Over here at Qatar Today, we have always had a special place in our hearts (and our pages) for local startups. There is an energy here that is infectious. A culture that is aspirational. A dream that is alluring. And the things that are true for startups everywhere but with a unique character that is quintessentially Qatari. Businesses that fulfil real needs and imagined idiosyncrasies with equal fervour. In the following pages, we try to go behind the scenes for a light and engaging tête-ã-tête with the young founders of some of the best startups in Qatar - some veteran companies that have been on our radar for a while and also some news ones that we are quite excited about.
Fitness forged in fire
Started by Nuwaid Pocker and Saima Bukhari, Crunch Doha is "Qatar's first transformation company focused on achieving results in weight loss, toning, strengthening and adopting a healthy lifestyle naturally." They offer six tailored, tested and proven fitness programmes that reshape bodies, with the right personal training, and nutrition and supplementation plans for both fat loss and weight gain to reach these goals.
"Not only do we create the perfect fitness and nutrition programme to meet each client's needs, but our experts are also there every step of the way to monitor your progress and give you the encouragement you need till the end," the founders say. Crunch, which successfully grabbed attention online with dramatic pictures of transformations, now has also expanded into tailoring impactful employee engagement and well-being programmes through fitness for their corporate clients and has worked with the likes of Commercial Bank, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy Committee, AstraZeneca, Hilton and Intercontinenal Doha.
The successful entrepreneur
Nuwaid: Someone bold enough to believe in his ideas and persistent enough to execute them with or without help.
Saima: Someone who can listen to what the customer wants and provide them with solutions that exceed expectations.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
Nuwaid: Money. I am quite generous when it comes to money, while Saima is known to be the "collection agent". Well, she keeps the company alive.
Saima: Nuwaid is all about revenue generation but has no track of expenses. Let's say he is sometimes a walking, talking credit card!
The favourite thing in my office/desk
Nuwaid: My iMac. That is where all the creativity is born.
Saima: My customised calendar with my name embossed on every page.
Startup culture
You can sleep in the office at any time of the day. We have a convertible couch with blankets and pillows to keep us cozy.
When I was 10 years old
Nuwaid: I was in fifth grade envying adults who did not have to study or do homework and could just buy anything they wanted. I couldn't wait for the schooling to end so I could be rich, buy every toy I wanted, and have all the potato chips and donuts without parental supervision.
Saima: I wanted to grow up and have a big office like my "daddy". As per my observation, he used to sit in his office, write in his diary and talk on the phone. This was my idea of a perfect work life.
Most inspirational startup story
Nuwaid: Virgin. Richard Branson started Virgin Records from almost nothing and disrupted everything about the recording industry. To date, they keep changing the industry norms of every business they enter. What inspires me the most is that they keep the customer experience at the heart of everything they do. The other man who did the same is Steve Jobs with Apple.
Saima: Five Guys. Started off as a family business which grew into a concept restaurant. They have it in Doha too! Their passion and drive has helped them grow the business with a simple idea of burgers and fries. The experience they give their customers and their focus have successfully grown them into a franchisee model.
My first entrepreneurial experience
Nuwaid: In my third grade, I was selling any cool household items I could get hold of, to my classmates for candy money. The business did not last long as my parents had other plans with those items and my sale was not exactly profitable!
Saima: I tried to sell customised music CDs to my classmates with their choice of songs. Unfortunately the teachers did not think it was legal (I think I agree with them now).
I'd like to have dinner with...
Nuwaid: Tony Robbins. Want to learn how he made himself a brand worth $3 million for just a three-days conference.
Saima: Anna Wintour. I wish to know how she manages to run one of the largest and oldest fashion magazines to date, successfully predicting new trends and styles.
I disagree with this popular entrepreneurial advice
Nuwaid: 'The bigger the risk, the bigger the return': An entrepreneur's job is to manage risks, not jump into volcanoes. His vision must be clear and he should be able to anticipate things that will stand in the way of his goals.
Saima: 'If you get an idea, just start the business!': True if you have a million dollars to spare for the learning curve. You need to know whose problem you are solving and learn exactly how you will monetise it.
