Entrepreneur Middle East
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JANUARY 2017 | www.entrepreneur.com/me | UAE AED20 9 7 7 2 3 1 1 5 4 1 0 0 8 > Beating the odds Five lessons to take with you on your entrepreneurial journey H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa Making it count INJAZ Bahrain’s Executive Director wants to prep the country’s youth for the global economic landscape Wael Fakharany Careem Egypt’s Managing Director Driven by impact The recap Indian Innovator Awards 2016
january 2017 Entrepreneur 3 26 Wissam Younane, CEO, BNC Publishing at the Indian Innovator Awards 2016 CONTENTS january 2017 Injaz Bahrain CEO H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin Hamed Al-Khalifa 18 26 Indian Innovator Awards 2016 A look at the winners of the third annual edition of Entrepreneur Middle East’s Indian Innovator Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year, presented by du 18 INNOVATOR: Making it count H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa INJAZ Bahrain’s Executive Director wants to prep the country’s youth for the global economic landscape. 22 INNOVATOR: Driven by impact Careem Egypt’s Managing Director Wael Fakharany on his transition from working at Google to working at the MENA region’s latest unicorn. 64 START IT UP: ECOSYSTEM No time to chill in the sun DTEC Tech Startup Incubator’s Sirine Fadoul explains why it’s important for entrepreneurs to instill a sense of urgency in their organizations. 52 TECH: ONLINE ‘TREP Design: the driver of digital reinvention Juan Jose De La Torre, Digital Transformation Leader, IBM MEA believes that design is no longer just an aesthetic component, but rather an exigent driver of human behavior. 42 TECH: SHINY #TamTalksTech Gadgets and doodads that you might’ve missed out on, sourced by a tech aficionado.
Entrepreneur january 2017 8 CONTENTS 63 Careem raises US$350 million in funding to expand services january 2017 Amr Sobhy, co-founder and CEO, PushBots 68 amr sobhy image credit amir makar 42 Lenovo Phab 2 Pro 60 ‘TREPONOMICS: SKILLSET Beating the odds Ipsos MENA Chairman and CEO Edouard Monin lists five key lessons for entrepreneurs to use in their entrepreneurial journeys. 46 ‘treponomics: ESQUIRE GUY Civility matters The Esquire Guy offers a guide to figuring out if you’re a bully at work, and also explains how to get things done without making other people miserable. 58 ‘TREPONOMICS: MARKETING What’s in a name? ServiceMarket co-founder Bana Shomali draws from experience to offer tips on rebranding online businesses. 34 ‘TREPONOMICS: PRO The future is here Bayt.com’s Suhail Al Masri analyzes five trends that the recruitment industry is likely to experience in the year 2017. 62 MONEY: ECON Private equity in emerging markets Sean McKeon explains why MENA investors should look closer to home for faster economic diversifica- tion. 14 EDITOR’S NOTE By Aby Sam Thomas
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Entrepreneur january 2017 10 CONTENTS january 2017 44 Trophy by Roderer 72 Pure Harvest founder and CEO Sky Kurtz sky kurtz image credit devon tackels 74 START IT UP: STARTUP FINANCE “We got funded!” UAE online services marketplace mrUsta raises AED2.75 million in a pre- Series A funding round from Precinct Partners, Millennial Partners & Co., and other angel investors. 40 ‘TREPONOMICS: PRO The times they are a-changin’ Andreas Skorski, founder and CEO, THE LIST, highlights how the growth of luxury e-retail is redefining stores into just another marketing channel. 68 START IT UP: Q&A Quality over quantity Egypt-based startup PushBots helps app businesses improve their reach with smarter notifications. 72 START IT UP: Q&A Let it grow Startup Pure Harvest aims to overcome local climate challenges and make the region’s farming high tech in nature. 50 TREPONOMICS: PRO Come together The case for team building efforts is stronger when the times are tougher. 48 CULTURE: LIFE Stay on the bus James Clear explains why it’s important for a creator to stay committed to the cause when faced with failure. 38 CULTURE: LIFE Starting early BizWorld UAE CEO Helen Al Uzaizi makes the case for entrepreneurship education- for kids. 44 CULTURE: TRAPPINGS ‘Trep gear The executive selection for the entrepreneur on your list. Okay, maybe for a little self-reward as well.
