start it up
ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE
Driven by purpose Oola Sports co-founder and CEO Haya Al Ghanim wants to help women enjoy the great outdoors- while staying true to their personal values By Aparajita Mukherjee
I
t’s a common thing for entrepreneurs to start up a business to solve a problem that they personally face, and that seems to have been exactly the route Oola Sports co-founder and CEO Haya Al Ghanim took when starting up her venture that offers women “loosefitting and not revealing, yet contemporary and elegant sportswear.” According to Al Ghanim, her company’s activewear line is for women who are like her- passionate about staying healthy, but want to stay true to their individual values while doing so. “It all came from my personal need,” she remembers. “I had the desire to enjoy the great outdoors, while staying in line with my values and culture. I love outdoors sports, and I wanted to be comfortable while exercising. Plus, I wanted friends to join me. If they can’t find the right clothes to exercise with me, they don’t even make it for an
Products by Oola Sports
80
Entrepreneur february 2017
outdoor run, for example. The more I looked into ways to solve this challenge, the more I realized how big of a market it is. That led my partners, Amina [Ahmadi], Lilian [Barbosa], and I to work together on finding a solution, and we decided to launch Oola to provide more women with access to outdoor sports by providing modesty-inspired, loose-fitting activewear.” Explaining the name of her company, Al Ghanim says, “In Arabic, oola means the first, the pioneer. We believe every woman is a pioneer in her own life, and our brand reflects this belief. Oola is a revolutionary brand that caters to the active woman who chooses to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle, while choosing to maintain her individual values. Our garments are made for the pioneer in you.” And for what it’s worth, it certainly does seem like Oola Sports has been a pioneer in whatever it has set out to
do so far. In less than a year, Oola has grown to be a brand that has achieved recognition in Qatar and the region, with the first batch of its activewear collection having hit the market in the last quarter of 2016. “We came together for a common goal– gearing up for the launch, accepting the challenge to be agile, and quick to act on a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo with the teaser, ‘Oola Sportswear: Activewear That’s Got You Covered’ that was started in the beginning of October 2016. This experience reshaped my expectations of the new hires on the Oola team, and in the end, after 30 days on Indiegogo, we raised a total of US$33,790 from 115 backers. This was over and much beyond our expectation of $25,000.” At the same time, Oola decided to make it a priority to cater to the perspectives of a wide spectrum of customers. Detailing her team’s journey
with the feedback process, Al Ghanim says, “Entrepreneurs are often encouraged and constantly reminded, borderline nagged, to seek customers’ feedback. 2016 taught me that despite the constant reminder, when it’s time to make decisions, our default judgment is to go with our own preference.” In 2016, Oola developed a customercentric product-development cycle by creating customer feedback groups for specific product lines, including swimwear and the abaya. This intentional focus on customer feedback has propelled the team full-speed ahead with designing some of their most innovative pieces. In terms of manufacturing Oola’s various products, Al Ghanim says that when the company was exploring options in this space, they went to a trade fair in Germany that had suppliers and manufacturers from all over the world. After testing product development with various developers, the team decided to proceed with making its first collection in Taiwan, given the quality of production and the ethical standards of the factory. “We are now in the process of developing the second collection in Qatar,” Al Ghanim says. Coincidentally, when Oola was being launched, that was when the burkini (the full-body swimwear worn by some Muslim women) ban was being implemented in France and other countries in Europe. When asked about it, Al Ghanim wasn’t approving of it, saying, “It’s a matter of personal preference, since covering up is not a symbol of one religion.” She adds that being modest is something that is commonly practiced among those of Islamic, Orthodox Judaic, Coptic Christian, or other religious faiths. In addition to being modest or abiding by norms, regardless of religious prescriptions,