Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Job Opprtunity at Microsoft in Lebanon

Summary

Field IT Management is accountable for field deployment and operation of Microsoft IT services in the field. This function ensures consistent and systematic delivery of applications and infrastructure programs and projects in the field, which support the Microsoft businesses internationally, and supports business efforts through activities such as IT Showcase to talk about How Microsoft does IT in front of customers.

Reporting to the Area IT Manager for Central & Eastern Europe and Middle East Africa, the Vendor IT Manager is accountable for supporting the delivery of all Infrastructure services for Microsoft in NEPA region - for Lebanon onsite and remotely for Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan and Pakistan).

We are looking for:

• This requires an emphasis on IT day-day operations and & process management, technical capability and project execution skills. A proven track record in end-user training is beneficial
• Ability to communicate at all levels in the organization as well as the ability to translate technology solutions into business solutions.
• Project management/execution
• Excellent presentation skills
• Multicultural experience
• Ability to deal with ambiguity and respond to unplanned demand
• Willingness to travel is required
• High emphasis and focused on Customer Satisfaction

You will be further qualified if you have:

Strong ability to collaborate across multiple teams internally & internationally.

Prioritisation within a Multi-tasking environment.

We offer:

• An international work environment that is characterized by flexibility, an informal atmosphere, and a fast pace.
• Rich opportunities for using and developing your skills, taking responsibility and influencing our product design.
• Highly professional and motivated colleagues who value and support your contributions.
• A dynamic international workplace with unparalleled opportunities for personal and professional growth.
• An attractive compensation package that will match your responsibility.

Workplace in Microsoft is Beirut, Lebanon

Job description:

Run the Utility: Working with the Area IT Manager to define IT improvements within the sites and deliver these improvements in line with regional commitments and business requirements. Operational Excellence is key requirement for our delivery of our IT Infrastructure Services.

WorkSmart Program: To work with the Area IT Manager to identify productivity challenges onsite and develop and execute productivity plans to meet required targets.

Helpdesk Liaison; Collaborate with other IT Managers across the region to understand helpdesk challenges, run customer focus groups to gain feedback on helpdesk services and input to helpdesk management. Be the point of contact in region for helpdesk liaison, input and feedback.

Rhythm of the Business; Contribute to gathering and acting on customer feedback, conducting the Quarterly business Review, Budget Planning, Monthly reporting, Attending team meetings and relevant conferences, Populating and maintaining the business Scorecard.

Dogfooding; Assisting the Area IT Manager to develop and execute plans for dogfooding beta products, evangelizing the products and assisting the migration plan to upgrade the site to the latest release of MS product through setting targets, EPE sessions, events and clinics.

Process Improvement and Cost Awareness: In order to align with the growth and increasing requirements of the business, agile planning and execution is required. Likewise our focus is of continuously improve our processes as well as identify cost saving/avoidance opportunities for the IT services delivered locally.

Languages: English and French are mandatory, Arabic is optional.

Communications:

Regular communication with Area IT Manager to understand service delivery requirements.

Regular communication with NEPA Leadership team is crucial to best align our efforts.

Promote evolution of IT services to internal and external stakeholders.

Communication with Area IT Manager and Service Management to evolve services and address issues.

Partner with the members of the IT Service Management function, Facility, Finance, Security to drive excellence in delivery and communications.

For more information about this position you are welcome to contact Area IT Manager – Central & Eastern Europe & Middle East Africa, Bethina Fehlisch, mailto:bethinaf@microsoft.com

Or Talent Acquisition Lead for NEPA – Tala Baaklini: i-baak@microsoft.com

Union of Arab ICT Association Honors Microsoft Gulf with ‘Best Arab Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ of the Year

As recognition for its commitment to empowering women with technology, Microsoft Gulf received the ‘Best Arab Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ of the Year from the Union of Arab ICT Association, IJMA3. The Arab GoldenChip Awards recognize the top organizations in the region who have contributed to the development of ICT in the Arab world.

Aiming to harness ICT towards the fulfillment of critical regional economic-development challenges, IJMA3, an international non-governmental/profit organization presented the award to Microsoft for its overall Citizenship program and its significant contribution in empowering women through programs such as the Women in Technology (WIT) across the MENA region. The WIT program helps equip women with business and technology skills and encourages them to participate in today’s global workforce and gain economic independence. By 2010, WIT will train more than 10,000 low to middle income women in underserved communities across the MENA region.