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Entrepreneur january 2017 12 SUBSCRIBE Contact subscriptions@bncpublishing.net to receive Entrepreneur Middle East every issue EDITOR IN CHIEF Aby Sam Thomas editor@bncpublishing.net CEO Wissam Younane wissam@bncpublishing.net MANAGING DIRECTOR Walid Zok walid@bncpublishing.net DIRECTOR Rabih Najm rabih@bncpublishing.net CREATIVE LEAD Odette Kahwagi STARTUPS SECTION EDITOR Pamella de Leon COLUMNIST Sindhu Hariharan COLUMNIST Tamara Clarke COLUMNIST Shoug Al Nafisi COLUMNIST Erika Widen EVENTS LIAISON Mark Anthony Monzon PO Box 502511 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P +971 4 4200 506 | F +971 4 4200 196 For all commercial enquiries related to Entrepreneur Middle East contact sales@bncpublishing.net All rights reserved © 2016. Opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors. Entrepreneur Middle East and all subsidiary publications in the MENA region are officially licensed exclusively to BNC Publishing in the MENA region by Entrepreneur Media Inc. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Printed by Raidy Emirates Printing Group LLC www.raidy.com Images used in Entrepreneur Middle East are credited when necessary. Attributed use of copyrighted images with permission. All images not credited otherwise Shutterstock. Suhail Al Masri Helen Al Uzaizi Fida Chaaban James Clear Juan Jose De La Torre Sirine Fadoul Johan Hanekom Adrian Hayes Mike Hoff Dipika Mallya Ross McCammon Sean McKeon Edouard Monin Bana Shomali Andreas Skorski CONTRIBUTING WRITERS www.entrepreneur.com/me Access fresh content daily on our website! MIDDLE EAST EntMagazineME @EntMagazineME Entrepreneur-me EntrepreneurMiddleEast EntMagazineME EntMagazineME EntMagazineME MIDDLE EAST In addition to our print edition, we’re bringing you all sorts of industry news on our web mediums. Joining us online means getting relevant business and startup content in real-time, so you’re hearing about the latest developments as soon as we do. We’re looking forward to interacting with our readers on all of our social media and web platforms- like any thriving business, we’re looking to give and take. #TrepTalkME is already happening on all of our digi platforms, and all good conversations go both ways. See you on the web!
Entrepreneur january 2017 14 EDITOR’S NOTE Aby Sam Thomas Editor in Chief @thisisaby aby@bncpublishing.net Rise to the occasion How you respond to criticism says a lot about your entrepreneurial skills I n my editor’s note last month, I wondered aloud whether the MENA entrepreneurial ecosys- tem would have been better served if Emaar Properties Chairman Mohamed Alabbar, who had then announced the launch of his new US$1 billion e-commerce venture Noon, had invested in an existing startup in this space instead. Some of you responded in agreement with my notion (Henri Asseily aka @rikkles tweeted: “You wonder like 99.99% of anyone in this industry”), while there were others felt the entry of Noon would be a positive thing for the industry as a whole- Mo- hamed Hamdy aka @reachhamdy tweeted: “Having a new startup like @noondotcom with all that $$ should bring a multiplier effect in the regional ecosystem.” In the midst of all these re- sponses, I was also treated to a reply from Alabbar himself- he emailed me to thank me for my comments adding that it was his hope that Noon and other ventures like it will “not only promote the digital economy, but also help motivate others to get involved.” I’ll gladly admit here that Alab- bar’s reply (I’m hoping to have a longer chat with him soon) took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting to hear back from him in the first place, and so the fact that he took the time out to draft such a polite, elegant and appreciative response increased my respect of him ten- fold. Alabbar’s reply was, in my opinion, an abject lesson for all of us in how to deal with criticism- while nobody likes to hear negative feedback, one needs to learn to be appreciative of such comments all the same (instead of adopting a defensive approach). The entrepreneurs among you need to especially take this principle to heart: be it when a VC rejects your funding request, or when an editor passes on your PR pitch, you need to be able to react to these situations with the right attitude. The way you reply to these things say a lot about you, and it’s safe to say that they play a key role in how you get ahead in life and business as well. As we are at the start of 2017, let’s resolve to take on all of the opportunities and challenges that are going to be thrown at us with the right attitudes- I’m pretty certain it will be key to making things work for us and our businesses for the next 12 months. Happy new year!
