Haykal Media has announced a new name, Majarra, to mark their new direction to become a technology company that offers a single sign-on network of premium Arabic content platforms.
In a joint statement titled “Today we become Majarra,” executive chairman Abdulsalam Haykal and CEO Ammar Haykal explained that Harvard Business Review Arabia, MIT Technology Review Arabia, Stanford Social Innovation Arabia, Popular Science Arabia, and the “Manhom” platforms will all be accessible through a single Majarra subscription.
They also indicated that Majarra would add new topics in the coming months, working with other globally-recognized, reliable content providers.
Majarra will draw on the latest technology, highest quality data, and sophisticated artificial intelligence technology to understand their members’ needs, offer unique content that maximizes the members’ experience and puts Majarra’s content in front of all those who could benefit from it.
The announcement emphasized that the Arabic content gap is “a massive lost opportunity for our societies.”
Countless Arabs need quality information to support their growth and progress, but face a “constant frustration,” due to the state of Arabic content online, which is “dominated by old forums, user-generated content on social media, and mistranslations of pirated content.”
“There’s not enough Arabic content overall and reliable content is even scarcer,” the announcement added.
Majarra’s two leaders stressed their aim for the company to be a “catalyst to unlocking the Arabic web, ushering a new dawn for an industry that is crucial to progress in our region.”
They shared their skepticism of business models that rely only on advertising revenue and audience size as they “feed a spiral of lower-quality content.”
“There’s plenty of room for free content, but there’s a customer for better quality, reliable content, too. Majarra offers a new vision for discerning, thoughtful readers.”
Majarra’s predecessor Haykal Media has been a pioneer in publishing Arabic digital content, establishing a number of high-quality content platforms in Arabic online. It was founded in Syria in 2004, and moved to Abu Dhabi in 2013.
