Entrepreneur Middle East | Startup Spotlight: Kuwait | Special Edition, Summer 2021

AYBIZ BAIMS BAIX BAKERY BLUE OUTDOORS CODED COFE FESTIVITY

FLOWARD HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT & CONSULTING HOT TECHNOLOGIES KLC VIRTUAL RESTAURANTS LI3IB

MY HOME MYNUTRIBOX PHINESTS REHLAT REFOOD RICHARD’S COFFEE BAR ROADZ

SOUFFLE BEAUTY SAND FORGE GAMES SILVER LINE COMMUNITY TENANTIVE THE WISHLIST TONS YALLABIT

KUWAIT

SPECIAL EDITION

SUMMER 2021

BROUGHT TO YOU BY KUWAIT FINANCE HOUSE

MIDDLE EAST EDITOR IN CHIEF Aby Sam Thomas aby@bncpublishing.net CEO Wissam Younane wissam@bncpublishing.net DIRECTOR Rabih Najm rabih@bncpublishing.net CREATIVE LEAD Odette Kahwagi ART DIRECTOR Simona El-Khoury MANAGING EDITOR Tamara Pupic STARTUPS SECTION EDITOR Pamella de Leon FEATURES WRITER Aalia Mehreen Ahmed DIGITAL SOLUTIONS DIRECTOR Mahdi Hashemi mahdi@bncpublishing.net HEAD OF INNOVATION Sarah Saddouk sarah@bncpublishing.net GROUP SALES DIRECTOR – B2B GROUP Joaquim D’Costa COLUMNIST Tamara Clarke

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4 KUWAIT FINANCE HOUSE 10 REFOOD 14 TENANTIVE 16 BLUE OUTDOORS 18 MY HOME 21 CODED 22 AYBIZ 24 BAIX BAKERY 27 BAIMS 28 LI3IB 30 FLOWARD 32 PHINESTS 34 COFE 36 MYNUTRIBOX

Printed by United Printing and Publishing | upp.ae

39 FESTIVITY 40 ROADZ 43 RICHARD’S COFFEE BAR 44 THE WISHLIST 46 SOUFFLE BEAUTY 50 SAND FORGE GAMES 52 SILVER LINE COMMUNITY 54 HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT & CONSULTING 56 HOT TECHNOLOGIES 58 KLC VIRTUAL RESTAURANTS 60 YALLABIT 62 TONS 64 REHLAT

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KFH /

Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

CATALYZING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ABDULWAHAB AL ROSHOOD ACTING GROUP CEO, KUWAIT FINANCE HOUSE

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stablished in 1977, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is renowned for being one of the country’s oldest Islamic financial institutions, but that’s not the only notable detail about this enterprise- it is also known for being a pioneering supporter of youth and small and medium-sized enterprises in Kuwait.

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Kuwait Finance House /

KFH /

Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

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KFH MICRO ENTERPRISES WAS BORN OUT OF THE SMES UNIT TO SERVE THE NEEDS OF SMES AND MICRO BUSINESSES IN 2021, WHICH WILL PROVIDE THEM WITH MORE ATTENTION, ASSISTANCE, AND FINANCIAL CONSULTATION.

Leading the reins at KFH today is Acting Group CEO Abdulwahab Al Roshood, who has over 30 years of banking experience in conventional and Islamic banks, including eight years of experience in key executive leadership roles.

When asked about how he’d describe KFH’s role in encouraging entrepreneurship in Kuwait, Al Roshood characterizes the enterprise’s efforts as that of being a “success partner.” To explain this, he notes how several

companies in Kuwait have started their relationship with KFH at a time when their credit facility was only KD50,000, to now where it has reached the value of KD3 million. “This underlines the significant role of KFH has played in improving these businesses and transferring them to large companies,” Al Roshood declares.

But that’s not all- when it comes to supporting small businesses in Kuwait, KFH has been aligning itself with

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Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK)’s strategy and outlook for the future as well. In 2020, for instance, the CBK proposed a regulatory stimulus package to ease certain capital and liquidity requirements to support bank lending. “KFH Micro Enterprises was born out of the SMEs unit to serve the needs of SMEs and micro businesses in 2021, which will provide them with more attention, assistance, and financial consultation.” Given that the entrepreneurial

ecosystem in Kuwait is still reeling from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, such efforts are certain to be welcomed from businesses, both large and small, in the country.

According to Al Roshood, the COVID-19 crisis has been a period of learning for everyone involved with the business ecosystem in Kuwait. For instance, he points out how the coronavirus pandemic has taught businesses at large to learn the significance of adapting to change, coping with crisis, and having different attitudes to risk and redesign priorities. “Most importantly, it taught us that digital transformation is not a choice, but a must,” Al Roshood says, noting that as the importance of offering

Kuwait Finance House /

“ Entrepreneurs should also have a clear vision, while realizing the importance of perseverance, initiative, and reactiveness, and most importantly, they should have tremendous belief and confidence in themselves.” customers with uninterrupted services under all circumstances became undeniable, so did the need for companies to digitize themselves rapidly. “This is possible through having a stronger digital presence with adaptive systems and multiple channels, both physical and virtual, along with rigid controls to defend both customers and shareholders’ interests.”

With entrepreneurs today continuing to face unprecedented challenges in the world at large, Al Roshood says that their success in such circumstances can be better guaranteed by staying true to crucial leadership methodologies. “I believe that patience, agility, ability to adapt to change are important qualities, in addition to proper management of cash flows, capital raising, good marketing and communication strategies, and being able to learn from competitors,” he says. “Entrepreneurs should also have a clear vision, while realizing the importance of perseverance, initiative, and reactiveness, and most importantly, they should have tremendous belief and confidence in themselves.” For those looking for opportunities to tap into, Al Roshood suggests that they keep an eye out for industries like technology, entertainment services, and food suppliers- those sectors are going to have a pivotal role in our collective futures, he says.

In terms of the road ahead for small businesses in Kuwait, Al Roshood is of the belief that they are going to be a priority for the country’s leadership in the months and years to come- and that translates into KFH’s mandate as well. “I would say that the SME sector is one of the main sectors that are targeted to be supported by the government and subsequently by banks to achieve the Kuwait 2035 vision,” Al Roshood says. “KFH is considered the first bank and one of the main banks in Kuwait that designated a financing department for the SME sector. Moreover, the Kuwait government continues to support [the] SME segment through a special program that would encourage entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.”

This essentially explains why Al Roshood is optimistic about the prospects for aspiring entrepreneurs in Kuwait.

“Kuwait and the banking sector have always been supportive to the entrepreneurs and the SME sector,” he

declares. “This segment plays an instrumental role in boosting [the] economy and paving the way to larger projects and more advanced and innovative businesses, while creating jobs for the youth and achieving prosperity and development.” When it comes to advice for entrepreneurs, Al Roshood urges them to always keep their customers in mind when running their businesses, while also taking steps to safeguard themselves by protecting their assets, securing smart financing, and ensuring proper budgeting. “Be innovative,” he concludes. “Be ready to adapt, and be agile.”

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STARTUP/SPOTLIGHT

KUWAIT Built in collaboration with Kuwait Finance House, Startup Spotlight is a showcase of the enterprising new businesses that are making their presence felt in Kuwait right now. As the the first Islamic bank established in 1977 in the state of Kuwait, Kuwait Finance House is a pioneer in Islamic finance or Sharia’a compliant banking, with it today being one of the foremost Islamic financial institutions in the world, which makes it the right enterprise to showcase the next generation of entrepreneurs who are set to shape Kuwait’s future.

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REFOOD /rfdbyrefood.org /

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ith three different operations that work towards one common goal, Refood’s programs essentially prevent food products from ending up in landfills. The first of these programs involves food rechanneling, which includes salvaging excess and near-expired food by forging relationships with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) suppliers before it’s categorized as waste and sent to landfills, and instead redistributing it to local beneficiaries with the help of local volunteers. The second one is a subscription service, called “Rfd

by Refood,” where each Refood subscriber receives a monthly box of curated food and consumer goods to try at home- this operation is the main financial lifeline of the startup, and it is what ensures that there is enough cash flow to keep it running.

“For each subscription box a customer buys, one food package from Refood’s products is provided for a low-income family,” explains Maryam Aleisa, founder of Refood. The third and final vertical is purely educational in nature- the company organizes multiple awareness campaigns to educate children, students, and the general public about food waste and its repercussions.

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→ MARYAM ALEISA IS THE FOUNDER OF REFOOD, a non-profit company

dedicated to eliminate food waste through food rechanneling and awareness programs, ultimately to change social and cultural behaviors to reduce food waste.

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For the most part, things had been running smoothly for Aleisa and her team over the years. But then, the COVID-19 crisis happened.

“The most challenging thing in 2020 was to see the company that I spent years building simply fall apart,” says an honest Aleisa. “After years of polishing the elemental pieces and financially stabilizing a non-profit company by utilizing a diverse range of unconventional revenue streams, in the

moment that I finally thought, ‘It’s alright, we’re going to make it,’ it all came tumbling down harder than Humpty Dumpty’s fall.”

According to Aleisa, the coronavirus pandemic entailed social distancing and health

→ Refood team

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protocols that no longer entertained the distribution of food and consumer goods packages from Refood’s warehouses. “This directly plummeted the nominal subscription fees we receive from beneficiaries,” recounts

Aleisa. “Furthermore, with the food scarcity issue and the closure of international borders, we lost our Rfd By Refood suppliers, which is the revenue stream we were building to support our main line of operations, in order to keep the

COMPANIES NEED TO BE TAKING CARE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES AND PROVIDING THEM WITH REFOOD’S FOOD AND CONSUMER GOODS PACKAGES IS A GREAT WAY TO SHOW THAT.

Refood /

extremely subsidized low-cost nominal fee program we had in place for underprivileged families. Not only that, we also lost all our financial sponsors due to the pandemic and necessary budget cuts. Basically, we lost all money-generating streams and were left in a vortex of uncertainty.” As hard a pill as it must’ve been to swallow, Alesia was also left with the option to not take on new volunteers- a move that also took away from the community-building spirit that the startup so desperately wanted to create.

But the founder and her team crawled through, and decided to bring in some much-needed pivots to the business model in order to survive. With no financial support or incoming cash flow, the team shut down its main operation of food distribution via its warehouses- instead, it opted for a door-to-door delivery of family packages, with a new, higher price that reflected the true cost of service. “We instantly shifted to a delivery-only operation, which was a completely new field for us,” says Aleisa. “Amidst the urgency of the matter, I was focused on the underprivileged families we were serving; if everyone was having it bad, they were having it worse. We did not want to leave them without food during lockdown, so we kept the service [for them] at the same nominal fee.” The new pricing also meant that many subscribers could no longer afford the program- but Aleisa remains adamant that it was a move that was necessary to keep the firm running and to also ensure that low-income families were not left out amid the pandemic.

The latter sentiment led to Refood

launching another new concept- that of providing Kuwaiti companies the opportunity to support their low-wage employees with food and consumer goods packages on a regular basis. “As it is targeted towards individuals and is centralized in operations, we are able to provide it at a very affordable rate,” explains Aleisa. “On the other hand, companies need to be taking care of their employees and providing them with Refood’s food and consumer goods packages is a great way to show that. Furthermore, there is a fatwa citing that it is Islamically

“To lose what you have and what you’ve built, especially if it never came with financial reward to fall back on, is an extremely humbling experience.”

permissible to spend zakat money on purchasing food for the underprivileged, and that it is always preferable to help those within one’s community. We actually just got our first client, and we’re really excited about it, as we see a promising future for this line of operation!”

Looking to the future, Aleisa remains hopeful of finding new business and humanitarian partners along the way. But the founder is also wary of the uncertainty -financial and otherwise- that comes with running a business during a crisis. “To lose what you have and what you’ve built, especially if it never came with financial reward to fall back on, is an extremely humbling experience,” she says. “Although going through this pandemic has shaken my confidence, as confidence is always based on certainty, it has given me the opportunity to further increase my self-worth through this shared experience, through realizing that no matter how hard reality hits us, it’s up to us to change what we can to cope with uncertainty; more so, to find ways to thrive within it.”

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TENANTIVE /tenantive.com /

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aunched by Ebrahim Alrashed, Khaled Alrashed, Rashed Altammar, and Khaled Alhadlaq, Tenantive is a platform to collect, monitor, and organize your real estate issues easily. With property management solutions on management, maintenance, legalities, and listing, the platform offers a hassle-free method to manage properties.

“ We believe that tenants are very much neglected in the property management cycle while they are the movers of the whole cash cycle.” → EBRAHIM ALRASHED, co-founder and CEO

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Tenantive /

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UNDERSTANDING THAT RESEARCH COMES BEFORE DEVELOPMENT IS CRUCIAL- ALWAYS THINK OF THE FINANCIAL TERMS IN TERMS OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, WITH RESEARCH ALWAYS NEEDING TO BE PRIORITIZED BEFORE ANY DEVELOPMENT COST.

According to co-founder and CEO Alrashed, the startup is aiming to target a common problem faced by tenants in Kuwait. “The traditional property management process involves many middlemen between tenants and landlords, such as renting brokers, messengers, accountants, etc,” he says. “This process is resulting in a lack of transparency, high operational cost, and finally high barriers of entry for emergent property managers.” Tenantive’s aim is therefore to increase transparency, reduce operational costs, and remove the barriers of entry for emerging property managers. “Tenantive is positioned toward tenants, as we believe that tenants are very much neglected in the property management cycle while they are the movers of the whole cash cycle.”

Alrashed explains that the startup uses what is known as a switchboard profit model. “The more tenants and landlords join, the more valuable the switchboard becomes,” he explains. That shows why upon the startup’s launch, the Tenantive team focused their resources on research and development of the product, more so than sales, PR and marketing, which ended up being a key asset of the company. It’s a strategy that appears to have served the startup well amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty it brought to the market. “The will to pivot provides the ability to survive, emerge, and grow- that has been the biggest takeaway of 2020,” says Alrashed. “Embracing learning and

research reduces uncertainty while pivoting. Moreover, understanding that research comes before development is crucial- always think of the financial terms in terms of research and development, with research always needing to be prioritized before any development cost.”