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Entrepreneur january 2017 16 Hyperloop One is set to work with Dubai RTA on a feasibility study for a system that reduces travel time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai to 12 minutes Ecoisme is working on deploying artificial intelligence systems around Dubai to monitor and reduce electricity consumption along with DEWA Consensys is working to develop a real estate database using Blockchain technology UAE-based startup Grow is working on a prototype for a farm that reduces the need for water and fertilizers Comae Technologies is working with Dubai Police to employ artificial intelligence technology to prevent and solve cybercrimes Startup Medativ uses 3D printing technology to produce replicas of human organs and thus aid in surgical training A selection of the winners IN THE LOOP Onward and upward! Dubai Future Accelerators invests AED120 million in 19 graduating projects Bring it on Enterprise Challenge Qatar 2016 kicks off H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, at Dubai Future Accelerators A team at the Enterprise Challenge Qatar A team at the Enterprise Challenge Qatar image source: Dubai Future Accelerator | enterprise challenge qatar D ubai Future Accelerators (DFA) has concluded the first session of its ac- celerator program, and marked the milestone with an allocation of over AED120 million (US$33.5 million) to the 19 projects that were part of the program, collaborating with key government entities. These projects move on to the next phase and will work to implement their solutions within seven key sec- tors: health, education, energy, trans- portation, infrastructure, technology, and security. According to a statement on the event, DFA expects the pilot projects to create 135 job opportu- nities in Dubai over the next three months and also revealed that fourteen of the international companies part of the program have taken decisions to relocate their headquarters to Dubai. H.E. Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and MD of Dubai Future Foundation, revealed at the event that DFA’s second round will see five new government and private entities join the program- Department of Economic Development, Dubai Smart City, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, du, and Etisalat. Saif Al Aleeli, CEO, Dubai Future Foundation, pointed out that the first round of DFA has managed to achieve “an unprecedented success rate” of 64%, and on an average, “the rate seldom exceeds 30%.” He also added that the first round of the program is said to have increased Dubai’s total spend on research and development efforts by 6% in three months. DFA was launched in September, and the program paired 28 global companies with Dubai’s seven founding entities: Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Health Authority, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), and Dubai Holding. As per a Medium post by DFA, the accelerator’s second round is set to begin in the first quarter of 2017. A n initiative by Bedaya Centre and Qatar Shell, the Enterprise Challenge Qatar (ECQ) kicked off in November, bringing in over 1200 students from more than 40 schools in Qatar. Now in its fifth year, the program has different levels catering to high school and university students, running until March 2017. It consists of three stages: the Ethical Business Challenge to practice the participants’ abilities to work with the economic, environmental and social performance of their company, the Business Simulation that accustoms the students to essential business practices such as inception, to trading, finance, sales, marketing and production, and the Grand Finals wherein teams present their business ideas in front a panel of judges. Designed to encourage the entrepreneurial drive of the youth in Qatar, the program lets participants gain valuable business skills, with the opportunity to learn from a team of volunteer mentors from professional backgrounds, including local business owners who have valuable experience in building a business venture. It has received a few nods of approval too- in 2014, during the UK Mentor of the Year Awards hosted by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales at the Sandringham Palace in UK, gave recognition to the initiative. Last year, Qatar Shell and Bedaya was recognized at Social Development Center’s Reyada awards with the Outstanding Entrepreneur Support Award for their efforts in supporting the Qatar entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Enterprise Challenge competition was a concept by Prince’s Trust International, a UK- based NGO established by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. As the founding partner of Prince’s Trust International in Qatar, Qatar Shell, along with Bedaya, have brought the competition to Qatar.
