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Q&A
→ THE SUBOL TEAM Right to left: Saleh Safran, founder and CEO, and Omer Taban, co-founder and Product Manager
SMART TECH
Saleh Safran is using the internet of things to power his Qatar-based startup, Subol b y PA M E L L A D E L E O N
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s more and more use cases of devices based on the internet of things make its way across various sectors like healthcare, education, agriculture, and more, Qatar-based entrepreneur Saleh Safran has been utilizing this cuttingedge technology to keep homes safe. Safran and his team are behind homegrown startup Subol, an IoT venture that develops and manufactures smart solutions for home safety. Its first device, the Subol Detector, is an internetconnected gas detector, which can detect gas leakage, high temperature, and low or high humidity conditions. Using the Subol Home app, the detector can connect to the Wi-Fi, thereby enabling users to easily monitor the working status of the device, as well as current temperature, humidity, and gas safety status, and even trigger sound and visual alarms to notify nearby people in case of any danger.
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} An alum of Qatar University’s mechanical engineering program, Safran had always been motivated to pursue entrepreneurship, particularly to “solve issues that people face.” Whilst working as a Project Engineer at the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, Safran got together with other early team members of Subol and applied to the Qatar Business Incubation Center for its Lean Startup Program. One of the ideas he stumbled on then with co-founder and Product Manager Omer Taban was coming up with a solution to gas leakage issues by offering a gas leakage detector and shut-off unit. “We started talking to people about it, and we realized some people fear [the occurrence of] gas leakage, and above 20% [of residents] had experienced gas leakage,” says Safran. To validate the concept, the team first conducted surveys and collected feedback. “We’ve noticed that the biggest fear people have in their home is fire,” Safran explains. “When we asked people where a fire can most likely catch up, two big reasons caught our attention: gas leakage-sourced fire and unattended cooking. We saw potential there, and we decided to start getting funding to develop a solution and start building the team. We gathered family investment, and we applied for grants fund from the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) in 2015.” } The funds helped the team to develop the alpha and beta version of the product, and in mid-2018, the startup also received pre-seed investment from the Qatar Development Bank that helped it manufacture and ship its first 100 units to its first customers. This was quite beneficial for the team,
