to be fairly new, compared to other large non-profit organizations, get so much attention and support? I mean lets face it, after reading about “incidents” like the Breast Cancer Re-lief Foundation, who only spent 2.2% of their donations on direct aid and other charities that “taxed” their do-nations, you do get a little skeptical. So how did PCRF, who is today one

of the most trusted charity organiza-tions, establish that essential trait of transparency and assurance primar-ily amongst the Palestinians? “Every good deed has a sinister motive. But if you work hard and show people how they can be a part of something positive, that helps heal the wounds of children, and you keep doing it and focus on the positive and what we can do, and not let those who are focused on negativity to distract you, people will see you are serious and for real.”

For the past few weeks we´ve all been reading and hearing about the current situation in Palestine, but never would we be able to imagine or picture what really goes on their – it’s all filtered. “ It’s all very complex and we cannot just use the term “Palestin-ians” as if they have a monolithic ex-istence. With that being said, I think there is complete unity among Pal-estinians that they are a nation and a people who deserve their freedom, basic national and human rights, and freedom like any other people in the world. While they may have different daily circumstances depending on where they are living, they share the same national vision for freedom and an end to occupation and the right of return.”

So what can we do to support the cause, what can the people do who aren’t on the grounds in Gaza? Through Sosbies years of experience, on and of the grounds of Gaza, he explains that “I don’t think it is im-portant to only vent through social

media or to educate people, but to find ways to have a positive impact on the ground there through organi-zations like the PCRF and others who are on the ground there helping those in need get the urgent support that they need to live better lives, espe-cially during this crisis. People need to be active, to stand with Gaza and Palestine, to demonstrate, write let-ters, speak and act in positive ways, not with hatred or calls for violence, but out of love and respect for justice and freedom. Not acting means that you really don’t care.”

Obviously we couldn’t leave Steve without getting one last essential piece of advice, one last message for us to engrain when diving into the emotional Israel - Palestine topic. So Sosebee, what do you have for us? “Educate yourself and educate oth-

ers. You have tools today with tech-nology and communication that did not exist for other generations, and it is a tool that empowers you to reach out across the world. Don’t distract yourself with materialism or enter-tainment only, but also with causes that will direct your life in a way that will give you meaning and purpose. Time goes fast and soon you will be old and looking back on your life and how you lived it. You don’t want to feel that you short time here was spent caring about things rather than people. Get involved, be positive and don’t let failure or rejection stop you from doing something good in your life. You have the power to do what-ever you want, as long as you work hard, are honest and stay focused. It’s all up to you. “

I b r a h i m N a j i

PCRF

5 Unusual ThingsSUCCESSFUL PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON

From Bill Gates to Warren Buffet, we’ve all wondered where their secrets lay. But what if I told you that the

most successful individuals had 5 distinct and unusual things in com-mon that made them so wealthy? Well consider yourself lucky, be-cause below are a list of five com-mon habits successful people all have in common.

1. They sleep less and wake up much earlier

Over 40% of multimillionaires have been reported to wake up at least 4 hours before their day starts.

This gives them the chance to get tedious things out of the way and focus on whatever projects they are working on for that week. No one likes to come home from work, only to have a long list of chores that still need to be done. Wak-ing up earlier and getting things done in the morning increases pro-ductivity by making the day less stressful. By taking on the habit of getting your day started early, enables you to accomplish more

and have more time to focus on projects that will help you in the future. To put it simply, get rid of the messy things first and focus on what you do best.

2. They succeed at failing

Remember that failing is essential to success. Failure is inevitable, and successful people have a hab-it of using failure and rejection as a learning experience instead of a disappointment. Rejection can of-ten motivate you to become suc-cessful later on and stops you from becoming complacent. Another important thing is that successful people study other people’s fail-ures in order to learn from them and avoid making the same mis-takes.

3. They keep their work and liv-ing space clean

Being in a clean and organized environment eases your mind and creates less distractions from your work. It also helps you attain more energy, and trust me, handling and distributing your energy into

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A r t o n i q u e N e l s o n

the right areas is crucial to suc-cess. Also remember that time is useless if you don’t have the energy to use it efficiently. Why do you think people spend so much money on housekeeping? Because being in a clean and organized space helps you to become more productive and focused.

4. They are not afraid to say NO

Warren Buffet was once quoted saying: “the difference between regular people and successful people is that successful people say no to almost everything”. If your gut is telling you not to do something, don’t do it. Be-cause remember that it’s better to say ‘no’ and hurt the persons’ feelings, than to say ‘yes’ and be disappointed later on when you end up losing thousands, if not millions, of dollars from a bad deal. Time is your currency; and it shouldn’t be wasted on an op-portunity that is not going to be beneficial to you in the long run. Keep your standards sky-high and don’t ever let anyone manip-ulate you into doing something you don’t want to do.

5. Their education doesn’t stop by graduation

Your education doesn’t end when you finish school. One of the habits of successful people is that they never stop learning. They’re always studying whatev-er interests them and are always looking to figure out the answers to questions that other people may not know the answer to. So make sure to consistently read new material to gain new ideas and inspiration on a daily basis. All in all, don’t forget that un-common habits bring uncommon results. So remember to be con-sistent in your productive habits and to cut out the ones that are hindering you.

“The People Who Are Crazy Enough

to Think They Can Change the

World, Are the Ones Who Do.”

Steve Jobs

FIFA World CupWHAT IT CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP

No other event in the world could ever match up to this heavyweight defender, not the Olympics, not the World

Series and not even the great Amer-ican Super Bowl. Once every four years the FIFA World Cup kicks off, gathering a total of 32 passionate nations on a worldwide stage, fight-ing for the ultimate honor, as the world gazes with prospects. Global spectators that assemble on a com-mon platform to observe as the clash of the titans heat up, supporting their nation, roaring out what they stand for, proudly exposing their col-ors.