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Entrepreneur january 2017 18 INNOVATOR INNOVATOR Making it count H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa INJAZ Bahrain’s Executive Director wants to prep the country’s youth for the global economic landscape By Aby Sam Thomas “to be honest, there has been no one targeting younger kids. And this is where INJAZ Bahrain comes in. We actually teach them [entrepreneurship] at university, high school, and intermediate levels, before they get in to the job market. So we teach them to think entrepreneurially, before they finish their education.” >>> I ’m a Bahraini citizen, and I firmly believe in citizen- ship- what your country has given to you, you have to give back to your country.” That’s the response I got when I asked about what drove H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa to do all that she does in her role as the Executive Director of INJAZ Bahrain, a non-profit institution that she founded in 2005. Since its establishment, INJAZ Bahrain, which is a part of the global JA Worldwide network, has been, for more than 10 years, building on its vision “to inspire a generation of Bahraini youth to use their natural talents, inspira- tions, passions, and determinations to become the business leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.” Sure, it’s a decidedly large undertaking to take on- but looking at all that INJAZ Bahrain has accomplished so far with young people in Bahrain, it seems fair to say that Al Khalifa and her team are very much in line with the realization of that vision. After all, as Al Khalifa -who’s also a member of Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Women, as well as the Chairperson of Al Salam Bank’s Board of Direc- tors- proudly states, INJAZ Bahrain’s programs, which has its volunteers educate students on workforce readiness, financial literacy and en- trepreneurship, have, so far, reached 108,000 students in the country- and it’s pretty certain that this number is only set to grow in the future. Recounting INJAZ Bahrain’s origins, Al Khalifa says she started the orga- nization after she started working in Bahrain following her studies in the UK, which was where she had got firsthand experience of the JA World- wide program through its branch there, Young Enterprise. “I did the complete program,” she remembers. “And therefore, I’m an alumnus of the organization.” On her return to Bahrain, Al Khalifa found that while the country had a strong educational system already in place, students weren’t being taught entrepreneur- ship in a practical manner, which, when considering that they were going to be soon joining the work- force, left them at a disadvantage. “Bridging the gap between education and the world of work is very impor- tant,” Al Khalifa notes. “And the JA Worldwide Program offers that- they bridge the gap between the world of work and school.” With that being the case, Al Khalifa sought out JA Worldwide’s regional office in Jordan at the time, and went on to establish a licensed branch of the organization in Bahrain. She then approached the country’s Ministry of Educa- tion, which got on board with INJAZ Bahrain, after realizing the benefits of its offerings as an extracurricular activity for students, and then kicked it off on a high school level. At the same time, Al Khalifa went about setting up a leadership team for the organization as well. “I approached
january 2017 Entrepreneur 19 “I’m a Bahraini citizen, and I firmly believe in citizenship- what your country has given to you, you have to give back to your country.” H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa january 2017 Entrepreneur 19
Entrepreneur january 2017 20 INNOVATOR INNOVATOR “We work with other member nations around the globe to swap programs, to learn from their experiences, and enhance what we can offer our students here in Bahrain.” www.injazbh.org H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa at an INJAZ Bahrain event some of the big organizations in Bahrain, such as CitiBank, Bapco, all large organizations in Bahrain from the private sector, and we formed a board of directors, comprising of 10 CEOs from the major corporations,” she says. “And then they funded the organization, and provided their employees to be volunteers to teach the program.” Given that volunteers teach INJAZ Bahrain’s programs, Al Khalifa is ex- tremely cognizant of their contribu- tions in realizing the organization’s vision. “We tell them they are our partners in the program,” she says. “Without the volunteers, we cannot open a class. So, our team -we are a team of 10 people working in the organization- try and outreach to as many people in the community as possible to join us, and support our mission. And it’s been very good- the board of directors has been very ef- fective in releasing their volunteers [from their respective companies] during working hours, go to the schools once a week, and teach our program.” In terms of future plans for INJAZ Bahrain, Al Khalifa is keen on increasing the organiza- tion’s reach in Bahrain. “We aim to continue to reach as many students as possible, to engage as many vol- unteers as possible, because the program has two sides to it,” she explains. “When the volunteer teaches the program, the volunteer gains skills as well; it’s not only the student. So both parties are benefit- ing. If the volunteer did not take the program as a young person, the program itself will enhance the volunteer’s communication, presentation, time management skills, etc. At the same time, the students are gaining a lot of information, learning how to communicate, and learning about the global economy. So the program has benefits to both the volunteers and the students. So we are trying to get as many people to volunteer with us, as many students to join with us... We want to train a lot of volunteers, and we want to train a lot of students.” As for INJAZ Bahrain’s offerings itself, Al Khalifa says she and her team will continue to strive to bring