Monetising and more
The business was already monetised since the first day of operation. The real question is, how much more can we monetise the business? As per our plan, we are diversifying into multiple sources of income which in turn supports the core business. These include Nuwaid's Nutrition, our healthy food business; Crunch Studio for group fitness classes; and our online fashion and apparels store that is currently under construction.
Your local grocer is now online
eGrab is a mobile-first application that will deliver groceries smarter and more efficiently than ever, according to founder Rahid Kader. Customers simply download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store, choose their products and get them delivered at their doorsteps by a grabber. "Our project works widely on a mobile platform. Customers order on a mobile phone, the grabbers receive orders on the mobile phone and get them delivered utilising the GPS. In order to start lean, we have no inventories or employees on the logistics side. Inventories are from the stores like Quality Hypermarket, Lulu, Monoprix, etc, and the drivers are independent limousine/taxi drivers who already have a car, a licence and a mobile phone. We create more business for the stores and more job opportunities for the drivers and save a lot of time for our customers."
The successful entrepreneur
Focused, unrushed, and organised people makes a successful entrepreneur.
The startup spark
I used to work in the retail industry, solving issues with theft and security. I saw everyday how busy most hypermarkets were. It's really hard to find parking; you have to spend a lot of time inside the market walking up and down, then long queues at the counters, lugging all the stuff to the car and then back home. So, I thought why don't we utilise our phones to do the job?
Customer profile
Most of our customers are the homemakers. Usually mothers busy with kids, very busy people, people without a driving licence who usually pay for a taxi to get to a store etc.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
I recently met a few guys who were incubated at QBIC. They call themselves Shoppin and are working on crowdsourcing information about sales at malls and stores across the country which is then linked to social media. That's something awesome.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
We normally argue over the shared economy and shift of sabbatical job space in the Middle East, where I believe the future of the shared economy is going to be.
When I was 10 years old
I was a normal 5th grade schoolboy, who liked drawing and painting. But I later gave up when I discovered that I am colour-blind.
Most inspirational startup story
Whatsapp. Guys who were fed up with working in Yahoo as advertisers started working on a new way to communicate that will remain free of ads. Just amazing.
My first entrepreneurial experience
I sometimes used to sit in the counter in my dad's store and try to help. I could understand the importance of a customer at that age.
I'd like to have dinner with...
The simple joy of dining with my dad is beyond words. He is no more.
Smart advertising
Fi Technologies, a unique and innovative Wi-Fi advertising platform, has been on our radar for a while. One of the earliest incubatees at ictQatar's Digital Incubation Center, they bagged the award for Best ICT Startup at QITCOM 2014. Founders Majid Lababidi and Saad Ali Al Qahtani have worked on tapping into the advertising potential of wireless hotspot networks in carefully studied and selected zones such as coffee shops, parks and clinics to allow advertisers to connect to potential customers through a smart multimedia platform.
They currently provide the Login Page advertising and Redirection Page advertising services to their clients.
The startup spark
The project's idea comes from the need to find a sustainable business model where free internet access can be provided to the public with convenient internet speed while generating revenue through selling advertisement spaces using a smart multimedia platform.
Customer profile
Fi Technologies satisfies the needs of three stakeholders at the same time. First, it provides free internet access to the public. Second, it allows clients such as coffee shops to offer their customers a free internet service. Third, it provides an unprecedented and smart advertisement channel for advertisers to reach their selected customers and deliver their messages in an interactive way.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
Meddy: A place to help you find the best doctors based on patient reviews and credentials. They help expats to easily find doctors they need and their business model is really promising.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
Argument is always healthy. We recently had a discussion about how we can increase our existent inventory to maximise the revenue without expanding locally. We both had our thoughts and we found a way to satisfy both visions.
The favourite thing in my office/desk
My augmented reality Basketball mug.
Startup culture
We believe in reserving one hour every day doing research on subjects not necessarily related to our domain.
Most inspirational startup story
It has to be a personal story of a Syrian entrepreneur who lost everything in our beloved Syria, including family members and his own successful business, who made it back on his feet in an alien country through sheer will and hard work.
My first entrepreneurial experience
Selling scarves to my classmates at school to give to their moms on Mother's Day.
Favourite class in college
Communication Studies.
