Startup Grind hosts Ala Alsallal, founder and CEO of Jamalon

Startup Oman (www.startupoman.om), the sultanate's only online platform created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and the designated chapter of Startup Grind in Oman, hosted Startup Grind on July 30.

Startup Grind was hosted by Innovation Factory as the event partner and Wadi Accelerator as the exclusive local sponsor.

Featured on Startup Grind’s stage was Ala Alsallal, Jamalon founder and CEO, the largest online store for Arabic and English books in the MENA region, offering more than 10mn titles with worldwide delivery.

Jamalon’s ultimate aim is to develop from an e-commerce offering for books into a disruptor of the publishing industry in the MENA region by enabling authors and IP rights owners to bypass the dysfunctional regional publishing industry and access the full value chain for publishing including printing, distribution and discovery.

Alsallal has worked on web development projects since 2004, and he has been working to administer the translation process of Wordpress.com into Arabic since 2006. As an undergraduate, he supervised a team of volunteers who translated ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ into Arabic.

Over 50 entrepreneurs, students and young professionals joined the event at Innovation Factory space in Knowledge Oasis to hear Alsallal’s story of entrepreneurship.

His recommendation for entrepreneurs looking to open an e- commerce business is to focus on a niche market and specialise in the full supply chain.

He said that this enables mergers and acquisitions as well as exits.

“We are thrilled to feature such an experienced tech entrepreneur on the Startup Grind stage,” said Startup Oman cofounder Ali Daud.

Startup Oman is back with Caribou Chats on August 9 and another edition of Startup Grind on August 20.