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0 - Issue 40
Msrofi.com: Syria’s first personal budgeting website
Started nine months ago directly after their graduation, Zaher Ghaibeh with a BSc. in IT, and Hala Deeb, also with a BSc. in Finance and Banking, launched www.creativewebgroup.com for web development and services, to stem out their own free personal project msrofi.com which recently managed to jump up in rank to be one of the most used sites in Syria, and across the region.
Msrofi.com is basically a personal budget management system. It’s inspired from many applications used in the west for personal financial management. Deeb said: “We’re trying to introduce this kind of system and thought in Syria because people don’t know how to organize their income and expenditure; they weren’t taught these skills in home nor educated in them through any curriculums. While in the west, people start up a college fund for their kids as soon as they are born, and also learn to manage their finances because they have to calculate their own taxes and present them.”
This program is simple to use and user-friendly; most budget management systems are aimed at firms and companies, while this one targets normal individuals. It is also safe, backed up, and could be reached from anywhere.
Technically msrofi.com has two versions: the first was a simple one comprising only income and outcome, but the current one includes categories and statistics adding more power to it. The website includes a forum and offers articles on finance, and also has to-do-list in which people can add their suggestions for further improvements to the functionalities offered.
“We are trying to build a beneficial program that would ease the way people mange their finances. All new ideas are through research and feedback by users, who get almost immediate replies. We answer each and every mail we get from our users because the program is meant for them and we develop and improve the program through their ideas and suggestions,” said Ghaibeh.
Msrofi.com targets young people, who are more tech savvy than older people, and more open-minded and receptive to new ideas, and it has just started expanding regionally; where a strong community base in Saudi Arabia and Oman had been established.
In their efforts to introduce more youth to this new school of thought in the region, the founders had been holding talks of cooperation with the Shabab project and the UNRWA to target high school kids. Where those organizations encourage entrepreneurship and managing project finances is a basic need for such ventures.
According to the founders, more improvements to look up to include diversifying the interface and adding more language support, as well as adding mobile and desktop applications synchronizing with the website after a stable version is reached.
To end, the significance of this project comes from the introduction of budget management to our youth, and the benefits of such system must be stressed and taught if we want to prepare the upcoming generation for an independent successful life. We hope this effort won’t go unnoticed and will reach more communities in the region.
