Online channel offers Arab mothers everyday tips

AMMAN — As plentiful of tutorials covering various aspects of life from beauty to parenting and arts and crafts has flourished on the Internet, Sima Najjar realised the lack of Arabic content available for Arabic speaking women.

“I am a working mother and, whenever I was searching for tips or advice, I noticed that there was no Arab mother talking about her experience with kids online,” said Najjar, founder of “Mamasima”, an Arabic Youtube channel offering tips and tricks for millennium mothers and youth.

“I wanted to share my experience as a working mother in the Middle East, and to portray my daily struggles and joys in combining work life and parenting,” she told The Jordan Times over the phone, stressing that, although she speaks English, it has always been much easier for her to watch videos in her native language, Arabic.

Started a year ago, Mamasima built on the success of "Ekeif.com", a website she created in 2012 to enhance Arabic online content and create job opportunities in the MENA region.

“I feature simple and accessible topics that everyone is interested in: from morning routine tricks to beauty tips and arts and crafts tutorials,” she said, noting that all topics are shown in a culturally sensitive way.

“We have a lot of viewers living in Saudi Arabia, and it is important to provide them with content that is suited to their living environment,” Najjar continued, highlighting Arab viewers’ keenness on finding content that is related to their everyday needs, while respectful of their culture.

“I also make sure to use products and examples which you can find in the region,” she noted, citing the example of slimes’ tutorials which have generated a huge number of hits in the past few months.

An interactive online platform, Mamasima also offers viewers the chance to exchange and ask questions about the videos. “A lot of content I create is demand-based. I get inspired by the most asked questions women post in the comments,” Najjar explained, noting that this exchange is a great way to measure what info women viewers are lacking.

Although Mamasima primarily targets millennium mothers looking for tips on balance between work and family life, success has been growing in other segments of society.

“Many people want to learn by themselves these days,” the founder said, adding that single men and young girls constitute a large part of her viewership. 

Furthermore, the channel also seeks to help people realise the opportunities offered by their country and the region. “I share videos where I take my kids around Jordan, in Wadi Rum or at the Amman Design Week, in order to show people how kids friendly those places are,” she explained.

“This is a way to make a change in society by helping out Arab women and empowering them,” Najjar stated, noting that she provides help for women who want to learn or improve the skills they need on a daily basis.

As of October 2017, Mamasima counts 115,000 subscribers and over 12 million total views from all over the region, according to the founder, who said that the numbers keep rising, proving the importance of the audience’s demand.