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The Best 5 TED Talks Every E-Commerce Entrepreneur Needs to Watch

Tag: Entrepreneurship

The Best 5 TED Talks Every E-Commerce Entrepreneur Needs to Watch
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

The Best 5 TED Talks Every E-Commerce Entrepreneur Needs to Watch

TED Talks are full of insights and are especially useful for entrepreneurs. These talks tend to be informative and inspirational. TED Talks speakers tend to be experts in their areas and can help entrepreneurs in understanding various nuances of the trade. However, there are a large number of TED Talks available, making it a little difficult for people to find the right ones. So, here are our top picks which can help you in taking your venture to the next level.

  • Derek Sivers’ How to Start a Movement

This TED Talk is mainly focused upon bringing about meaningful changes and the leadership styles. The traits required for starting an impactful revolution are the same traits which are helpful in starting and then nurturing a disruptive business. An entrepreneur like a leader should be able to command influence over their peers and target market. Similarly, the techniques such as word of mouth propaganda used by the movements may also be used by budding entrepreneurs for promoting their businesses. Peer recommendation and referrals are especially useful for fledgling businesses when they do not have historical performance to back up their claims. This TED Talk is not only useful for budding entrepreneurs but also for the mature ones.

  • Simon Senek’s How Great Leaders Inspire Action

This TED Talk is concerned with leadership and delves deeply to see why certain people are more likely to inspire others. The talk gives examples of influential leaders such as Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs. The crux of this talk is that people are less influenced by the products and services you launched but more by the reasons behind launching these offerings. This connotes that as an entrepreneur you should be fully aware that there are right reasons behind getting into a particular business. Such understanding and awareness is required to be palpable in your business message when you pitch it in front of consumers and investors. With the help of this video, you can not only hone your leadership skills but may also take your business in a new direction.

  • David S. Rose’s Pitching to VCs

David S. Rose is an accomplished serial entrepreneur who now invests in other people’s businesses. He draws from his own experiences to deliver this TED Talk where he talks about the rules you need to follow while pitching your business. According to David, the most important thing to keep in mind when you are making a pitch presentation is to elaborate upon the most compelling characteristics of your offering. The talk is less than 15 minutes long and is jam packed with insightful advice. It also provides a list of things you should refrain from doing or mentioning in your pitch.

  • Gary Vaynerchuk’s Do What You Love – No Excuses

This TED Talk delivered by entrepreneur and bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk is weaved around his personal experiences and life stories. The main focus of the talk is on the importance of passion and persistence while running a venture. According to this lecture, the real ingredient essential for entrepreneurial success is to have true passion for what you do. Gary goes on to explain that many entrepreneurs are instead driven by their desire for money or passion, which ultimately leads to mediocre performance or downright failure. Gary delivers the advice in a highly engaging manner which makes this video highly watchable and easy to understand.

  • Richard St. John’s The 8 Secrets of Success

Richard St. John bases his talk on seven years of research work during which he carried out over 500 interviews. He singles out eight main features which are found common in all successful people. These traits are work, ideas, persistence, serve, support, push, practice and passion. These attributes are not just useful for entrepreneurs but for all people in general. According to Richard St. John, if these features are inculcated in people, they can become better version of themselves and may realize their true potential. The video contains a three-minute slideshow which provides sage advice in bite size portions.

TED Talks are treasure trove of actionable advice. The above listed videos can help you in various segments of your entrepreneurial journey.

4 years ago
Join PayTabs at Rise Up Summit 2019 in Cairo, Egypt
Mohab Events 0

Join PayTabs at Rise Up Summit 2019 in Cairo, Egypt

Rise Up Summit 2019, the MENA region’s biggest entrepreneurial event of the year, will be held at the American University of Cairo this December. In its seventh run this year, the three-day event will kick off on 5th of December and conclude on 7th December. The Summit aims to provide a platform for startups and other businesses to exchange ideas and resources with one another, providing a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to collaborate and promote their businesses in the regional ecosystem. This year’s Summit will feature more panels, talks, workshops and fireside chats than ever before, all under the theme #JourneytoGrowth, which aims to showcase all the various approaches to sustainable growth and scalability pursued throughout the regional ecosystem.

