“I LOVE UAE” COMPETITION AWARDS WINNERS Ceremony discusses ‘nurturing filmmaking in the UAE’

http://www.1888pressrelease.com/-i-love-uae-competition-awards-winners-ceremony-discusses-pr-336840.html

 

Abu Dhabi, UAE – The “I love UAE” video competition celebrating the UAE’s 40th anniversary concludes with the announcement of the winners and a debate by film experts and educationists on how best to nurture film making in the UAE.

The competition was launched to enable members of the community to express their love and appreciation for the UAE by creating short videos that celebrate the spirit and character of the UAE. The winner of the “Me” category was Alina Mustafina, and the winner of the “Me and My School Category” was Shabari Shankar from Abu Dhabi Indian school.

The competition, launched by the New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi, and Tempo, attracted considerable interest especially among young people who have taken up the artistic challenge. A ceremony was held at the Mamoura Auditorium last September 21 along with a debate on “How to nurture talent in film making in the UAE,” with panelists from New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi, Imagenation, Abu Dhabi Media Company, Zayed University, British School Al Khubairat and the American Community School.

“We are encouraged by the response and how groups formed together to produce to work together, and the way that some of the groups used software and technology,” said Simon Hunter, the President of the New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi, who will award the first prize, a 12 week evening film making course at NYFA Abu Dhabi, to the winner of the competition. The school competition category, entitled “Me and My School,” grants the winner a video camera from Tempo, and his or her class a full day film making workshop by NYFA.

Sana Bagersh, Managing Editor of Tempo said, “It was important for us to run this competition at this time because it is the UAE’s 40th anniversary and we wanted to give an opportunity to the community to express their voices.”

“The partnership with New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi helps raise the caliber of the competition and provides the winners with a great opportunity to learn the craft from a leading film school,” she added.

The event was organized by BrandMoxie, a leading advertising agency in Abu Dhabi that specializes in branding, public relations, and events management.

A GUIDE FOR ENTREPRENEURS FROM BRANDMOXIE CHIEF

Neil Parmar

Topics: Entrepreneurs

Sana Bagersh is trying to take advantage of her position as the chief executive of the marketing firm BrandMoxie to help fellow entrepreneurs in the Emirates. But as she explains, her efforts to expand Tamakkan, a series of monthly seminars she launched on entrepreneurship in 2009, have led to some unique challenges.

  1. Q) What does “Tamakkan” mean?
  2. A) In Arabic, it means empower yourself. Arabic tends to be more polite. I just really wanted a jarring effect that you don’t have to wait for someone to spoon-feed you. You can do it.
  3. Q) Why did you launch this series?
  4. A) When I started BrandMoxie in 2004 a lot of people would call me and say, “How do you put together a marketing plan? How do you write a press release?” I thought it would be nice if BrandMoxie somehow acted as an enabler for more people like me to share knowledge … [with] people starting their own ventures. We focus on certain topics – branding, social media – but they’re quite broad in nature. If anybody has specific questions, they can ask during the seminar and get input from peers and experts.
  5. Q) How have you tried to expand what Tamakkan offers?
  6. A) A month ago we introduced short, one-day courses on subjects like the fundamentals of accounting for small businesses, how to get funding, how to hire the right people. We’re trying to keep them cheap. I’m talking to organisations to see if they want to pitch in.
  7. Q) How is that going?
  8. A) A lot of these big entities are so bureaucratic and take so long to decide. With entrepreneurship, things need to be faster. Entrepreneurs need help now.
  9. Q) How do you plan to help them in the future?
  10. A) [Providing referrals] is the only thing we’re able to do because we’re not a funded organisation and we don’t have a proper office. I’m hoping Tamakkan can evolve to offer an online knowledge base, in Arabic and English, on how to start this, how to do that, and a proper affair aimed at fueling more SME [small and medium-sized enterprises] creation. Hopefully if we get revenue coming in for courses we can support it a little more permanently.
  11. Q) On May 29, you’ll be taking the seminar to Dubai for the first time at the University of Wollongong. Why have you stayed in Abu Dhabi until now?
  12. A) I felt Dubai had so many things happening and with the Khalifa Fund we were getting a lot of people in Abu Dhabi who were funded but just didn’t know how to really make a go of it. There is a certain category of entrepreneurs in Abu Dhabi where money is really not the big problem – it’s knowledge. You get very young serial entrepreneurs who are well into their third or fourth venture, and it’s my belief that if they got some really good grounding when they started their first or second the survival rate would have been higher.

