Mind Soup

Founded in 2012, Game Cooks is a collective of artists, designers and developers with a shared passion for gaming. Based in Lebanon and catering to the world, the team creates fun and feel-good type games, with a twist, which people from the region can relate to and players from all over the world can enjoy. Game Cooks focuses on producing international games for iOS and Android. So far, Game Cooks has launched 7 mobile games, available for iOS and Android, the latest being Cubama, a 3D reflex game, which requires concentration and speed. Here is an interview with Lara Noujaim, Game Cook's marketing manager. How did the idea for Game Cooks begin and how was it funded? Game Cooks was born out of a shared passion for gaming and how games are created! It all started with an idea for a game—and that idea turned into Birdy Nam Nam. Birdy Nam Nam proved to be a great success; having amassed over a quarter million downloads from its first week alone! This was enough motivation for...

With an extensive background in computer science and information technology as well as the entertainment, music and mobile industries, Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun crossed paths and founded Anghami, a platform providing access to over five million international and Arabic songs through a convenient, user-friendly application allowing users to stream all the music they want on their mobile. Anghami has agreements with over 4,000 record labels, thus granting users access to the widest variety of content in the region. The mobile application is available for download on different smartphones, including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Nokia devices. The company offers a free, ad-supported version of the app, which allows usage only with an Internet connection. Anghami+, the premium ad-free application, allows users to stream an unlimited number of songs and to access playlists when offline. Anghami has partnered up with MBC and added songs from popular shows lik...

Omar Christidis is the Founder and CEO of ArabNet, the leading events and media company focused on the Arab web and mobile industry. ArabNet organizes the leading conferences for the digital sector in the MENA region, including the ArabNet Digital Summit, the premier international gathering for Arab digital professionals and entrepreneurs. The Summit was held for the fourth time in Dubai in June 2013 and brought together more than 800 attendees from 35 countries and received more than 9,100 tweets and 42,800 hits on the live-steam.   In 2012, Omar was selected by GulfNews Magazine as one of its “30 under 30" list. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Co-Founder of the Yale Arab Alumni Association.   At the last ArabNet Beirut, the issue of language of the conference was raised. Why do you think it is better for the conference to be conducted in English in both Dubai and Beirut? ArabNet Beirut and the Digital Summit are held in English because of the signific...