The Agenda

With a focus on startup culture and innovation, the Rise Up Team have assembled a jam-packed lineup of local, regional, and international speakers, who will take part in presentations, panels and workshops grouped under seven main tracks: FinTech, Emerging Tech, Tech 4 Humans, Creative Culture, Creative Economies, Growth Hacks, and Smart Capital.

There will also be scheduled ‘satellite’ events which will extend beyond the three-days. The satellite events will held across Cairo at several innovation hotspots. Hosted by the movers and shakers of the city, these forums plan to acquaint attendees with the startup ecosystem in the country. The events will also shine a light on different local communities in their own workspaces. The pre-summit events are aimed at providing the backdrop to the main event while in-Summit satellite events are focused on providing an extension to the action happening during the main event. Post-summit satellites will allow participants to keep the momentum going by offering finishing touches to their achievements during the main summit.

The Launchpad section of the event is aimed at providing a unique platform to attendees for making them heard. Here, you can make your own announcements for networking and creating new connections. Whether you are planning to launch a new product or have just received a new round of funding, Rise Up Summit will give you the opportunity to let it be known to everyone. Further, you can also network for the purpose of mergers and acquisitions to fuel your growth. 

Why Attend

Rise Up Summit provides an excellent opportunity to network. Networking events during the Summit will ensure you can meet people sharing your interests and ideas. Rise Up Summit also offers a unique platform to learn and be inspired as it features many inspirational speakers from all walks of life. The main aim of the event is to provide exposure to cultivate ideas and projects in different fields. Talks, panels, and workshops will focus on a wide range of subjects such as “How to Be Investor Ready” or “How to Write a Book?” for example.

The event will have a lineup of highly influential speakers focusing on the Middle East and Africa (MENA) region. Catch them on one of the four stages set up at the summit. The talks are divided into 7 tracks which are Creative Culture, Creative Economies, Fintech, Emerging Tech, Tech 4 Humans, Growth Hacks and Smart Capital. Catch one for in-depth information or attend them all to gain the most comprehensive knowledge about the latest event, choice is all yours

PayTabs

PayTabs is an award winning, B2B Saudi-based company that facilitates processing of online payments securely and efficiently in 168 currencies. PayTabs offers clients services to seamlessly ‘plug and play’ various features on to their websites. It prides itself on offering simple and efficient invoicing services for merchants and professionals.

If you are a small or medium business or even a large enterprise that is looking for an affordable payment gateway for your business and want to talk payments during the event; the PayTabs Egypt team will be on hand to answer all your questions. So visit the PayTabs booth at the event, grab yourself a cupcake and talk to the local team about how their global payment solutions can help power your business through.
Please also join PayTabs General Manager, Egypt Operations, Hany Soliman at a special panel discussion to find out the future of fintech in the MENA region on 7 December 2019.

4 years ago
The Saudi Fintech Tour
Mohab Events 0

The Saudi Fintech Tour

Fintech is the short form of Financial Technology and is used to describe the use of technology for the purpose of facilitating financial transactions. However, it is not a new phenomenon as technology has been used by financial services for a long time. However, with the advent of internet and mobile use, the integration of technology and finance has reached a new level. Some of the most prominent examples of fintech products are Automatic Teller Machine or ATMs, mobile banking, Point of Sale machines and Credit Cards.

Fintech is making great strides in Saudi Arabia as people and businesses embrace the new changes. Fintech has received positive inducements from the rise in general economy and innovations in technology. This new trend has helped firms to grow their businesses by providing new services and products to their clients and other stakeholders. In order to ensure that fintech is fully adapted, it is important to create awareness among public and industries about fintech tools.

Evolution of Fintech

While there is no formal definition of fintech, it may be described as the application of technology for improving various financial activities. Thus, fintech may exist in the form of a business model, an application, a product or a process. Though, most of the time fintech involves use of internet, but it is not a necessary ingredient.

