Yahoo! and ictQatar sign partnership deal to develop digital media centre Friday, 10 February 2012 05:28

From left: Christos Mastoras, Director of Business Development at Yahoo! Middle East, Rich Riley, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Yahoo! EMEA and Ahmed Nassef, Vice President and Managing Director of Yahoo! Middle East during the press conference at W Hotel yesterday. Shaival Dalal

DOHA: Global Internet giant Yahoo! and ictQatar have reached a partnership agreement to develop more accessible digital media and content ecosystem in Qatar that would help a lot local businesses by giving them advantage in online exposure.

The collaboration was meant to cultivate, stimulate online growth and nurture entrepreneurship that dwells along with ictQatar’s ICT 2015 Strategy, a major thrust in fully developing the country’s IT infrastructure.

Both parties will work out to develop a digital media content incubation center with Yahoo! through its Yahoo!Maktoob, Middle East and North Africa’s increasingly popular portal, contributing its world-class expertise.

Through the partnership with ictQatar, Yahoo! will work closely with Small and Medium-sized Entreprises to develop more accessible “home-grown” digital content, multi-platform applications and digital advertising.

Rich Riley, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Yahoo! Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), cited common objectives of the joint project: Harmonise Qatar’s huge IT infrastructure investment with Yahoo!’s know-how as premier global digital media company to benefit mostly Qatar’s business, brands and consumers.

Ali Al Khulaifi, ICT Market Development Manager at ictQatar, said giving specific focus on quality of Arabic content forms part of ictQatar’s commitment to develop a vibrant digital content ecosystem in the country.

“Qatar and the Arab world have much to share, and without question the best way to share our thoughts, ideas and innovations is digitally. We look forward to working with Yahoo! as a strategic partner to make Qatar a hub for leading digital content in the region, and creating an entrepreneurial spirit among our local talent in the industry,” Al Khulaifi said.

For Yahoo! senior executives, there is much to explore to develop more Arabic online content which still fares poorly at one to two percent even as there are already 70 million Arabs using the Internet and even seen to grow by 50 million in the next three years.

In the past two years since Yahoo! acquired Maktoob, the company’s combined reach grew from 30 million users to 56 million in the Middle East and North Africa, making it the region’s leading online destination.

Yahoo! Maktoob has already become the second biggest news destination in the region after Al Jazeera and even become leading in the entertainment scene with OMG Arabic while Helwa already on top in lifestyle destination for women’s news, health and family tips, as well as fashion reviews.

“With all this growth, there is still much to be done to develop the digital ecosystem in MENA and we are keen to be collaborating with the region’s leading initiatives to fuel this development,” said Ahmed Nassef, Vice President and Managing Director, Yahoo! Maktoob, Middle East.

The Peninsula

| More...