Read the full story on Al Bawaba

WIT is a partnership between Microsoft, IIE, MEPI, and fifty local organizations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen to deliver Microsoft Unlimited Potential, Entrepreneurship and Professional Development training to low and middle income women in underserved areas. The program focuses on five key areas such as Professional Development Training, Business Planning for Sustainability, IT Training through Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (UP) Curriculum, Professional Development Networks for Women, and Professional Exchange and Capacity Building.

source: Al Bawaba http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/260698

Lebanese NGOs on Twitter

NGOs and non-profit initiatives from Lebanon or with programs in Lebanon.

@witlebanon: Women in Technology

@witmena: Women in Technology - Middle East and North Africa.

@smexbeirut: Social Media Exchange

@indyact: The League of Independent Activists

@lebfunraising : non-profit initiative project by Lebanese bloggers.

@leblaique : marching for a secular state in Lebanon.

@unicef_lebanon: only couple of updates.

@livelebanon: network connecting lebanese living abroad with local communities.

@lebelections: Lade Lebanon - not very active, not sure if it is official twitter account.

@wblebanon: World Vision

@alzlebanon : Alzheimer - Lebanon. No Updates!

@beirutmarathon: Beirut Marathon Association.

@safelebanon: Business continuity and safe lebanon disaster recovery mitigation and prevention

@safadiusa : based in Washington, but "dedicated to Lebanon's human development"

If you knnow of any other Lebanese NGOs or non-profit initiatives, feel free to post them in the comments.

Wanted: Short-Term RapidSMS/Python/Django Trainer for the Middle East.

Souktel, the Middle East’s first “social mobile” venture, is seeking an experienced developer to train Palestinian programmers on RapidSMS/Python/Django—and help kick-start a dynamic developer community in the region.  We’re looking for someone with teaching or mentoring experience and a passion for creating social change through mobile tech. We’ll fly you to our HQ in Ramallah, Palestine, where you’ll train our mobile app developers on RapidSMS basics and new app creation; you’ll also share your general expertise on Python and Django development.

 

In addition, you’ll work with our team to lead a short GeekMeet , where we’ll introduce RapidSMS to top young developers from across the country and lead them  in pair programming games and code sprints.  At the end of your two-week trip, you’ll have played a key role in bringing RapidSMS, Python and Django to a new part of the globe—while working directly with IT sector leaders in one of the world’s most fascinating countries.

 

Contract includes airfare, airport transfers, hotel accommodation in Ramallah, and a modest fee for consulting.  Also included are optional visits to tourist sites like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Dead Sea, and meet-ups with local IT companies and development labs. If you crave adventure—and want to use your knowledge to create social change—then email your CV and proposed daily rate to info@souktel.org by Fri. Jan. 22. Anticipated trip dates: Feb. 15 – 28.  

Happy and Prosperous 2010

Women in Technology - Lebanon wishes you and your family a happy and prosperous new year.

May 2010 be full of peace and success.

You can Join our Facebook Page :
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-in-Technology-Lebanon/92326546200

Be the first to add your own greeting card to our 2010 Greeting Cards Album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=181736&id=92326546200

Technology is a woman

This is a Guest Blog post by Dania Al Kadi

Technology is a woman: she is the ultimate multitasker and helps men communicate, but if so why are there such few women in the technology industry?

One can count many barriers, but maybe the biggest are perceived gender roles: computer studies, like other sciences, are regarded as a male pursuit and most little girls are taught early on in life to look the other way for their education and their interests.

Yet, the past decade and more specifically the advent of web 2.0 have changed all this. The internet revolution allowed computers into millions of households, and mobile telephony placed powerful communication devices in most people’s pockets. Today, the PC and the mobile phone have converged and technology permeates everything we do: from college students conducting research in Harvard to farmers checking market prices or the weather forecast in rural India.

