Dubai: Two Dubai mums have set up the Middle East's first website that lists firms offering green and eco-friendly advice.
French national Tatiana Anto-nelli Abella and Dubai-born Pales-tinian Randala Jishi Anabtawi have created goumbook.com after struggling to find green products and services on the Net in Dubai.
Mum-of-one Randala said: "We discovered that although there were services like recycling in Dubai, it was difficult to find out how to go about finding them."
Work on goumbook.com, named after the classical Arabic word ‘qum' meaning "stand up" and ‘qawm', a Bedouin word, began a year ago.
The website will initially focus on green firms in Dubai before listing those in other emirates. It later hopes to cover 24 nations in the region, including all in the Arab League, Iran and Turkey.
Consumer-friendly
Abella, who has two children and is the website's co-founder, said they worked eight hours every day on the website along with the developers to launch it today.
They created a portal instead of a webpage, which meant they have been able to include more information.
The site is split into different sections, like a space for consumers looking for products or services, a green map featuring companies in Dubai, green jobs, interviews, news and advice.
Web surfers can also calculate their own carbon footprint.
Everything is currently run from Abella's home in Dubai Marina through a Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) free zone licence.
The site, though launched in English, will include an Arabic version in a few months' time and will have around 200 listed companies.
"We are still appealing to businesses to come and join us. All they have to do is fill an online form. If it goes well, we hope to employ more people and move to a proper office," Abella said.
The website, which aims to make money through advertising and sponsorship, is also green-certified to be carbon neutral by offsetting emissions from servers and computers.