I'd like to have dinner with...
Larry Page, co-founder of Google. Who wouldn't love to learn from this young entrepreneur and his way of keeping Google growing with his great mindset and ability to lead Google always to the top.
Monetising and more
Fi Technologies is already making money by selling views and clicks to advertisers. We are ready to scale up inside and outside Doha.
The startup fairy
Qubicle is another veteran Qatari startup that has created a niche for itself in web and mobile app development as well as in online commerce solutions and digital marketing. Founded by Fawaz Mohammed, Mufeed Ahmed, Nasser Al Naama and Aisha Al Naama, they say it's their passion for design and people that is at the core of their business. A company that initially started as
a web-based events aggregator quickly learnt to capitalise on the very real need for this events to have a better presence online.
The successful entrepreneur
Mufeed : A successful entrepreneur doesn't get stuck on the idea stage forever. He starts! He doesn't keep his idea a secret! He talks about it to people, and grabs along others who share the same vision as his.
The startup spark
Aisha: We came together as a team in a startup competition and used the prize money to build event wise. One of the challenges we faced was that there are no small companies here who could build web and mobile apps for startups. And this created a huge gap among potential entrepreneurs who wanted to move from idea to execution. So Qubicle was born. Today we build web and mobile apps for small companies as well as people who have an awesome idea that they want to realise but don't have the technology team to work on it.-
Customer profile
Mufeed: Close to 90% of our customers are young Qataris who have their own business and are slowy pivoting online to sell or market their products. These include incubated startups as well as fashion entrepreneurs who own brick and mortar stores. They rely on us to tell their brand story.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
WASHNOW; it solves a real problem facing expats.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
Aisha: Each of us is good in some domains but not all. The reason we stick together, and are stronger only as a team, is because our skills are complimentary. I lead the team on operations while Nasser brings in the clients. Fawaz comes with an IT background and takes care of our Strategy and IT and Mufeed handles the clients and projects on a day-to-day basis. Despite our arguments, which are many, at the end of the day we give each other a chance to demonstrate our ideas and show others why the idea was worth arguing for.
Startup culture
Aisha: One BIG rule at Qubicle is that if we find a project interesting, we do it without looking too much at its financial feasibility. We built a couple of awesome things like SWEEP which is a fun way to delete duplicate pictures on your Android phone, as well as ETHRA, which helps you keep track of your habits, good and bad. We were invited recently by US State Department and Humanity United to a tech camp in Nepal due to an infotainment app we were building. Projects like these do not bring us money but the rule is if the project is fun, let's do it!
Most inspirational startup story
Fawaz: We are most inspired by the startup stories that we see locally. Because all other stories are particular to a time or region; the tech infrastructure, the population, and other factors for success are different in each instance. But local startup stories are really inspiring and make you reflect on what could be achieved in such a small country with a small population.
I'd like to have dinner with...
Fawaz: We would love to have dinner with other founders who have startups or who have success/failure stories to share.
I disagree with this popular entrepreneurial practice
Mufeed: Startups should be mentored by people who are entrepreneurs or who have worked for a couple of years in a startup. The current trend in Qatar is getting corporate employees to mentor startups. Professors who teach entrepreneurship and mentors who hold top-level jobs in corporations have the opposite results on a startup's growth. In short, managers can't manage startups. Only people who have startups and failed or succeeded in the past can.
E-commerce under their wings
ShababFalcon is an online marketplace that enables you to buy, sell, barter or rent new and used products coupled with an easy delivery service. They offer merchants such as the ones you meet at an event like MIA or Katara Bazaar, a platform to sell their unique handmade, homemade or Made in Qatar products, apart from mainstream products. While the company started out as a fashion e-commerce platform, founders Mayouf Rouf, Mohamed Asif and Hamdi Shoukath soon pivoted and tried to bring small-scale, home-based entrepreneurs some much needed attention and a chance to tap into Qatar's lucrative retail market. "We had a pretty amazing learning experience, where we kept on fine-tuning the product towards what the customer wanted and we are still on the journey," says Rouf.
The successful entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are made of persistence, resilience, inspiration and hard work.
