| Leading Companies Online Magazine
Entrepreneurs at the Crossroads: Success Stories from the Middle East and North Africa
By Debra Sherman, Beyster Institure Staff
  Entrepreneurs at the Crossroads, a book newly developed by the Beyster Institute, highlights 11 entrepreneurs from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) who have overcome large obstacles and taken significant risks to create and grow successful businesses:
Loay Al Fadhil of Ruwi, Oman, who grew his family's modest stationery and office supply business into a personal computer and digital products powerhouse.
Randa Abdou, who left behind a lucrative position with multinational giant PepsiCo to found her own marketing consultancy, Marketing Mix, in Cairo, Egypt.
Ahmed El Koutbia of Casablanca, Morocco, who founded information technology training company Innosoft - the first Sun Microsystems-authorized Java educational center in his country.
Mohamed Antri Bouzar of Algiers, Algeria, who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and parlayed this experience into his own business: ABM Algeria Business Multimedia.
Lina Hundaileh, who turned her life-long love of chocolate into Amman, Jordan-based Philadelphia Chocolate Manufacturing Company, which produces more than 2.5 tons of chocolate a day for sale around the world.
Taoufik Habaieb, who founded his marketing and advertising agency, THCOM, in Tunis, Tunisia after getting caught up in the 1990 Iraqi incursion into Kuwait.
Maya Karanouh of Beirut, Lebanon, who located just the right business partner with whom to found and build her successful branding consultancy firm, Cleartag.
Mohamed Horani, founder of Hightech Payment Systems in Casablanca, Morocco, which provides cutting-edge electronic payment solutions to more than 150 institutions in 47 countries worldwide.
Ehab Nada, whose success as founder of Logic Consulting Group in Giza, Egypt allowed him to fulfill his dream of becoming well-known in his community and his country.
Hanan Saab, who built her successful pharmaceuticals business - Pharmamed - in Beirut, Lebanon, despite the challenges of ongoing political instability and uncertainty.
Ali Sharif, who founded computer company 01 Systems in Manama, Bahrain to pioneer the fast-emerging market for Arabic-language personal computer solutions.
Their stories are amazing. They have had to deal with all of the "normal" issues that confound most entrepreneurs, like lack of financing or finding good people to help build the business. But their issues have also included civil war, stifling bureaucracy, or capital markets that are stuck in the mid-20th century.
Nevertheless, they have not only persevered but have succeeded, sometimes beyond their wildest dreams. They have created companies offering products and services that are innovative, competitive and, in many cases, provide much-needed solutions to significant social problems.
Through their stories, two important commonalities emerged that characterize these entrepreneurs and permeate their businesses: they have a strong belief in themselves and they highly value their employees. These two elements are strongly exhibited not only in the entrepreneurs' own actions but also in the way they influence those around them.
Some of these entrepreneurs left stable jobs in government or Fortune 500 companies to follow their dreams. Others had passion but no experience. And some faced adversity related to political instability. But all of them had drive, persistence, faith in their abilities, and great enthusiasm, and as their companies have grown, they have been able to imbue their companies with these qualities.
When it comes to employees, these entrepreneurs are just as passionate as they are about their businesses. "We are like family" was a refrain we heard over and over. Employee training is seen as a key competitive advantage in many of these firms, and employees are given opportunities to grow and excel. A few of these entrepreneurs even have tried or are thinking about using employee ownership as a way to further engage and motivate employees.
Ultimately, the stories in this book will serve not only to showcase emerging entrepreneurship but will also provide a practical view of the lessons that can be learned from studying these entrepreneurs' success.
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