Ronaldo Mouchawar

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 Arab World.[1] He is a veteran of Maktoob, the internet portal purchased by Yahoo in 2009. In 2005 he launched souq.com.[2]

Ronaldo Mouchawar
Born
Aleppo, Syria
Alma materNortheastern University
OccupationFounder & CEO of Souq.com

Early life and education

Ronaldo Mouchawar was born in Aleppo, in Syria. His father was a merchant, and this provided the inspiration for the name of the e-commerce site.[3] Mouchawar is also a former basketball player of the Jalaa SC Aleppo.[4]

Mouchawar holds a master's degree in digital communications and a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States.[5] He spent the early years of his career with the Boston engineering firm working in technology and business management, including a role as technical and systems consultant at Electronic Data Systems (EDS).[6]

Career

Mouchawar co-founded Souq.com in 2005 alongside Jabbar, Internet Group's Samih Toukan, and Hussam Khoury.[7] He added products from fashion to electronics and homeware and the site became the largest e-commerce retailer in the Arab world.[8]

'White Friday'

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 Arab world, since Friday is the traditional day of prayer.[9] The sale was widely popular as it raised over $275 million.[10] 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.[11] Additionally it was involved in the exclusive release of the Huawei Honor 6 launch in Abu Dhabi.[12]

Funding and Amazon acquisition

In February 2016, Souq.com announced it had received $275m of funding, with a valuation above $1bn, the Arab world's largest ever funding deal, making the e-commerce retailer the region's first unicorn.[13] In March 2017, it was made public that Amazon, the American e-commerce site acquired the brand.[14] The sum of this deal was not initially disclosed, though an Amazon SEC filing later revealed that the total sum paid was $580m in cash.[15][16] Today Mouchawar serves as Amazon Mena vice-president.[17]

Awards

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

  • 2013: Gulf Business Industry Awards, CEO of the year in the IT/Technology category[18]
  • 2015: Entrepreneur of the Year award
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See also

References
  1. "The Billion-Dollar Start-Up Club". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  2. Thomas, Aby Sam (14 May 2017). "Making History (Literally): Souq.com CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. "Ronaldo Mouchawar: How I created Souq.com". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. استثمارات رجال الأعمال السوريين في الخارج أرقام ضخمة .. ومشاريع كبيرة
  5. Fida Chaaban (17 April 2016). "Follow The Leader: Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder And CEO, Souq". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  6. "Profile of Souq.com CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar". Africa-me.com. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  7. "Ronaldo Mouchawar: How I created Souq.com". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  8. "Amazon.ae relates running a regional e-commerce giant to basketball". euronews. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. Deborah Amos Facebook Twitter. "A Syrian Entrepreneur Looks To Build The Amazon Of The Arab World : Parallels". NPR. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  10. "Souq raises MENA's largest round of $275M". Wamda.com. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  11. "Souq.com sales 'double during White Friday'". ArabianBusiness.com. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  12. Chaaban, Fida. "Follow The Leader: Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder And CEO, Souq". Entrepreneur Middle East.
  13. "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. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  14. Khalil, Ali. "Amazon buys Middle East's biggest online retailer". Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  15. Khalil, Ali. "Amazon buys Middle East's biggest online retailer". Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  16. "SEC Filing - Amazon.com (Form 10Q; Q1 '17)". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  17. Nada El Sawy (1 May 2019). "Souq becomes Amazon.ae in the UAE". The National. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  18. REVEALED: The Gulf Business Industry Awards Winners 2013 Gulf Business

Further reading
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