Some people invent new products that earn them millions, some build new companies
that earn them billions, and some find a treasure of gold lying on the ground. But
economists agree that for the average person, investing is the only reasonable way
to increase wealth much beyond their starting point.
However, would-be investors in the Middle East have a problem. In the USA, Europe
or East Asia, there is a culture that recognizes the value of investing, but in
the Middle East investing is often seen as akin to playing the lottery. There is
a perception that stocks, currencies or commodities are only for the foolish and
the risk-addicted, and that they always loose.
Unfortunately, this culture creates a vicious cycle. Because of the negative perceptions,
journalists do not cover the field of investing comprehensively, and regular Arab
investors are left without enough information and serious analysis. Having good
information and sound discussion is vital for making successful investments, so
without them, Arab investors are limited in their ability to make smart investing
decisions, and often wind up making guesses. In this way, investing winds up looking
like the caricature, and so further strengthens the bad perception, feeding the
cycle.
Nuqudy.com, a new website, aims to overcome these difficulties by providing the
three things Arab investors really need: Information, Community, and Culture.
The website has a lot of information – educational materials to help people learn
how to start investing and how to improve their effectiveness as investors, and
also the business and economic information that is needed for making smart investment
decisions. This is the only place that Arab investors can turn to for this level
of content, and as even executives from Google recently pointed out, on the internet
today there is much less content in Arabic then Arabic users.
Nuqudy.com also has a community, where members share ideas and discuss them. Often,
these can be recommendations about specific stocks or currencies to invest in, but
sometimes it is about ones to avoid. Users who followed the advice of one blogger
could see his tips were worth a 50% gain within two weeks.
But the unseen factor is no less important: culture. Because of the “bad reputation”
that investing has gotten in the Arab culture, it is crucial for the Arab investors
to see that investment is a smart thing to do, and that there is a smart way to
go about doing it. It is not surprising that the comment users give most often is
“give us more”.
Nuqudy.Com is currently running in Beta mode, and adding new features every day.