Dubai - MENA Herald: The Big Entertainment Show (BES) concluded today its 8th edition with a remarkable success that witnessed the participation of over 4,000 trade visitors and attendees that came to be part in the largest B2B show in the Middle East region specialized in Media and TV content, licensing, characters and game development.
The Big Entertainment Show has witnessed yesterday a visit from HE Ambassador Sharif Badawi Consul General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Dubai, and HE Dr. Saed Radaideh, Consul-General of Jordan to Dubai. After their tour in the exhibition, they commended on the number of participating companies; and they stressed on the importance of this event that highlights on the content, licensing and videogames sector, which is witnessing a continuous growth.
On the sidelines of the Dubai International Brand Licensing Fair, a collaboration was announced today between INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions and “Francorp Middle East” which aims for a sustainable collaboration that focuses on attracting the most prestigious international companies specialized in franchising and licensing.
Commenting on this collaboration, Eng. Anas Al Madani, Vice - Chairman and Group CEO of INDEX Holding said: “This collaboration will attract more than 100 international and 50 local companies to be part of the Dubai International Brand Licensing Fair next year which will in return will bring a big number of experts in this field from all over the world. This collaboration will also shed the light on the local licensing and franchising companies and encourage them to invest more in this industry, especially that there are some local success stories in the national market such as “cafe2go” and “Al Barza”.”
From his side, Mr. Imad Charafeddine, Chairman, Francorp ME/LEVANT said: “We are extremely excited to host ‘The Franchise Pavilion’ in association with INDEX at the 8th Dubai International Brand Licensing Fair. Our signature Franchise Your Business Seminar during the event will promote entrepreneurship and franchising as a dynamic growth strategy with interactive session and presence of Francorp’s highly qualified franchise consultants throughout the 2-day event. Attendees and visitors will get a free on-site consultation including free franchising packages & diagnosis of their business for franchising. Francorp will also highlight the regions’ fast growing franchise companies and serve as a networking platform amidst many high profile entrepreneurs, SMEs, C-level executives, business owners and potential investors.”
“The franchise industry in the Middle East and North Africa is estimated at $30 billion today with an annual growth rate of 27 percent. The Middle East is also considered one of the most promising and opportunistic international franchise markets while the UAE franchise sector alone is worth at AED 1.1 Billion. Through such events and exchange, Francorp seeks to educate, inform and spread awareness of the franchising know-how and uphold its commitment to position the Middle East as a main hub of franchising in the world”, he added.
On the other hand, Dubai World Game Expo hosted this year the Indie Game DevFest which is considered the leading independent game developers’ competition in the MENA region. The Indie Game DevFest contributes in enriching the independent game developers’ community by giving opportunities to aspiring game designers, game developers, and artists to showcase their games in the region.
The organizing committee has announced in the conclusion of the competition the names of the winners in different categories; in which the winner in the Best Audio category was Saulo Camarotti from Brazil, Firas Assaad from Kuwait for the Best Visual Art, Tariq Mukhttar from Saudi Arabia for Best Narrative, Faris Mohammed from Saudi Arabia for Best Design, and Mike Reñevo from Philippines for Best Game.
About the Indie Game DevFest Eng. Anas Al Madani said: “There is no doubt that Dubai World Game Expo has become one of the leading events in the field of videogames development in the region. We always seek to support the youth innovative minds especially that our region is rich with talent and creativity in the field of videogames content development. At the same time, there is a need in the market for Arabic content that goes in line with local culture and traditions.”
About her participation in the Indie Game DevFest, Fakhra Al Mansouri, Founder and CEO of Hybrid Humans game studio, and a speaker at Game Expo said: “I believe that the Game DevFest is a great initiative. It helps boost confidence, and a healthy competition among game developers. I appreciate the fact that it's open to global entries, so it brings the challenge to a broader and global level.”
And as an Emarati female game developer, Fakhra AlMansouri said: “I'm thrilled to be part of the women led game development session. It is a rare thing to meet other women in the gaming industry in this region. I think it is quite important to be part of this local Game Expo. It has great potential for global exposure for local and regional developers. It is different from global events, because it stems from my home country. So, it has a flavor of it's own, that I hope and expect it to grow bigger, and challenge popular industry events.”
Commenting on their participation in the Big Entertainment Show, Fredrik af Malmborg, Managing Director of Eccho Rights, said: “As Eccho Rights, one of the leading distributors of Turkish drama series, we have licensed in the past years thousands of hours of drama in the region, and we believe that there is always a great potential in this market.”
“We have many surprises down our sleeves ranging from latest Arabian, Turkish, Russian, European content. It does not stop there as we are working on securing a Korean title that would appeal a lot to viewers in the region. We are soon to announce the signing up some Korean series, and to top it all up we are representing some strong formats like the Japanese game show “Exit”.” Added Fredrik af Malmborg
Commenting about his Drama session in the Entertainment Content Summit, Fredrik af Malmborg said: “We are very committed to the development of original drama from the Middle East and we are in regular talks with broadcasters and producers from the region. The success of Turkish drama will be followed by Arabic series, and that will happen the coming years on a broader scale. A top drama can come from any country in the world nowadays, as long as it is really good.”
From his side, Dr. Partha Nandi, CEO and Creator of Ask Dr. Nandi said: "This is a perfect meeting to introduce Ask Dr Nandi, his international health and lifestyle television show. There is a health crisis developing in the region with high rates of diabetes, obesity and hypertension. I'm passionate about using innovations in the media to solve these crises."
On the sidelines of BES conclusion, INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions has hosted today a business lunch for the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) at the Ritz Carlton Dubai, to discuss further corporation between INDEX and KOCCA in the coming years. Both parties discussed how to enhance cultural exchange between Korea and the UAE and also support The Big Entertainment Show (BES). It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea has established the “Korea Culture Centre” in Abu Dhabi that will help in pursuing further collaborations between South Korea and the UAE.
The Big Entertainment Show is organized by INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions Organisation Est. – member of INDEX Holding, and it is supported by the Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE) - Modhesh World, International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association, Gulf Radio & TV, and Arab Asian Entertainment Content & Licensing Alliance.
