Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon has been listed as one of the most influential people in the Middle East under 40. He is the Founder and CEO of ILoveQatar.net, which is Qatar’s first Qatari community-based and social website, and the I Love Qatar (ILQ) Network, a content-based platform that has been celebrating the diversity of Qatar’s community for over 12 years. The network is home to some of the most iconic online brands in Qatar including iLoveQatar.net, Qatar News, Qatar Events, Dine Out Doha, Qatar Events and more.
Khalifa also works with the Qatar Football Association as the Advisor to the General Secretary.
Khalifa or Mr. Q, as he is fondly known by the community in Qatar, is your friendly neighbourhood Qatari, and his aim is to make the world a better place and bridge any gaps that may exist between Qataris and expats!
Want to know more about your very own Mr. Q or Khalifa as we call him in the I Love Qatar Headquarters? Go on read ahead and learn more about the driving force behind the I Love Qatar network!
...where his parents were based when he was a child. His school's name was Bahrain Bayan School.
...doesn't he look adorable!
...where he studied at the Anglia Ruskin University (Commercial Law) and the University of Essex (Law) and the UK is where he began his life as an entrepreneur and set up his first business as a student, gaining great experience which he has since applied in Qatar in many successful businesses.
Why did he choose the UK? He chose to study in the UK because of its multiculturalism and credits his experience there as being the catalyst for his community-focused entrepreneurial spirit.
...a background in law, investment banking, telecommunications and social media management.
...and that's why he was invited to be founding board member of the Qatar Animal Welfare Society. He also owns two cuties: Charlie and Cookie: both are Yorkshire Terriers and are not only part of Khalifa's family, but also mascots of I Love Qatar.
...and has over 50 different caps. You'll often see him wearing one of them. His favourite cap is the one with the heart! How many of his caps have you seen so far?
...tex-mex cuisine, burgers from Five Guys (probably his favourite burger place in Qatar), and Italian!
...and also collects Red Bull. He has a big collection of rare editions from all around the world. He loves collecting but loves the brand because of their great marketing approach and focus on community events.
on his popular show called 'QTips' which talks about the culture and heritage of Qatar and also provides tips on all stuff Qatari, and RaqamiTV, his very own Arabic Tech Show.
...and has a show called Raqami TV on YouTube which has over 2.3m subscribers, making it one of the largest Arabic tech channels in the world! He also has a large number of different tech devices and gadgets in his den at the ILQ Headquarters.
...and his favourite PC video game is OverWatch. In fact, Khalifa loves gaming so much, he opened up Qatar's first gaming pc store – Store974, where the gaming community can not only check out and buy the coolest gaming products in the market, they can also now hangout there as well. It’s now the biggest PC gaming store in the country!
...and has made a number of appearances on international channels like BBC World, Discovery Channel TV5, JapanTV, Monte Carlo, Boston Globe, CNN, Al Jazeera, and others.
...which include the Qatar Cancer Society (2020), Geely, (2020) Careem (2018, 2016), Ooredoo (2016), National Cancer Day (2016) and Toyota (2016).
...for international product launches that include GOOGLE IO (Silicon Valley, 2019), Apple (San Jose 2019, 2018, Dubai 2017), Huawei (France 2019, London 2018, France 2017), Samsung (NY 2019 – 2017, Seoul 2018), LG (Seoul, 2018), Genesis (Seoul, 2017), Porsche Club (Germany, 2017), Microsoft (Dubai, 2016), French Embassy (Paris and Lille, 2015), Visit Britain (Edinburgh and Scotland, 2015), Shangri-La (Hong Kong, 2015), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong, 2015), Qatar Airways (Sweden, 2015) and Turkish Airlines (Istanbul, 2015).
...on Saturday 7 December 2019 at Marsa Malaz Kempinski. For the second time in Qatar, the awards were hosted at a national level to celebrate the achievements of alumni in Qatar across three award categories: Professional Achievement, Entrepreneurial, and Social Impact, and Khalifa won the award in the Entrepreneur category for the leading role he has played in business innovation in Qatar.
In total, three UK alumni in Qatar were recognised for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and for their important contribution to strengthening collaborative ties between the UK and Qatar, And Khalifa was one of them.
...and is a global finalist for this prestigious category of the Study UK Alumni Awards. The winner will be announced by the British Council on 2 September 2020, based on the judging criteria amongst the applications received for that Entrepreneurial Award 2020 category.
as you can see below:
• 30 Influential People to Impact their Community in Qatar (Festival Magazine, 2019)
• Ranked 74th - Top 100 Most Powerful Arabs in the World under 40
(Arabian Business, 2016)
• Start-Up CEO of the Year (Entrepreneur Magazine, 2015)
• Ranked 85th - Top 100 Most Powerful Arabs in the World under 40
(Arabian Business, 2015)
• Qatar’s Top 100 HOT List (Ahlan Magazine, 2015)
• Ranked 35th – Top Power List (Arabian Business, 2014)
• Ranked 48th - Most Influential People in Qatar’s Top 100 Hot List
(Ahlan Magazine, 2014)
• Young Achiever of the Year (Arabian Business, 2013)
• Reyada Award (Vodafone, 2012)
• Entrepreneur of the Year (ictQatar, 2011)
Want to know more about Mr. Q (Khalifa)? Click on the following video and enjoy this lively Q&A session Khalifa-style:
https://www.iloveqatar.net/videos/minutesWith/2-minutes-with-mr-q-khalifa-al-haroon
Why not follow his social media pages:
Instagram: @iloveqatar
Twitter: @iloveqatar
YouTube: @Mr. Q - iLoveQatar.net
What do you think about our write-up about Khalifa aka Mr. Q? Are there any questions you'd like to ask him? Do let us know in our comments section, and we'll put the answers in the write-up. Like and share the article - it keeps us going!
Follow us on our social media channels:
@ILQlive
@ILQlive
@ILoveQtr
ILoveQatar
You have successfully registered your account!
Please confirm your e-mail address by clicking on the URL sent to you.The e-mail usually arrives in 5-10 minutes.
How ajeeb was that!? Thanks for contributing to our community! Your post will appear after we take a quick look!
