Commercial Proposal · v1.0 · May 2026

Real reach.
Real delivery.
Real receipts.

A four-week build of The New Middle East — Taher Al Moataz Bellah's voice, instrument, and editorial newsroom, engineered end-to-end by Rawshi. From the black-swan symbol to the Stripe receipt; from the AI scraping agent to the audio file your subscribers wake up to.

Client
Black Swan ME
Domain
blackswanme.com
Status
Draft · For execution
Rawshi · Egypt & UAEConfidential — not for distributionScroll to begin ↓
02 · The catalyst

The Middle East doesn't lack news.
It lacks a trusted voice moving
through it at the speed of mornings.

Fifteen tier-one publications publish in parallel every twenty-four hours. None of them are read by the audience that needs them most — leaders, operators, and analysts whose mornings are governed by chaos. Black Swan ME exists to compress that chaos into a single, signed, sounded brief.

The friction

Geopolitical signal is spread across fifteen paywalls and four languages.

The audience

Decision-makers who need the read, not the rabbit hole.

The opening

One voice. One audio file. One self-contained morning digest.

The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalFinancial TimesThe Washington PostThe EconomistLe MondeForeign AffairsForeign PolicyHaaretzThe Jerusalem PostTimes of IsraelYnetAxiosThe AtlanticThe New YorkerThe New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalFinancial TimesThe Washington PostThe EconomistLe MondeForeign AffairsForeign PolicyHaaretzThe Jerusalem PostTimes of IsraelYnetAxiosThe AtlanticThe New Yorker
03 · The genesis

Four surfaces. One platform.
Built once. Built right.

Hover a workstream — every bullet below comes verbatim from Schedule A of the Commercial Agreement. Nothing more, nothing less.

Workstream detail

Branding system

  • Primary logo, symbol mark, horizontal & stacked lockups
  • Light, dark, favicon and app-icon variants
  • Color palette — HEX, RGB, CMYK with usage rules
  • Type system: display serif + UI sans, full scale & weights
  • Spacing grid, divider conventions, icon style guide
  • Brand voice + three tagline directions
  • Applied mockups — email, hero, audio page, social
Technical infrastructure
Frontend
Next.js · SSR
Database
PostgreSQL · Supabase
Backend
Node.js · Edge fns
Audio
AWS S3 · CloudFront
Email
Resend
Payments
Stripe
DNS / CDN
Cloudflare
04 · The proof

The numbers
that bind us.

Every figure is a clause. Every clause is a commitment. The agreement is designed to be honoured in writing, in code, and in sound.

0 USD
Development fee
Split 50 / 50 — on signing & on acceptance
0 / mo
Monthly retainer
Rolling. 30 days written notice. Infra + support.
0 days
From signature to launch
Four sequential delivery weeks.
0 sources
AI editorial intake
Tier-1 geopolitical publications, daily.
Milestone schedule · § 3.2
  1. Week 01
    Foundations
    Day 07

    Branding system complete. Technical architecture live. Admin panel scraping agent operational.

  2. Week 02
    The Surface
    Day 14

    Website landing page, authentication and Stripe subscription checkout live in staging.

  3. Week 03
    The Newsroom
    Day 21

    Admin panel — editorial workflow, audio recording, send flow — complete. Email templates finalised.

  4. Week 04
    The Launch
    Day 28

    Full integration testing, UAT with Client, bug fixes, production deployment to blackswanme.com.

Editorial intake · Schedule C · 15 sources
The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalFinancial TimesThe Washington PostThe EconomistLe MondeForeign AffairsForeign PolicyHaaretzThe Jerusalem PostTimes of IsraelYnetAxiosThe AtlanticThe New Yorker
05 · The engine

How the
economics move.

A fixed build. A rolling retainer. A clean, predictable cadence designed so editorial energy is never spent thinking about infrastructure.

30-day post-acceptance defect warranty
2-hour critical response · 9am–9pm Cairo, daily ex-Fri
Governed by UAE law · § 10.1

Development fee

§ 4.1
$9,600 USD
First instalment · 50%
$4,800
Due on signing. Work commences within 1 business day of receipt.
Second instalment · 50%
$4,800
Due on Acceptance — within 5 business days of delivery.

Monthly retainer

§ 4.2 · Schedule B
$300 / mo
Supabase hosting & edge functions
Email service provider management
AWS S3 + CloudFront audio CDN
Cloudflare DNS / CDN coordination
Security patches & dependency updates
AI scraping agent maintenance
Stripe integration upkeep
Monthly infrastructure health report

Rolling commitment · 30 days' written notice from either party · third-party usage costs sit with Client

06 · The architects

Two parties.
One signature.

Service Provider
Rawshi راوشي

A technology company operating across Egypt and the UAE, delivering end-to-end software, brand systems, and AI-enabled product engineering. Rawshi exists at the intersection of creator energy and business trust — holding both at once.

Discipline
Design · Engineering · Editorial AI
Domicile
Cairo · Dubai
Role
Architect, Builder, Custodian
Client

Taher
Al Moataz Bellah

Author · Researcher · Harvard MBA

Operating under the brand Black Swan ME, publishing The New Middle East at blackswanme.com — a daily geopolitical brief, signed by voice, distributed by mail, archived by code.

Brand
Black Swan ME
Publication
The New Middle East
Domain
blackswanme.com
07 · Execute

Brief once.
Build for years.
Sign today.

Return a counter-signed copy of this agreement and the first instalment. Development begins within one business day. Day 28, blackswanme.com is live.

In witness whereof

Execution block · § 11
For Rawshi
Authorised Signatory
Service Provider
Signature
Date
For the Client
Taher Al Moataz Bellah
Black Swan ME
Signature
Date