january 2017 Entrepreneur 21 INJAZ Bahrain is a non-profit organization that was established in 2005 as part of JA Worldwide with the aim of empowering young people to own their economic success and be prepared for today’s business challenges. With the help of its partners and volunteers, INJAZ Bahrain impacts thousands of students every year bringing them closer to the real world and opening their minds to their own potential. “At INJAZ Bahrain, infusing entrepreneurial thinking in the hearts and minds of young people is our core mission. A young person can be easily inspired if he or she is provided with the right environment and motivation for success. It is within every one of us to strive for success; however, the foundation for success relies on three strong pillars of support: motivation, encouragement and inspiration. INJAZ Bahrain was founded with this vision, and since its inception in January 2005, it has reached out to more and more students every year with the help of volunteers from the local business community.” H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INJAZ Bahrain www.injazbh.org “when somebody wants to start up their own business, they should, first of all, have a solid education background behind them. It’d be nice to [also] have some sort of formal work experience as well, or some sort of internship training they have done” H.H. Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa at an INJAZ Bahrain event the best educational programs avail- able worldwide to Bahrain. This is particularly important, Al Khalifa says, because INJAZ Bahrain aims to equip young people to succeed in the global economy- and not just the local one. “Bahrain has [a popula- tion of] 1.2 million, the GCC has less than 40 million residents,” she notes. “You can’t think on a local level to create a big business. For a profitable business, you have to think more on a global level, I think.” As a result, INJAZ Bahrain’s offerings are always in tune with changes in the global economy, as they are updated and reviewed every few years by JA Worldwide to ensure that they are not stagnant. “We want to keep on offering the best programs available globally,” Al Khalifa says. “We work with other member nations around the globe to swap programs, to learn from their experiences, and enhance what we can offer our students here in Bahrain.” Such a mandate is in line with the Bahrain government’s overall policies regarding the promotion of entrepreneurship, and it’s easy to see that INJAZ Bahrain is essentially furthering the realization of that particular goal. “I think the Kingdom of Bahrain offers a lot of support to entrepreneurs,” Al Khalifa says. “We have an entrepre- neurial society. We have Tamkeen, which is a part of the government that offers aid to startups. We have the Bahrain Devel- opment Bank, we have the Supreme Council for Women, and both have incubators to support entrepreneurs. But, to be honest, there has been no one targeting younger kids. And this is where INJAZ Bahrain comes in. We actually teach them [entrepreneur- ship] at university, high school, and intermediate levels, before they get in to the job market. So we teach them to think entrepreneurially, before they finish their education.” At this point, I ask Al Khalifa her advice for young people in Bahrain and the wider Middle East consider- ing venturing into entrepreneurship, the ones daring to do something different from the norm. “I think they shouldn’t dare, unless they have a solid education, a solid degree behind their back,” she replies. “I think it’s important when somebody wants to start up their own business, they should, first of all, have a solid educa- tion background behind them. It’d be nice to [also] have some sort of for- mal work experience as well, or some sort of internship training they have done, or something that had them exposed to an actual working environ- ment- so that they understand what a working environment is, before they start up their own.” Al Khalifa also suggests that wannabe entrepreneurs get a taste of the real deal by enrolling in entrepreneurial courses like INJAZ, and make it a priority to add skills like marketing, etc. to their resume. “I also think a knowledge of the legal sector is very important,” she adds. “[You need to know] what you are allowed to do, what you are not al- lowed to do, all the policies, all the framework that are available in your country.” Finally, Al Khalifa advises entrepreneurs to lower the risk for fledgling enterprises by researching thoroughly- be clear about the needs of the industry, the demands and op- portunities available before making inroads with respective startups, and thereby bettering chances at success. “I think that the goal with entre- preneurship is to be successful,” Al Khalifa concludes. “Entrepreneurship is a learning curve anyway. I mean, you have to learn it. But I think, mini- mize your falls. If you start up with these few tips, I think you will have a smoother ride.”
