After the eruption of the financial crises of 2008, it is no secret for people in business circles, that investors (both retail and institutional) have suffered enormous losses of confidence and resources.
Has this changed by now, in the middle of 2011? Did the local bourse hit the bottom already, or the worse is yet to come?
Well, these are questions subject to lengthy discussions and analysis. A fresh influx of ideas, opportunities and (most important) assets, perhaps could be just what investors and stock markets need right now. Change of course in perspectives can position investor’s strategy on new scales.
In the U.S. right now, traders are over exited about LinkedIn’s IPO. The social networking website has made a strong debut on Nasdaq on Thursday. The stock opened at $83 a share on the first day of trading, quickly topping $100 – more than double the $45 a share set in the initial public offering. LinkedIn raised nearly $353 million, valuing the company at more than $4 billion.
Dubai is no Silicon Valley (yet), with tech companies and entrepreneurs, classified as A or B listers, startups or “Billionaires”. The two possible Dubai-based candidates for IPO’s are pretty obvious and popular enough to attract positive response from retail and institutional investors.
Who can grow faster, along with your profits? Dubizzle or Souq.com?
Five years after after the set up of Dubai’s first e-portal for classified ads, American entrepreneurs Sim Whatley and JC Butler are reportedly considering an expansion plans that include taking over the whole MENA region. Judging from the past, they seem to be just about ready. By the end of last year, they have launched the Arabic version of their site in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and the rest of the GCC. Now, they are looking at French version of the site for Northern Africa. Sim Whatley and JC Butler are an ambitious duo. Speaking to the National, co-founder Whatley said, “We’re hoping within two years to be number one in at least 80 percent of the countries (in MENA region). We want to stay focused on our number one goal, which is to be the largest classified site in the region, and we want to do that in the next three years.”
Souq was established in 2005, just about the same time as Dubizzle, with the ambition also to become the largest e-commerce site in the Arab world covering many countries and soon expanding to new markets. The e-commerce platform is the channel were buyers & sellers trade their products. It offers both, various local payment options and integrated delivery methods catered to the markets that we serve. The team members are spread throughout the region in order to support all users wherever they are.
