Rs’ success
Where do you see yourself in the near or distant future?
Providing highly specialised fiduciary services to people in our country. Have you always lived or worked in the same place and if you had to choose, where would you be based?
Yes, Durban. I would like to work in Joburg but live in Durban. What hours do you work?
An average of 10 hours a day. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I thought of becoming an engineer. What other industries are you considering venturing into or interest you?
Designing an insurance product. Supplying milk powder for Africa. If you could pick only one industry or stock in which to invest, what would you choose and why?
Naspers. It is a blue chip global IT player. What do you hope to accomplish with your wealth or business? My wealth is my knowledge. I have been sharing my knowledge for over 30 years with business people, leaders and students.
Many of my students who are MBA graduates or chartered accountants have gone on to become directors and chief executive officers of public and listed companies. This is my pride and joy. THE dynamic young Egyptian digital media entrepreneur who founded Diwan Videos, Ossama Youssef, 35, plans to expand his YouTube marketing business from South Africa.
In 2010, Diwan Videos partnered with YouTube, expanding its worldwide reach in online video sharing. As a YouTube partner, it is eligible to monetize on YouTube content, protect content copyrights through YouTube’s Content ID (CID) technology, upload long videos and have access to many other resources.
In July, Youssef presented a fullhouse YouTube master class as a guest of the Durban International Film Festival.
YouTube is the second most visited search engine after Google globally. The opportunity to reach millions of users daily is a good reason for businesses to use the platform for video marketing and advertising.
“There is a recipe for success for digital video consumption – talent, a hungry audience and interested advertisers. This is all it takes to have a successful digital echo system that can compete with traditional media,” says Youssef.
“Talented people are producing attractive content, audiences are growing and advertisers have realised digital media’s power.”
He says South Africa’s high CPM (cost per 1 000 impressions) rate shows levels of multimedia digital consumption are rising rapidly, making the market attractive to entrepreneurs like him.
Under Youssef, Diwan Videos has grown into a leading international multi-channel network (MCN) ranked within the top 100 worldwide, the only regional MCN with this ranking.
Now based in Dubai, Youssef is chief executive of Diwan Videos and drives the company’s strategy and business growth plans.
In 2010, he saw a gap in digital media and expanded his media entrepreneurship portfolio by establishing Diwan Videos.
Thanks to his great sense of timing and pushy attitude, Diwan Videos signed agreements with many customers in Egypt within its first two months of operation.
The success of DiwanVideos soon expanded beyond Egypt as Youssef led the company to recognition as the foremost regional MCN and one of the top 70 MCNs worldwide.
Before founding Diwan Videos, Youssef played a major role in the media success of the “Egyptian Jon Stewart” and Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World honouree, Egyptian satirist and TV host Dr Bassem Youssef.
His talents as a digital media marketing “miracle maker” had already come to light in 2009 when he was part of a media company that developed and produced Dr Bassem Youssef ’s successful Egyptian political satire show Albernameg.
Youssef believes it is important for an entrepreneur to constantly strive for leadership in his or her market. Diwan Videos, for instance, has sought to “revolutionise” digital media in Egypt and regionally.
“We see ourselves as pioneers in digital content management services in the region, establishing new standards for monetisation, channel optimisation and copyright protection,” says Youssef.
Compliance that adheres to the highest global industry standards is also critical for a digital and media entrepreneur keen to stay on top of the game, he says.
“We have a seasoned team of YouTube experts and are the leading YouTube certified partner in the Middle East and Africa. So we have the rights to secure direct sponsorship deals with brands for YouTube-managed content – a VIP feature that enables Diwan Videos to secure preferential advertising rates for clients.”
He values strategic partnerships and, last year, partnered with Vuclip and DailyMotion. The company’s partnership with Vuclip allowed it to acquire the specialised service of circulating videos through cellphones to reach a wider audience.
The DailyMotion deal enables Diwan to venture into new European markets. And thanks to this deal, the company can offer its existing customers copyright protection on the second mostwatched video platform after YouTube.
Youssef believes governments and the private sector in Africa must invest more in IT infrastructure as it is a major driver of socio-economic growth.
“We have seen a lot of improvement in the past few years in South Africa and Nigeria, yet there is still a gap to be bridged. This is why companies like Google and Facebook are coming up with creative ideas to make the internet accessible to the masses in the less developed countries.”
In the modern world, education helps you make it in the cut-throat world of business. Youssef, who at the time of being interviewed was reading The Art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki, is combining these entrepreneurial and leadership skills with formal business education, by pursuing an executive MBA programme at London Business School.
What else lies ahead for Youssef ?
“Despite the success achieved so far, I still feel I have not yet scratched the surface of where this business can go. I have done well when it comes to content aggregation and distribution, but I still hope to see Diwan own its content production and talent discovery. I dream of seeing this go around the world, not just in the Middle East and
Africa.”