It’s interesting to note that the startup is the result of a revamp of a previous product (Ajaraty) that was launched mid-2017 as a proof of concept with less than US$2,000 in

sales, PR, and marketing expenses to date. Tenantive was launched as an minimum viable product in September 2020 as a self-financed venture, until one of the users (Z Solutions Real Estate Company) joined as an investor. Alrashed notes that the funding was undisclosed, but it consisted of a cash credit line and efforts. An app for the platform is in the pipeline, with plans to expand in “neglected contexts with technology adoption and a high return on investment,” Alrashed concludes.

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BLUE OUTDOORS /blueoutdoors.co /

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s an entrepreneur, Majed Alhamlan says that he has always been on the lookout for opportunities.

His first company, Fresh Boat Marine, focused on boat maintenance and detailing services, and it was through building relationships with marine and outdoor suppliers and customers that he came across another entrepreneurial idea. He noted that his clientele often had a hard time finding the right supplies and access to customer service, while outdoor suppliers had problems reaching their audience because of showroom locations and lack of online presence.

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→ MAJED ALHAMLAN, founder and Managing Partner

Launched in 2017, Blue Outdoors initially started providing spare parts and accessories for marine vehicles, and with fluctuating online store sales throughout the year, Alhamlan pivoted the business to include not only products related to boats, but also those relating to summer and winter sports, outdoor entertainment, and many other categories. Blue Outdoors has since become a go-to online marketplace for outdoor entertainment products in Kuwait. Through its website and mobile application available on iOS and Android, Blue Outdoors provides products from boat accessories and water sports equipment to camping and trips products.

With more than 14 categories, over 100 brands, and more than 45 local suppliers, the platform also features a marine directory for water sports schools, diving centers, and adventure trips companies, as well as a mainte-

nance center, various payment options, and more. Suppliers can benefit from having an online point of sale to potentially increase sales, a 24-hour delivery service for customers to all areas in Kuwait, as well as marketing opportunities through digital and social media outlets. For customers, it’s a one-stop shop to buy for all their needs online from multiple suppliers.

The venture was met with positive feedback from customers and suppliers upon launching. The business model is based on commissions and delivery charges. Suppliers don’t need a fee to join the platform; they can just provide a fixed percentage or multiple percentages based on product cost. Higher percentages will lead into more benefits for suppliers, such as extensive marketing campaigns and special offers. Customers are also charged a delivery fee based on their location. Alhamlam also notes

Blue Outdoors /

“Hiring new in-house drivers would have increased our operation cost significantly, because we would have had to buy new cars, hire new drivers, train them, and so on, and therefore, we decided to outsource almost 60-70% of our deliveries.”

they do get a small percentage of products from international suppliers: “The percentage we get from international suppliers is much higher than local suppliers, which will balance the overall commission percentage average.”

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Outdoors team obeyed the health and safety standards imposed by the government to safeguard their staff and customers, and once the curfew regulations were announced, they minimized office hours, prioritized working from home, but continued offering their delivery services. Alhamlam notes that through 2020, most e-businesses did well, because online shopping was considered the best and safest option; however, that

doesn’t mean that such enterprises didn’t face any obstacles.

To start with, Blue Outdoors was surprised by a significant increase in daily orders, ensuring fulfillment and delivery logistics was a serious challenge for the company. “Our in-house drivers were not enough to fulfill and cope with the daily number of orders, so I had two options- either to hire new in-house drivers, or to outsource to a delivery company,” Alhamlam says. “Hiring new in-house drivers would have increased our operation cost significantly, because we would have had to buy new cars, hire new drivers, train them, and so on, and therefore, we decided to outsource almost 60-70% of our deliveries.” Prior to the pandemic, Blue Outdoors stored just a small number of products, because the team’s usual way of doing business was to pick up products from vendors, pack it, and deliver it.

“However, during the pandemic, we needed a faster and more efficient way of delivery, and as a result, we moved to a new location where we could easily store large quantities,” Alhamlam says.

The third challenge was due to a pandemic-caused shortage of stock in Kuwait. “Factories and production facilities were shut down for a long time and shipping logistics was delayed,” Alhamlam explains. “I started noticing that many products were becoming sold out, and updating vendors stock became

a challenge. So, I decided to make a drastic change- I divided my vendors into two groups. The first group were vendors who sold their products through their websites, so we integrated our backend system with them so that stock could be updated instantly. The second group were traditional vendors with no online existence or very lousy platforms to whom I offered to either allow us to become their online point of sale with a better and exclusive deal, or to store their products selectively based on our sales data.”

These three instances explain why Alhamlam considers learning how to operate a business in all circumstances as having been his main lesson from the COVID-19 crisis. “The resilience and ability to change and modify the business is essential in the world after the pandemic, because only businesses that can cope with changes will succeed in the long term,” he says.

Going forward, Alhamlam aims to focus on expanding his marketplace and providing the best possible customer experience. “During the pandemic, customers had no choice but to order online, even if the customer experience was unpleasant,” he explains. “Now, customers again have many online options to shop from, but they will remain loyal to the online place that gave them the best experience.”

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MY HOME /myhomeapp.io /

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wned by IT company Wabash Tech General Trading Co. WLL (which also developed the website Moqawalat.com), MyHome was launched in 2018 as a mobilebased application for the residents of Kuwait to connect with verified contractors, technicians, suppliers, and other professionals for home maintenance needs. The entrepreneurs behind the venture -Abdullah Abbas Marafi, Mohammed J. Al-Awadhi and Bader Altukhaim- came up with the idea after wanting to reduce friction between residents and service providers. With the goal to organize the maintenance market and deliver quality service to their customers, the platform sets clear and transparent prices and processes for the customer and technicians, while also matching providers with customers, giving 24/7 support for customers, handling in-app warranty requests for jobs, as well as constant ongoing review of service providers. While customers can have easy access to technicians without searching through directories or classified newspapers, service providers can generate job leads from the platform.

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MyHome /

→ Co-founders MOHAMMED J. AL-AWADHI

and ABDULLAH ABBAS MARAFI

The co-founders note they’ve made use of extensive market research to form a strong team that will ensure the platform delivers the best service possible, and so far, they’ve received positive feedback. For their profit model, CEO Al-Awadhi says it’s all about ensuring they have capable service providers that work with integrity, responding to market needs to grow their services accordingly, listening to user feedback (both from homeowners and service providers) and constantly adapting, and finally, satisfying the needs of both parties. “Different stakeholders have different needs, and striking the right balance between the two is key to making this business model work.”

The team have also had their own share of hurdles. During the ideation stage, Al-Awadhi says they were often told that the maintenance market wasn’t suited for an online platform, from both potential service providers and users. To ensure a product-market fit, the team mirrored the way maintenance is done offline, and then replicated the process in the app. “We set prices for standard issues and left an option for users to request an assessment when the issue was not clear cut. Moreover, we gave technicians the ability to raise additional invoices for cases where additional work was required- it was key that we did not recreate the wheel to adapt, especially in a sector such as maintenance.”

“ Different stakeholders have different needs, and striking the right balance between the two is key to making this business model work.”

Adopting to various circumstances was an approach that proved to be useful as the team navigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like most businesses affected by lockdowns, curfews, and regulations in this period, the startup’s operations, as well as its demand and supply metrics, were greatly affected.

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“ Our operational focus shifted from a growth mindset, to maintaining the status quo mindset.

Our efforts were focused on assisting our service providers in attaining a permit to work during the lockdown/curfews, when applicable.”

“Service provider availability was severely restricted due to the curfews and area-targeted lockdowns, which made matching supply and demand a big challenge.

On top of that, supply of material and spare parts was limited due to logistical restrictions, which affected our service offering as well.”

However, operating under restricted circumstances indirectly played a factor in increasing MyHome’s demand as well. “The more people spend time in their homes, the more home improvement ideas pop up,” Al-Awadhi explains. The team also tried to adapt to the situation by offering virtual assistance services to rebalance the demand and supply mismatch. “Our operational focus shifted from a growth mindset, to maintaining the status quo mindset.

Our efforts were focused on assisting our service providers in attaining a permit to work during the lockdown/curfews, when applicable.”

As the team strives to recover from the repercussions of the pandemic, the co-founders are determined to

use their experiences to guide them forward. An important lesson they’ve realized is being adaptable.

Having ample cash reserves is crucial, says Al-Awadhi. “Having a diverse set of products and services, as well as the ability to adapt to changes goes a long way in making a business more robust to unexpected changes. One can either ride a storm and suffer its consequences, or shift the boat’s direction towards manageable terrains.”

But while Al-Awadhi highlights the importance of having a contingency plan, he also points out the issue that comes with optimizing your business for a worst-case scenario. “Don’t over-optimize your resources and cost structure during a crisis. By definition, a crisis is temporary, and optimizing your business model for a worst-case scenario may make things better during a crisis, but it will hinder your potential to capture growth, and in our case, capture pent up demand post-crisis.”

In terms of what’s next for MyHome, the co-founders plan to acquire “a more significant market share in the Kuwait market,

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TREP TALK

Q&A with Abdullah Abbas Marafi, Mohammed J. AlAwadhi, and Bader Altukhaim, co-founders, MyHome What are some of the opportunities that you see available in the Kuwait market today, and what would be your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

“There are many industries that are still offline in Kuwait and the region that I would advise to search for gaps in the market or try to cater to the needs of the people. Also, it is critical to take ample time to plan your business model, test your idea with a prototype and see how the market responds, then adjust accordingly. There are many industries that are ripe for disruption, mainly because they are operating offline and lack an online presence.

The internet was mainly used to gather information, but nowadays people expect to act and transact online, and that is where the big opportunity lies. Be a risk taker, and don’t fear failure. And if you’re going to fail, make sure you fail fast, and then move on, leaving emotions out of the equation.”

primarily by switching offline customers to using MyHome for home services.” They also aim to introduce more services needed by users, and expand to other markets, developing new features and optimizing their internal operations to become leaner and more efficient.

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CODED

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→ Co-founders

HASHIM BEHBEHANI and AHMAD MARAFI

/joincoded.com /

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aunched in 2015 by Ahmad Marafi and Hashim Behbehani, Coded is a coding academy on a mission to train and educate students in software development and programming to prepare them for today’s demanding job market through its offline bootcamps, as well as its new online platform Barmej, which features various courses in Arabic.

The co-founders wanted to address two problems: the lack of technical talent for companies and the high number of people who are eager to learn coding, but don’t have the right resources, tools and algorithms, both online and offline. “We decided to create a company that focuses on training the Arab world [on] coding with both online and offline offerings, and help them get hired in tech companies in the Middle East and other countries,” says co-founder and COO Hashim Behbehani.

Based in Kuwait, the startup holds coding bootcamps on game development, website designing and management, as well as programs designed to turn a university graduate to a professional coder, or a complete beginner to a junior professional coder. Coded also holds customized bootcamps for enterprises such as companies, organizations, and governmental entities such as Zain, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, and Markaz. Since launching, the startup has organized 24 bootcamps, with more than 250 coders graduating, according to its site.

They have also become a partner for One Million Arab Coders, a UAE initiative that aims to help one million Arabs learn coding.

Having already received a capital boost from a US$1.3 million pre-Series A funding round to increase their educational offerings online (which offers both free courses and extensive online bootcamps that costs $350 a month), the startup was

“

well on its way towards further growth. The duo note that their customers benefit from the services as it teaches the basics in a relatively short period of time through its intensive course, with graduates being able to go to the job market more equipped. “I think it inspired a movement to help more coding-seeking learners to join the world of tech, and understand the fundamentals of coding,” Behbehani says.

But the COVID-19 crisis brought in its own share of unprecedented hurdles for the co-founders. “One of the main challenges was the need to create new revenue streams in a very short amount of time to make up for lost business, especially on the B2B side,” says Marafi. Moving ahead, they believe it’s important for the team to “avoid having too many eggs in one basket,” in order to keep the business alive even if one vertical fails. “It's critical to have diversified revenue streams from different types of customers, business models, and products,” Marafi concludes.

ONE OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES WAS THE NEED TO CREATE NEW REVENUE STREAMS IN A VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME TO MAKE UP FOR LOST BUSINESS, ESPECIALLY ON THE B2B SIDE.

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AYBIZ /owner.aybiz.com /

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aunched in 2016, Aybiz utilizes crowdsourcing and curation techniques powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to provide an interactive local business search engine that allows users to easily explore the largest list of places to go in Kuwait.

The founding team -Mohammad AlEisa, Chief Executive Officer, Talal AlMousherji, Chief Operating Officer, and Rawan AlEisa, Chief Marketing Officer- have built a platform that uses crowdsourcing and AI to customize a user’s browsing experience by recommending local businesses that might be of interest to them. The platform provides various ways for people to rate, review, and recommend businesses in Kuwait, with AlEisa hoping that the customized experience will help people make more educated decisions, from which Italian restaurant to visit, to where to shop for office materials.

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→ Co-founders MOHAMMAD ALEISA and TALAL ALMOUSHERJI

Aybiz is currently available as an app for iPhone and Android devices, with the initial response from the market having been remarkably positive. But they’ve got negative feedback too. “Some people would say, ‘Why shouldn’t I use Google to search for businesses instead?’” AlEisa recalls. “But we believe that the future of business discovery should be customized to a local experience. Users usually use Aybiz to discover new businesses they never really knew existed, as opposed to searching for a particular business they have in mind. Aybiz takes this approach one step further by allowing users to shop and interact with those businesses in a very unique and localized way.”

Aybiz /

“

“Users usually use Aybiz to discover new businesses they never really knew existed, as opposed to searching for a particular business they have in mind.”

NEVER BE SHY TO ASK FOR HELP FROM EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEURS ON YOUR CHOSEN INDUSTRY; COLLABORATE WITH INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATES IN THE SECTOR.

