Rania and Zaina Kana'an of Ananasa, an Online Marketplace for Artisans in the Arab World
Channel: Wamda
Date: 2012-05-29

This week's Entrepreneur(s) of the Week are sisters Rania and Zaina Kana'an of Ananasa (http://www.ananasa.com), an online marketplace for handicrafts, that sells goods from artisans from the Middle East and North Africa to an international market. 

The Kana'an sisters launched the site, whose name is a combination of "ana" ("I" in English), and ("nas", meaning "people"), although the word also resembles "ananas" ("pineapple"), last October, after working steadily for two years to develop the platform. They source artisans through Facebook, Twitter, referrals, and by visiting artisan fairs, and have completely self-funded the platform thus far, with money saved up from their full time jobs in media (Rania) and fast-moving consumer goods (Zaina). They are also doing the marketing themselves, thanks to their experience in marketing, and also a little help from their friends and family when it comes to word-of-mouth. 

Here the sisters chat about their challenges finding the right developer, their monetization plan, and their advice for fellow entrepreneurs.