Rami Issa is a Syrian entrepreneur, born in Latakia in 1982. He holds a BA in Business Administration, specializing in marketing, "Tishreen University" in 2007.

He started practicing basketball in 1994 at the Hitteen club and graduated from all age groups in 2004, after which he worked in the ranks of Al Ittihad Club between 2005 and 2007, with whom he won the Syrian Basketball League championship. Then in 2008, he moved to the Al Karama Club, which amounted to the second-highest deal that year. He continued here until his retirement from playing in 2012. During his professional basketball period, Rami Issa also played for the first Syrian national basketball team.

In addition to continuing his professionalism in basketball, in his home city of Latakia, Rami established the largest private school for teaching basketball in Syria, through which he was able to attract sponsorship contracts, some of which exceeded the size of sponsorship contracts for large clubs in Syria.

In 2012 Rami moved to the State of Qatar and continued to shine as a sports star in basketball, where he played for the Qatari Al-Arabi club in 3×3 basketball. Al-Arabi team was ranked third in the 3×3 Basketball League in Qatar for 2019 and 2020. Rami Issa is also ranked first as the best Syrian basketball player in 3×3 in 2020, according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) ​​classification.

During his stay in Qatar, Rami moved to work in the field of human resources and moved from an employee in the department to a deputy director, then on to the director of human resources in the Al-Safwa Group of companies.

But Rami was not impressed by the human resources field. He sees himself as a marketing addict! He used to devote his spare time to working in the field of marketing until he was fully devoted to this field. From then on, he worked as a marketing manager for many local companies in Qatar.

In addition to this, Rami has established a number of pioneering projects, including the “Intalaq” network, which specializes in employment. In addition to providing training courses in marketing, he also works in providing marketing consulting to a number of emerging companies in Syria, Turkey, and Qatar, including the Harvard Qatar foundation, for which he serves as the head of the marketing consulting department.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Despite your academic background, you have been a basketball star for years, and as you know, most sports stars turn into coaches for clubs and teams, meaning they remain in the orbit of the sports world, but you chose a completely different direction. How would you describe your experience of moving from the sports field to the world of entrepreneurship?

Rami Issa: Indeed, all of my interest was focused on basketball. I used to have a special school to teach basketball in Syria. I was also planning to launch Tactik magazine, specializing in basketball training, but the circumstances of 2011 forced me to give up my plans and travel to the State of Qatar in 2012, where I started working as a human resources employee. In fact, this field did not appeal to me much, so I used to work in my spare time in the field of marketing, and with time, I spent more time doing that until I started working full-time in marketing 4 years ago.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Who benefits from your services? Sectorial and geographical distribution?

Rami Issa: Most of my clients are from Qatar. Being based in Qatar, it is difficult for those abroad to pay wages equal to the wages recognized in the State of Qatar. Therefore, I rarely contracted with people or companies outside Qatar, so most of my services that I provide to those outside Qatar are limited to consultations and (remote) training courses.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: What is your economic model? How do you make profits?

Rami Issa: The economic model I work in differs according to the service I provide. Regarding training courses, I prefer to work according to the “Freemium” model, meaning that the basic version is free and the upgraded version is paid. As for the marketing services, I charge the costs of the services I provide directly according to the previously concluded contract.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Many young people coming to entrepreneurship miss the fact that about 90% of startups fail, and most entrepreneurs hide their failed experiences as a disgrace. Describing those experiences that are incomplete or successful, you realize that there is a possibility of failure, and you openly admit that some number of projects you have started have actually failed. Here is our question: what do you think of the culture of shame of failure, and how do you describe the experience of failure of your project? What are the most prominent lessons you learned from that?

Rami Issa: An important question. Indeed, 90% of projects fail for various reasons, and I think that the most important reason for the failure of projects is ignorance in the market in which the project is active, or that the project itself is just an attempt to imitate another successful project or because there is not enough budget to market the idea of ​​the project.

Returning to your question about the absence of a culture of recognition of failure, I believe that this matter is linked to the culture of each country. We, in the Arab region, relate the cause of failure to the person himself, which is unfair. Sometimes the cause of failure is a result of external circumstances that the entrepreneur has nothing to do with. On the other hand, recognition of failure in the business culture in the United States is acceptable and commendable.

For me, I have no problem admitting failure, and recently I shared the most prominent seven projects that I failed in on my Instagram account @ramiissa.marketing. For me, it is not a point of shame but rather lessons to take advantage of, because in the end, success comes from failed experiences.