As a business, Aybiz’s revenue streams include advertisements and a B2B monthly membership. “The B2B monthly membership provides data licensing, photography, discounts for business affairs, targeted notifications, and real-time extensive analytics,” says AlEisa, adding that more features, such as real-time analytics and grounds operations assistance, will be added over time as they studied business owners’ needs. Its success hasn’t gone unnoticed- Aybiz raised a pre-Series A funding round of US$1.8 million to increase the amount of data on their platform and expand across the MENA region.

When the global coronavirus pandemic broke out in 2020, the Aybiz team found themselves working hard to level the playing field between small local businesses and mass chains in the market.

“Aybiz solves this issue by allowing SMEs to earn new customers organically without a massive advertising budget, and amidst the partial lockdown of 2020, Aybiz received a record number of SMEs

that wanted to sell their products and learn important analytics about their business and product performance,” AlEisa says. “We provided the businesses and sellers cost-effective tools to help expand their online presence with cataloging services, photography, and logistics.”

On starting up a business in Kuwait, AlEisa suggests entrepreneurs take several points into consideration before taking the plunge. “Showcase patience and persistence, always have a partner, and ask for help when it comes to governmental affairs, because that saves you time,” he explains. “Never be shy to ask for help from experienced entrepreneurs on your chosen industry; collaborate with individuals and corporates in the sector. It’s also important to make friends, not enemies, and share your ideas and knowledge with others, including your team, and never shy away from sharing, even before inception, because that will give you in-depth insights on the do’s and don’ts.” → Aybiz team

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT → Co-founder ABDULLAH ALWATAYAN

BAIX BAKERY /order.baixbakery.com /

C

reating a concept has always been an interesting challenge for Abdullah AlWatayan, so it’s no surprise that the entrepreneur has concocted more than one venture in Kuwait’s startup scene. His first concept was Tashi, born out of his interest in Japanese food and sushi, through which he introduced sushi burritos, poke, and sushi donuts to the Kuwaiti F&B scene. He has also co-founded Multitude, an interdisciplinary studio specializing in identity, creative direction, and digital design, as well as Cheat, a dessert shop.

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His latest foray into F&B, launched in 2018 with co-founder Ahmad Abul, is Baix Bakery, which aims to serve premium baked goods made locally every day. Inspired with the idea of starting a business of their own, the co-founders, who both have full-time jobs, would even go out and look for locations after working hours or during lunch breaks. “The special thing about Baix is that we knew the bakery sector of the F&B industry was lacking the combination of top quality freshly baked goods, with beautiful packaging that you would want to show off, and that was rare with bakeries: having tasty baked goods in beautiful packaging at a competitive price.”

Currently, Baix has four branches, with its first shop at AlKhaleejiya complex, followed by a central kitchen at Aswaq AlQurain, which supplies its branches and thirdparty vendors, such as Mug Coffee & Roastery, Mukha, and Kelly’s Coffee Bar, with fresh pastries, custom-made sandwiches, and cakes. The co-founders have also recently launched a Baix in Corner at TruValue - AlRai and AbyatShuwaikh, with their store at Abyat marked as the flagship store, being the biggest branch of all. The team is also planning to grow more, with an aim to push the company’s delivery and catering revenue streams further. “We like to take our time and study new locations and potential partnerships in and outside of Kuwait.”

Baix Bakery /

AlWatayan notes that his entrepreneurship journey definitely had its ups and downs. He remembers once getting an idea of opening a workspace and cafe in one setting. “The idea would’ve been success, if it wasn’t for the location we chose to open the cafe. The idea was that the cafe would supplement the revenue coming from our design work.”

However, reality soon hit, AlWatayan says. “The design studio was and is growing, and doing very well, but eventually, the studio’s income was being drained by the cafe, and that defeated the whole purpose of opening the workspace and cafe concept.” This is when AlWatayan credits his business

“

I GOT LUCKY BY PICKING THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO PARTNER UP WITH, EACH ONE OF US IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A PART OF THE BUSINESS THAT HE/SHE IS MOST CONFIDENT ABOUT.

partners who collaborated with him to identify the problem, and eventually move back into having a full-fledged design studio, with the resolve to try other ventures again in the future.

When asked to advise other serial entrepreneurs out there, AlWatayan states that entrepreneurship is a way of

life for him. “It can seem overwhelming, but if you wake up every day loving what you do, it doesn’t feel like a job,” he says. “I think of it as building my future, and a way for me to release the ideas in my head (and there are a lot of ideas!), plus I do get this sense of accomplishment when I create a concept. Being at one of my restaurants and seeing people

enjoying our food, that is a feeling that keeps me coming back and wanting to do more.

Nevertheless, having great partners in any business venture is the most crucial part of a business success, I got lucky by picking the right people to partner up with, each one of us is responsible for a part of the business that he/she is most confident about.”

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

“ I always remember that with big risks and big sacrifices, come big rewards.”

This leads into his advice for others who are thinking of starting up a business- they should definitely consider the time and effort in doing so, he says. “There’s a learning curve to consider, and a lot of blockers socially, emotionally, and financially, but the idea, of course, here is to persevere,” he says. “I always remember that with big risks and big sacrifices, come big rewards.

Also, never underestimate picking a value added partner, because the way your potential partner thinks, reacts, and their work ethic, directly reflects your business success.”

Adding to the refrain heard from almost every small business that made it through the COVID-19 crisis, AlWatayan believes that focusing on his team was key to getting his enterprise through this tumultuous period. “Due to the lockdown measures imposed by local authorities, our business was, of course, halted, which was stressful in itself, both on us and our team, because we all had to deal with uncertainty,” AlWatayan remembers. “We managed to overcome this by blindly sticking by our team, and making sure our staff were comfortable and well

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taken care of during this tough time. Thankfully, we did not have to let people go or downsize, as we always had in mind that this was temporary, and that sooner or later, we will operate and continue to expand and grow. So, this support to our team had us ready to bounce back to operating in no time after the lockdown was lifted.”

The steps AlWatayan took

amid the COVID-19 crisis are an indication of the important role he believes good teams play in ensuring a company’s long-term success. “Our team is the foundation of our business growth,” he declares.

“So, having the right caliber of people, and giving them constant support and stability financially and emotionally, is key to a stable foundation for positive growth.”

Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

BAIMS /baims.com /

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/ 08

→ Co-founders YOUSEF ALHUSAINI

and BADER ALRSHAID

aunched in 2017, Baims is an e-learning platform for Kuwait students that digitizes the offline tutoring experience and makes content accessible online. Started by Yousef AlHusaini and Bader Alrshaid while pursuing their engineering degrees at Kuwait University, Baims was originally focused on engineering subjects, but then it grew to cater high-quality tutoring courses based on the university curriculum. With a 70% discount on the price tag of a normal tutoring hour, AlHusaini says that the startup broke even within the first 24 hours.

Consisting of top tier professors and tutors, the startup has since expanded its scope to include colleges and universities in Kuwait and Riyadh, as well as added courses suited for high school students. The platform is run on a revenue-sharing model with its instructors who provide content tailored for each subject. Available on web, iOS and Android devices, it has more than 1,000 recorded courses and 30,000+ lectures, with more than 450,000 course enrollments.

AlHusaini commends the help of the startup’s early supporters, including engineer Khalid Albash who taught physics and lent his office to shoot Baims’ first courses.

They also credit Hemma Tech Accelerator’s Jassem AlMutawa, who, even while the duo were still university students, provided guidance on leadership and negotiation tactics, and creating a scalable plan, as well as offered his office and three studios too.

In early 2020, the startup successfully raised an undisclosed amount of seed funds in a round led by AlWazzan Education, a service provider of K-12 American, British and Arabic education in Kuwait, which was joined by VC firm Seed Partners and other angel investors. When the impact of the coronavirus pandemic crisis manifested across all industries, Alhusaini and his team offered

all of its high school courses for free, amassing over 130,000 new course subscriptions and introducing a large section of the high school population to online learning.

He notes that while the past year was incredibly hectic for the firm, it was a successful one. “We raised an investment round during COVID-19, and we hired actively when everyone was laying off their employees, and we were working 24/7 due to the large demand of online learning to university and high school students,” he elaborates.

“We grew over 400% when it came to content and user growth and students’ time

spent on the platform. We also created hundreds of videos on a daily basis, so we really struggled to keep up with growth and hiring, while also trying not to harm the quality of content and service that we offer to our students and instructors.”

When asked what’s next for Baims, the co-founders say they are keen on growing within the region. “Our ultimate goal is to be a part of the student’s life,” says Alhusaini. “Baims stand for Big Aims, and our aim is to build a strong youth community for a better educational ecosystem in the GCC and MENA region, and improve educational content.”

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LI3IB /li3ib.com /

T

he year ahead is a year of growth,” says Khaled Al-Amiri, co-founder and CEO of Li3ib, with relief. With Li3ib being an app and website that facilitates sports venue reservations and scheduling recreational games for sports enthusiasts in Kuwait, it is clear that Al-Amiri’s business went through a turbulent period after the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis.

“2020 taught us that sports and social interactions are a pivotal part of society, and that quarantining for several months will not tarnish the appeal of sports, but only make the demand stronger,” he says. “2021 is indeed a year of growth.”

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→ Co-founders KHALED AL-AMIRI and KHALED ABDULQADER

And Al-Amiri has many reasons to feel relieved- not only is the tough period over, but Li3ib also got acquired by Kuwait-based Pro-Vision Sports Management (now known as Suffix), and is now considered as one of the success stories of Zain Great Idea (ZGI) tech startup accelerator program by Zain, a leading telecom provider in Kuwait. Launched in October 2017

by Al-Amiri and his co-founder Khaled Abdulqader, Li3ib was developed out of the two entrepreneurs’ decision to help amateur football players to join games happening near them. They soon discovered that users preferred

to play with their friends and family members rather than strangers, and that the real issue was the difficulty of booking and finding facilities to play at. They focused on developing a system to manage the bookings at sports facilities, improving it from the traditional reliance on phone calls, and pen and paper bookings.

After it gained a solid reputation within Kuwait’s sports community, companies and individuals took notice and allowed the Li3ib team to enter the event management business, turning the startup into a sports management company.

Though Al-Amiri says that their idea was not new, he points out that

“ Kuwait has a very rare social welfare system for Kuwaiti citizens that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.”

Li3ib /

receive a custom report of the facility’s performance in comparison to the market and receive suggestions to improve based on customer feedback. Therefore, the revenue from booking commissions, event organization, and advertising are the core pillars of Li3ib’s business. However, events and advertising as revenue sources came as a surprise, Al-Amiri says, and credits it to their growing traction.

This rapid growth brought many

it was the first one of its kind to succeed locally. “We created a community for all levels of athletes and showcased that on our social media,” he says. Their community has extended to include photographers, referees, medics and other talent valuable to the sports community, which is what Al-Amiri says is one of their assets. “Establishing such a vast network of disconnected talent is what allowed us to organically enter the events market.

Organizations no longer need to chase different people and create multiple invoices.

Instead, [they] can just deal with us directly for whatever sports service they require, from custom jerseys to professional tournaments.”

Besides providing their venue partners with significant new revenue streams, Li3ib also provides a reliable system for managing and tracking their customers, wherein they can

lessons for Al-Amiri and Abdulqader. “Football is the most popular sport in Kuwait, and athletes of other sports complain that they do not have enough tournaments to compete in or venues to play at,” Al-Amiri says, while providing an example of the lessons they learned while growing Li3ib. “The sports market in Kuwait is very fragmented and riddled with bureaucracy, which makes it difficult and slow to add new venues to our platform.

Essentially, the demand is higher than the rate at which we can add new venues. By creating local events and showcasing it on our platform and social media, we are educating the local market and venue owners that there is ample demand and opportunity in the sports industry.”

And when asked to list some of the main considerations that entrepreneurs should keep

when starting up a business in Kuwait, Al-Amiri is honest and practical. “There is tremendous hype around the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and, unfortunately, misinformation,” he says. “My main advice would be don’t start a business just to start a business; start a business to solve a problem. If it’s your first business, then solve a personal problem, because that way you can invest your time and energy effortlessly into something that you are naturally passionate about.

Every business has its struggles

and obstacles, but even this experience should be enjoyed.”

Similarly, he is open to advice his fellow Kuwaitis to take advantage of the benefits that the country offers to them.

“Kuwait has a very rare social welfare system for Kuwaiti citizens that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” Al-Amiri explains. “If you create a company and work solely for the entity that you have created, you will receive a salary that is higher than entry-level wages in other countries. Take advantage of this financial support.”

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

FLOWARD

→ ABDULAZIZ AL LOUGHANI,

founder and CEO

/floward.com /

F

ounded in August 2006, Floward is an online floral and gift retailer and distribution platform with delivery services across Kuwait. The platform is the brainchild of Abdulaziz Al Loughani, whose other forays into entrepreneurship include roles as the co-founder and Managing Partner of venture capital firm Faith Capital, plus as the founding Executive Vice Chairman of the Kuwait National Fund for SMEs Development, as well as the co-founder and Managing Partner of Talabat.com until 2010. Commenting on the startup’s distinctive niche, Al Loughani points out that cut flowers is a “US$1.3-1.5 billion industry in the GCC, 99% of it is offline, and the market is very fragmented with no local or regional dominant players.” The founder and CEO saw the need to provide the consumer with a wide variety of high-quality flowers, bundled with different accessories, brought to the consumer in an easy and convenient way, using the app or the website.

