1 billion minutes on Lamsa Arabic reading app

Lamsa app launched due to lack of quality and culturally relevant education material for children in the Arab world.

Meet Badr Ward, CEO of the Lamsa edutainment app. Unlike other app developers and entrepreneurs, Ward has an extraordinary tale to tell.
A graduate of American University in Dubai, Ward was a graduate of the first batch of the class of Information Technology from the University. A turning point in his university life was when His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai spoke at the opening of the Media City campus of AUD. "He said the future of media and technology in the UAE was going to come from here. He was really passionate about what he said and we were seeing Dubai grow rapidly at that time," said Ward, in his candid chat with Khaleej Times.
After graduating from university, Ward went on to work as a tech consultant with banks and when the mobile revolution began, Ward jumped onto the bandwagon and went on to start his first company when he was 24.
Today, he is the owner and CEO of Lamsa, an Arabic language app, which has grown to become the region's leading edutainment app for children. Ward launched the app because he felt there was a genuine lack of quality and culturally relevant education material for children in the Arab world. What began as an experiment three years ago, is the most widely used edutaiment app for children in the Arab world. Ward announced that Lamsa's users have completed one billion minutes reading its educational Arabic content to date.
Headquartered at twofour54, Lamsa's milestone follows the launch of its new User Interface earlier this year which is taking the lead in the category of children's applications in various app stores across 10 Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Reaching the one billion minutes milestone coincides with the conclusion of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and comes to support the National Year of Reading in the UAE.
"We don't view each one minute out of a billion as a mere sixty seconds, we treasure each increment as a precious moment," said Ward.
Maryam Al Mheiri, Acting CEO of twofour54, said: "One of twofour54's objectives is to develop the environment and ecosystem that enables media companies to develop quality, authentic local content for the market and as a campus community we are steadily building a reputation as content creators for children." She added: "Lamsa's achievement is a fantastic example of this and we are proud to have them as part of the twofour54 family. From its base here in Abu Dhabi, Lamsa is helping to meet this need for quality educational content in our native language, and this is extra exciting at a time when our nation aims to establish reading as a constant habit."
Beginnings
Ward didn't have to look far and wide for inspiration for the app. Lamsa means 'touch' in Arabic and his two children - Joory (8-year-old daughter) and Adam ( 7 year old son) - are basically the mascots of the app. "Today's kids are attracted to devices more than any other media around them. When I was designing the apps and the mascots, I was sure to stay away from cultural stereotypes. That's why Joory is an inventor and scientist on the app, whereas Adam is a creator and an artist. I believe that Lamsa is gender neutral and kids must be encouraged to be whatever they want to be," he said.
The app encourages open mindedness, progressive thinking and covers the importance of basic literacy. "The use of the app promotes different things that children need in society like equality, sustainability, human values, tolerance, acceptance, health and wellness and small decisions that affect wealth," he added.
#onebillionthmoment
Lamsa wants to celebrate and promote the cause of reading and those who love to read by launching a social media campaign in its honour. The hashtag (#BillionthMomentWithLamsa) has been formed to encourage everyone to express their support for reading by creating their own design that indicates 'one billion' in a way that is unique and relevant to them.
This can be done using whatever materials available and should be shared on their social media channels using the hashtag. Details of the campaign will be announced on Lamsa's social media platforms. "One billion minutes are only the beginning, but one billion moments of hope and inspiration for generations is the start of a new and inspiring direction," said Ward.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com  (With inputs from Sherouk Zakaria)

• Dubai