Internet penetration growing in Arab World, says Maktoob.com

"The spread of e-literacy in the Arab world is boosting employment avenues for the region's skilled workforce and presenting business opportunities in this niche sector," noted Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob.com (www.maktoob.com). "Encouraged by the support of local governments and the success stories of several web communities, the Internet has built a formidable presence for itself in the region."

Toukan voiced his comments while in Dubai recently to receive the "Best Information Portal Award" at the GCC Economic Forum summit, which concluded on January 14th, 2003. The high-profile summit, which was addressed by former US Vice-President Al Gore and Gulf Co-operation Council Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Atiya, hosted GCC ministers and eminent personalities from the international and regional I-T world. Toukan received the coveted award from His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Technology, E-Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority.

At the same time, Toukan revealed that Maktoob.com recently achieved three million registered email users. Releasing details of Maktoob.com member statistics for 2002, he pointed out that Saudi Arabia and Egypt continued to dominate the number of memberships at 16 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

"While Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Lebanon have long been the leaders in the field, countries such as Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait have surprised us with the number of Maktoob.com memberships in those regions increasing four-fold in the recent past," Toukan added.

Internet Penetration Growing in the Arab World, says Maktoob.com

The new website statistics revealed that most of Maktoob.com members fall in the 18-35 years age group.

Maktoob.com began 5 years ago, initially offering web-based bilingual email. Now, the company has diversified towards offering both Internet users and companies a range of IT solutions that are developed inhouse.

At the same time, Maktoob.com continues to underline its support to community events by establishing services that lead to personal development. Among the first of these services is the successful Mabrook.com, a unique effort assisting Arabs worldwide to find their ideal life-partner.

Toukan pointed out that while it was quite early to compare the growth of Internet in this region to trends in the West, the Arab world was steadily achieving a great degree of maturity by offering indigenous products. "The Middle East was a late entrant to the international IT scene but the rapid pace of the industry here has brought it on a par with world standards in a short time," he noted. "This can be gauged by the fact that companies in this region are now being increasingly sought by entities worldwide for their expertise in several niche IT areas."