Entrepreneur january 2017 22 Driven by impact Wael Fakharany Careem Egypt’s Managing Director on his career transition from Google to Careem, the startup’s ambitious plans for the future, and why he expects 2017 to be “phenomenal” By Aby Sam Thomas INNOVATOR INNOVATOR “You need to have incredible tenacity, immense amounts of energy, the ability to reinvent yourself every 3-4 months and push yourself harder, and at the same time, a meticulous level of detail. So you [have to be] super operational, super on the ground.” I first met Wael Fakharany at BECO Capital’s Boost MENA conference in November last year, and though we spoke for only a few minutes then, I remember being quite taken in by the exuberance of his personality- it was this individu- ality that struck me again when I got to have a longer chat with him in December. It’s really quite easy to see Fakharany’s passion and drive for his role as the Managing Director for Careem in Egypt, and for those of you who follow his blog posts on Medium, I can confirm that he is every bit as hopeful and optimistic as his writing makes him out to be. Fakharany joined Careem after a nine-year stint at Google, and while the startup’s unicorn status hadn’t been declared at the time of our conversation Fakharany was quite emphatic that the four months he had spent with his new employer had been a “phenomenal” experience. “When I stepped into this role, I nev- er expected the kind of impact that I would have, and the kind of impact I would be able to do, you know, in [a matter of] weeks,” he says. “But this business keeps surprising me with some incredible opportunities.” Given its massive population, Egypt is an important market for Careem in the MENA region, and the company has been steadily growing its brand in the country, with its services now available in the six cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Damanhour, Mansoura, Tanta and Hurghada. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing though- Cairo, for instance, saw drivers of the country’s traditional “white” taxis protest against ride hailing apps like Careem for eating into their business. But in September, Careem delivered a feat of sorts when it announced the inte- gration of 42,000 “white” taxis into its existing fleet- it was a move that clearly indicated Careem’s emphasis on being a truly local institution that is integrated with and contributes to the development of the overall eco- system around it. It is this mission that is also driving Careem’s new initiative with the country’s youth ministry, which Fakharany reveals will potentially see the two parties work together on “economically empowering 70,000 people in Egypt in 2017.” It’s an impressively ambitious initiative, of course, but Fakharany believes that it signals only the start of the positive impact that Careem could bring to the country’s popula- tion. “We are not an employer- they are not employees, they are inde- pendent contractors,” he says. “But having 70,000 people in the network, who you can economically empower and give either part-time or full-time income, is an incredible force in 6-8 months of the operation. And I think this is the tip of the iceberg. There are probably nine million people in the working age in Egypt who are looking for opportunities. And if we can economically empower a million of them, it’s just an incredible feel- ing. So, when I give you hope that your future is going to be better, your surroundings are going to be better. You are going to become bankable... You’re going to do upward mobility in the society… There’s this incredible virtuous circle that is created when you give people hope. So I couldn’t be more hopeful about 2017. I think 2017 will be a springboard for some phenomenal activities for Careem in Egypt, for sure.”