The startup spark
In our conversations with local merchants we realised that they could only sell their products, a couple of times a year during winters or at designated fairs and meet-ups. These merchants and others at the traditional souq had amazing products, but no perennial avenue to sell around the year. With ShababFalcon, we wanted to solve this problem while taking care of their delivery and payment issues with ease.
ShababFalcon helps the end customer to discover great and unique products from our multinational and vibrant community.
Customer profile
Anyone looking to sellor buy anything at all within Qatar, and wants the same home delivered. Buyers who are looking for handmade/homemade items that are used everyday. Also items of a lot of variety ranging from homemade candles, soaps, kids' shoes, car window tints, mobile phones, plumbing equipment, cakes, cookies, cake decoration and homemade food. We offer a range of items on the website that support small businesses.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
Zomato. Even though they are a billion dollar company and their HQ is not exactly Qatar based but their Qatar branch is an amazing example of many things that we admire in a startup. Right from their culture to how aggressive they are when it comes to localising for the market and revenue generation, all while maintaining the "start-up soul".
The favourite thing in my office/desk
A psychedelic eagle painting.
Startup culture
We have 'WTF Saturdays' sessions during which we discuss how we did last week vs. what's coming up next week. Also, we don't wear formal clothes, ever.
Most inspirational startup story
That's definitely got to be the Airbnb story. It's a true inspiration to see how persistence trumps everything and helps the world see your vision about your product.
I'd like to have dinner with...
Paul Graham of Y-Combinator. We are a big fan of his essays on start-ups and there are tons of questions we have for him.
I disagree with this popular entrepreneurial advice
Every idea has to be "disruptive" and "scalable" from the early stage onwards.
Making an offer you can't refuse
Urban Point aims at serving as an everyday life companion for Qatar residents, and as an exposure platform for small businesses in Qatar. "Our mobile app provides offers from local businesses ranging from beauty salons, restaurants, art studios, health clinics and many other types of service-oriented businesses," say founders Saif Qazi and Susanna Ingalls.
The successful entrepreneur
Almost 90% of startups fail, so success is really down to a combination of hard work, passion and lots and lots of luck and providence. Many people enjoy the security and comfort of their jobs, and will choose to work in different corporate structures throughout their life, even if that makes them unhappy. They sacrifice their happiness in exchange for (delusional) certainty. An entrepreneur should not be afraid to choose uncertainty over unhappiness. Uncertainty excites them, and they are not daunted by the idea failing. One of our favourite quotes is: "A reasonable man adapts himself to the world, but the unreasonable tries to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Be unreasonable.
The startup spark
Our story is perhaps much different than most Qatar-based startups. Our idea was sparked when we met during our MBA studies at the Mannheim Business School in Germany. The motivation behind the idea was to address the issues of under-exposure and low resource utilisation amongst small businesses. Many small businesses pay a fortune to Groupon-type daily deal websites to drive new customers to their business. We wanted to deliver them better and more targeted traffic for free of charge, and this vision got us working towards an idea that would address that.
We got special permission from programme management to pursue and develop a solution as part of our MBA master project, and after months of research and deliberation, our idea was formed. Upon graduation, we both moved to Frankfurt and continued working on our idea and started pitching to anyone willing to listen. A few months later, we raised investment and moved to Qatar, despite the fact that none of us had ever lived or even visited Qatar.
However, we knew that Qatar was a fast growing market, with lots of governmental support for entrepreneurial initiatives. Since Qatar is a small country with all the elements of an effective eco-system, we wanted to introduce something innovative, iterate as necessary, and then take our product to other markets in the region.
Customer profile
Our customers include businesses and consumers. We work with service-based businesses, and target three consumer segments - professional expats, youth and housewives.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
Saif: Fi-tech, for its innovative free WiFi based marketing concept
Susanna: Meddy, because everyone needs doctor reviews and recommendations in this market.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
Most arguments happen when Susanna is driving and Saif is in the passenger seat. Her driving skills don't exactly bust the stereotypes about female drivers.
Susanna is not present as Saif types this, but her nine traffic tickets and three accidents in the last 12 months prove that Saif has a point.
