Fatima Muhammad

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH —  Kaswara Al-Khatib, Chairman and CEO of Uturn Entertainment, has been named Saudi Arabia’s first EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 Monday here in Jeddah. Kaswara was chosen from a group of 10 finalists Saudi entrepreneurs only one of which is a woman.



Kaswara spoke to Saudi Gazette at the end of the event last night and stated that they have started the new media section of their company back in 2010. “At first We thought we will have only online content. But then we realized that there is a demand and there is a high viewership in the Kingdom on YouTube, and we started from there.” 



After digging into this new field Al-Khatib’s company is now having five different sections that includes production and distribution.



Uturn attributes their success to doing partnership with those who have idea and sponsoring them.



The company now have over 100 employees and pays to those freelancing for various projects. The new projects have revealed new Saudi talents and the company now have local shooting, acting and producing specialists which makes is not necessary to do the job outside Kingdom as was the case previously.



Youtubers in Saudi have all started their clips as hobbies then they have paid more effort in teaching themselves and were giving some training, said Al-Khatib.



He also said that the youth production has moved from being a hobby to gaining professional skills, this difference can be clearly seen by comparing the first production series to later ones.



Passion is the key to success stated Al-Khatib and added “new entrepreneurs should not look for shortcuts rather they shall be committed and pay the price for success.”



Latifa Al-Wallan the founder of Yatooq company for the production of a fast making Arabic coffee spoke yesterday to Saudi Gazette about her first experience in leading a business that she has no background in.



Al-Wallan the only woman on the list of top Saudi entrepreneurs spoke about the challenge she faced on top of which  is specifying her market.



Being a scholarship student majoring in computer science she came up with the idea of creating a new product that can ease making Arabic coffee.“At start we made number of mistakes but that is how we learned! We first thought USA is a out market because of scholarship students. However we then moved to the GCC region and we are now based in Riyadh and are aiming at being the preferred Arabic coffee makers in the region.”



She added that they have different flavors including the classic, Yatooq special flavor, ginger and cloves. “We want to help all who have a problem making Arabic coffee to overcome their problem, this include people at home, offices, traveling or even at coffee shops,” added Al-Wallan.



The judging process was based on numerous criteria that included entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, social impact and influence.