january 2017 Entrepreneur 23 INNOVATOR “two years in a startup in a hyper growth mode is as good as 12 years in a large company.” Wael Fakharany, Managing Director, Careem Egypt Hearing Fakharany speak, it becomes quite apparent that he shares a lot of the same corporate ideals as Careem co-founders Magnus Olsson, Mudassir Sheikha and Abdullah Elyas have professed to in the past, and he confirms that this factor indeed played a key role in his deci- sion to move from Google to the startup. “First of all, the company has an incredible mission, which is to facilitate the lives of people, and build an awesome organization,” he explains. “And these are the guys I would like to work with, in that they are good, ethical, hardworking, fair, tough guys. You couldn’t expect more from a colleague, or a partner, or a boss… I think great leaders are people who are just good in creating other leaders, and [they] almost have no control over this. So you don’t do this by design- you do it by basi- cally just empowering people, being nice and civil to people, and [being] authentic and doing the right thing… So, Magnus, Mudassir, Abdulla, the three co-founders, are people that I highly respect, and you want to be with them all the time, because they’re just good, kind, hardworking, tough, and fair people. You couldn’t ask for more.” But Fakharany also makes it clear that working at a startup is no walk in the park either- he admits to have found his few months at Careem to have been “super hard,” and claims operating in such a tough environ- ment is not for the fainthearted. “You need to have incredible tenac- ity, immense amounts of energy, the ability to reinvent yourself every 3-4 months and push yourself harder, and at the same time, a meticulous level of detail,” he notes. “So you [have to be] super operational, super on the ground.” But for all the chal- lenges working at a startup can pose, the positive aspects of the experience outweigh everything else, Fakharany says, and given his own career transi- tion, it’s hard to not take him at his word. “First of all, this is something that cannot be taught- unfortunately, it has to be experienced,” he says. “Second is this immense power that you have as a startup in making decisions and making mistakes and correcting them, and being faced with very tough challenges every single day… So it grows you up. This experience: you tinker with stuff, you make mistakes, you move at phenom- enal speed, but you learn every single day. Sometimes I feel that the person that I met a few weeks ago is very different than the person you meet now… With all due respect to very large companies, you’re a small piece of the puzzle in large companies, and the playbook of operations, the >>>
Entrepreneur january 2017 24 playbook of advertising, the playbook of marketing has been written for you. All you have to do is be a good student, read the playbook, and basically do a very small part of the equation. You obviously grow when you’re working for a large bank or a large multinational, but the amount of learning that you accumulate in a startup in multiple disciplines [is unprecedented], because everybody is driven, challenged to grow the company. Whether you’re marketing or business development or social or IT or legal or operations, you can actually help other colleagues, and you sometimes work like you work in multiple organizations... So, two years in a startup in a hyper growth mode is as good as 12 years in a large company.” Fakharany’s statements make it clear that he would like to see more people in the MENA region work at startups, and according to him, this shift in thinking is already material- izing with young graduates who are looking to start off their professional lives- and this will be continue to happen in 2017. “I think we are about to reach some really interesting scale for local companies,” he says. ”Like, there’s a lot of local companies that have reached a certain scale, where the success is very obvious, in your face. So, if I was in university right now, I’d think, why would I join a large multinational company? Why not join a Souq.com, or a Careem. com, a local homegrown company where I am going to be [able to re- main] at home? My skills will be enhanced, my ability to tackle differ- ent parts of the ecosystem will be en- hanced, and at the same time, I’d be a very useful and powerful force for my community. So, I think everyone is watching us, all the young people are watching our success, and 2017 will be phenomenal, for sure.” It’s a rather optimistic statement, sure- but Fakharany’s earnestness makes me want to believe it too. Here’s hoping. INNOVATOR 1. Don’t burn out “Try to find a way to renew your energy, because this job is draining. So focus your energy on how to rebuild it [as well], because we are all human beings.” 2. Be detail-oriented “You should be a subject matter expert [in your field]. [For instance,] if you’re a software developer, back- end or front-end, go to the detail of the detail of the detail... It is super, super important.” 3. Stay on the path “Keep on doing the right thing always. Cutting corners and doing wrong things will benefit you for a few hours or few days, but it will hurt you in the long run.” Staying on top Wael Fakharany on mastering your position at a startup www.careem.com/cairo “the amount of learning that you accumulate in a startup in multiple dis- ciplines [is unprecedent- ed], because everybody is driven, challenged to grow the company.”
