Business-to-business communities - 05/2001

MenaBusiness announces the launch of four new country-specific sites covering Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine and Turkey to add to its existing portfolio of business-to-business (B2B) communities. These four new portals (www.reach4lebanon.com, www.reach4pakistan.com, www.reach4palestine.com and www.reach4turkey.com) bring the number of MenaBusiness country sites to a total of 10 including Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and four other sites (Tunisia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan) are expected to be rolled out shortly.

These four new sites demonstrate MenaBusinessí ongoing commitment to bringing the global reach and benefits of Internet technology throughout the entire MENA region. Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine and Turkey all represent important emerging economies with considerable potential and rapidly rising Internet penetration levels. MenaBusiness offers companies doing business in these countries easy access to a large and growing market and the ability to reach new customers, anytime, anywhere.

Each MenaBusiness community provides buyers and sellers with a broad range of information, content and e-commerce solutions to help domestic and international companies connect with new customers, suppliers, partners, employees and investors via a pan-regional marketplace. The news and content of each country-specific site are tailored to reflect the diverse interests and characteristics of the individual economies and additional local flavour will be added over time.

ëWe believe that community creates commerce and is a key driver in building business relationshipsí, says MenaBusiness co-founder Wassim Khamlichi. ëOn MenaBusiness sites there is more to do than just buy and sell and our communities are designed to complement traditional business techniques. By leveraging off new communication technologies, we help companies obtain and exchange important news and information and so build stronger and deeper relationships with customers, partners and employees.í

Membership of MenaBusiness communities is free and once enrolled in one community, members are automatically entitled to access all other MenaBusiness sites without the need for a further registration process. Powered by a common database and technology platform, each country portal shares the same attractive design and the user-friendly navigation features so that users can be immediately productive across all sites.

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