Fintech has seen steep increase in its usage and popularity since the mid-2000s. some of the main milestones in the journey of fintech are the launch of Apple iPhone in 2007 and the increased use of cloud computing. The launch of iPhone is a significant landmark as it heralded the era of smartphones. As smartphones became more commonplace and affordable, the use of internet banking also increased. This development allowed the financial services firms to target clients which were earlier inaccessible due to their geographic location.

Similarly, the developments in cloud computing area ensured that the financial services firms are able to store and transmit the data in a secure manner. For financial services, maintaining the integrity of sensitive data is highly important. It is also required to keep up prompt access to the data to provide fast and smooth services. All these prerequisites were facilitated by cloud computing.

Apart from these two factors, there are several other growth drivers, pushing the fintech market ahead. Today’s customers are less rigid about their financial services practices and are more amenable to using newer technologies. This willingness to embrace change made it easier for financial services firms to roll out new innovations. Further, the sector has seen interest from institutional investors as well. The injection of capital in the area allowed the firms to invest in research and development activities, ensuring that the newer technologies are developed at a fast pace. All these factors combined to make fintech mainstream in a short period of time.

About the Fintech Tour

Fintech Tour organized by Fintech Saudi is a cluster of events and activities hosted by Fintech Saudi’s partners to spread knowledge about fintech and support the development of fintech companies. To date, the Fintech Tour is the largest cluster of fintech events to take place in the Middle East.

Fintech Tour 19 will take place from 1st December – 12th December 2019 across Saudi Arabia and in selected international cities.

Themes this year are spreading fintech knowledge and accelerating fintech entrepreneurship

The Tour will consist of community events and workshops (open to everyone) organized in different cities by Fintech Saudi’s partners related to the themes. Fintech Tour 19 promises to be the most high-profile series of fintech events to take place in Saudi Arabia as it is an effective way to engage with the Fintech Community and other stakeholders.

About PayTabs

PayTabs is proud to be a part of the Saudi Fintech Tour, spreading knowledge about fintech. Join a workshop on the Future of Payments in KSA, presented by Ali Alshehri, Country Manager, PayTabs KSA. Register for the event here:

4 years ago
Success Tips for Millennial Entrepreneurs
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Success Tips for Millennial Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has always been a challenging task but millennial entrepreneurs face some unique challenges. However, they also have access to better resources, allowing them to make the best of the circumstances presented to them. Here are the top tips which can help millennial entrepreneurs in avoiding potholes on the road to success.

  • Create an A Team: Entrepreneurship may be a lonely journey, but it helps to create a good team. Make sure that you have a strong support system and that your team consists of people who understand your ambition and vision. It is also important that you actively seek out help as and when you require it. People are more than willing to help others out when they are asked in a direct manner. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand that looking for help is not a sign of weakness but of open-mindedness. This quality is especially helpful in technical areas, so if you are struggling with the taxes for your business or are stuck with a faulty code, then make sure that you have right kind of people in your team to deal with such issues.

 

  • Learn to be on Your Own: While this tip may seem to be diametrically opposite to the first one, it highlights the importance of being self-reliant when it comes to running your enterprise. Your team may be able to provide you technical support and at times, maybe even moral support, but there will also be times when you will find yourself dealing with such issues on your own. Further, you should also develop your abilities to reach a decision in an independent manner. You may also need to severely curtail your social life to make time for your entrepreneurial ventures. Before you take a leap, make sure that you are ready for these sacrifices.

 

  • Find Your Passion: The success of your venture depends on your efforts and your efforts are directly correlated to how closely you identify with your business. If you are truly passionate about your venture, then you will be able to stay motivated despite all the obstacles coming your way. You can also keep up your motivation level by focusing on the ultimate reward. Entrepreneurship involves long working hours, repeated setbacks and consequent stress. These obstacles are easy to overcome when you believe in what you are doing.

