Business & Money | Thursday 17 November, 2016 2:56 pm |

In recognition of her outstanding work as a young inspiring entrepreneur, Arabian Business StartUp has awarded Mai Medhat, CEO Eventtus as Entrepreneur of the year.  The announcement was made during the 2016 Arabian Business StartUp Awards ceremony, which took place yesterday in Dubai.

In its fourth edition, there were over 400 nominations for this year’s awards which celebrate the individuals and teams behind a number of homegrown start-ups and SMEs. Six contestants were shortlisted and judged in each of the 14 categories. 

“I am very honored to receive this award from Arabian Business StartUp.” said Mai Medhat, CEO Eventtus. “I dedicate this award to my cofounder Nihal Fares, and an army of unsung heroes who stand behind the success of Eventtus. I consider the award as a great testimonial to Eventtus commitment to provide a complete social event platform that covers the needs of both attendees and organizers.”

Eventtus provides interactive event apps for business events, conferences and exhibitions where attendees can plan their agenda, view speakers bios and receive live updates and announcements during the event. Also, the app provides a valuable networking opportunity to meet other attendees, schedule meetings and share contacts.

Since its inception Eventtus has hosted more than 8500 events with more than 150 thousand attendees in 15 different countries. The app has seen phenomenal adoption rate (number of attendees downloading the app) and engagement rate (number of engaged app users who use the app to do more than 5 actions).

 

In its endeavor to further expand across the region, Eventtus has supported both Nuqat Conference and ArabNet events in Kuwait last month. Boasting a strong portfolio of events; the company has successfully helped Dubai Expo 2020, Digital Summit, Step Conference, Informa, DMG events, Emirates Foundation, PHD media, Dubai Silicon Oasis and many more organize seamless memorable events.

 

With events business grossing $60 billion dollars a year in the Middle East alone, Eventtus aims to further expand geographically to insure steady business growth. In a market where worldwide event app software market revenues represent $5.44 billion out of $565 billion total spent on events in 2015, the potential for the company’s growth is very promising.

Tamara Pupic, Deputy Editor, Arabian Business StartUp, said: "For this year's Arabian Business StartUp Awards we received more than 400 nominations, which means that the competition was fierce just to get onto the shortlist. To win, especially in the Entrepreneur of the Year award category, an entrepreneur had to demonstrate something special. Whenever I am asked to say something about Mai Medhat, I recall a sentence she told me in an interview a few months ago: 'It is not about me, but about our region. We have proven to the world that we can build something useful.' This attitude is why Mai and the Eventtus team do not need to be officially awarded to be considered winners. At the same time, it is something that makes them special and it is, I believe, one of their many qualities that our judges have recognised and honoured. I wish them many more awards in the future."

The Arabian Business StartUp Awards are held in partnership with AJSM Investments, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Skyline University College, and Dawaam.

Eventtus has also been recognized by the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 as one of the most promising startups and invited Mai to represent Middle East startups on a panel with the President Barak Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.