The first phase of the business involved setting up the infrastructure by making sure that the Floward team had access to the best farmers and growers around the world and at the best prices, while also sorting out shipments and logistics, finding local partners for the accessories to bundle their flowers with (chocolates, cakes, perfumes, etc.), developing a user-friendly and smooth experience of viewing their products on the app and website, and finally, managing the last-mile delivery to ensure the best user experience. Next, the startup focused on validating its market size assumptions starting with Kuwait, as the goal was to be the preferred

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online flowers destination in Kuwait within 12 months. The ensuing phase was about regionalizing the business- which was a success as well. Besides Kuwait, Floward has since launched operations in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and the UK. Feedback has been positive, as per the company’s peer reviews, with Al Loughani noting that within 12 months, the company has had the highest growth rate compared to its competition, and the highest retention figures as well. The secret? Al Loughani says it’s all because they have full control of the supply

Floward /

“ We’re no different than this statement: fortune favors the prepared.” penetration has doubled. “We’re no different than this statement: fortune favors the prepared.” Lockdowns across cities drove revenue down to zero overnight, but their established markets proved to be an advantage. The company had seven fulfillment centers servicing nine cities in over five countries, which gave it the upper hand to work in other centers when others were closed. In fact, Al Loughani believes that the startup was well positioned for the pandemic, as it was a full-fledged e-commerce platform in the flowers gifting vertical market, and so it had full control over supply chain and quality of service.

The COVID-19 crisis did cause an interruption in

chain of flowers (which are purchased around the world) and they receive shipments twice a week. They also have their own workshop where florists arrange the best bouquets, which their designer team presents on the website as well. Like with any other business, the COVID-19 crisis has also affected Floward. “At the beginning, there was a lot of uncertainty on how demand will look like, what business/safety/financial implications would it have on us,” Al Loughani recalls.

To combat this uncertainty, the startup took major cost-cutting initiatives and asset-liability management measures. Though market size has shrunk, Al Loughani notes that e-commerce

terms of flowers supply, but Al Loughani and his team managed to switch the enterprise’s modus operandi from wholesale purchasing to direct sourcing of farmers and growers around the world. Plus, having a wide variety of product assortments, such as flowers, accessories, and gifts, helped the enterprise, with Floward’s business model enabling it to thrive on its unit economics and customer experience. In fact, it's worth noting that amidst the pandemic, the startup achieved a milestone. In October 2020, Floward announced that it had secured a $2.75 million funding, led by Saudi Arabiabased Impact46 fund, with the participation of Faith Capital, BNK Capital, and other regional companies. A statement from the company notes that Floward was thus able to raise close to $7 million in total funds, with its current net revenue pegged at over $30 million. “You’re as big as what your vision is,” Al Loughani says, “The COVID-19 crisis has impacted e-commerce penetration positively in many verticals around the world- the flowers vertical was one of them, and we fully took advantage of that during these hard times.”

In terms of the future, the team at Floward is aiming to achieve operational efficiency with the enterprise. Al Loughani explains that he and his team are focused on horizontally expanding their business model to be the preferred online flowers and gifts destination regionally in two years, and then perhaps looking at possible vertical integrations on their supply chain, or consolidation through M&A. Looking back at what has primarily been a tumultuous period for businesses around the world, Al Loughani notes that it offers quite a few crucial lessons that entrepreneurs need to take to heart. “Take bold decisions, don’t be shy,” he declares.

“Shorten your learning curve. Culture should be by design, not by chance. Every decision you make should affect your three-year goals, not end-of-month goals.”

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→ HAMAD ALROUMI, co-founder and CEO

PHINESTS /phinests.com /

L

aunched in April 2019, Phinests is an online platform that helps connect the creative economy and media professionals to their customers -whether it’s media agencies or businesses- in an accessible and convenient way. The platform gives access to local talent and experts specializing in photography, website and application design, copywriting, TV commercials, videography, illustrations, marketing, social media content, branding, graphic design, animation, and voiceovers. It also features cloud-based scheduling as an easy way to schedule meetings with professionals, in addition to allowing users to start projects, transfer files and make secure payments.

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The co-founders Hamad Alroumi, Sara AlRabiah, and Hamad AlGhanim wanted to highlight the work of talented local freelancers in Kuwait, and connect them with businesses looking for creative service providers. The team started with a minimum viable product to validate the idea before launching a website. Acording to Alroumi, Phinests’ website was designed wherein “the creative’s portfolio is showcased for the purpose of being contacted by business owners with specific needs, as it provides business owners with what they can expect from working with such professionals.”

Phinests /

The startup is driven by the mission to simplify the process of matching talent with businesses, provide career opportunities to individuals offering creative services and raise awareness of opportunities in the market for creatives.

Alroumi also says, “Professionals [in the creative field] are extremely busy creating valuable content for their clients. This results in failure to advertise their own work directly to prospective clients- signifying the importance of having a platform where they can be recognized for the work they have done and use that to attract new clients.”

“ Phinests was the perfect solution for many business owners, who were able to procure creative talent, while being restricted to their homes due to the lockdowns.”

Initially, some found that the website had too many steps to reach the desired service on their platform. The team remedied the issue quickly. They simplified the process of contacting a service provider by creating a project page for both parties to send messages, exchange files, and pay through the platform. And the feedback for the platform has been favorable- Alroumi says that businesses point out how Phinests has helped avoid the hassle of going through the tedious search-and-filter process, allowing them a convenience of being able to look for all their needs in one place.

The startup hasn’t been immune from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Alroumi states that they’ve experienced various challenges from operational restrictions due to imposed lockdowns, it hasn’t deterred the team from pushing ahead with their long-term plans. As a result, the Phinests team launched an application to go along with the existing website, providing a new avenue wherein business owners can work with local freelancers and agencies. Besides that, to help creatives with diminished income, the team sought to promote local freelancers and agencies, and thus, decided to offer free subscriptions on the platform to provide creatives with more opportunities for income. Alroumi notes that the pandemic showcased the startup’s USP too.

“Although the pandemic imposed many challenges, it also showed

the power of digital communication,” he says. “Being a digital platform, which connects business owners with creatives, Phinests was the perfect solution for many business owners, who were able to procure creative talent, while being restricted to their homes due to the lockdowns.”

The entrepreneur is keen to abide by the vital lessons he’s had during the pandemic- namely, the significance of being resilient. “Forecasts and plans can all go to waste when something as unpredictable as a pandemic occurs,” Alroumi says.

“In such situations, the resiliency of a company enables flexibility, which in effect, [allows] the company to navigate through difficult situations and make the most [out] of them.” He also adds, “Although 2020 created issues that needed quick, short-term solutions, a company should still take the long-term [strategy] into consideration. Understanding the new working conditions and having the ability to adapt to these conditions will be a deciding factor in a company’s success.” On to future opportunities, Alroumi says, “With the Kuwaiti market lacking a digital directory of professional service providers, our platform makes the process of looking for professionals, comparing their work and seeing who matches their business, the most extremely easy.” With the mission of Phinests becoming a one-stop-shop for all business requirements, the team aims to increase the number of services available on the platform. “Kuwait provides several opportunities for software-as-a-service companies to thrive,” Alroumi says. “The market provides several opportunities to improve and simplify processes.”

“

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW WORKING CONDITIONS AND HAVING THE ABILITY TO ADAPT TO THESE CONDITIONS WILL BE A DECIDING FACTOR IN A COMPANY’S SUCCESS.

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

COFE /cofeapp.com /

A

li Al Ebrahim, founder and CEO of COFE, a coffee-centric marketplace app conceptualized in Kuwait and developed in Silicon Valley for coffee communities around the world, is a firm believer that “every challenge is also an opportunity.”

To start with, he saw a startup opportunity even in the challenging and over-crowded coffee industry. “The coffee marketplace offers a multi-billion dollar growth opportunity,” Al Ebrahim replies. “With the coffee share of beverage growing by 5.5% per annum, that makes the coffee market the second most lucrative commodity market after oil. Specialty coffee shops alone have shown a 60% growth rate in recent years. Some of the biggest deals to be signed involve the acquisition of coffee-centric companies, like the deals for Keurig (US$13.9 billion), Einstein Bros ($1.35 billion), Costa Coffee ($5.1 billion) and Pret-A-Manger ($2 billion), to name a few.”

Those working in the coffee industry will find the COFE app particularly interesting as the COFE marketplace gives them quick access to a wide range of independent and coffee franchise vendors through multiple concierge service options, while also enabling them to order and pay online. In fact, the entire selection and purchasing process takes place in the app. Since its beta launch in February 2018 in Kuwait, it has been the COFE

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→ ALI AL EBRAHIM, founder and CEO

team’s intention to digitize the coffee marketplace. “It’s been a task we have succeeded with in Kuwait, and are now in the process of extending to other markets, starting with the UAE and KSA, before launching in London,” says Al Ebrahim. “COFE’s expansion efforts are a way for us to take this integration of everything coffee-related on a digital platform, to the global market.”

So, how has the COFE team planned to capitalize

in this particular sector? “While there are marketplace apps for almost all industries; hospitality (Airbnb, Booking.com), food delivery (Deliveroo, Talabat), travel (Expedia, Priceline), there is a lack of a coffee marketplace app in the market,” Al Ebrahim notes.

Looking at the current trend in the mobile application industry in particular, the Starbucks app in 2018 had 23.4 million mobile paying users, ranking above Apple Pay (22 million users) and Google Pay (11.1 million users). Even regionally, there have been some major deals within the mobile application industry, like Uber-Careem ($3.1 billion) and Talabat-Rocket Internet ($170 million). Given this data, both the coffee market and the mobile application industries are showing phenomenal growth rates, and thus, the COFE app.”

“ This time also proved the need to hire multi-talented staff, instead of sticking people into silos.”

Cofe /

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, but Al Ebrahim saw an opportunity in it too, specifically for online platforms such as the COFE app. “With COVID-19, where every kind of business and the global economy took a hit, the coffee business was no exception,” Al Ebrahim says. .

“With the initial regulations that led to the closure of coffee shops to the complete lockdowns, coffee businesses had to struggle with continuity, and in many cases, just staying afloat.

However, with stores only being able to offer delivery or pick-up, an application like COFE became quintessential to the coffee shops.”

He explains that, with the growing preference for contactless transactions, the COFE app found itself in the unique position where users could order, customize, and pay for their coffee, without ever having to enter a store, or physically touch a cash point. “This was also a phase where the reluctance shown earlier by bigger brands started to reduce, given that every single business was looking to add an additional revenue stream,” Al Ebrahim adds. “Brands that had only signed up for specific premium services began to increase their service offerings in order to attract more customers.”

In addition, the COFE team also saw a steady growth in the number of vendors on their platform, as well as new first-time users. “The momentum gathered by online platforms during COVID-19 has also shown traditional businesses the value of an online presence,” Al Ebrahim adds. “We have always insisted that the COFE app is an online

“

THIS WAS ALSO A PHASE WHERE THE RELUCTANCE SHOWN EARLIER BY BIGGER BRANDS STARTED TO REDUCE, GIVEN THAT EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS WAS LOOKING TO ADD AN ADDITIONAL REVENUE STREAM.

partner, and not a competitor.”

In a sense, Al Ebrahim continues, the COVID-19 crisis also gave his team the luxury of time to double down on their tech and maintenance, as they geared to scale to different markets. “Did COVID-19 slow things down? Yes. But most smart businesses used this slump to prepare to soar even higher, as the pandemic restrictions began to lift, and life started to resemble some kind of normalcy,” he notes.

Therefore, Al Ebrahim’s key lessons from 2020 was that the impact of COVID-19 showed to the world the importance of being able to adapt quickly. “In the case of startups especially, the need to readjust your sails and to be able to reallocate resources has become ever-so-important,” he

says. “This time also proved the need to hire multi-talented staff, instead of sticking people into silos. With COFE especially, it was a learning experience for all of us, with all hands on deck, everyone was doing everything.” With this being the case, Al Ebrahim is now looking forward to the future. “We’re looking into adding more alternate revenue streams through new features and services,” Al Ebrahim concludes. “Like I mentioned before, every challenge is an opportunity. I feel that COFE will come out on the other side stronger. The last recession in 2008 gave us companies like Airbnb, WhatsApp, and Uber, as people's interest in looking for complementary business models increased. The 2003 SARS outbreak catapulted Alibaba to the forefront because

traditional businesses saw the value in going online. Hopefully at the end of this, COFE will come out as the Alibaba for the coffee market, as there is no other marketplace app for this $150+ billion industry.”

→ The COFE app team

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MYNUTRIBOX F /mynutribox.com /

→ NOORA AL ASKAR, founder and CEO

“ In 2017, she won the Zain Great Idea competition, and MyNutribox ended up getting selected to be a startup in residence at an accelerator in Silicon Valley.”

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ounded in 2018 by Noora Al Askar, MyNutribox is a health and wellness platform that acts as a “virtual pocket nutritionist” that is personalized to the individual’s nutritional needs and health goals. With a mission to help the Arab world live healthier lives, the platform also gives users access to a network of global experts who can offer personalized diet plans, virtual nutrition consultations, and product recommendations in order to help them make informed choices towards healthy living. With its algorithm, the app sends healthy habit modification taps and reminders to personalize a user’s journey.

Al Askar is a US certified clinical nutritionist, with an aptitude for entrepreneurship. She obtained her BSc in Human Genetics from the University of Leeds, and then moved on to obtain her MSc in clinical nutrition, with research in the area of obesity prevention and management. She then went ahead with PhD level research in human nutrition, focusing on obesity management in young adults. Her journey to entrepreneurship was ignited when, at the age of 23, she built the clinical nutrition department at a top private hospital in Kuwait (which got accredited by the Joint Commission International), and turned it into a top operating profit center.

MyNutribox /

In 2013, Al Askar also co-founded and managed a holistic juice company, and later entered the Idea Track of the MITEF Startup competition with MyNutribox, which was just an idea on paper (and with a different name too) at the time. It was inspired by her patients at the clinic and the consistent pain points she was witnessing in them. The idea was then selected as one of the top finalists, after which, they also became finalists for the Health Innovation Challenge for the FIFA 2022 World Cup. In 2016, she resigned from her position as Director of Nutrition at a hospital, and began her journey to becoming a tech entrepreneur.

Al Askar notes that she was also inspired from her brother Khalid Al Askar and cousin Mohammed Jaffar (who built the online food delivery platform Talabat), and she spent days learning and absorbing information from them on social media, sales, marketing, and product development. After researching extensively and talking to various developers and engineers, she built her core team and began actual development of the iOS platform. In 2017, she won the Zain Great Idea competition, and MyNutribox ended up getting selected to be a startup in residence at an accelerator in Silicon Valley.