* Neil Parmar

Link: http://www.thenational.ae/business/media/a-guide-for-entrepreneurs-from-brandmoxie-chief

 

 

ABU DHABI MAGAZINE FIRST TO BE MOBILE TAGGED IN REGION

Posted on 01/06/2010
A UAE magazine, Abu Dhabi Tempo, will on June 1 become the first in the region to adopt mobile tagging technology that enhances the reader’s experience through instantaneous mobile phone engagement with external content.

The magazine has been ‘tagged’ with Microsoft Tag ‘barcodes’ that link directly to dynamic web pages that can be accessed through the mobile phone. According to Microsoft, this technology has to date been used in a handful of magazines, including Conde Nast titles Golf Digest and Lucky. Microsoft Tag had been under testing for 18 months, and came out of beta on 27 May 2010.

We’ve looked at the various mobile tag options and believe that Microsoft Tag delivers a simple yet robust platform,” said Sana Bagersh, CEO of BrandMoxie, the marketing agency that is publisher of the magazine and promoter of mobile tagging technology. “We’re excited to be part of this compelling mobile phone technology as it redefines the reader’s experience and greatly enhances the print medium.” “Abu Dhabi Tempo’s readers tend to be young, educated, more technologically aware and early adopters of mobile phone innovations, so we believe tags are the perfect medium to add to the magazine,” said Bagersh.

She explained that mobile phone tags will engage customers dynamically, directing them through an instantaneous experience via the mobile phone to a brand’s special promotions, product and service showcases, videos, instructional information, contests, coupons etc.

The Microsoft Tag can be placed anywhere and once snapped on a smart phone can direct the user directly to the product or service’s brand experience. The agency is exploring ways this technology can be integrated in retail, e-government, entertainment, education and healthcare scenarios.– Emirates News Agency, WAM

Link:http://www.uaeinteract.com/docs/Abu_Dhabi_Magazine_first_to_be_mobile_tagged_in_region/41235.htm

 

Tamakkan to nurture entrepreneurship

Tamakkan, an initiative aimed at supporting young Emirati entrepreneurs who need industry insight to achieve their business dreams, has been launched by BrandMoxie, a marketing company in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi: Tamakkan, an initiative aimed at supporting young Emirati entrepreneurs who need industry insight to achieve their business dreams, has been launched by BrandMoxie, a marketing company in the UAE.

BrandMoxie has set up Tamakkan to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship and provide an informal environment for the development of knowledge sharing and the spirit of mentorship.

Sana Bagersh, CEO of BrandMoxie said: “The idea is that through Tamakkan industry professionals would be able to give back to the country, and the community, by helping to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs.

“We hope to create a vibrant monthly platform of discussion, in the form of a free two-hour seminar, open to those young entrepreneurs who want to attend an informative session presented by a professional, or expert, on a key topic in business.”

In June BrandMoxie received the Tamayyuz Partnership Award in recognition of its support to activities at Higher Colleges of Technology’s Abu Dhabi Women’s College.

Bagersh explained that Tamakkan will aim to provide high-calibre seminars given by practicing professionals. The focus would be on the transfer of practical skills and information.

“These would include short seminars on marketing such as branding, positioning, merchandising, franchising etc, and business topics such as the fundamentals of how to set up a business.”

Tamakkan is intended to facilitate contributions by the business sector, and welcomes the participation of companies and individuals who can lend their support by giving their time or assistance in kind.

Bagersh said: “We are already a team of industry professionals. We call upon other professionals to come forward and join the volunteer team of presenters and welcome the support of companies who may want to participate.”

On what encouraged BrandMoxie to launch the initiative, Bagersh said: “What has encouraged us to do more is our surprise at the high calibre of work performed by university interns. These students have built up the skills and are passionate, but they lack the ‘street smartness’ and the understanding of the broad work context.

Link: http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/general/tamakkan-to-nurture-entrepreneurship-1.502668