One of the lessons that I learned from my failed experiences is not to live in dreams but rather to be realistic and to study the market that I want to enter and understand its requirements. As for the most important lesson I learned, it is allocating the marketing budget before the project budget. Unfortunately, it often happens that someone launches an application on smartphones and then is unable to market it due to neglecting to allocate sufficient amounts for marketing it, for example Google does not implement any project if there is no potential to market it, meaning that thinking about marketing the product precedes its production and not the other way around.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Many entrepreneurs attribute the failure of their projects, or even not being able to start their projects, to the absence of funding. As an entrepreneur who relies on self-financing in his projects, what do you think of this? What advice would you give to entrepreneurs struggling with funding issues?

Rami Issa: I believe that the idea of ​​financing startups at its inception by investors in the Arab region is a lie! This type of financing is only found in the United States and to a lesser extent in Europe. In the Arab region, a project is not funded unless it is fundamentally a successful project or has gained a wide audience, and this is rare. Therefore, I advise entrepreneurs in the Arab region not to be drawn behind the American business model and to think about how to start as a small business that generates revenue directly.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: What are the main difficulties that you faced in the beginning of your marketing career?

Rami Issa: Some project managers' mentality about marketing may be one of the most prominent problems that I encountered. On the one hand, I meet with company owners who talk about the importance of marketing in the success of the product, but things become clear when seeing their actions, as marketing is not given an adequate amount of attention in the project budget. We can see that the first item to be canceled or reduced in the company's budget, in case of financial difficulty, is marketing costs. It is annoying and confusing at the same time because the marketing plan has already been developed.

On the other hand, we find the owners of companies who are obsessed with the saying "a good product markets itself," so they do not believe in the importance of marketing in the first place. Although I believe this saying is correct, it does not reflect the complete picture; there may be 10 good and wonderful products, and therefore marketing is needed at the end of the day. Finally, I think that intruders in the marketing profession are one of its problems as well. Unfortunately, they deplete the companies’ budgets and do not bring back any effective results, so the owners of companies lose their confidence in marketing and make it more difficult for us to persuade them later.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Tell us about the most important problem you faced and how you dealt with it?

Rami Issa: The most important problem I faced was in the recruitment process. Unfortunately, many people claim to have the skills that qualify them for the tasks that you require, such as programming or design, but you discover later that they do not have the expertise and skills required to work, so you lose your money and time.

In addition to that, a problem arises represented by bureaucratic obstacles when establishing companies in the Arab region. These kind of difficulties do not exist in the West, in Britain, for example; you can establish a company via the Internet in five minutes, while in the Arab region, you need a partner and pay fees and other procedures that take a lot of time and effort, which hinders many projects. In addition, we find in the Arab region a weakness in companies that operate using a ‘subcontracting’ system, such as customer service or delivery companies; consequently, most companies are forced to do everything themselves and start from scratch.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Is your scope of activity limited to a country/Arab world?

Rami Issa: Most of my activities at the present time are limited to the Arab region, or let's say to Arabic speakers, and I have rarely provided a service to companies or people who are not Arabic speakers.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: By following your activities, we see that you focus on the platforms Instagram and Facebook. Why did you choose these two platforms in particular? What are the determinants that must be taken into consideration when choosing the platform on which you will market a product?

Rami Issa: Regarding the intensity of my activity on the Facebook platform, it is normal, as we know that most people on the Internet around the world have a Facebook account, including my friends and acquaintances in the Arab region, as well as my popularity on Facebook, came from my professionalism as a former player in the Syrian Al-Ittihad club and the Syrian national team, I entered the field of entrepreneurship before, so I invested my network in this platform.

As for the Instagram platform, I honestly did not pay attention to it first, but with the high spread of the Instagram platform in the Arabian Gulf in the past few years and the increasing demand from customers to market on this platform, I started to be more present and work on it, then I was impressed later by this social media. In addition to that, I also have a presence on YouTube, but to a lesser extent than Facebook and Instagram.

In theory, it is preferable to be present on all platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat, but the lack of time and having a lot of work prevents me from that. So I think it is better not to be distracted by the different platforms.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: You have a distinctive style of explaining marketing concepts and methods, which is characterized by simplicity and sense of humor. We noticed the audience's interaction with you and their admiration for your distinctive style. What are the criteria that you set in order to make a balance between conveying the idea through propaganda content and giving the audience enjoyment and entertainment?

