Eman Bin Shaiba: Transforming the Arab Publishing Future with Onshur

·20 min·2 clips

A publisher won a bank's financial literacy book project and delivered it in four months through Onshur's Scale program.

The episode is an interview with Eman Bin Shaiba, conducted live from the Sharjah International Book Fair at Expo Center Sharjah. Bin Shaiba is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Global Markets at Sharjah Book Authority, leading the Onshur program. She begins by describing Onshur's booth at the fair, which showcases 60 books published by 20 graduates from the Launch track's first cohort. The program, launched by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, is structured around three tracks: Launch for emerging publishers, Scale for medium-sized publishers, and Disrupt for tech integration. Launch provides training and support to ease market entry, graduating 20 publishers last year. Scale focuses on shifting publishers from B2C to B2B models, with 15 graduates who received intensive training on contracting and proposals. A success story from Scale involves a publisher winning a project from Invest Bank to create a financial literacy book for kids, delivered within four months. Bin Shaiba emphasizes ongoing support for graduates, including networking events with industry leaders like Mr. Goode from Penguin Random House Asia and meetings with the Sharjah Translation Grant team. The Disrupt track targets tech companies developing AI solutions for publishing, such as translation, editing, marketing, and animation. Onshur plans to scout global tech firms, offer strategic investments, and provide market access in the UAE. The program also includes a publishing sustainability fund, motivated by the need to preserve cultural expression through books. Bin Shaiba envisions success in five years as a collaborative publisher community with increased survival rates beyond the typical 10%. She shares her personal background as a publisher, using her experience to guide trainees and avoid common pitfalls. Listeners interested in joining can register interest on the Onshur website. The interview concludes with Bin Shaiba recommending books that shaped her: 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom and an Arabic book by Ghazi al-Gosaibi.

As heard by us

A fair-floor look at how Sharjah is building publishers.

At the Sharjah International Book Fair, the focus stays on Iman Bin Sheba and Unshur, the Sharjah Book Authority program whose Arabic name translates to publish.

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If you want a live look at how Sharjah is building publishers, start here.

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