GoDaddy Teams Up with Startups Without Borders to Train MENA Entrepreneurs

As part of its continued efforts to empower entrepreneurs and small business owners, GoDaddy has teamed up with entrepreneurship support and resource network, Startups Without Borders (SWB), to offer entrepreneurs in MENA a free online training course.

Titled 'Start and Grow Online with GoDaddy’, the course aims to help entrepreneurs take their businesses online, a move that has become more and more necessary in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Built around an intensive four-hour workshop, the course goes one step further in teaching entrepreneurs how to maintain an effective digital footprint and online presence using GoDaddy's online tools and solutions, including the GoDaddy Website Builder and E-Store. It's hoped that, in leveraging GoDaddy’s resources and knowhow and SWB’s network of partners and entrepreneurs, the partnership will also lead to additional workshops and even mentorship hours.

Offered in both English and Arabic, topics include defining an online presence, wonders of the digital world, choosing a domain name, the importance of a professional email address, hands-on planning and building and securing a website, as well as how to create search-friendly content to attract customers. Participants will receive a certificate on completion, as well as a free 30-day trial of the Arabic Website Builder tool.

One third of MENA small business owners plan to set up an official website for their business. Whether running a home-based business or have a brick-and-mortar shop, 2021 is the year to start becoming more visible in the online world.

For founder, Valentina Primo, the collaboration comes as a huge boost for SWB’s own goals of empowering and providing a platform for the very many innovative yet underserved entrepreneurs of developing countries and markets. 

“For the past year, we’ve been supporting our community of entrepreneurs with an array of tools to take their business to the online world,” Primo said of a partnership that started at the 2020 edition of the SWB Summit. “As the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need to go digital, many entrepreneurs are struggling to transition to the online sphere. Through the ‘Start and Grow Online with GoDaddy’ program, we can support our community with an actionable, concrete and cost-efficient way to build their online presence.”

On the part of GoDaddy, the course comes at a prime time, as the entrepreneurial ecosystem in MENA continues to flourish, with this partnership coming off the back of others with the likes of Dubai Startup Hub, Level Up DXB, The Women Exchange and Startup Egypt.

“Now more than ever, the focus for small businesses is to be online,” said Selina Bieber, GoDaddy  Senior Regional Director for Turkey and MENA. “One of our goals is to educate small and medium business owners and fill in the knowledge gap, while providing them with the tools and help they need to be online. According to our 2020 Entrepreneur Survey, one third of MENA small business owners plan to set up an official website for their business. At GoDaddy, we look to support entrepreneurs by making the necessary knowledge and know-how easily available. Whether running a home-based business or have a brick-and-mortar shop, 2021 is the year to start becoming more visible in the online world.”

Attendees of the course must either be a small business owner, entrepreneur or a sole trader. To register, click here.