Rami Issa: My marketing style is similar to my personality. Whoever knows me personally knows that I am a funny and easy-going person, and I like the sense of humor and simplification of things. This is my nature. That is why I like to transfer this method to my field of marketing, just as if I am addressing people in real life. Also, following this method is based on my personal conviction. I believe that complexity is the enemy of understanding, so the more complex the subject, the less the recipient understands it. Einstein has a wonderful saying in this regard, "If you cannot explain your idea to a 6-year-old child, then you do not understand it yet!"

Besides, we must not forget that marketing on social media has its own status. It is more like talking to people in a cafe rather than in a university. In other words, the style of the message should not be overly serious. Rather, it should be simple, easy to understand, and fun for the audience to enjoy.

At the same time, I strive to balance between presenting information, simplifying it, and presenting it in a humorous manner, and I try my best not to reach the point where it becomes heavy to the audience.

Incidentally, some people may think that this method is easy. On the contrary, to simplify and communicate an idea, which may have been written in a paper or in a chapter of a book of more than 50 pages, in just a few phrases, is difficult and requires double effort and a full understanding of the content of the idea.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: As you work in e-marketing, at what stage of the project should an entrepreneur use this method? How much is the average budget required to reach satisfactory results?

Rami Issa: You should start marketing before starting the project; that is, at the idea stage, and start marketing by questioning the persons around you about the idea of your project. Perhaps you will be surprised by the amount of information and advice that you will get. This will avoid you getting involved in providing a product that does not have customers… Consult people from the start and in each stage preceding the launch of the product… Ask them for their opinion of the product's shape, characteristics, features, and everything that will affect the success of your project. The ideas are available for free on the Internet, and you can test their suitability for your product by asking those around you. I have always consulted people on social media platforms and benefited a lot from that. And when you launch your product or service, then it would be a good time to start paying advertising campaigns.

So e-marketing actually starts from the production of the product and continues with the project. As per the budget to be allocated for the marketing of a product or service, it differs from one country to another. For example ,in Qatar, I recommend starting from an amount between $1500 and $2000 as a minimum budget for ads on one platform only, such as Instagram.

The issue of the minimum costs that should be allocated to marketing is similar to a dose of medicine. If your doctor advises you to take an antibiotic dose of 1000 units, then you should not be surprised that you did not get an effective result if you took a dose of 500. As I said in Qatar, the minimum is $1500. In Saudi Arabia, the minimum amount maybe $2000. The important thing is to comply with the advice of the marketing specialist.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: What are your future plans? We heard from you that you are working on establishing an academy for marketing training. Can you tell us more about this project? Are you thinking of going global/communicating with partners, entrepreneurs, investors? What is needed to develop yourself?

Rami Issa: In fact, the idea of ​​establishing an academy specialized in marketing is an idea that I’ve had in mind for a long time, but my commitment to my actual work is distracting me from implementing this project, but the idea of ​​the project still exists.

As for the need for partners, of course I am seeking that, but the discussion about the nature of the partnership I want is still early. As for the geographical scope of the academy, it will be limited to the Arab region, which suffers a shortage of this type of education. In the world, there are many English-speaking academies, so the goal is the Arab region. I will follow the "freemium" model.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: What are your most important tips for entrepreneurs?

Rami Issa: As I mentioned before, the most important advice I give to entrepreneurs is to be realistic and allocate a large budget for marketing, and start with the minimum product characteristics (M.V.P). I also advise people to always consult and take loss and failure with an open spirit. Nobody learns except from his own mistakes.

Swiss-Arab Entrepreneurs Platform: Don't you think that the entrepreneur needs to belong to a community of entrepreneurs in order to communicate with local and international partners and to build a network of relationships that allows exchanging experiences, find partners, or obtain financing to increases his chances of success?

Rami Issa: the entrepreneur should join any platform, group, or page which helps him realizing his objectives. There must be a platform (community) for entrepreneurs. But the problem is that the (superego) of some entrepreneurs, which hinders them from participating in this type of society. Unfortunately, there are some entrepreneurs who live in a dreamworld, so they try to copy the American entrepreneurial model and apply it in the Arab region, which is impossible to succeed. Therefore, I recommend that the entrepreneur be realistic and listen to real people who have experience and expertise in the world of entrepreneurship and love to share what they have learned with others. As for those who look at the books and blogs of American entrepreneurs, I think they are wrong. The important thing is to provide information and ideas that can be applied in the Arab region and not in a business environment far away from our region.