After licensing the company, hiring a strong core operations team, and creating operational systems and process, Al Askar says that it was the seed program at Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa) in May 2019 that gave her company a boost. It was through this program that she and her team fine-tuned the customer journey and value proposition of the enterprise.

The MyNutribox team had planned that 2020 would be their year of growth, with a three-month campaign mapped out and set to launch in March 2020. But the COVID-19 crisis put all plans on hold, with Al Askar having to deal with the uncertainty as a self-funded startup. “We were counting on our huge ‘on the ground’ campaign to acquire customers, gain steady traction, and raise our first VC-led seed round at a healthy valuation,” she says.

TREP TALK Noora Al Askar, founder and CEO, MyNutribox

What are some of the crucial lessons you’ve learned from 2020 that you are taking with you to guide both yourself and your business going forward?

1. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE “Always have faith, resilience, and be optimistic. I am a firm believer that there is always a silver lining in any situation. As founders and CEOs, we must find it, communicate it to our team, and then move forward as a business. A great responsibility lies on our shoulders, so no matter how we may feel on the inside, we have to be solid, have grit, and be able to lead and support our team during this crisis.”

2. EMBRACE CHANGE “Believe in yourself and be brave- you’ve reached this far! If life throws a curveball, find out how to turn that challenge into an opportunity for your business.

Always have a plan, strategy, and system in place. You can keep the same vision and end game in mind but be adaptable with how you’re going to get there.”

3. FORGET THE BELLS AND WHISTLES “Focus on what matters: customer happiness, creating a community, growing your startup, and generating a consistent steady revenue stream. If you can do that working from home or a coworking space, then do so! You don’t need that amazing sea view

office with floor to ceiling windows- that rent can be used for a more useful purpose, such as digital marketing, for example.”

4. DON’T OVERTHINK “Focus on agility and swift decisions. Analyze the situation properly, find a solution, and make a quick decision to move forward and execute. Wasted time is lost revenue.”

5. ITERATE AND PIVOT “Don’t be afraid of iterating your business model and revisiting your value proposition. We gladly did. Crisis often accelerates outcomes and forces us to change course and make quick decisions. Most of the time, this leads to untapped opportunities for your business that you may have overlooked! Be creative with the way you generate revenue.”

6. MAINTAIN TEAM RELATIONSHIPS “Learn to become more productive with a remote, active team. Have a work process in place, be organized and efficient, check in with your team, have a daily or biweekly virtual team huddle.

This will give the team a sense of reassurance, stability, accountability and direction.”

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Al Askar says MyNutribox plans to “become a growth machine and enhance our entire customer experience and business process through behavioral science, automation and machine learning.”

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But she and her team buckled down and pivoted its business model to adjust to its new surroundings. “From being a to-sided marketplace to a Software-as-a-Service subscriptionmodel, MyNutribox now utilizes both machine learning and human coaching to help people in the Arab world lose weight and become empowered to live a healthy life, by creating habits and behavior change,” she explains. “The pandemic allowed us to focus on our product and technology, and we’ve changed the way we operate at MyNutribox, becoming lean and efficient.”

On another note, Al Askar says that the COVID-19 crisis gave her and her team an opportunity to step back from the daily hustle, and reflect on their journey to realize a healthy balance of grit and grace.” In a way, the pandemic has positively impacted the business, says Al Askar. “We understood our business better, the market better, and identified the strengths and weaknesses in our previous business model.” As a result, the team examined their USP, and began the process of tweaking their product and enhancing their tech.

“How would we generate revenue now that our plans have changed? This is where our crisis creativity kicked in, and we created interactive scalable

community wellness programs and health initiatives,” she remembers.

At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the team partnered with Boubyan Bank, a leading youth driven bank in Kuwait, to create an interactive evidence-based 14-day Immunity Program. With the program, MyNutribox was able to help 500 individuals and their families fortify their immunity against the COVID-19 virus, and the startup has since also introduced the program's second phase. They also introduced the MyNutribox Wellness Challenge to help and empower individuals to stay healthy, while fostering a community.

Its results were remarkable, Al Askar says since her startup was able to help more than 95 individuals collectively lose 400kg of weight.

As for the startup’s future plans, Al Askar says MyNutribox plans to “become a growth machine and enhance our entire customer experience and business process through behavioral science, automation and machine learning.” At the end of the day though, Al Askar aims to make MyNutribox the go-to nutrition and weight loss platform in MENA region that delivers results and truly helps people transform their lives.

Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

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FESTIVITY /festivity.com.kw /

F

estivity was launched in 2015

by Nasser AlTowaijri and his partner Abdulwahab AlOthman to make event planning simple and convenient by gathering all services related to events, ranging from private occasions, family gatherings, birthday parties, to wedding ceremonies, on a singular online platform. The co-founders got the idea when they hosted a dinner reception for a mutual friend and realized the need for a digital solution to find and book options for everything from catering and entertainment, to valet parking, and even to heaters. At the time, there was nothing like this available in Kuwait, and after conducting research and financial and technical analysis, the cofounders went on to debut this premier marketplace delivering event and gathering services.

→ Festivity co-founders NASSER ALTOWAIJRI and ABDULWAHAB ALOTHMAN

“

PERSONALLY, I’D SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITIES IN THE B2B SECTOR. MY ADVICE WOULD BE TO RESEARCH THE MARKET PRECISELY, AND FIGHT ANY KIND OF DESPAIR DURING THE [ENTREPRENEURIAL] JOURNEY.

The result? AlTowaijri credits Kuwait’s young and eager market space that made entering the events sector favorable for their startup.

Compared to most traditional event planning offerings, Festivity presented a fresh approach by offering transparency in pricing and a variety of payment options all in one platform. But the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 brought with it a lesson on flexibility for the startup. “Festivity is all about letting people to gather, socialize, and enjoy their celebrations together, and clearly 2020 was sponsored by ‘social distancing’, so that was the main challenge,” AlTowaijri says. “However, we have collaborated with many vendors to customize ‘enjoy staying home’

items, including arts and crafts, DIY meals, games and puzzles, as well as to show the disinfecting process that was being done on trampolines and rentable items.”

With the aim to become the go-to online platform for anyone planning an event, AlTowaijri says he and his team at Festivity are aiming for geographical expansion in the foreseeable future, alongside realizing growth targets and the use of advanced technologies. When asked for his tips for fellow entrepreneurs, AlTowaijri replies, “Personally, I’d search for opportunities in the B2B sector. My advice would be to research the market precisely, and fight any kind of despair during the [entrepreneurial] journey.”

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ROADZ /roadzint.com /

F

ounded in 2019 by Sager Hamad Al Sager and Khaled Alamhouj, Roadz International is a Kuwaiti startup that offers appbased on-demand automotive services. Available on iOS and Android devices, it provides roadside assistance and services such as towing, spare tire change, locked cars, jumpstarting batteries, and fuel delivery, as well as immediate mechanical service in the case of emergencies. With the click of a button, it enables a client to locate his/her address on the app and then request any of the available services.

For co-founder and Managing Director Al Sager, it was a combination of his own experience with requesting roadside assistance in the past, as well as the general observation of how this was a common issue that people in the automobile sector faced, that sparked the idea to create Roadz. Along with close friends who agreed to be subjects of the primary market study, Al Sager and Alamhouji conducted surveys on common roadside struggles faced by drivers. The results showed three main ones: irregular prices amongst automotive service providers, the hassle of searching for help and finding the closest towing service to one’s location, and the

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communication hurdles that come with this process, since it involves negotiating with companies, giving directions, and explaining car troubles.

With these insights in mind, the aim was to develop a platform for a seamless user experience journey, create a premier customer service process, and to then grow a customer base along with increasing brand awareness. The platform was introduced on a subscription basis that is applicable for one year, wherein customers can request services across Kuwait anytime. But Al Sager admits that the startup’s offerings were initially met with some dubious concerns from the customers.

“In the beginning, people were confused, and there was a resistance to absorb the idea,” he explains. “We were receiving the same questions from different customers regarding how the app works, and if the services were indeed unlimited for a whole year.

But this was expected, and so we invested our time to educate the

Roadz /

→ Co-founders SAGER AL SAGER and KHALED ALAMHOUJ

“ We were receiving the same questions from different customers regarding how the app works, and if the services were indeed unlimited for a whole year.”

audience about Roadz and the application through multiple channels, such as social media, emails, and personal conversation. This stage took about three months, but the customers eventually became familiar with our startup’s concept.”

For those unfamiliar with the business proposition, the team also did a special campaign showcasing the startup’s offerings and distinct customer service. “You must be adaptive and react fast to change policies or procedures, if

required,” says Al Sager. “We reacted to change the audience’s perception and provided clients with a 50% discount on our services in order for them to try and see the quality of delivery of service, and in turn gain the customer’s trust.”

But the COVID-19 crisis presented a problem that no one at Roadz had even remotely anticipated- a national lockdown. A lockdown obviously entailed that a majority of the Kuwaiti

population were no longer allowed to take their cars out for a drive. This could’ve potentially put a permanent dent on Roadz’s operations, but Al Sager says the team managed to regroup and find new ways to deal with the situation.

“The lockdown curfew was a disaster for most small businesses, and it affected us as well,” he says. “With a limited time to go out and no need for roadside assistance, why would anyone subscribe to Roadz?

But we worked on our

marketing tactics to sell our subscriptions, and heavily invested in social media. Since the rate of views for social media spiked during the pandemic, and the prices of the marketing via social media dropped due to it, we took advantage of the situation and invested in engaging with multiple influencers. Through them, we were able to display the irresistible prices to subscribe with Roadz’s roadside assistance for one year, and we feel this was a fruitful move.”

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The team also decided to outsource areas in marketing and IT when they couldn’t hire anyone during the lockdown period. “In addition, we restructured the customer process to reduce the load through better delegation of tasks and responsibilities. The result of rebuilding our internal operations was a lean process and ensured that we were less stressed.”

According to Al Sager, such measures are necessary for a market as saturated as Kuwait’s. “Kuwait is a small market, which is a double-edged sword, where you can grow fast and be very known, but at the same time your idea will be replicated in a short time,” he explains. “We did our SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, evaluated our opportunities and threats, and translated them into goals. This step helped us to take certain actions and decisions towards the business, and where it is going.”

When asked what his biggest lessons over the course of his entrepreneurial journey are, Al Sager’s responses remain vividly customer-centric. “Customers are your assets and your reputation- taking care of your customers is taking care of your business,” he says. As businesses continue to

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grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, Al Sager advises fellow entrepreneurs to find multiple sales channels, while also decreasing fixed costs, getting rid of fixed assets that aren’t generating income, and investing with more cost-effective marketing. “Keeping your name out into the market during the pandemic reminds the customer that you are there,” he notes.

Notably, this also aligns with Al Sager’s future goals for the business: the team plans to go beyond roadside assistance services, by aiming to “grow vertically, and diversify the products and services based on the market’s requirements, with new features that will be launched to cater the market’s needs.”

“ Grow vertically, and diversify the products and services based on the market’s requirements, with new features that will be launched to cater the market’s needs.”

Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

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RICOFFEECHARD’ S BAR /richardscoffee.shop /

I

t was an idea that Jarrah B. M. Albuloushi got during a 2015 trip to Belgium that related to the branding and identity of his future business (the future Richard's Coffee Bar), and later on inspired him to train in the art of coffee making and specialty coffee in Berlin, Germany. In 2016, he returned to Kuwait and started building up the Richard's Coffee Bar brand by launching with its first Richard’s Coffee 90-day pop-up.

The concept proved to be successful, and Albuloushi went on to collaborate with Elevation Burger for the second pop-up of his new business. Fresh from that momentum, Albuloushi says, he found the perfect spot for Richard’s Coffee to operate as a storefront. Gradually, he fully

→ JARRAH B. M. ALBULOUSHI,

founder and CEO

developed the strategy for the brand that would center on coffee, culture, and community.

The capital from the pop-ups became a source of funds for a small seed round for the enterprise, with Albuloushi focusing the Richard’s Coffee brand not only on providing coffee, but also on bringing communities together through the inclusion of artists, streetwear designers, and other similar startup endeavors.

Today, the raw specialty coffee bar provides an array of coffee choices, and supplies coffee as a roastery to more than 27 shops in Kuwait, Dubai, and Turkey. The brand’s business model is based on a B2B and direct-to-consumer (D2C) basis, wherein the brand supplies coffee beans from their roastery to coffee shops. The company has also built a partnership with the Port of Mokha.

As an entrepreneurial team, Albuloushi notes that a lesson they have come to learn

in business is listening to and taking in the feedback of their customers. For instance, when a customer once commented on not liking the acidic taste in their coffee, this prompted them to consider letting customers try out coffee before actually serving a full cup, and even offer “coffee cupping” (i.e. coffee tasting) in the roastery.

While the startup had already raised a Series A round in 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic could’ve still posed a potential threat. But Albuloushi says that the year couldn’t have gone better due to his quick decision-making. “We actually did amazing during 2020 by focusing on selling online,” he says. “We closed our coffee shop and started catering to what the customers needed at the time. The main challenge in Kuwait was logistics, but my partner Bader and I made a lot of deliveries ourselves just to make ends meet. In the end, a lot of targets we had set for the year were reached. In fact, I love 2020!”

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THE WISHLIST /shop-twl.com /

A

vailable as an application for iOS and Android devices, The Wishlist is a Kuwait-based fashion e-commerce platform that provides luxury designer items at affordable prices. It offers a wide selection of clothes, beauty products, shoes, bags and accessories for women and kids. Founded in 2019 by Fahad Albaghli, the startup aims to showcase an avenue for retailers, brands, and customers with a 360-degree approach from warehousing and operations, to marketing and delivery, and providing customers with a variety of high-quality fashionable items from wellknown international brands at affordable prices. The co-founder and CEO -who’s had a wide range of experience in the finance and banking industry- says that the enterprise's goal is to create a positive impact on the lifecycle of the retailer’s inventory, by helping to eliminate the burden of disposing slow-moving inventory and avoid associated logistical costs, while offering a variety of fashion and beauty products to customers.