For us women, this means empowerment at all levels: technology is no longer a subject to be studied in school but a natural enabler to life. Whether you are a hard core engineer passionate about building the latest gadget or a “sitt beyt” who wants to share her thoughts, child rearing tips or recipes on-line, having technology skills will enable you to achieve your goal and reach out to the wider world.

Of all the developments currently taking place, mobile applications are the most exciting and they’re full of promise for the entrepreneurial woman. Requiring relatively limited software development skills, mobile apps provide creative minds with the opportunity to turn any idea, small or big, into an application that can be published and marketed directly to consumers.

So do you have a good suggestion about how to place orders with suppliers on the go, or avoid rush hour traffic in your city, maybe you’ve created a nice game for your children that can be digitized and enjoyed by other kids? Now is the time to go for it, especially inLebanon and the Arab world, where we have the opportunity to create a lot of regionally relevant content in Arabic. An enormous amount of resources and information is available on-line to help you get started and if you feel you don’t have the right skill sets for softwaredevelopment, a simple training program will enable you to acquire the knowledge you need to be a mover and shaker in the next wave of digital transformation.

********************************************************

About Dania:

Based in London, Dania El-Kadi works for Nokia as Senior Marketing Manager in the Global Marketing Activation team where she’s responsible for driving the company’s marketing deployment strategies for email and business. Prior to relocating to the UK, Dania headed Nokia’s enterprise solutions marketing in the Middle East and Africa.

Dania held several positions in the IT industry before joining Nokia, including Marketing and PR management roles for Intel Corporation in the Middle East and North Africa.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the American University of Beirut and misses Lebanon every day

Start blogging and add a picture.

اضافة صورة

how to start a blog on blogger.com

إنشاء المدونة
الخطوة الاولى: زيارة موقع http://wwww.blogger.com
اذا كان لديكم حسابgmail يمكنكم استخدام اسم المستخدم وكلمة السر ذاتها

وإلا فيجب عليكن فتح حساب جديد عبر الضغط على “ إنشاء مدونة الكترونية” وتعبئة الخانات التالية:

يمكنكن إختيار اسم للمدونة مثلاً مدونة لبنان او الشباب والبيئة او” المرأة والتكنولوجيا” أو حتى تسميتها باسمكن. ثم عليكن إختيار عنوان للمدونة يكون بمثابة عنوان لكن على شبكة الانترنت.


الخطوة الاخيرة هي إختيار تصميم أو قالب لمدونتكن. يمكن معاينة التصاميم قبل إختيارها ويمكن تعديلها لاحقا. لاختيار احد القوالب عليكن الضغط في الدائرة الصغيرة قربه ثم الضغط على استمرار.



لدعوة اي شخص لزيارة مدونتكن يجب إعطائهم العنوان كاملا مثلا:

http://witlebanon.blogspot.com

From WIT to Work




Have you accomplished WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY Program training?

And you’re looking for a job?
Or
You want to start your own business?

WOMEN IN IT is glad to offer jobs and helps in starting a business for a limited number of women
With the collaboration of Women in technology Program
“FROM WIT TO WORK”

FREE training sessions to help you entering the market depending on your needs
Free counseling services
a consultant ready to offer you support to start your own business
Orientation and job opportunities

Those interested in participating in this project, should call Ms.Christelle El Jbeily: 71/167603 or 01/612500 ext 1984 or register their names at one of our partners'centers:

Mount Lebanon	ABadieh	Abadieh Scout club	TEL: 70/914120	Mail: hhamzeh@bdl.gov.lb
SOUTH	Der kanon Al Nahr	Der Kanon Al Nahr cultural center	TEL : 03/268707	Mail: Kassirh@inco.com.lb
NORTH	Tripoli	IT Lebanon	TEL: 03/859796	Mail: ashahin10@yahoo.com
BEKAA	Der Al Ahmar	Women Association of Der Al Ahmar (WADA)	TEL: 03/622369	Mail: dykhoury@yahoo.com
BEIRUT	Tayouneh	Al Moltaka AL Nisaii	TEL: 03/089086	Mail:almoltakans@hotmail.com
BEIRUT	Sanayeh	ZICO HOUSE	TEL: 01/750442
KESERWAN	JBEIL YWCA	TEL: 03/491141	TEL: 70/914120	Mail: ywcajbeil@hotmail.com





Deadline for registration: November 25/2009 and then 60 women will be chosen depending on their willingness to learn and their commitment.

