| Kippreport.com

Winner of The Entrepreneur hopes to make a difference

November 22, 2012 3:28 by Eva Fernandes

‘Chief Owl’ is what is printed on LouLou Baz’s business card—the founder of Nabbesh.com and winner of du’s business reality show The Entrepreneur. And like her business card, there is something unique about Baz.

After working for ten years in the corporate world in a variety of sectors including financial services, project management and marketing, she decided to leave to start something of her own.

“I was sitting and trying to figure out what is it that I want to do. I had ten years of experience I wanted to get into some project work-I didn’t want to get into to a full-time job, just something on the side, make some money, be productive and feel good about myself.  And then I thought why isn’t there a platform that provides this service? So I decided this was what I wanted to do”

And so Nabbesh.com was born.

Launched mid April 2012, the website aims to connect skill providers with potential employers. Nabbesh, which means ‘search’ in Arabic, has a very simple aim to provide a safe environment for both parties involved in the freelancer market. The website has plans to set up an online payment portal and a review system for reference: “We want to answer questions like, ‘how can I be sure the freelancer will show up?’ and ‘how can I be certain I will be paid for the work I do as a freelancer.’ ”

Baz says the model of using freelancers/skill provider is very good for business; it is a one that Nabbesh.com uses itself. On one hand, a company benefits from not having to pay a full time salary for a project-based job which require a specific skills set. On the other hand, freelancers can earn much more money working on projects rather than full time due to the scope of their work.

Nabbesh.com definitely makes good business sense, but the social entrepreneurial ambition to the website is inspiring. Baz says it is very important to her that the website helps provide employment opportunities to people in remote areas:

“The beauty about a platform like Nabbesh is that t is not bound by geographic or national barriers. It is very open. It is very important that we reach a mother in a remote area, like in Fujairah or Ras Al Khaimah with an option to be able to use her skills to get specific services done.

Obviously, a woman who is good at baking cakes is not going to go a headhunter to say “I want a job.” So where does she go? This essentially the channel that we are trying to create. Of course, we want the graphic designers, the marketeers, the web developers, the SEO and SEM experts but we want to open it up to everybody.”

Loulou Khazen Baz is the grand winner of ‘The Entrepreneur’ reality TV show – created and presented by du. ‘

Tags: loulou baz, The Entrepreneur, the entrepreneur du