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→ FAHAD

ALBAGHLI, co-founder and CEO

The wishlist /

The Wishlist started as a marketplace to sell and promote off-season and off-priced fashion products on a consignment basis. It then pivoted to a platform for stylish and affordable pieces (whether off-season or new) and has since extended its offerings to include beauty and lifestyle products.

Albaghli notes that while they did initially receive some negative comments about the user interface and experience, he and his team took them into consideration, and they have since gone on to receive positive and encouraging feedback. For its business model, the startup started with commission income from products sold on a consignment basis. It has now diversified to include profit from selling the startup’s own inventory, as well as revenue from third-party logistics division. In the future, the team plans to scale up its operations, and ultimately be the most prominent fashion and beauty e-commerce platform in the region. The team is also keen to grow their third-party logistics

In the future, the team plans to scale up its operations, and ultimately be the most prominent fashion and beauty e-commerce platform in the region.

division by targeting different client segments including home businesses, e-commerce startups and traditional brick and mortar retailers.

With the outset of the global coronavirus pandemic, as lockdowns and mandated curfews proved to be a challenge, the team outsourced a big number of its logistics staff to companies that were licensed to work during the lockdown. The team adjusted to remote work, with things like photoshoots happening at staff residences. They also noticed a spike on a few products, with Albaghli saying, “We had to rebalance our product offerings and added items that are in high demand during COVID-19, including loungewear, activewear, beauty products, and fitness equipment, and significantly reduced the number of items in some categories like eveningwear and jewelry.” As for the road ahead, Albaghli remains optimistic and advises his fellow entrepreneurs to keep an eye out for opportunities, especially in the fintech and edtech domains.

According to him, startups need to concentrate on just two key facets: “One, focus on building a great product or service, but don’t take forever to launch. And two, focus on building a team that shares the same vision. Great people make a great company!”

TREP TALK

Fahad Albaghli, co-founder and CEO, The Wishlist Given the hardships of the COVID-19 crisis, what are the key lessons you’re taking with you to guide both yourself and your business going forward?

1. BE AGILE “Demonstrate adaptability and flexibility to ensure that we do the necessary changes to keep growing as a company.”

2. SEEK POTENTIAL MARKETS “Look for opportunities amidst any crisis. The COVID-19 crisis opened up opportunities for new solutions and products and we made sure to capitalize on those opportunities and think of more creative ways to do business.”

3. FOCUS ON YOUR CUSTOMERS “Be honest and listen to what the customers actually need and want and be flexible. This is not the time to be married to your one-and-only business model.”

4. STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES “Most importantly, always remind yourselves to have compassion and to stay positive.”

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT → Co-founder

TARFA AL FARHAN

SOUFFLE BEAUTY /soufflebeauty.com /

F

ounded in 2017 by Tarfa Al Farhan and Minnie Ang, Souffle Beauty was born out of the duo’s curiosity for personalized skincare, especially formulated for people living in hot and humid climates such as the Middle East or South East Asia. The duo met in university and went on to gain experience in various industries, such as hospitality, tech, and international trade relations, and they ended up reconnecting on shared beliefs and values on personalized skincare. With Al Farhan in Kuwait and Ang in Singapore, the co-founders wondered about the possibility of a skincare range that can be personalized to the climate one is living in. “It started with us struggling to find the right skincare range, suitable for perpetually hot weather we were living in, and [our] active lifestyle,” says Al Farhan. “We wanted something light, potent, and effective that can be used on daily basis. We were aiming to provide a skincare routine that does not require much time or effort, since our target market are those who are on the go.”

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Souffle Beauty /

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

→ Co-founder MINNIE ANG

“

Once they formulated their hypothesis and the problem they aimed to tackle, the co-founders surveyed their friends and acquaintances to understand if adjusting skincare to the climate one is living in is a factor they consider important. After validating this, they started forming their target markets. Since the skincare range was formulated for hot and humid climates, they decided to focus on the Middle East and South East Asia, with the objective of proving that skincare routines should be adaptable to the environment. The team focused on creating a formula free from alcohol and parabens, as well packed with probiotic, antioxidant and rose ingredients. It has since been certified as a cruelty-free brand by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with its products made in Singapore under regulatory guidelines and in a good manufacturing practice (GMP) lab.

From the inception stage, much like any other startup, the duo said they focused on adapting and learning from mistakes to build up their enterprise. “We sometimes cast our net wide, at the expense of our resources, but all in the interest of learning more about our customers and key partners.

No matter how calculated our moves are and how lean our team is, mistakes are still part of the game, especially for someone new to the industry. We were learning and studying ingredients, analyzing competitors, selecting key partners, and looking at key indicators which would indicate a specific territory to be of high interest to expand into next.” And they’re seeing the fruit of their efforts- they have been able to focus on markets and customer segments that are a fit for their brand, and the startup is all set to expand further.

Though the company started off in Singapore, they decided to set up another office in Kuwait to fulfill the demand of Middle East orders. Al Farhan says a benefit from being operational in two countries is being able to learn from each other and implement new ideas in either location—for instance, processes or tactics that worked in Singapore were put to use in Kuwait too. Ang

“ We can learn from our community of different cultures, and share the learnings with everyone.”

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Souffle Beauty /

TREP TALK Tarfa Al Farhan and Minnie Ang, co-founders, Souffle Beauty What are some of the opportunities that you see available in the Kuwaiti market today, and what would be your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

points out that one of the other advantages is being able to expand the brand’s customer base and community.

“We can learn from our community of different cultures, and share the learnings with everyone,” says Ang. The challenge, however, lies in shipping internationally and regulations, as well as logistical processes that can sometimes be painful to deal with, which the co-founders manage by understanding the processes better and shipping in bulk to reduce future costs.

Currently, Souffle Beauty is retailing in Kuwait, UAE, Singapore, and Philippines, and they ship around the world through the website. The startup has a number of strategic partners too: in Kuwait, it has partnered with names like Brandatt, Vavavoom, Amavi, Urban Point, and Zay, , while in Singapore, it has teamed up with Watsons, Naiise, Airport Pharmacy at Changi Airport, and other local marketplaces, and in Philippines, it has tied up with e-commerce beauty marketplace platform BeautyMNL. But with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the company had to

pivot its predominantly retail-based strategy and focus more on its online efforts. With stores being closed down and the disruption of cross-border deliveries in some regions, the entrepreneurs made use of the website and social media channels to make announcements and share business information, as well as continue their customer activation efforts online.

The co-founders had to get creative and hands-on, with Al Farhan taking the initiative to conduct deliveries herself with available drivers in Kuwait, as there was a limited time for deliveries with set curfews in place.

“During the curfew hours, we created a schedule in between non-curfew hours to deliver to our customers; therefore, the customer can see which slot would be a better time, and since it was a pandemic, people were actually sympathetic in regard to this matter,” Al Farhan remembers. In terms of production and shipping, being fully stocked in two regions (Kuwait and Singapore) gave the team the opportunity to penetrate the two countries better. With the goal of being pioneers of probiotic skincare in product

“Kuwait has a reputation for innovative local entrepreneurs. It is a small country; therefore, it’s easier to start and expand into other GCC nations. There are many opportunities out there if you find your niche and target audience to cater to. The purchasing power is high in the GCC region, which allows people to be more adventurous in testing new products. Our main advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to never give up. There will always be humps along the way– but with a strong will, anything can happen.”

development, they also managed to successfully launch two new products (a face mask and a gel cleanser) amid the global pandemic.

Looking back, the duo emphasize the importance of being flexible with your business model to get through any kind of crisis. “Always be ready, and never hesitate to pivot your current strategy. The market is a volatile place now, and we need to do our best to adapt to the current situation,” Ang notes. “Your previous strategy may have been perfect to execute pre COVID-19, but it is not wrong to look back and change your direction to get to your end goal. In times like these, it is also important to try living a balanced life to keep yourself centered. Work hard, eat well, sleep enough. Keep fine-tuning your strategy for your business as you work, until you find something that works.”

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SAND FORGE GAMES

→ KHALED ALROUMI, founder and CEO

/sandforge.net /

M

obile game development company Sand Forge Games’ co-founder and CEO Khaled Alroumi doesn’t mince his words when asked to recount the experience of running a business through the COVID-19 crisis.

“We are a digital company, but we are also a creative one, and it’s very hard to work on a creative endeavor while you are not sure about what could happen to the world or your country in the next few months,” he says.

Founded in 2018 with the help of the Kuwait National Fund for SME Development, Sand Forge Games was launched by Alroumi and Josep Maria Calull with an aim to create unforgettable gaming experiences by offering accessible strategy games that focus on deep strategic play.

But despite the many setbacks posed by the COVID-19 crisis, Alroumi and his team have remained passionate about surging Sand Forge Games’ global outreach

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in the free-to-play mobile game market.

“Given that most of our employees work remotely, the lockdowns that were put in place in various countries at different times did not have as much impact on digital industries like ours as it did for others,” explains Alroumi. “But our biggest challenge has been dealing with uncertainty about our future. We have managed to overcome that by staying relentlessly positive. I promote a philosophy in my team that when it comes to problems over which

we have no control, it is better to consciously put them out of mind.” This level of positive focus in management appears to have served the startup well.

“We’ve learnt to never get too comfortable because that next challenge is right around the corner, and so is the next opportunity,” adds Alroumi. “For example, the wave of lockdowns meant that a lot more people worldwide were at home, looking for entertainment on their phones: that was something a business like ours had to be agile enough to take advantage of then and there.”

Alroumi notes that his startup operates in a fiercely competitive industry, and one where customer feedback can make or break a company- something the team learnt during the soft launch of their first game, WarFronts: Battle for Toria. “The Google Play Store and iOS App Store are a Darwinian/Hunger Games-style hunting ground!” he remarks. “We learnt this the hard way when we made our first tentative

Sand Forge Games /

steps into the world of free-to-play games, and got eaten alive. As a saturated market, players, perhaps inundated by badly-made games, seem to want to separate the good from the bad, and will do so ruthlessly through the democracy of reviewing systems on gaming platforms like Stream or Google Play Store. Your budget, the time you may have sunk into your masterpiece, the fact that this might be your first, fledgling effort as a developer: these things won’t matter to a player.”

With all these potential hurdles in mind, Alroumi says he and his team quickly learnt that to be a serious competitor, delivering top-tier quality was needed. “We focused on producing the best content we could, spending time and money getting the art, game mechanics and storytelling perfect,” he says. “We only started our soft launch when we thought we had something special to share.” But the pandemic brought its own share of new, unprecedented hurdles for Alroumi post the soft-launch. The aforementioned funding by Kuwait National Fund for SME Development is projected to only last until next year for the startup- an issue that led to anticipating new rounds of funding, something that can be nerve wrecking even when the pressures of a pandemic aren’t impending. But Alroumi reiterates that focusing too hard on the negatives can make it “all too easy to disappear down the rabbit hole”, and says it’s important for him and his team of developers to focus on the big picture.

Notably, the CEO repeatedly brings up employee wellbeing as an important factor that contributes to his startup’s performance. “Strong employee morale is also key

to overcoming obstacles; even small hindrances can have a disproportionate impact on companies that have fragile employee morale,” he elaborates. “Uncertainty has been our concern at Sand Forge.

We have managed this carefully by focusing on how we can maximize our productivity while remaining as detached as we can from things outside of our control, such as the COVID-19 crisis.”

When it comes to generating profit, Alroumi explains that there is a simple equation that needs to be kept in mind- but working on three operational aspects is what will propel the concept into reality. “Profit equals average sales per install, minus average marketing cost per install: once you manage to tip this equation into the positive, theoretically you will have a money printing machine and you can grow your game into millions of monthly installs in no time,” he explains.

In his opinion, there are three main areas developers, like his team at Sand Forge Games, need to keep in mind. Firstly, it is retention and loyalty. “If you can get players coming back to your game for months or even years on end, you have a heavily invested audience which means more daily views on your in-app purchasable items,” Alroumi says. Secondly, he continues, it is monetization. “It’s no good having a crowd of loyal customers if none of them ever buy any in-game content!” he explains. “You need to make each download have as high a yield as possible, without putting undue pressure on players, which always annoys them and

“ The wave of lockdowns meant that a lot more people worldwide were at home, looking for entertainment on their phones: that was something a business like ours had to be agile enough to take advantage of then and there.”

often results in them quitting altogether.”

The third point that Alroumi mentions is marketability. “Ultimately, how attractive is your game to potential players? What is it offering that others aren’t?” he says. “In the end, if you have something unique, that’s going to make it a whole lot easier to market- you’ll get more organic downloads and it’ll be cheaper to acquire users through performance marketing channels such as Facebook ads and Google ads.”

When asked what the pros and cons of setting up business in Kuwait are, Alroumi remains honest in his appraisal of the ecosystem. “I have experience of starting multiple businesses across the GCC countries, and I must admit that Kuwait is somewhat hampered by government bureaucracy,” he says. “This criticism springs from nothing but my support and ambition for Kuwait, and from my belief that the business environment here can and will improve.” He adds, however, that there are a lot of perks to starting a business in Kuwait, such as a generous government funding available to small businesses through the Kuwait National Fund and the Industrial Bank of Kuwait. “They both provide funding for entrepreneurs, for no equity stakes, minimal interest, and generous payback periods,” Alroumi says.

“On top of this, Kuwait companies do not pay business taxes. Commercial rent is relatively cheap, when compared to other GCC cities, such as Dubai. Utility expenses, like water and electricity, are almost non-existent, because they are subsidized by the government here. With all these advantages, Kuwait starts to look like a very attractive place for startups!”

