Studies have shown that Arab citizens hardly care about reading - dedicating only six minutes a year to reading books.

However, there are people in the Arab World who not only care about reading, but are creating audible Arabic content to develop reading or provide a different way to do so: listening.

On those passionate about reading is Rawan Barakat, the founder of Raneen, a startup that uses audio and visual arts to develop children’s minds.

In this interview with Wamda, Barakat explains that reading is not common in the Arab world and that audio books can be a solution to the problem. She also tells the story of Raneen, and the reason behind her venture.

The startup’s core focus is to develop a comprehensive Arabic education system centered on developing children’s listening skills and desire to learn, hence read, more.

Barakat points out that her motivation to pursue her work was the children’s reactions and their engagement with the content provided. She also believes that in order for social entrepreneurship to be sustainable, there should be a profitable business model.

In this video, the Jordanian entrepreneur shares the biggest challenges a social entrepreneur faces in the Arab world and divides them into four categories: swimming against the current, laws and regulations, focus, and funding.

Watch this video to get to know more about this ambitious entrepreneur and how she managed to succeed despite of the numerous challenges in her industry.

Press CC button for English captions