The favourite thing about my office
Since we are incubated at the Digital Incubation Center, the opportunity to share office space with a number of other entrepreneurs is quite beneficial and fun. Also, the view from the office is pretty nice, and there's a skateboard in the office which is handy whenever we need a break from the computer.
Startup culture
We force all new hires to jump off a dhow boat.
My first entrepreneurial experience
Susanna: Lemonade stand.
Saif: Selling posters of sports stars.
Favorite class in college
Susanna: British poetry.
Saif: Geopolitics.
I disagree with this popular entrepreneurial advice
Don't waste your time writing a business plan. A business plan is nothing but a flawed and delusional crystal ball that aims to predict the next 3-5 years. Instead, focus on developing your minimum viable product to test your assumptions and gather valuable customer feedback, and use that as a basis to move forward.
Monetising and more
The short answer is that we charge consumers to access the offers in our app. However, we are in the final stages of a really exciting partnership agreement with a corporate giant, which would make our monetisation drastically different and disruptive in our market space. We hope to announce this partnership by early April with the launch of our Android app.
A family doctor away from home
Meddy is a platform to help people find the best doctors based on patient reviews and credentials. "We provide doctor profiles with their background information, testimonials from real patients and clinics locations to help people make an informed health decision. For doctors, we help them find new patients cost-effectively," say founders Haris Aghadi and Abdulla Al Khenji who conceived the idea in a classroom at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Haris still remembers the course where he had to come up with an idea for a business, talk to potential customers to get feedback and improve the idea - and today Meddy has gone on to win startup competitions and eventually incubation opportunities.
The successful entrepreneur
I think there are three traits needed to be a successful entrepreneur.
A person who can hustle! He/she will always find a way to make it work, regardless of how hard or impossible it is. They always find a way to get things done.
Have the courage to challenge the status quo, to do something out of the norm. Not take no for an answer and believe there is always a better way of doing things.
Be laser-focused. As an entrepreneur there will be a million things that will need your attention. One can only do so much. One needs to be extremely laser-focused to get things done in time.
The startup spark
We initially had a totally different idea?--?something like LinkedIn for doctors. But after talking to a few doctors and clinics it was clear it wouldn't work, because doctors are too busy treating patients. So we tried to do something from the patient side.
We talked to a lot of people in Qatar and asked them to share their issues with healthcare and doctors in the country. Finding a good doctor was something pretty much everyone said they struggled with. Everyone relied on his or her friends and family to find a doctor. But the problem was Qatar also has a high turnover of doctors, so chances are your favourite doctor will leave the country after 12 months. Moreover, Qatar has a growing number of new expats coming to the country who don't have so many friends and family to rely on. So they go through a trial and error process to find a good doctor.
You can imagine how tedious and inconvenient the process is. So we decided to create an online platform where people can conveniently find all the information about a doctor ,including patient reviews, to help decide which doctor to go to.
Customer profile
We are a marketplace product with two different customers. From the patient side, our most frequent user on the website is a female expat, aged 27-35, with kids. She's usually looking for a good pediatrician for her kids and a gynecologist for herself. For clinics side, it's small private clinics with less than five doctors trying to build their patient base.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
Probably WASHNOW. It's a laundry on-demand startup that picks up your dirty clothes, cleans them and delivers them back to you within 48 hours; all by tapping one button on your iPhone. It's extremely convenient and affordable.
The biggest argument yet with my co-founder
Oh boy! We tend to have lot of arguments and we love them! Hard to say a big one since we argue a lot. Off the top of my head would be a recent one, when my co-founder wanted to make a change to the product that would have made a huge change to our distribution strategy and I didn't like it. But at the same time it was very important to make that change from an engineering point of view. We argued for days and finally found a middle ground.
When I was 10 years old
I was busy playing football in the streets and planning my new strategy to convince my parents to buy that new Pentium 3 computer.
Most inspirational startup story
Gotta be Airbnb! Love how the founders hustled for such a long time and never gave up.
Favourite class in college
Tech Startup Launchpad. The only class where the professor didn't treat us like students and didn't cut us any slack. The only class where we validated all our assumptions by talking to real customers outside of the university! Very exhilarating and challenging. Best way to get people out of their comfort zone.
I'd like to have dinner with...