 

  • But be Business Savvy: it’s great to have an opportunity to work in the area you are passionate about, but it is also important to have your business fundamentals right. This means that you have proper idea about your market, you have designed your product in an appropriate manner and that you comply with all the regulatory requirements, among other things. While passion matters, you should also keep in mind that businesses have a high failure rate, especially in the initial years. New entrepreneurs are also advised to be careful about the finances so that they do not run out of funds at crucial moments. If you do not have any business background then you may also take up a few business oriented courses in a local college or university. Alternatively, you may join your industry association and other trade collaborations.

 

  • Be Agile: In today’s highly competitive world, it pays to be agile and nimble. A venture’s success is widely determined by its ability to pivot. It is important that you quickly recognize the gravity of a situation and take appropriate actions promptly. Some of the situations which may require such quick actions include change in market structure or change in regulatory frameworks. It is also advisable to keep various processes and procedures simple so that they may be conveniently altered as and when required by the changed circumstances. An entrepreneur should also be open to making swift changes to their plans. If the earlier plans do not seem to work then they should amend them accordingly.
Entrepreneurs are not born, they are made. By following these simple tips, you can vastly improve your chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur. You should also use technology tools to boost your business. These tools such as those provided by PayTabs can bring about efficiency and economy to your business operations, helping you grow at a fast pace.

5 years ago
The Questions to Ask Before Evaluating Payment Processors
Mohab Ecommerce 0

The Questions to Ask Before Evaluating Payment Processors

The journey of entrepreneurship is not easy. Your day starts with a fresh challenge and most of your time is spent clearing obstacles. In the meantime, you are unable to pay attention to the small details that might be critical for your business if not taken care of. Choosing a payment processor in a hurry is one mistake that may cost you dearly in future.

Take a pause before you zero in to select a payment processor.

Don’t get swayed by the sweet talks of the sales guy.  Ask questions that will help you choose the right payment partner for your eCommerce business or physical store.
Always keep your objectives in mind and projected data ready, when you start asking questions.

As a business, your business model, priorities, and strategy can be different from other businesses.  So, a processor that works for your neighbor or a friend may not work for you.

To help you with this, we have created a list of things you should check before you give a nod to a payment processor:

 

Additional fee charged 

Processors normally charge a transaction fee, but some of them can also charge an additional fee in the name of a regulatory fee, some monthly fee, compliance or statement fee, etc.

These are charged upfront, but if the cumulative fees cross $200 per year for physical stores and $300 per year for E-Commerce retailers, it’s a red flag. Remember, there are additional service charges associated with the online shopping cart already.

Connectivity or speed of payment

This is a big issue as most of the payment processors use a software known as authorize.net. This software connects your shopping cart with the processor, but in some countries, they use some proprietary software, which may or may not work with your shopping cart and this may lead to connectivity issues. So, make sure that you are able to receive the payment from day one.

User experience

User experience should be good for both the merchant and the payer. The processor should offer robust customer support so that the merchant can handle different issues quickly and resolve the technical issues as well. As far as payer is concerned, payment process should be easy and convenient.

Deterrence against risk

If you are running a business where frauds are frequent, you should partner with a processor which offers excellent risk management capabilities. As the business grows, the probability of fraud also increases, so be proactive.

Share in payment processing fee

E-Commerce companies also get a small share of revenue from the fee that the processor charges for processing payments. This might be small in individual transactions, but when the transactions multiply with sales growth, this can become a big source of revenue.

Robust customer support

Make sure that you partner with a processor that offers robust customer support. They must take care of their clients and respond to their emails and phone calls instantly with a positive mindset.

Feature-rich processor

Sophisticated processors come with several exciting features that enable excellent services being offered to merchants such as “push to debit” solutions so that they can get access to their cash quickly.

Data analysis

Some advanced and sophisticated processors offer data analysis facilities, where in the merchants can see the data and analyze it themselves. It is beneficial from different angles and these features can be used by merchants for monitoring and understanding data for decision making.

Finally, make sure that your processor is known for offering excellent customer support. Check reviews and word of mouth recommendations. All of the above points are important. Analyze your business needs, keep your projections ready and engage in some straight talk.

One right question may alter your destiny for good.

6 years ago