Mona Ataya

Mona Ataya has proven to be one of the Middle East’s most prominent of women entrepreneurs. The co-founder of Bayt.com, arguably the most successful online search engine for jobs in the Middle East, is now working to disrupt the well-ingrained retail space in the Middle East with the goal of assisting mothers with their maternity, infant and childcare product needs. Ataya’s latest venture is Mumzworld.com, a leading gold standard e-commerce vertical for baby and child shopping in the Middle East region that has been going from strength to strength.
Mumzworld.com was founded 4 years ago with the vision of making a mother’s life easier. The brand is positioned as the premier, trusted and definitive source for all things mother, baby and child in the region offering customers access to a comprehensive catalog of thousands of childcare and maternity-related items from hundreds of world-class brands in English and Arabic, delivered to any doorstep. The site empowers mothers to search, compare and buy from the convenience of their own home and ensure they make the most informed purchase decision each time, every time. Within only 3 years of launch, Mumzworld.com is on the path to becoming a household name in the MENA region.
Prior to mumzworld, Mona has had a track record of impressive and diverse international experience building global brands.
Mona started her career at Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, USA, at age 20 after graduating with a dual honors degree in marketing and finance. At P&G, Mona worked on leading brands in the Soap Sector. She later moved back to the Middle East region working with another FMCG giant, Johnson and Johnson MENA followed by Johnson and Johnson Europe managing a broad portfolio of leading global brands including Greiter Skin care, ph5.5, Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, Piz Buin and Johnson’s Suncare. Mona led the re-launch of Johnson’s Suncare and Piz Buin brands in Europe and was a member of the global skincare franchise team.
It was in 2000 that Mona’s Entrepreneurial appetite surfaced. She left Johnson and Johnson Europe and joined a startup team as the VP marketing and Co-founder of Bayt.com – a concept that was soon to prove to be a truly revolutionary one in the region and is today the largest and most recognized recruitment site for the MENA region.
After becoming a mother of 3 boys, and experiencing firsthand the challenges parents face in shopping for their children, in 2011 Mona launched her second startup Mumzworld.com. This is a concept that is well positioned to revolutionize the way mothers shop in the Middle East / North Africa region.
Mona leaves behind her a legacy of having built leading global brands and has continued this legacy with mumzworld – a brand that is fast becoming synonymous with faster, easier and more cost effective shopping for the Mother, Baby and Child segment in the MENA region. With aggressive expansion plans in 2015, we expect to hear a lot of exciting news from Mumzworld and Mona in the year ahead.
Regional recognition:
Mona has won numerous awards in the past year including Voted amongst the 100 most Powerful Arab Women 2014 and 2015. Mona was also voted amongst the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs – Generation Next – Arabian Business, 2014. Mona was selected into the prestigious group of globally recognized Endeavor businesses’s in 2014; a network of high impact entrepreneurs from around the world. In 2013 Mona was voted SME Executive of the year. Mumzworld.com also won The Small Business of The Year Award 2013. The Arabian Business Achievement Awards is the biggest awards ceremony in the Middle East, recognizing only the most outstanding businesses and leaders in the region. Mumzworld.com was also awarded the Images Most Admired Online Retailer of the Year 2014 as well as the “Customer Service Excellence Award” by The Customer Festival Awards 2014.
One of Ataya’s most ardent supporters in her journey to build Mumzworld is Endeavor, a global nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Endeavor’s Managing Director in the UAE, Noor Shawwa says, “Mona is a great example of a solid entrepreneur running a great business with an even greater potential ahead. Endeavor is excited to help her scale-up her business and multiply her impact.”
“Endeavor has been fantastic. It has allowed us to meet and get support from super, super smart minds. The network is fantastic,” Ataya said. “The regional Endeavor Board has been instrumental in helping us strategically and in guiding us. Endeavor gives us access to so many resources, educational programs and funding.”
Looking ahead
The year 2017 is pivotal for Mumzworld, Ataya noted. Her vision is not just to create an e-commerce shopping destination for mothers – it is larger than that – it is to create a brand that is an indispensable online extension of a mother’s life through an e-commerce gold standard that challenges the traditional ways e-commerce has been managed regionally. She fundamentally believes that Mumzworld has the potential to become a brand with an important social impact, as when you empower a mother to make informed choices, you empower her to raise great kids. Mumzworld does this by giving mothers access to the largest compendium of products all under one roof including products not found anywhere else in the region. This, coupled with comprehensive bilingual factual information about the products, everyday low pricing, fast seamless delivery and best in class customer service gives moms the most convenient shopping experience around. Furthermore, through solid relationships with content providers and mother frequented institutions like schools, hospitals etc, mumzworld is very deeply entrenched in the mother community and is thus able to reach the mother across multiple important touch points and able to keep the finger on the pulse of what is really important to this consumer. Key to Mumzworld’s DNA is creating a brand with a meaningful social impact that truly challenges the norms. Specifically mumzworld.com has been fortunate enough to participate and partner with local charities and volunteer groups, in particular those related to mothers and babies. From selling meal vouchers that fed thousands of underprivileged to supplying impoverished mothers with baby essentials, to allowing mothers to become stakeholders in the business, mumzworld.com is powering local social initiatives. It is part of their central core value to empower people to improve their lives. Thus, social impact becomes a natural extension.