By Elie Habib, Co-founder, and CTO at Anghami
The world has never been so uncertain, COVID-19 is affecting businesses small & large, people’s health and livelihood. And its impact goes beyond the shift to working from home: forced lockdown has disrupted our whole mental state and health.
At Anghami, our team has been super adaptive to the crisis. We never stopped working and adjusting to this turning point in real-time. Early on we’ve rolled out a hub for our users to get ‘Stay Home’ content and helped promote safety guidelines like ‘wash your hands with music’; we spurred entertainment by launching Home Sessions on Instagram Live with over 45 artists so far. We’ve also watched (with awe) your music behavior, shifting and adapting to the new and unfortunate normal.
And this should never be enough.
We are part of a community, and today more than ever we are called to do more – together, and we are unveiling new challenges to do just that:
Small Business Support: Since March 15, we started running $850,000 worth of free audio ads for small businesses. To date, we have supported 90 businesses and are looking forward to supporting more – with a total budget of $3,000,000. Ads will reach over 13 million people in the Middle East and hopefully will help businesses get through these critical times. Feel free to apply today.
Local Artists Support: We realize that a large pool of local artists depends on weekly events & tours to make ends meet. At Anghami, we compensate artists every time you play their music – and those plays add up! We also allow artists to amplify their reach by accessing larger audiences – more plays and more revenue. More specifically, we are granting more than 400 local independent artists $1.5 million of “Amplify” credits – a feature allowing artists to promote their content on Anghami to help them promote their current or future releases to stimulate their returns.
Artists Support Button: We will allow artists to enable a new “Support My Music” button on their pages in the coming week and will let the fans know they can now support their favorite artists.
Helping Offline Businesses Go Online: A lot of businesses started offline and never created a digital storefront where goods are displayed & payments seamlessly happen. We can help them go online, fast & free. That’s why – in the next few weeks – we will be allowing small businesses to launch their own web & mobile storefront with free advertising to promote their businesses on Anghami.
Covid19 User Offer: With purchasing power decreasing and since many of you are at home with your family, we’re launching in days a $6 family plan allowing 6 people to get the full Anghami Plus experience, a discounted price that will be valid for 12 months. This offer will be made available only by credit card.
As an active member of the Arab community at large and its startup ecosystem, but also as a founding member of the digital music community in the region, we believe we have to be outspoken about the necessity for everyone who can to do more.
And we’re far from done. While more challenging times unfold, we’re all together in this, trying to play a part as much as we can. The ball is your court now – got an idea that could contribute? reach out to us at [email protected]
Together we will overcome this crisis, and tomorrow will play a better tune.