Elon Musk. Because I strongly believe he's from the future! Like for real. Who doesn't want to have dinner with a person from the future? He's a true visionary who challenges the status quo and won't give up in the face of adversity. He will certainly push the human race forward.
I disagree with this popular entrepreneurial advice
The clichè advice of writing a business plan as soon as you have an idea. Writing a business plan that early is most probably the worst use of your time. I'd rather suggest using the business model canvas instead and spend as much time talking to customers at that point. IAt that stage you should focus on validating your assumptions by talking to customers in person. Not using those stupid market research surveys and asking your friends to fill it on Facebook.
Monetising and more
We monetise through two ways. One is by allowing doctors to have premium profiles where they can add additional information about themselves to help make their profile stand out from the others. This helps drive lot of traffic to their profiles. Moreover, we allow premium profile doctors to accept booking requests from patients. The other way is we allow clinics to do banner ads by targeting to a particular specialty. For instance, a dental centre can buy a banner spot on dental listing for an ad saying "50% off on teeth whitening". The ad is very targeted and only shown when people visit the dental listing, making it more likely to be clicked on and give clinics a higher return on their investment, as compared to other websites and newspapers.
Shopping on the web
Qatarbestdeals.com is a local e-commerce platform (web and soon mobile applications) in Qatar that provides a wide collection of products online. The three founders, Aiman Erhad, Wassim Drira and Mariem Jabloun say that using the applications, customers can discover products available in the Qatari market buy them and get them delivered in just a few hours. "In our startup, we believe that the embryonic technologies have changed our mind and life. That's why we try to connect retailers and suppliers in Qatar easily to these new technologies in just a few days. In this first year of our startup life, through our prices, our service and local/international warranties, we were able to gain back many customers in Qatar who were shopping from foreign online websites, which is a big achievement for both us and our partners," says Mariem Jabloun.
What makes a successful entrepreneur?
The person that can make the startup successful should be patient and visionary. Moreover, he should be attentive to details and knows how to distribute and manage complex and unpredictable tasks.
The startup spark
Living in France for many years, we saw the importance of online websites in everyday tasks (shopping, health, events, news...). We visited many foreign countries but were especially impressed by the development in Singapore. Even if you don't know the country, you can get whatever you want online such as goods, deals, discounts. Coming to Qatar, we were disappointed that, given the development of the country and the presence of the internet in each home, there still is a lack of mobile and online applications especially in e-commerce. So as engineers and researchers, we wanted to be active in this field, to provide platforms where tourists and residents can discover and buy their products online directly from the local suppliers.
Favourite Qatar-based startup
We were impressed by Ozone Studios startup which is incubated in ictQatar. They aim at enriching the Arabic content for kids through creative videos.
Biggest argument with your co-founder
We have been arguing about changing the website name. Our choice was first based on the fact that we propose deals and products. We think about changing it, but some of our co-founders wants to prioritise other tasks, so let's see in the future if we are all convinced to change it.
Your favourite thing in your office/desk?
Our board, and my laptop. The board is the place where we write and schedule our propositions, tasks and achievements. My laptop is my primordial tool as a computer science engineer.
One crazy rule that is part of your startup culture?
As our startup is located in ictQatar, near the Corniche, we plan to practice sports on Saturday morning wearing Qatarbestdeals.com T-shirts. We believe that this is a good opportunity to widen our relation with the team, to adopt a healthy life. It allows people also to be in direct contact with our team and know more about us.
The day job
I am not a full time employee in the company. In fact, I am a research scientist in computer science. I work on research projects related to computer networks, vehicular networks, cloud computing and security and privacy issues.
Inspirational startup story
When you hear that the Apple co-founder sold his 10% ownership in Apple for $800 and its current value is about $35 billion.
Favourite class in college?
Sports; and I still enjoy playing a basketball or football match with my friends.
Who would you most like to have dinner with?
I would like to have dinner with homeless people, as I really want to see their happiness when I give them food that I cooked for them.
Monetising and more
Although it is a newly launched website, Qatarbestdeals.com has realised more that QR 1 million sales in less than one year. In addition to sales revenues, we are planning to monetise this business using paid advertisement, funds, or through investors.
© Qatar Today 2016
