Ronaldo Mouchawar

Ronaldo Mouchawar
Born Aleppo, Syria
Residence Dubai, UAE
Alma mater Northeastern University in Boston, MA
Occupation Founder & CEO of Souq.com

Ronaldo Mouchawar (Arabic: رونالدو مشحور‎‎), is a Syrian entrepreneur who is the CEO and co-founder of Souq.com, the largest e-commerce retailer in the Middle East and sometimes referred to as "the Amazon of the Middle East".[1] Mouchawar co-founded Souq.com in 2005 alongside Jabbar Internet Group's Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury.[2] In 2014, he established the White Friday sales event to coincide with Black Friday in the US, explaining that a "black" Friday doesn't make cultural sense in the Arabic world, since Friday is the traditional day of prayer.[3] The sale was widely popular as it raised over $275 million.[4] In 2015 Souq.com more than doubled its sales during its second White Friday sale, with 13 million visitors and 600,000 items sold during November 25-28 across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt. [5] In February 2016, Souq.com announced it had received $275m of funding, with a valuation above $1bn, the Middle East's largest ever funding deal, making the e-commerce retailer the region's first unicorn.[6]

Ronaldo Mouchawar was born in Aleppo, in Syria. Aleppo is one of the world’s oldest trading hubs, and was traditionally home to some of the planet’s most famous souqs. His father was a merchant, and this provided the inspiration for the name of the e-commerce site.[7]

Mouchawar is also a former basketball player of the Jalaa SC Aleppo.

Education

Mouchawar holds a Master’s degree in Digital Communications and a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston.[8] He spent the early years of his career with Boston engineering firm in US working in technology and business management, including a role as technical and systems consultant at Electronic Data Systems (EDS).[9]In 2005, He is a veteran of Maktoob, the Internet portal purchased by Yahoo! in 2004 then he launched souq.com the first e-commerce site for the Arab world.

Awards

Ronaldo Mouchawar has received several professional awards both in UAE and overseas.

1. Entrepreneur of the Year award 2015.
2. Gulf Business Industry Awards, CEO of the year 2013


See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Billion-Dollar Start-Up Club". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  2. ↑ "Ronaldo Mouchawar: How I created Souq.com". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  3. ↑ Deborah Amos Facebook Twitter. "A Syrian Entrepreneur Looks To Build The Amazon Of The Arab World : Parallels". NPR. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  4. ↑ "Souq raises MENA's largest round of $275M". Wamda.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  5. ↑ "Souq.com sales 'double during White Friday'". ArabianBusiness.com. 2015-12-07. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  6. ↑ "Souq.com raises more than AED 1 Billion (USD 275 million), the largest e-commerce funding in the Middle East history - Souq.com (news)". Pr.souq.com. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  7. ↑ "Ronaldo Mouchawar: How I created Souq.com". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  8. ↑ Fida Chaaban (2016-04-17). "Follow The Leader: Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder And CEO, Souq". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  9. ↑ "Profile of Souq.com CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar". Africa-me.com. 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
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