#023 - Sima Najjar - Founder of www.ekeif.com -  Jordan
Ekeif, which means 'How' in arabic, creates short “how-to” Arabic videos in high quality and then distribute them online for free through various social channels.

Sima says.....
 You need to be able to change and modify your business model to what your audience is asking for.
Working Mum and serial entrepreneur, Sima Najjar and founder of www.ekief.com has had an incredible entrepreneurial journey. She has achieved amazing success with seeing a problem and creating the solution.  From Jordan, she is a leading Arab women entrepreneur who is one to watch in the coming years.  She says if she was to start again she would begin the same way as she believes going to business school would not have armed her with the lessons and challenges she has faced.  When her own journey for Arabic 'how to' videos failed she decided to solve the problem herself and start a channel where other Arabic speakers could have a place to go where they could get more 'how to' videos. This is her story of success and what lies ahead for this ambitious lady.

Her Bio

Sima Najjar is CEO of Ekeif.com which she founded in 2012, “keif” means "How" in Arabic, they do short "how to" videos targeting women in Arabic. With 500 videos so far they were able to organically attract more than 35 Million video views till September 2014 and more than 111K subscribers. Sima has been responsible for managing the staff, marketing, sales, financials, and strategy of her company.

Sima is a serial entrepreneur; she founded her first company SiMS Events & Model Management in 2007 and co-founded Pinkdust Boutique in 2010 featuring and empowering Arab designers only in Jordan. Through her experiences in launching several companies, Sima has developed an expertise in business management.

In 2013, Sima won Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards for the MENA region. She received her bachelor’s from Al Ahliya University with a Graphic Design. Sima speaks Arabic and English.

In 2014, Sima was selected as one of the leading women in MENA to participate in Vital Voices 2014 program and in October became a Vital Voices fellow, their mission is to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities.

Other than the business aspect, Sima also helped in raising money and creating awareness in certain social causes. In 2014, Sima was part of the team to climb Kilimanjaro Mountain to help raise funds for King Hussein Cancer Center new expansion project; they successfully raised 1.6 Million USD and raised awareness.
Inside this Episode
Below is  a brief on the answers to the questions but they are answered in greater detail on the podcast.