Having soft launched their game in Google Play Store and the initial feedback for it looking promising, the Sand Forge Games team is now in the process of adding more features to the game, which they will push to reach benchmarks, and then release the game globally. In the meantime, Alroumi and team hope to entice investors to fund their ongoing and future projects, by presenting their soft launch metrics. In the long term, the team is planning to launch new titles in the same gaming universe they have created to develop a recognizable franchise. Onward and upward!

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SILVER LINE COMMUNITY /silverline.me /

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Silver Line Community /

→ Co-founder

WAKIM ZEIN

L

aunched during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Silverline Community is an online platform aimed at supporting creative and cultural professionals to connect across borders, and developing unique content such as talks, workshops, articles, and research. At the same time, through its partnership with the digital app Bernstein, the platform aims to provides a blockchain-based intellectual property tool to manage and prove the ownership of their work. Co-founded by Wakim Zeidan, Juliette Zeidan, Azza Elhassan, and Abdallah ElChami, Silverline Community is managed by Silverline Consultancy, which works with individuals, organizations and government entities with the mission of “improving the cultural and creative economic value of communities.”

As a company that was conceived during the coronavirus pandemic, right from the beginning, the partners agreed that the business should be fully digital and location-independent, with every process from registration and banking, to meetings and projects, be done online. The first challenge, says Zeidan, was finding the right jurisdiction that allows the management of a fully online company registration. After a thorough research, Estonia became their country of choice. “The only thing that required an offline interaction was the pick-up of the e-residency card from their embassy,” Zeidan explains.

“But once you had that card, everywhere was done online- from license issuance, power of attorney, bank account opening and bookkeeping.”

With each partner of the community situated in different locations (Lebanon, Egypt, and Kuwait), the team worked together in terms of managing the online community, and they also started taking on online consultancy projects from clients in different countries. Meetings were done over the Zoom communications platform, brainstorming sessions were done virtually with the aid of online whiteboard platform Miro, and work collaborations were done simultaneously using apps from the Google Workspace. The team also made use of the fintech company Wise for banking purposes, and bookkeeping is done by a certified online accounting firm in Estonia.

Besides its blockchain-based IP tool for creatives, the platform also currently holds an online master class on intellectual property management. It has also held an online event called the Resource Mobilization Digithon 2021 from May 26-27, 2021, with the purpose of connecting founders

and artists in the arts and culture sector for a virtual and interactive 24-hour event. Such digital events are a reiteration of Zeidan’s belief that that it’s the relationships that we build that will translate into real value for us and our work- even if those interactions happened solely on the internet. “You can have ‘close’ friends purely online, people that I never met in person at any single point in time,” he says. “I never thought would be possible, but this has proven to be true so far.”

Having launched and run a business over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Zeidan has a lot of stories to share with respect to his entrepreneurial journey. In April of last year, the entrepreneur had to close down his previous company called Nuqat, which was a social enterprise that specialized in holding community events to overcome social challenges and issues. Looking back, Zeidan says, “If your business offering is not able to pivot, you might as well just close it down. Closing down an existing company in my case, even if you had put your blood and sweat into it for many years, was a liberating feeling, and it allowed me to think with new perspectives, without being grounded to an existing mindset.”

Today, if his current enterprise is any indication, Zeidan is clearly embracing a forward-thinking approach when it comes to how he goes about running a business. “We need to keep an open mind to new technology, and be able to make it work for our benefit and not block it out,” he says. “Yes, the risks are there -from access to your private information, to being tracked- but eventually, everything in life has its pros and cons. We are at a stage in our life where we have the power to choose which of those technologies will serve us best and filter out the ones that are hurting us.”

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→ ABDULRAHMAN AL DUAIJ and ABDULAZIZ AL HOUQAL, co-founders and Managing Partners

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT & CONSULTING /hd-consulting.co /

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aunched in 2016 by Abdulrahman Al-Duaij and Abdulaziz Al-Houqal, Kuwait's Holistic Development And Consulting aims to help entrepreneurs to be aware of the importance of risk management and how investment decisions should be assessed. It sprang to life when the co-founders noticed that there was an opportunity gap between SMEs and advisory firms from a risk management perspective. Building upon a combined 20 years of experience of both co-founders as risk managers at Kuwait Finance House, where they advise entrepreneurs on how to deal with market exposure and volatility, Holistic Development And Consulting is a result of them noticing that most of the defaulted businesses had common issues that revolved around weak financial management, bad quality of data, and limited know-how in managing liquidity, which resulted in massive defaults. “We realized the help that entrepreneurs needed was not accessible to startups,” says Al-Duaij. “We believed that with our experience and academic backgrounds, we can make a difference.”

Holistic Development & Consulting /

Since launching in Kuwait, the consulting firm has received positive feedback, with the co-founders pointing out that their clients have had their business performances improved following their recommendations and advice. “We are very proud of the culture we are spreading with regards to running your business, knowing the risks, and always being one step ahead to manage and mitigate them,” says Al-Houqal. The company has also gained quite a few accolades- it was recognized as a Silver Partner by Xero, a New Zealandbased accounting software, and it also secured an exclusive collaboration with Boubyan Bank for its services in financial advisory and financial control.

For the startup’s business model, the co-founders explain that their business starts with providing the proper accounting framework, followed by finding ways to enhance their business performance using their offerings. The profit model is inspired by the main three steps of a risk management cycle, which they describe as consisting of an identification phase (setting up accounting framework), a measurement and assessment phase (through financial analysis), and a mitigation phase (risk management techniques). Once the team understand a client’s financial framework, their next step is conducting financial analysis and accounting advisory. With most SMEs being exposed to risk, the co-founders say that their risk management and business restructuring advice helps businesses to mitigate those risks and redeem themselves in the market.

As entrepreneurs themselves, their business’ offerings have changed over time with an eye on market needs. “We aim to stay ahead and create services that we believe entrepreneurs will be seeking in the future,” Al-Duajji says. And that’s exactly what happened after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Fatmah Al Awadhi, Business Development Officer, Holistic Development and Consulting, states that the co-founders were well aware, back in March 2020, that

TREP TALK Holistic Development And Consulting co-founders Abdulrahman Al-Duaij and Abdulaziz Al-Houqal What are some of the main considerations that entrepreneurs should keep when starting up a business in Kuwait?

“Before turning your idea to a business, there are few questions an entrepreneur should consider such as: is the idea feasible? Do you have the right capital fund? What is the needed accounting framework for my business? How can I manage the business liquidity? How many employees do you need you have a strategic business plan? There will always be hidden obstacles an entrepreneur missed if he/she did not consider all aspects of a business. As such, the first step we recommend business owners to take is to conduct a feasibility study.

A feasibility study aims to objectively uncover the strengths and weaknesses of any business, opportunities and threats in the natural environment, the resources required and ultimately the prospects for success.”

business continuity was being put at risk.

Holistic Development and Consulting therefore started helping businesses by waiving fees for consultations, undertaking studies, and providing support to those applying for financial loans from institutions.

“The team at Holistic Development and Consulting has been serving the community

by targeting our services to overcome business difficulties, and trying to fill a void from a risk management perspective, while trying to stabilize all financial aspects of the client’s needs,” Al Awadhi explains. The most challenging obstacle that the startup faced as a consulting company was in trying to stabilize the financial positions of companies, and helping them stay in business. “This responsibility was essential to keep operations efficient and grounded during these difficult times,” Al Awadhi adds. “Weighing in with our experience in risk management by studying each sector that was impacted was crucial to planning and mitigating risks faced by businesses during this pandemic.”

Al Awadhi adds that 2020 exposed the market to various challenges, which included market risks due to loss of demand, operational risks due to the effects of changing workflows and implementations of lockdowns and curfews, as well as risks due to market participants facing financial difficulties. “Having the right financial controls in place was essential to sustain a business during the economic hardships that plagued the local and global market,” she notes. Al-Duaij reiterates here that one of his company’s main objectives through the pandemic was to help businesses secure financial stability to ensure they are able to survive the market effects of the pandemic, but points out, “Internally, Holistic also focused on the emotional stability of the team by making sure they had financial security, and knew that their jobs and compensations were protected.”

Such efforts bode well for the company’s future prospects, with it hoping to grow in Kuwait and across the MENA region in the years to come. The co-founders are hoping to do this by building relationships with affiliates to help them grow in terms of market share while also increasing their credibility. “We aim to create a change and build a generation full of successful entrepreneurs that are aware of the importance of risk management, and how investment decisions should be assessed,” Al-Houqal concludes.

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→ NEZAR AL SALEH,

founder and CEO

HOT TECHNOLOGIES /ahotlife.com /

F

ounded in 2018 by Nezar Al Saleh, HOT Technologies, where HOT stands for “healthy online training,” is an application which aims to make fitness accessible and rewarding. The platform fosters a community of athletes and fitness instructors for guided workouts featuring bilingual fitness content (available in English and Arabic), access to live classes and various workout programs, as well as achievement badges and opportunities for prizes with the startup’s brand affiliates. Al Saleh says his startup is driven to “make fitness accessible, affordable, and fun” in order to help their audience to achieve a healthier lifestyle. The startup leverages fitness ambassadors across the MENA region and beyond, and so far, Al Saleh notes that they have been able to reach over 150,000 users actively using the HOT app to train regularly.

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Hot Technologies /

Available to download for free for iOS and Android devices, subscribing to the HOT app offers a free trial period, while a monthly subscription model starts at KD5.95 to get access to all of its fitness content.

With a user base spread across the GCC, Al Saleh recalls how, at first, their customers in Kuwait needed some time to get used to the concept of training online. But even so, the concept has been gaining traction, with many pleased with the rise of a platform that offered fitness content in Arabic. But Al Saleh notes that the COVID-19 pandemic “forced the world to digitize fast, and online fitness is now a new norm.” Prior to COVID-19, Al Saleh noted how they were aware of the product’s market fit in the market, but with the onset of the pandemic, every business was incentivized to digitize at a fast pace because customers transitioned to consuming more services online. “For a nascent category like online fitness, this meant that the market behavior changed drastically and keeps on getting defined as we speak,” says Al Saleh. “To overcome this, we needed to deal with the demand we were getting, and get insights on where the market was heading simultaneously to tweak the product and maintain a product market fit.”

Available to download for free for iOS and Android devices, subscribing to the HOT app offers a free trial period, while a monthly subscription model starts at

KD5.95 to get access to all of its fitness content. Being receptive to negative feedback has allowed the startup to bolster its offering- Al Saleh explains how customers weren't happy that subscriptions were allowed only through Apple Store and Google Play Store’s in-app purchases. “We have come to the realization that in-app purchases are not yet widely accepted in the MENA region,” Al Saleh says, with his startup now allowing subscriptions to be availed using credit and debit cards as well.

In 2020, the startup was also able to close a seed round of US$1.1 million from

strategic regional angel investors at an undisclosed valuation. In terms of future plans, Al Saleh wants to grow the business and further develop its product offerings by including features such as one-on-one virtual coaching, live classes, nutrition support, and tracking key health metrics, as well as onboarding top coaches across Middle East. “We [want to] look to understand what hinders the user in the MENA region from reaching their health goals, and will not rest until we have provided them a solution that empowers them to be the best versions of themselves.”

TREP TALK

Nezar Al Saleh, founder and CEO, HOT Technologies What’s your advice for fellow entrepreneurs to get their businesses through the COVID-19 crisis?

“Be ready to adapt immediately, which means not to be entrenched in any process or system previously set up. Set up your operations in a way where it can scale without a lot of effort. Most importantly, invest in your team by creating an environment that allows them to thrive, because when a crisis hits, nothing other than solid and smart team effort will make a startup succeed.”

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KLC

VIRTUAL RESTAURANTS

→ MUBARAK JAFFAR, co-founder and CEO

M

ubarak Jaffar, who was driven by his passion for always improving the food industry which includes his experience as a former Partner at GCC-based food delivery platform Talabat, launched KLC Virtual Restaurants with a pretty simple model: creating food concepts that can be delivered at home.

Jaffar, along with Nabil Khalid Jaffar (Chairman) and Mohamed Nabil Jaffar (Board Member), set up their first delivery-only restaurant aptly named The Kitchen - formerly known as Kuwait London Company - in 2009, focusing on delivering flavorful international dishes within a reasonable time at affordable prices. Food delivery, says Jaffar, was then dominated by quick service restaurants, while casual dining restaurants didn’t have a strong presence in the delivery market. While the delivery market was challenging at the time, Jaffar remembers that when they partnered with Talabat as a restaurant partner, they saw a huge spike in orders. “This encour-

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/ kuwaitlondoncompany.com /

aged us to develop and expand our restaurant business further, and it was also around this time that online food delivery was starting to grow exponentially.”

This was when they decided to tap into the growing demand for food delivery, and they went on to create a model that would leverage this growing market. As such, the business model of the enterprise focused on creating delivery-only restaurants for high demand items and cuisines. “We saw a gap in the market for quality food, from a variety of cuisines, delivered within a reasonable time,” says Jaffar. By being a delivery-only restaurant (with options for pick-up and home catering), Jaffar says that his enterprise avoids all costs associated with a dine-in restaurant. This is a key advantage for virtual restaurants operating from shared kitchens, Jaffar notes. “The capital saved from this can instead be invested into acquiring better ingredients, equipment, and packaging, while still being competitively priced,” he says.

While the food delivery market is extremely saturated, the team found that there is still a lot of cuisines in specific areas that aren’t available to customers yet. “Our goal is to find these gaps, and introduce brands that can satisfy consumer demands.” As an example, Jaffar points out how they noticed a high demand for Mexican food, but found a limited number of restaurants delivering the cuisine. The startup then launched Taco Eataco in 2019 to satisfy the demand, and quickly saw positive results. As a company operating in an extremely competitive

KLC Virtual Restaurants /

“ Having a dedicated and committed team during this period was vital and without our amazing team, it would have been extremely difficult to make this transition.” market, Jaffar leads its strategy as one that constantly adapts and evolves to an ever-changing market, leading it to focus on more niche cuisines. He commends his team for working tirelessly for every launch, striving to appease the local taste and standard of the Kuwaiti market. “Our virtual restaurant business model gives us the flexibility to take a higher risk and focus on niche

cuisines, as the cost of launching these virtual brands is significantly reduced, compared to the traditional restaurant business model whereby we utilize our cloud kitchens and only incur other minimal costs.”

