Co-founders and partners, Hala Ahmed Sulaiman, Mohamed Ebrahim and Ameera Mohamed, have come together to introduce a new website and app called AlRawi.
The mission of these three avid book lovers is to make reading enjoyable and easily accessible to people around the world by creating the largest audio library accessible through all smart-peripheral devices. They are passionate about the cultural value and service this app will give back to the community.
With 362 million Arabic speakers worldwide, there are 16,500 books published each year.
What does AlRawi offer?
AlRawi Website:
Purpose: For the e-community to convert books into interactive audio books.
Target: Narrators, publishers, authors, writers, studios and professional Arabic proofreaders.
Currently, the database has more than 120 narrators and over 60 samples ready and available to choose from, as well as 30 recorded books.
AlRawi App:
Purpose: e-marketplace for listening to audio books and creating interaction and engagement around them.
Target:
- Young professionals with long commuting times (when stuck in traffic)
- Traditional readers, from age groups 18 to 25
- Children and millennials
- Individuals with special needs
The Bigger Picture:
- Improve reading
- Help countries achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 (ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning)
- Create a green environment by delivering audio books
- Create job and market opportunities all across the world for publishers, authors, narrators and studios, in addition to all the other specialised skills that this service requires (for example proofreaders)
How is AlRawi different?
AlRawi is a Bahraini-Arab application that aspires to provide a holistic service in audio book creation and distribution for Arabic books.
It aims to create an e-community that allows authors and/or publishers and narrators to network, match up and create audio books, and then distribute these to final users through AlRawi.
It will allow readers to browse through the online library of audio books from the application in different categories and subcategories, and download the book they like after listening to a sample audio clip. Users will also be able to search for books with the title, author or narrator names.
The launch of the pilot phase, with some of the features and functionalities, took place last month.
By November, it will be launched on a regional basis at the Sharjah International Book Fair – the biggest of its kind in the Arab world – with 100 audio books. The wide range of material will include novels, biographies, children’s books, poetry and history, amongst others.
The founders believe the AlRawi app will benefit its various stakeholders in the current digital era and bring value to book lovers. They are also working with research and academic institutes to present their content in audio format. Their long-term goal is to have 10,000 books and one million users by 2030.
Email [email protected], visit www.alrawi.com or follow social media channels Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @alrawibooks.