  • Question 1: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your Entrepreneurial Journey and How your particular journey into starting your own ventures came about? Before she was at University she used to work as a model and while at University she studied graphic design but she realised in the latter part of her university education that graphic design wasn't for her. She did start off her career doing graphic design but her earlier modelling career had generated lots of contacts who would contact her for models and connections. She quickly became an agent for models and then started her own modelling agency. She then discovered that new designers were struggling with exposure for their designs so a colleague and Sima created a boutique called Pinkdust to help Arab designers gain more exposure.  She decided to join the Oasis 500 incubator programme to learn business and to turn the boutique into an on-line business however while there she wanted to watch business video's in Arabic on-line. She didn't find this and thus she found another business opportunity to take on. www.ekeif.com. Now she has 37,000 YouTube channel subscribers.
  • Question 2: Tell us a little bit about your Business and your Vision? Sima wants eKeif to be THE destination for all the 'How to' videos in Arabic. Her target market is arab women. Currently they have 600 videos and plan to have more than 1500 videos by the end of 2015.  They recieve many questions from their audience and their aim is to answer all the questions that come in via video.
  • Question 3: Who Creates these videos?  Sima uses a combination of a in-house production team and Freelancers but they control the production. They do not collect videos from the public.
  • Question 4: How do you come on with the ideas for the videos? Through her own interests and talking to her connections, and seeing what is popular on Google search helps them to discover what videos are needed. Sima says that this is a new initiative and really every area of life needs Arabic 'how to' videos so all is important. 
  • Question 5:  Where are most of your viewers coming from? Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. ('I wished I had ask more about this as I found this an interesting collection of top users..... next time!')
  • Question 6:  Who is your primary audience. Is it just women? Surprisingly her audience is 50 - 50 male to female. Even though her target market is women.
  • Question 7: Do you remember your first video? Sima tells us about the first video.  I'll let you hear what she says. :)
  • Question 8: What was the inspiration for ekeif. How did you come up with the idea? Sima struggled to find video's that were in Arabic language, high quality and what she was exactly looking for. She decided to solve this problem.
  • Question 9: Your business was funded using Eureeca. How effective was this method for you in generating funds? For Sima Eureeca was very effective. They were actively involved in all key areas of the process to get ekeif ready for launching onto the crowdfunding platform. They helped with valuations, business planning and marketing. Sima found the style of using one platform to engage with potential investors very helpful and simple to use.  She didn't have to personally meet and chat with investors separately she could engage with them online and answer their questions.
  • Question 10: What stood out for you in terms of the support Eureeca gave you? The constant support was key and they are constantly holding your hand through all the process, Sima Said.  They are very willing to help in all aspects no matter how small the issue is.  They understand that start ups need guidance and direction and are willing to help to help them achieve success.
  • Question 11: Would you recommend this type of service to entrepreneurs out there that need funding. Sima said 'YES' - what do you have to lose?  There is nothing to lose and lots to learn. If you don't get your project funded take all that you have learnt and enhance your project.
  • Question 12: Can you give us an insight into day to day business activities? How do you organise your day and how do you prioritize? Sima is a working mother.  She has a 3 year old little girl (which is the same age as ekief) and she's expecting her 2nd child shortly. Motherhood has really helped her focus and knowing exactly what she wants and being better at time management.  She discusses how she manages her day and what works for her to ensure she achieves her weekly aswell as monthly goals. 
  • Question 13:  Do you have a team around you? Since they have been funded they have  a team of 5 which is part sales and part production and the rest is made of freelancers.
  • Question 14: Do you plan to expand your operations outside of Jordan?  Sima does have plans to go to the UAE but she will also stay from much in Jordan as she has  good understanding of the market and where to source Freelancers and help when she needs it  Its is easier and more cost efficient to keep the business in Jordan.
  • Question 15: Is social media a large part of your business and which tools are working for you right now? You Tube is eKeif number one media tool however Sima is keen to spread the message of eKeif through as many networks and social media channels as possible so they can reach as many people as possible.
  • Question 16: Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur? Yes you need to not give up, be patient and give your idea.  Starting your business is an emotional roller coaster and you will have ups and downs so you really need to accomodate for that ride.  Sima also talks about how you must be able to challenge your business model and allow it too evolve and adapt.
  • Question 17: You have created three business in your time. Do you see a common thread? Sima says there is no common thread as each business was different in its own right. Sima has been able to identify a need and has been able to tackle it successfully. Another consideration is refining your business within the culture as the audience within that culture will define how your business will develop.
  • Question 18: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur? Sima's top 3 skills are a) Time Management b) Preparation and c) not to give up easily. She shares her explanations in the interview. 
  • Question 19:  What is the best piece of business advise you have ever been given?  And how is that working for you right now? Sima has had a lot of advise but the BIG one that stands our is simple not to give up, adapting very fast and working fast too were the kind of advise she liked to receive from mentors.
  • Question 20:  How (if ever) did you rise above failure or struggle? What action did you take? Being entrepreneurial, failure has always been a possibility in Sima's life. She has learnt to recognise it and know when its time to stop and move on. She has learnt to take on the advise of others who see the projects from a different position. Everything is a challenge and you need to learn to decide what action to take which best fits the project.
  • Question 21: Who is your ‘go to person, book or quote’ that gets you pumped and helps you refocus when you are feeling de-motivated or low?  Sima heads to her family when she is feeling low as they are her biggest supporters for her both as working mum and for business support. 
  • Question 22: Where do you see yourself and your businesses in the next 10 years? How will they have evolved? Sima prefers to look just five years up the road and she sees her website as a destination website for all Arabic 'How To' videos.
  • Question 23: If everything was taken away from you and you had to start again where would you start? Sima wouldn't change her path. She has learnt so many lessons, learnt through her own mistakes that she feels if she had to start again and go to business school she wouldn't have seen the same success.
  • Question 24:  Closing question:  What would you say to those ladies out there that are on the edge of taking the plunge into being an entrepreneur, particularly in the Arab World? Sima says, Just do it and make it happen if you are passionate about what you want to do. There is a thin line between being an entrepreneur and being passionate about what you want to do. She has always been interested in the online business but it took Sima eight years to get there.  If you have a solution that wills solve an actual problem then go with it and run with it.
Show Notes
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