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70 JORDAN BUSINESS AUGUST 2011

Peter Hagen interviews Noor el-Fadl and Yehia Houry from TasmeemME,a Jordanian jobs website that has won several awards for its innovative and

philanthropic concept.

Designing Connections

he creative industry is boomingin Jordan and the jobsite Tas-meemME (www.tasmeemme.

com) is a fertile resource for those rid-ing this artistic wave. The website con-nects businesses and individuals seekingto nd and advertise talent in the Middle

Easts creative industries. Launched inMay 2009, the website is a place for em-

ployers to look for professionals, wheth-er for project work or full time employ-

ment, and also allows professionals toadvertise their skills and work.

Creative CareersTasmeemME applies the jobsite con-cept specically to the creative indus-try, coving professions as diverse asgraphic design, animation, broadcast-ing, performing arts, photography,music, broadcasting, art and writing.In addition to the traditional jobsite

platform, there are a number of fea-

tures that distinguish tasmeemme.com, including the ability of individu-als to showcase and sell their work to

businesses through the site.

The ethos of the project is to ensurethe protection of creatives, as thestaff members of TasmeemME referto their users. The Middle East doesnot, in most countries of the region,have a developed culture or legislativeenvironment for assuring individuals

many of whom are self-employed

that the companies they work for can-not take advantage of their work or ex-

ploit their lack of business savvy.

Online successesThe rst two years of the business oper-ations for TastmeemME have seen thewebsite grow and develop with servic-es offered to help freelancers learn theart of doing business as self-employed

professionals, and to assist businessesin specifying exactly what they wantfrom job adverts. TasmeemMEs ChiefOperating Ofcer (COO), Yehia Houry,

said, we decided that for the rst two

T

years we would really focus on com-munity building, and everything onthe site would be free. During this

period, the website has advertised 350jobs to 1,800 users.

The name tasmeem means design inArabic, and tasmeemME translating

phonetically as my design, althoughthe capitalized ME stands for MiddleEast, the region in which TasmeemME

operates. As with many modern Inter-net start-ups, the playful and meaning-ful name exhibits the ethos of the com-

pany. The design of the website itselfis simple and clean, with a practical in-terface on the homepage offering threeoptions: nd talent, nd work and

post a job. The necessity, as in all e-commerce, must be on user experienceand ergonomic functionali ty.

The starting point for the look and feelof the website, according to its de-signer and founder Noor el-Fadl, washer own experience as a user and

graphic designer. This clearly showsin the ease of use and aesthetic appealof tasmeemme.com.

Small Is InThe two-year old company currentlyemploys a total of just three people, thefounder el-Fadel, the COO Yehia Houry

and a full-time junior programmer. Thereare also two part-time senior programmers,and the company works with a number of

professionals who support Tasmeeme andthe creative industry. Mention is deserved

by the companys muse who resides intheir fresh-looking ofces in Amman,

a dog by the name of Balila. The joyfulcanine welcomes all guests to the ofces

with the same generous enthusiasm andsaliva, emphasizing the friendly and hu-man side to TasmeemME.

In terms of the social function of the project, there has been an effort toshow users through online content howto make the most of working in the cre-ative industry, which can be a cutthroat

Startups

[L-R] Yehia Houry, Noor el-Fadl and Aiman Daglees

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place for designers and artists to makea living and protect their work as in-tellectual property. This is particularly

true in the Middle East where there hasyet to develop a mature culture of hir-ing creative individuals to design logosand other aspects of corporate identity.

Monopolies Of The MindJordan does offer some legal protec-tion for individuals working in the cre-ative industry, says its founder, el-Fadl.However, the task of TasmeemME is

to educate and inform its users and tooffer discussion forums not just in or-der to help them nd work, but also

to share knowledge on how to protecttheir work and not suffer the com-monplace low balling from employers.This was part of the rationale for el-Fadl founding the business, she says,citing experiences where her ownwork as a graphic designer was sub-stantially undervalued when compa-nies approached her for services. Thisis her motivation to help creativesto achieve fair working practices withthose looking for their work.

The vibrancy of the online communitycreated by TasmeemME is clear in the4,300 messages that have been sent dur-ing its lifetime, including advice andcomment on matters to do with work-ing in the creative industry. Such advice,according to el-Fadl, includes the vital

practice of asking for an up-front fee byanyone working on an ad hoc basis.

The concept behind the website is,therefore, largely ideological. It has

up till now provided its services forfree, both for businesses seeking tal-ent, as well as for individuals seekingwork. However, with the launch of a

new website in the coming months, us-

ers will be able to pay for a numberof services from the website and theteam behind Tasmeeme, who are wellversed in the creative industry.

A Bright FutureWith a new design and additions tothe basic concept, the website is set tochange to bring about planned revenuestreams. The rst is to charge for job

posts in the same way as larger jobsites

familiar in the Middle East and through-out the world. The second source ofrevenue will be from premium portfo-lios, in which individuals can purchase

better-looking pages than offered by thefree content, with more prominent posi-tions on the website.

The third revenue stream that is planned,according to COO Houry, is a very new

concept in the region, and that is to sell thework of creatives who use the site. There

are already 10,300 les uploaded on the

website, indicating its potential as a com-mercial platform for the showcase and saleof work created by its growing user base.

The new website will be heralded bya new marketing campaign throughoutthe region in the coming months, ac-cording to Houry. As he points out in

a ashy presentation, the cost of mar-keting to date has been $0.00, and

yet use of the website has been widelyspread through the networks of staffmembers in both Amman and Beirut.With an appealing concept and attrac-tive aesthetic, wider exposure of Tas-meemME is sure to attract udders fromall over the region.

The experimental and socially philan-thropic nature of TasmeemME is wellsuited to the general trend of modernInternet start-ups. With the creative in-dustry expanding rapidly in Jordan andthe Middle East more generally, thegrowth of the website is set to continue,

particularly with the coming marketingdrive in the region and new functionsto the site. With several internationalawards under their belt for this good-hearted project, the small team of Tas-meemME will shine amongst Jordansyoung class of entrepreneurs.

TasmeemME applies the jobsite concept specically tothe creative industry, coving professions as diverse asgraphic design, animation, broadcasting, performing

arts, photography, music, broadcasting, art and writing.

The vibrancy of the online community created by

TasmeemME is clear in the 4,300 messages thathave been sent during its lifetime, including adviceand comment on matters to do with working in the

creative industry.

Startups