What is White Friday?

Amazon (formerly Souq) , the largest e-commerce site in the Arab world, first introduced the idea of White Friday as a grand sale to the region in 2014 as a way of increasing internet traffic and, in turn, their sales. Then CEO and co-founder of the company, Ronaldo Mouchawar, attended university in the United States, during which he became acquainted with the wild sales phenomenon that is Black Friday. After witnessing firsthand how Americans seemed to go crazy for the discounts and deals, he decided to bring a similar event to the region with his e-commerce company. However, he decided to put a little spin on it. White Friday takes an American tradition and alters it slightly to be more compatible with the region. To create a successful, new regional phenomenon, Mouchawar had to resonate closely with the culture of the Middle East. (more…)

Dear UAE Residents,

We are issuing an urgent warning to all residents of the UAE about a sophisticated online fraud scheme that is currently targeting unsuspecting individuals. It has come to our attention that a crime syndicate is using our company name, IstiZada, to deceive working individuals in the UAE into parting with their money.

Fraudulent Activity Overview

This fraudulent activity involves the crime syndicate copying our company name, logo, website, and various images and content to trick individuals into thinking they are dealing with IstiZada. These scammers are using WhatsApp and other online platforms to lure victims into performing small tasks with the promise of payment. Once the tasks are completed, victims are asked to deposit money into specific bank accounts for “credit improvement” before they can withdraw their earnings. These deposits are never returned, and the promised payments are never made.

How to Protect Yourself

-Verify Website Authenticity: Always ensure that you are interacting with our official website, istizada.com. Any other website claiming to be IstiZada is fraudulent.

-Be Cautious of Unsolicited Messages: Do not trust messages from unknown individuals or numbers on WhatsApp or other social media platforms that promise quick money for simple tasks. We will never contact you via a +971 number on WhatsApp.

-Avoid All Requests for Money: IstiZada will never ask individuals to deposit money into a bank account for any reason related to task payments or credit improvements. IstiZada only requests money from businesses, not individuals. No one working for IstiZada has ever had to send Istizada money. 

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When seeking to target any region of the world online it is a good idea to have an understanding of which regional search engines you need to target. This is no different when targeting countries in the Middle East. On a whole, the region has an internet penetration rate of over 65%, whereas countries in the Gulf tend to have much higher rates averaging around 92%. These rates are growing each year, as countries continue taking strides in expanding network infrastructure and access.

Unlike many other regions in the world the Middle East does not have an alternative to Google that dominates the region. Despite this there are some important observations to make about Middle East Search Engines that we will go into more detail about here.

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LinkedIn might not be at the top of your list when choosing social media platforms for advertising, but don’t write it off! LinkedIn is massively popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa for professionals and businesses looking to network.
 

 
LinkedIn is a great choice for advertising because the platform has done an excellent job in optimizing it for Arabic-language use. Arabic LinkedIn’s popularity goes hand in hand with the extremely high social media usage rates in the region. Social media penetration rates are on the rise throughout the entire Middle East, led by the Gulf region countries which are all approaching social media penetration rates of nearly 100%. LinkedIn always ranks among the top platforms for usage in Middle Eastern countries, though it is often discounted in advertising campaigns in favor of Facebook or Instagram. Keep reading to learn more about why Arabic LinkedIn is so important and how it can help boost your reach in the region.
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