WIT Interview on Future TV

Watch Tawassol program on Future News this evening @ 7:00pm Beirut time

Mr. Khalil Abdelmassih

( Citizenship Lead for NEPA Region-Microsoft)

will be talking about Microsoft & Women in Technology Program partnership

In addition to Interventions with Nadine andraos ( citizenship Lead-Microsoft Lebanon)

& Nada Hamzeh ( Women in Technology Manager-Lebanon)

Graduation Ceremony in Abadieh

Article about Women in Technology in Magazine

One woman's struggle to achieve independence

By Nayla Baraki
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, September 04, 2009

For one woman growing up in the backwaters of a tiny Baabda village in the 1940s, it was a fight to get a high school education. Being female, she was told from a young age that “no girls should leave the village for the sake of education,” and unfortunately, she listened. These early restrictions placed upon her are precisely what prompted Najla Abou Hamzeh to dedicate her life to empowering Lebanese women.

Born in Ebadieh in 1941, Hamzeh has been instrumental in founding the local Ebadieh Day Nursery, the first such institution in that part of Mount Lebanon. She went on from there to front local activism and international trade organizations, and even briefly dabbled in municipal-level politics. But the lack of support she received at the start of her life set a dangerous precedent for the rest of her career.

“In my day, girls weren’t allowed to leave town to finish their high school studies, and since we had no high school in our village, I had to quit school,” Hamzeh says. “I was a victim of traditions, since I was born in a traditional family.”

Hamzeh dates the beginning of her activism to 1977 – a surprising time – just two years into the country’s 15-year Civil War.

“In 1977, I attended the first meeting of the Lebanese Women’s Rights Committee,” she recalled. “That’s when I felt I was able to fulfill my ambitions and express several opinions and ideas that had been suppressed inside me ever since I was a little girl.”

She called the committee a constant source of support, as the group helped her “reach higher positions, and serve my cause in every possible way.”

Now Hamzeh is a serving member of a 15-seat executive board, responsible for taking national-level decisions.

One of Hamzeh’s major concerns is the economic dependence that women face.

“We are still suffering from gender discrimination. When women reach a state of financial independence, no obstacles will stand in their way and they’ll be able to achieve their goals,” she said.

“Lebanon will remain like it is unless women arrive at high-ranking positions and play an effective role in decision-making,” she continued. But while awareness is one thing, Hamzeh looks back on a record of activism as well.

In the height of the Civil War, Hamzeh said one urgent need was to help women gain this financial independence – if they had to stay home and care for children, it would never come about, which jump-started Hamzeh into founding a nursery in 1987, to ease the burden on working mothers.

“This [nursery] was established so that working mothers would feel reassured when leaving their children all day long,” she said. “There was no day nursery at the time in the Aley region of Mount Lebanon at the time, and working women were mostly teachers.”

She then set up a library in the nursery serving the needs of children from the ages of 1 to 4.

“The financial support all came from activities that we carried out, and [from] the members’ contributions,” she fondly recalled.

Read the rest of the article about Women in Technology on our website.

Abadieh PDN - Al-Houda Exhibition 2009

Under the patronnage of Minister Ghazi Aridi

Al Houda Charitable Association

is glad to invite you to its 8th exhibition for Handicrafts-Paintings & Antiques-Rural food-Books

Saturday,August 8/2009 @ 6:30pm-Abadieh Hall.

The exhibition opens daily from 6:00pm till 11:00pm from August8 till August 14/2009

Build a Website: Why Joomla

Joomla,is an open source CMS (Content Management System) that make it relatively easier to create, manage, and update a website.

Here is why, we chose Joomla for our website:

Image by miss604 via Flickr

• Award Wining CMS: chosen as one of the best CMS applications.
• Active Vibrant Community: Joomla is one of the most popular CMS with over 200,000 community users and contributors; who are ready to help solve problems or answer questions.
• Ease to use: Joomla is user friendly and anyone can learn it and use it. You can try the online demo on Opensource CMS

Image via Wikipedia

• Out of the Box Features: You can check the core features and the large number of joomla extensions.
• Open Source: this reduce the CMS limitations and increase its flexibility.

