ENTREPENEUR
officer Waseem Alsheikh—decided to create a software that would enable firms to seamlessly manage and create content in several different languages. “Essentially it is a software that helps companies manage and expand their multinational and multilingual presence, so if you have mobile apps or product marketing that needs to be in ten or fifteen languages, it is an immense challenge,” says Habib. Qordoba’s technology allows firms to localise their content and optimise it for different markets without the trouble of creating that content from scratch. Making use of her global contacts, Habib ran experiments with law firm Freshfields and advertising company Saatchi and Saatchi to develop multi-lingual content. Both were a success. “We opened an office in Berlin the following year and we expanded to San Francisco last year, where we are now headquartered,” she says. Today, Qordoba counts Cartier, Nestle and the World Bank among its clients and the company has now filed two patents in the US for its technology. Habib’s experience in setting up her company was relatively trouble-free for a start-up. Nor did she find it hard establishing herself as a woman in a male-dominated market. “It wasn’t hard to decide [to start a company], but I was also young. If I were making that choice now, it would be a little different. I was 26 when I quit my job, I’m 30 now and I spent
most of the first year learning,” says Habib. “Making that kind of investment now would seem more daunting.” A group of angel investors from the Middle East, Europe and the US funded Habib to begin with. The company underwent two rounds of investment in 2012 and 2015 and has raised $4m in total. “It’s so inspiring to be located in the Valley now. We learnt more in a week here than we did in months before we moved. The density of smart people doing smart things in new and different ways is just off the charts,” says Habib. Habib puts her success down to perseverance. “Things that make us [women] successful are things that make anyone successful – the ability to see the forest from the trees, make incremental progress in a disciplined way and keep your eye on the prize. It is ten times harder than anyone says it is, and it gets harder because the milestones you set keep moving out.” In her spare time, Habib maintains the link to her former university. She is also a World Economic Forum (WEF) ‘global shaper’, a network of young people showing exceptional potential and drive. “The nice thing about WEF is that it’s very much people who are global actors working in local contexts—people who are trying to make a difference,” says Habib. And she should know.
“It’s so inspiring to be located in the Valley now.”
2015 NOV / DEC
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