Mohamed Al Borno, 29 years, Director at DVS Canada and Founder of the Egypt Business Network. He previously worked as a Product Manager and Technical Marketing, Wireless Networking Manager at “KIT”, Software QA Tester at “Valuesys”, Business Development Manager at “OpenCraft” and an IEEE Active Member at “IEEE Egypt”. Quite impressive for someone his age, he is currently planning his own business firm with partners from Canada whom he got to know through Xing.com, previously called Open BC.
When and how were you first introduced to Open BC?
I was introduced to Open BC in 2005 and I was invited by a business partner and the website was called Linked In, the site back then was only accessed through invitations and to become a member someone else had to invite you. However Open BC or Xing offers better chances to meet people. The name of Open BC changed when someone else bought the site and had to change its name so they picked Xing.
What exactly is Open BC?
Open BC is an online business networking site. Users benefit from this networking system to make contacts with one another, to make business deals, to get to know interesting people and maybe even buy or sell things. A user logs in and creates an account which is more or less a business card with a list of what the user wants and what he/she has to offer. The latest trend in such networking websites is people using it for recruitment. People look for jobs and employers recruit employees through Xing or Open BC.
How can people be part of this business activity?
When you have an account you start building contacts and making friends, if other view your profile and think they need to contact you for business reasons they can check if you have common contacts and ask about you, they can view your recommendations and then you can have a business activity of any sort. You can classify all sorts of filtering and privacy settings to assure that only mutual benefit contacts are established by being as specific as common languages, interests and the like.
Are there any useful business connections or business potential or is it more of a chat room?
Most of the time it is business related interaction but sometimes people are just seeking other interesting people without any business involved.
What’s the profile of the members?
Yes, they are mostly of the Managerial and Executive level but you will also find all sorts of people, even students seeking jobs. Most of them are young executives spread all over the world.
Do you know of any major deals that were initiated through this platform?
Well, based on personal experience, I met my current partner in the company I am currently forming through the platform, I also heard of a million dollar deal that has recently been accomplished between members, people find jobs through the platform so of course there are deals possible.
Is there any age restriction for members?
No, there are no limitations on the age but you will always find the members above 21 years old, they will mostly be older in the age range, the young ones will mostly be students.
For more check www.xing.com
