“I was really fed up from the work environment in Beirut and wanted to leave the region,” said Ibrahim Nehme, Editor-in-Chief of The Outpost magazine. The 28 year-old ‘trep from Lebanon stopped packing his bags once he realized that the Arab Spring created an opportunity in the market for what he calls “quality print products.” It seems that the emergence of a more active generation of Arab youth inspired Nehme. “I felt there’s an opportunity to stay and make something different, making something that would be part of the revolution,” Neheme explains, “that would help us imagine a new Arab place, a media voice that can capture our imagination, provide us with a space to dream, speak up, think freely, be who we are as Arab youth.” Born in Lebanon, Nehme studied business at the American University of Beirut despite developing his love for journalism after writing for Arab Ad during his junior year, eventually joining them as a writer. While he later became involved in other types of work, he realized that his “heart remained in print” and the publication he eventually founded, The Outpost, aims to “ignite a renaissance” across the Middle East. “Indie media plays a huge role because it tells the real stories,” explains Nehme, “it goes beyond the headlines, it’s not owned by corporate or political powers, it’s grassroots by nature, and it champions the voice of the people.” When it comes to conceptual development, Ibrahim Nehme told us that it was no easy task, taking almost two years. “It took us a lot of time to conceptually develop the big idea, not just art direction,” he said. Nehme also elaborated on how it took a while to sort out the magazine’s image, from its ideological identity to its goal as an independent publication.
“After all that was clear, after almost a year of incubation and thinking, we started developing the brand identity with a Spanish designer.” The Outpost was not set up on a particular budget, having no angel investors and relying on multiple sources for startup capital. “We relied a lot on free support from friends and acquaintances, which you can’t put a price tag on,” said Nehme, “I used up all my savings and took a loan,” ROI? “Umm. We haven’t done that.” While the magazine’s writers and designers wrote for free, allowing the magazine to sustain itself for a year, Nehme then took an unorthodox approach to keep the magazine in print. "Our initial business plan was solely reliant on advertising to generate revenue.” Nehme struggled to attract advertisers, and after a year of no bite, he decided to give crowdfunding a go. It “was an attempt to enlist the help of the people who most value what we’re doing– our readers basically.” The Outpost’s crowdfunding campaign expanded their readership internationally, also garnering the support of funding organizations in Europe. “We’ve signed with one already, and we’re talking to a few others,” Nehme told us, “On top of that, we are looking to expand The Outpost universe in such a way that would allow us to generate revenue from other activities to fund the print edition.” Nehme estimates that it costs between US$8,000 to 10,000 per issue, all factors included. “Between online and offline we raised US$37,000 out of the initial $53,000 we asked for,” said Nehme, “We didn’t have have a lot of time– we did it in 28 days.” Among the top donors were Dutch organization Hivos (Humanist Institute for Cooperation), the Ain Agadem Foundation, and Palestinian artist, Omar Joseph Khoury. Why aren’t more people using crowdfunding in the Middle East? Nehme thinks it’s as simple as online payment issues: “I think the major problem hindering crowdfunding here is the fact that people are still afraid of using their credit cards online. During our campaign so many people –both friends and strangers– were calling us asking how can they donate offline because they don’t use their cards online.” He believes that local crowdfunding companies like Zoomaal will increase confidence in engaging in e-commerce in the region by starting projects at a local level. Despite the struggle Nehme faced to fund the publication, The Outpost was well-received, not only among the audience he targeted but in demographics as well. “When we first started we thought that we had a narrow target. The young Arab adults who are well-educated and exposed and who consume their media in English.” It turns out that he was in for a surprise, not only finding issues picked up by a more mature readership in the region, but also by readers in Europe and North America. “We get requests from Peru!” In the MENA, their readership is concentrated in “Beirut, Dubai, and Egypt. I think it’s because they’re the most accessible to some extent liberal markets.” What’s next for Ibrahim Nehme and The Outpost? “As far as the English print edition is concerned, we need to continue pushing our own limits in terms of concepts, quality of stories, and design, as well as expanding our global distribution network.” He also stressed the importance of making this publication a more sustainable venture. While he has plans for both an Arabic edition and a digital platform, you can tell that he feels slightly hesitant about the latter. “I mean what’s for sure is that we won’t take our PDFs and dump them online and charge people for it. Once we having the funding for it, we will surely venture digitally, but we have a different plan for how we’re going to tell our stories there- be it on a website, a smartphone, or a tablet.” It seems that we will be hearing some interesting things from the folks from The Outpost in the near future, having cleared at least one more year of financial hurdles.
“After all that was clear, after almost a year of incubation and thinking, we started developing the brand identity with a Spanish designer.” The Outpost was not set up on a particular budget, having no angel investors and relying on multiple sources for startup capital. “We relied a lot on free support from friends and acquaintances, which you can’t put a price tag on,” said Nehme, “I used up all my savings and took a loan,” ROI? “Umm. We haven’t done that.” While the magazine’s writers and designers wrote for free, allowing the magazine to sustain itself for a year, Nehme then took an unorthodox approach to keep the magazine in print. "Our initial business plan was solely reliant on advertising to generate revenue.” Nehme struggled to attract advertisers, and after a year of no bite, he decided to give crowdfunding a go. It “was an attempt to enlist the help of the people who most value what we’re doing– our readers basically.” The Outpost’s crowdfunding campaign expanded their readership internationally, also garnering the support of funding organizations in Europe. “We’ve signed with one already, and we’re talking to a few others,” Nehme told us, “On top of that, we are looking to expand The Outpost universe in such a way that would allow us to generate revenue from other activities to fund the print edition.” Nehme estimates that it costs between US$8,000 to 10,000 per issue, all factors included. “Between online and offline we raised US$37,000 out of the initial $53,000 we asked for,” said Nehme, “We didn’t have have a lot of time– we did it in 28 days.” Among the top donors were Dutch organization Hivos (Humanist Institute for Cooperation), the Ain Agadem Foundation, and Palestinian artist, Omar Joseph Khoury. Why aren’t more people using crowdfunding in the Middle East? Nehme thinks it’s as simple as online payment issues: “I think the major problem hindering crowdfunding here is the fact that people are still afraid of using their credit cards online. During our campaign so many people –both friends and strangers– were calling us asking how can they donate offline because they don’t use their cards online.” He believes that local crowdfunding companies like Zoomaal will increase confidence in engaging in e-commerce in the region by starting projects at a local level. Despite the struggle Nehme faced to fund the publication, The Outpost was well-received, not only among the audience he targeted but in demographics as well. “When we first started we thought that we had a narrow target. The young Arab adults who are well-educated and exposed and who consume their media in English.” It turns out that he was in for a surprise, not only finding issues picked up by a more mature readership in the region, but also by readers in Europe and North America. “We get requests from Peru!” In the MENA, their readership is concentrated in “Beirut, Dubai, and Egypt. I think it’s because they’re the most accessible to some extent liberal markets.” What’s next for Ibrahim Nehme and The Outpost? “As far as the English print edition is concerned, we need to continue pushing our own limits in terms of concepts, quality of stories, and design, as well as expanding our global distribution network.” He also stressed the importance of making this publication a more sustainable venture. While he has plans for both an Arabic edition and a digital platform, you can tell that he feels slightly hesitant about the latter. “I mean what’s for sure is that we won’t take our PDFs and dump them online and charge people for it. Once we having the funding for it, we will surely venture digitally, but we have a different plan for how we’re going to tell our stories there- be it on a website, a smartphone, or a tablet.” It seems that we will be hearing some interesting things from the folks from The Outpost in the near future, having cleared at least one more year of financial hurdles.