Build a Website: CMS vs Custom Websites

What is a CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System: a web application for creating and managing websites. You can check it on Wikipedia:CMS


Why use a CMS?

Here is a simple comparison between CMS and Custom Websites:

Ease of Use: CMS make it easier for people with little or no technical skills to create and edit web pages. While with custom websites, they will need to know HTML, CSS and sometimes Javascript and some programming languages such as PHP or ASP.

Extensibility: adding new functionality to your website is easier and faster by using CMS modules and plugins, while it has to be coded from scratch with custom websites, most of the times.

Flexibility: Custom websites might have more flexibility and you can modify the code without worrying about the CMS limitations. Although with open source CMS, such as Joomla or Drupal, you can workaround these limitations most of the times.

Changing Design: in a good CMS, content is separate from design, and I can change the design with a click of a button. This is much harder with a custom website, even if the custom site is completly CSS based.

Time: custom websites take more time to build than a CMS.

For example, adding a membership section to the Women in Technology Lebanon website is a matter of minutes, or couple of hours if some advanced configuration and customization should be made. While adding a membership section on a custom built website, will require that you know html, css, and be able to create and configure a database.

I strongly believe and recommend that every website should use a CMS, even for tech savvy people.

What do you think?

PDN Activity in Deir Kanoon Nahr : Hand Made Accessories

Hand Made Accessories from a PDN activities in Deir Kanoon el Nahr Center in South Lebanon. Click on the image to see the whole album.

Women in IT is recruiting: HR Officer & Administrative Assistant

Position 1: HR Officer (Ref: jobHR)

Contract Period: 1 year Full time Employee
Location: Mathaf, Beirut

The Human Resources officer supports in planning and implementing policies which select, develop and retain the right candidates and client needed to meet the objectives of the project

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in HR, BA, Sociology or any related field;
• Minimum of 3 years experience preferably in a recruitment agency
• Has an understanding and knowledge of the staffing and recruiting business
• Team Work Spirit, Ethical & Discreet
• Excellent Public Relation
• Good oral and written communication skills in English and Arabic (French is an asset)

Job Description

• Develops relationships with : Job placement entities (public, private, web based, etc.), NGOs specializing in women empowerment and NGOs specializing in entrepreneurship
• Maintain daily update of the project
• Assisting the project manager in research and any other relevant activity for the project
• Participate in set the criteria and the selection of the project beneficiaries
• Performs survey on market to reveal the needs
• Is responsible for the placement of project beneficiaries
• Is responsible to set up procedures and channels to insure sustainability of job placement and entrepreneurship goals of the project
• Assess the current status of the candidates and advise on required trainings
• Create Job units / CV archive
• Written and verbal communication skills in English and French
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office and the internet

2. Position: Administrative Assistant (Ref: jobADMN)

Contract Period : 1 year Full time Employee
Location: Mathaf, Beirut

The administrative Assistant will assist the project responsible in the daily management and coordinate the project activities

Required Qualifications

• Good command of English and Arabic (French is an asset)
• Experience working in a non-profit environment is highly desirable
• Good communication skills
• Computer skills

Job Description

• Provide administrative and general assistance to the members
• Perform general office administrative duties such as handling calls, faxes and incoming and outgoing mail, ensuring an adequate level of office supplies
• Prepare and file correspondence, forms, contracts, official documents…
• Handle minor accounting activities
• Create and update WIT’s database (WIT contacts lists, WIT publications, library, documentaries, slides, filing of digital photos…)
• Ensure proper handling and availability of needed equipment, arrange for equipment maintenance and insurance
• Arrange meetings and workshops
• Compile and disseminate monthly board minutes of meeting
• Compile financial reports to the executive committee, project coordinators and donors with the help of the projects officer and coordinators

Interested candidates please send your CV + picture to: info@wit.org.lb before 5 August 2009. Please mention the Ref in the subject of the e-mail.

Twitter Guide in Arabic

The DigiActive Guide to Twitter has been translated to Arabic by Social Media Exchange

Check it below and post any comments or questions if you have.
[Embargoed] - Arabic Twitter Guide (Beta) - please comment!