The multi-brand virtual restaurant company is operating 18 kitchens and 50 virtual brands in Kuwait and

the UAE covering a variety of cuisines. With Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain next on their goals, the startup is keen on exploring expansion across the rest of the GCC, with its brands like The Junkyard, Proper Sliders, Mission Katsu Curry, and more. Looking ahead to the future, Jaffar says he and his team will continue researching food delivery trends in Kuwait and globally, with an aim to develop and upgrade menus, recipes, and introduce new brands to the market in the region. While in Kuwait, the team operates their virtual brands from their own cloud kitchens, but in Dubai, they teamed up with a strategic kitchen operator to expand their brand with the operator’s network.

Through the course of the COVID-19 crisis, while the virtual restaurants that they

TREP TALK

Mubarak Jaffar, co-founder and CEO, KLC Virtual Restaurants What are some of the main considerations that entrepreneurs should keep when starting up a business in Kuwait?

“Having the right team with a positive mentality is key to starting and growing any business. Each and every one of our team members have played an essential role in developing this organization. These key team members joined us before we made the transformation and evolved into a multi-brand virtual restaurant company, and their dedication and flexibility to adapt has seen them excel and grow within this

industry. In addition, conducting all the groundwork and research prior to venturing into any business is extremely crucial. The Kuwaiti market is relatively small and extremely competitive, given the limited research and studies available, it is key to really understand the latest local trends and developments happening before considering setting up your business in Kuwait.”

operated from cloud kitchens were affected, Jaffar notes that in some territories, they were still able to operate and meet market demands during city-wide lockdowns of dine-in restaurants. The implementation of curfews did affect the team’s ability to serve customers throughout the day; however, operating on a delivery-only approach prior to the lockdown meant a simpler transition to the current landscape. “Along with all other efficiencies that come with operating a cloud kitchen, we were able to efficiently utilize our delivery fleet throughout this period as demand for delivery increased,” Jaffar explains. “Dine-in restaurants with higher overhead expenses unfortunately weren’t able to utilize their entire infrastructure due to the introduction of new restrictions, whereas we were able to as restaurants were encouraged to deliver directly to their customers.”

Operating restaurants during such a volatile period has left the entrepreneur with a few pivotal lessons. “The unpredictable environment caused fear among our team and customers, and the biggest challenge for us was to adapt to the current landscape,” Jaffar says. “Having a dedicated and committed team during this period was vital and without our amazing team, it would have been extremely difficult to make this transition. It was important to be patient during this challenging time, and not make any impulsive decisions that would impact the business moving forward.”

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YALLABIT /yallabit.com /

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n interesting story often has one big “but” that redirects its narrative to an unexpected ending. And the story of Kuwait-based YallaBit, a cryptocurrency broker that allows users to instantly buy and sell various cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin (BTC), ripple (XRP), or ethereum (ETH), has been faced with one of those “buts” recently. → ALI TAQI, CTO and co-founder, and

TALAL ALYASEEN, CEO and co-founder

Founded in 2017 by Talal Al Yaseen and Ali Taqi, YallaBit’s promise to the market was simple- to offer a simple and fast way for Kuwait residents to enter and exit the crypto market, without going through the complicated process other exchanges may require. And how did the market respond?

Only a week after launching YallaBit, the team saw their targets being surpassed by “a hundred times,” with them describing their customers’ reactions as simply unprecedented. It must be noted that this was achieved with zero marketing budget, and by simply relying on word-of-mouth-

ACQUIRING CRYPTOCURRENCY CAN OFTEN REQUIRE A LOT OF DOCUMENTATION AND A LENGTHY VERIFICATION PROCESS, THEREFORE, PEOPLE CAN OFTEN MISS OUT ON OPPORTUNITIES, BECAUSE THEY CANNOT PURCHASE IT ON THE SAME DAY.

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co-founder and CEO Al Yaseen says it was obvious then that the market was hungry for the service.

“I believe that the reason was that many people wanted to enter the market instantaneously because bitcoin was at its all-time high, and we were offering a service where people could buy crypto with the facility of their mothertongue, which is Arabic,” he says. With a crycptocurrency calculator on its site, the platform used to let users to use their Knet payment systems (a joint venture of the national banks of Kuwait that accepts local debit cards issued by the member banks) to buy and sell cryptocurrencies instantly, without having

Yallabit /

to transfer money to an exchange center or wait for someone to fill your order, all while having access to live chat and phone support in both English and Arabic.

According to the YallaBit team, with cryptocurrency, the problem often is knowledge and access, such as people not knowing how to access it, or even take the first step to have it. “Acquiring cryptocurrency can often require a lot of documentation and a lengthy verification process, therefore, people can often miss out on opportunities, because they cannot purchase it on the same day,” he says. So, for YallaBit’s business model, Al Yaseen decided that most of the enterprise’s services should be free- they didn’t charge for offering custodian services (“which is basically, securing our customer’s money”), or if people wanted to learn about cryptocurrency. The YallaBit team decided instead to make use of a simple buy-and-sell commission model. “We tried as much as we could not to complicate the process, and to

not add hidden fees,” Al Yaseen explains. “We just focused on the main goal, which was giving people the opportunity to buy and sell cryptocurrency in the least complicated manner, in the fastest time possible.”

It cannot however be said that the startup’s beginnings was all smooth sailing. For instance, the team first focused on the the problems that their users were facing, and made sure they had a viable product on the way by testing and verifying constantly. At one point, they installed a live chat for their users to chat, pay, and get their cryptocurrencies. “We then got flooded with chats and requests as bitcoin, for the first time in history, hit US$19,666,” Al Yaseen recalls.

With the lack of manpower and overload of chat requests, the team missed 50% of their requests- which posed another problem of building a system that can automate the process.

But once they were able to automate the process, and they were faced with another issue: “How can we automate the full cycle of entering and exiting the market all on the same

“ We just focused on the main goal, which was giving people the opportunity to buy and sell cryptocurrency in the least complicated manner, in the fastest time possible.”

day? [How can we] cash in and out on the same day, instantaneously?” But the YallaBit team persevered and found solutions for such kinds of problems, which led the business to thrive and look into expansion across the MENA region.

But -and this is that one big “but”- in September 2020, the YallaBit team was faced with outages in their payment service providers, as well as the closure of their bank accounts that they believe have stemmed from a lack of clarity in Kuwait about business licenses that explicitly cover cryptocurrency activity.

“The most pressing challenge we’ve faced in 2020 is friction towards innovation in Kuwait,” Al Yaseen says. “We were operating for three years in the cryptocurrency market without a hitch until Q4 2020. We are proud to be one of the rarest startups to have turned our burn rate into a positive cashflow just under three years. The year 2020 was when YallaBit has shined and when we quadrupled all the numbers, from users, revenue, to profits.” However, the year also marked when, as Al

Yaseen put it, “just like that, we went from a multi-million dollar, monthly, in revenue to absolute zero.”

While he and his team at YallaBit are continuing their conversations with the Central Bank of Kuwait on how they can move past this stalemate, Al Yaseen has also taken steps to make sure his enterprise is safeguarded through the course of this process. “The challenge here was -and ishow to survive and persevere,” he says. “We had to downsize our company and seek other regulatory bodies in the neighboring countries, and are now working towards the full relocation of YallaBit. This, unfortunately, means, we’re not operating until we get a license and banking partners, and we were told that this will take time and money to accomplish.” Still, the YallaBit team is optimistic. Their main piece of advice for fellow entrepreneurs is to make sure that their type of innovation is supported in the market that they operate in. “Otherwise, relocate early, before you get stopped,” Al Yaseen concludes. “And most importantly, never give up, as nothing good comes easy.”

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TONS /tons.com /

T

ons is a grocery mobile application for residents in Kuwait that was built by Ali Al Matrouk, Yousef Dashti, Ahmad Buyabis, Hamad Al Fadhli, Ahmad Al Mazidi, and Abdulaziz Al Homaidhi. The cofounders say they launched the startup with a very simple premise in mind- they wanted to help people save time. “Grocery shopping takes time, so we were trying to give back [time] to working professionals who do not have time for chores such as grocery,” says Al Matrouk, who serves as the startup’s Managing Director.

The startup was launched in May 2017, but the team recall surveying the market back in 2015 and learning that most people (“around 80%”) wouldn’t shop for their groceries online. “If we had listened to them, we wouldn’t be here today,” recalls Al Matrouk. “But we knew that online grocery would grow, so we believed in the prospects of the market.”

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→ ALI ALMATROUK, co-founder and Managing Director

Tons /

“ The growth was a multiple of what we typically see, and accommodating that demand was a real challenge.”

Al Matrouk was soon proved right. After three years of R&D, the Tons concept went live, even as the team experimented with constant iterations of the app and the business model. With six stores soon finding its way to the platform, Tons began to attract customers owing to the good experience it offered on its mobile app.

But there were issues too, Al Matrouk notes. “The most negative part of our service is the lack of inventory synchronization between our system and the supermarkets we deal with,” explains Al Matrouk. “This is a very hard problem, where people order items and they are not in stock. We haven’t solved it yet, and we are getting negative feedback from customers. We have tried educating customers about it, where we try to explain to them that not every item you need you’ll find all the time in the store. However, this is a problem that we are trying to address, and we are quite close to integrating our system with one of the supermarkets.”

Another hurdle to overcome was finding the right team. For the first two recruiting cycles - in January 2015 and January 2016 - the Tons team relied on referrals. “Getting the right team on board is not easy in Kuwait, since getting talent in certain specialties is quite difficult,”Al Matrouk explains.

“The team is going to make or break the venture so you have to get the right team. Entrepreneurs should look for

people who will complement their skills and help them achieve their goals faster.” Another target for the enterprise was funding, and Al Matrouk has words of caution about that too. “You don’t want to be in a situation where you don’t have enough cash, and you don’t want to deal with the stress of not having enough money to fund your operations,” he says. “It is stressful, believe me.” Al Matrouk reveals here that the Tons team first funded the business internally, and in September 2016, they received an undisclosed funding capital from the Industrial Bank of Kuwait. Two other funding rounds were closed in December 2017 and 2018.

And then, the COVID-19 pandemic came and pretty much stopped much of the world in its tracks, but for the Tons team, it brought an unexpected surge in demand for their services. “The growth was a multiple of what we typically see, and accommodating that demand was a real challenge,” Al Matrouk says. “We were able to somewhat deliver to our customers, but it was nearly impossible to scale our operations multiple fold in a couple of weeks, given the restrictions we had during the peak of COVID-19 days. However, we tried to control the supply and give the customers we serve the best possible service we can provide.”

Looking back at it now though, Al Matrouk says he is satisfied how the startup handled this unexpected situation, especially because it also required his team to operate during government lockdowns and in line with all the rules and regulations that were imposed.

With this experience behind him, Al Matrouk believes that it’s imperative that entrepreneurs focus on putting together a business continuity plan on how to operate if an unexpected disaster like the COVID-19 crisis were to happen again. “We realized how the improbable could happen, and how it would destroy our organization’s internal systems and customer experience,” Al Matrouk

advises. “So, we all should be ready for disasters and put standard operating procedures in order to be able to operate with minimal interruptions during these times. The second lesson is to be fast and agile scalability. Our organizations should be significantly more agile and scalable to take advantage of the high rise in demand if it happens. We realized that we’re not agile, and the massive demand we encountered could’ve been an opportunity of a lifetime, if we were having both business continuity plan and an agile and scalable systems in place.”

In conclusion, when it comes to his advice for entrepreneurs, Al Matrouk suggests that they focus on ventures with relatively light operations that can scale across the region easily. “Our business is operationally heavy, so, in a future venture, I would start a business with developers primarily, and scale it digitally without the need of laborintensive activities,” Al Matrouk says.

“I advise aspiring entrepreneurs to be confident that entrepreneurship is for them. It is a fun journey, but it is quite painful, and entrepreneurs have to persevere. They’ll encounter many obstacles and setbacks, so they have to be ready to deal with them, and they shouldn’t lose hope- there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a painful journey, but the results are worth it for those who handle the struggle, and persevere.”

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Startup Spotlight / KUWAIT

REHLAT /rehlat.ae /

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ounded in early 2014 by Bader Al Bader, Rehlat is an online travel agency focused on catering to the Middle East market. With operations in Kuwait, UAE, and KSA, the startup was started to provide a travel platform that “understands your individual needs and cultural background.” Seeing the opportunity to build an online travel company specifically for the region’s consumers, Bader entered the market with a vision for a solution that takes customers’ travel concerns as their own, offering them a simple and seamless travel planning and management experience in the Middle East. The platform has since grown to be known for its best fares on flights, cost-effective accommodation options, ride-hailing services, bus bookings, discount options, and its loyalty program Karam that facilitates faster booking.

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→ Co-founder BADER AL BADER

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an online travel agency, the halt in travel essentially stopped Rehlat’s ongoing growth that it had had in previous years. “Add to that, the increased volume of customers calling who wanted to know what their options were in this situation, and [we] found ourselves with all of the costs, and none of the revenue,” says Al Bader. He says that it was only through having an encouraging support system that the startup got through this period. “The only way we’ve managed to get past them is by having supportive shareholders to get us through the dry months, while business picked up in pockets. Thankfully, despite travel not being back to 100% yet, we’ve been able to maximize whatever opportunities we could find to continue our momentum forward.”

Going forward, Bader says he and his team have learnt the crucial importance of staying vigilant of future challenges, “The key lesson from 2020 is to always be paranoid and ready for any disaster. Whether it’s through cash, credit lines, or diversity in revenue, you can never go wrong in preparing the company for the worst of times.”

With operations in Kuwait, UAE, and KSA, the startup was started to provide a travel platform that “understands your individual needs and cultural background.”