Because you see, this is so much more than just a game of football; it’s an educational platform unlike any other, teaching you the fine les-sons of the entrepreneurial life. So as you glance back at the World Cup, reminiscing about the viral “Su-arez incident” and Brazils’ historical defeat, consider these five entre-preneurial lessons that will not only make the time you spent in front of the TV entertaining – but also good for business!

Never underestimate the Underdogs

If there is anything we learnt form

the World Cup this year, it’s that you should never underestimate the un-derdogs, never look down on the “little guys”, because as you turn your back, glancing at Ronaldo’s Portugal (we all saw how well that turned out) or Spain’s throne holders (even I didn’t see that one coming), they’ll bite you in the ass, making you regret you ever doubted them. I mean, the majority of all the 16 teams that emerged into the “knock-out” stages weren’t really the world’s most glorified nations. Costa Rica, Columbia and even the U.S (which the Swedish superstar, Ibrahimovic, called a “joke”) turned out to be the hungriest teams out there, surpass-ing European superpowers such as England, Italy and of course Spain.

So for all my self-employed entre-preneurs, this should go out as a les-son that shows us that “big-players” don’t always end up on top. It proves to show that with enough deter-mination, perseverance and vision you can outdo the elite and beat the odds because so long as there’s a consistent shift in time, you can provide distinctive value and signifi-cance even if you’re an underdog.

Talent without discipline is worth-less

Let me take you back a couple of years, back to South Africa’s FIFA World Cup in 2010 where Spain ab-solutely dominated the game, cap-turing their first World Cup title. And it was quite obvious; I mean with some of the best players in the world, most of them coming from the much admired Barcelona and Real Madrid, they were expected to over-shadow every nation and take it all home. But as we slowly wit-nessed, Spain lost its dominant pow-er over Europe, and their road to vic-tory in Brazil was cut off pretty early, and not in the best way we shall ad as we watched them get bashed by the Netherlands. Same thing goes for England and Italy, two exception-al nations who made their exit pretty early in the tournament.

Being talented, having that little extra means absolutely nothing if there’s no aspiration and persistence backing it up. I mean what’s the point of having a bigger tank than anyone else, if there is nothing fuel-ing it? Embrace the fact that effort, strategy and innovation is all a part of the equation and that ambition will lead you to triumph, regardless of what is put in front of you. Intel-ligence without ambition is a bird without wings – useless.

Association by Connection – A brands’ best friend

The World Cup has been big on get-ting in iconic brands to sponsor the

event. Coca-Cola, Adidas, Sony - a fraction of the World Cups’ sponsors who have been setting the world on fire, keeping us entertained between the games with their innovative and captivating promotions, capitalizing on the excessive heat the World Cup has been receiving from all over the world. With that being said, it’s their strategic approach to marketing their own brand that really sets them apart from anyone else. The majority of the entities worked on tying their products to the World Cup and not specifically to the products and ser-vices itself, establishing a sense of connectivity and leveraging the FIFA brand to their advantage.

This emphasizes on the importance of building a collective community for your brand. So instead of purely focusing on self-promotion as a tac-tic of boosting your brand without feeling like spam 2.0, focus on pro-pelling your product or service by associating it to a common field of interest. Take Nike for example, their latest commercials were all direct-ly linked to the World Cup, but had “subliminal marketing strategies” within the ad, showcasing their latest boots – making you, me and millions of other fans wanting to watch it over and over again.

It’s never a one-man show

The World Cup surely had some great nations clashing for the title, nations with an amazing track record that can’t be held against them. Bra-

zil, Italy, Spain and the list just keeps on going. But what one can’t forget is that individual skill can never take you to the top. I mean, I’m guessing people would consider Spain to be a much more skillful team than Costa Rica, and we all saw what happened there. At the end of the day, a nation can never depend on one distinctive player and a player can never evolve a game around himself. You see, what differentiated Germany from any other nation in the World Cup, was not only their mind-blowing skillset, but their cooperative team-play as well. Portugal had Ronaldo, Argentina had Messi, Brazil had Ney-mar and Germany, well Germany had a team.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, there is only so much you can do alone. Establishing a strong team to run behind you and a team that you can leverage on will help you reach your objectives a hell of a lost faster, establishing a solid foundation for future ventures.

There is no better accelerator than strategy

Who could ever believe that a nation like Costa Rica would actually have the balls to match up against a team like the Netherlands? I mean at least in my eyes, that was a no brainer! But truth be told, they managed to take the game to penalties and un-fortunately, lost. But nevertheless, they used the simplest yet strictest football strategy that allowed them

to control the game in a way that gave the opponents no chance to capitalize on their strong well-ma-neuvered forwards – “The Offside Trap”. With unbelievably strong team-symmetry and awareness, Cos-ta Rica stopped the Dutch as they tried to make it further up the line, surviving for 120 minutes in the are-na.

Entrepreneurs, this is a reminder of the importance of strategy. The sig-nificance of a game-plan. Just think about it, companies and individuals with just pure talent can go far, but business with a killer combination of a strategic game-plan and undeni-able talent are those who endure ag-gressive battles and usually, end up on top, because talent without a plan of action is straight up impractical.

As the 2014 Brazilian World Cup had some great moments, unifying na-tions and cultures from all over the world, bringing together the worlds’ greatest athletes on a single plat-form for us to gaze upon, there was so much to absorb and reflect on. Eliminate all that excessive noise and emotion, and you’ll notice that there is so much to be learnt from the players, teams and supporters that can easily be applied to your busi-ness, entrepreneurial philosophies and whatever life lessons that de-termines where the road to success ends up for you.

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