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INDIAN INNOVATOR AWARDS 2016 A PRODUCTION BY LUXURY PARTNER PLATINUM ALLY Entrepreneur january 2017 26
Wissam Younane, CEO, BNC Publishing Winners of the Indian Innovator Awards 2016 january 2017 Entrepreneur 27 >>> A host of established and upcoming Indian business leaders in the Gulf were honored at the third edition of Entrepre- neur Middle East’s Indian In- novator Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year, presented by du, which took place in the UAE on December 13, 2016 at The St. Regis Dubai. The award winners this year have es- tablished themselves as clear industry innovators who have made significant contributions to the Middle East business arena, and have thus set the benchmark for corporations operating across the region. A total of 19 awards were pre- sented on the night, with all of the winners having set them- selves apart from their peers in the region by showcasing a commitment to excellence, and thereby raising the bar of their respective industries. Speak- ing on behalf of Entrepreneur Middle East, Wissam Younane, CEO, BNC Publishing, kicked off the event with his welcome address, in which he felici- tated the winners of the night, and reiterated Entrepreneur’s commitment to facilitating the growth of enterprises in the region. This was followed by a keynote speech by H. H. Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum, President of Al Fajer Properties, where he commended the visionary out- looks of the Indian business leaders in the Gulf, as well as their inspiring attitudes towards entrepreneurship and innovation. Organized by Entrepreneur MENA, the 2016 Indian In- novator Awards recognized and honored enterprise lead- ers and individuals who have distinguished themselves and shown sector significance and outstanding business conduct across a variety of industries that are key drivers of respec- tive Middle East’s economies. The Indian Innovator Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year, seeks to acknowledge agility across a variety of industries including luxury, healthcare, construction, hospitality, edu- cation, banking, and commu- nications, amongst other key drivers of the Middle East’s economy. “For an event that’s especially catered towards recognizing the achievements of the Indian business com- munity in the Gulf, the people in this room are a reflection of the entrepreneurial drive, the sheer perseverance, and the spirit of innovation that we need to see more of in this re- gion,” said Younane. “The men and women that we celebrate here are setting the standards for how business needs to be done in the Middle East, which makes all of you not just excellent examples for others to follow and take inspiration from, but also great ambassa- dors of India as well.” Entrepreneur Middle East’s 2016 Indian Innovator Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year, was a BNC Publishing produc- tion, presented by du, with the support of Platinum Ally AJSM Investments and Luxury Partner Cadillac.
indian innovator awards 2016 Responsible Leadership L.K. Pagarani Hospitality Innovation Adeeb Ahamed Healthcare Innovation Dr. Azad Moopen Retail Innovation Mushtaq Vakil F&B Innovation Bhupender and Sakshi Nath Real Estate Innovation Kabir Mulchandani Education Innovation Kamal Puri Talent Solutions Innovation Mahesh Shahdadpuri Manufacturing Innovation Asif Sayeed Khan Construction Innovation M. Razzaqi Diversified Portfolio Raj Sahni Brand Penetration Nicole Rodrigues Homegrown Brand Of The Year Harmeek Singh Fastest Growth Purple Honey Food Chain Group (Akshay and Shalini Gangaramani Dosaj) Startup Of The Year HolidayME (Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap) Ecosystem Influencer P. K. Gulati Business Visionary Of The Year Sunil Vaswani Contribution To Business Mohan Nambiar Lifetime Achievement Paras Shahdadpuri Contribution to Business Mohan Nambiar Lifetime Achievement Paras Shahdadpuri Startup of the Year HolidayME (Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap) Entrepreneur january 2017 28
H. H. Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum, President of Al Fajer Properties Construction Innovation M. Razzaqi Business Visionary of the Year Sunil Vaswani Ecosystem Influencer P.K Gulati Fastest Growth Purple Honey Food Chain Group (Akshay Dosaj and Shalini Gangaramani Dosaj) Hospitality Innovation Adeeb Ahamed (accepted on his behalf) january 2017 Entrepreneur 29
Retail Innovation Mushtaq Vakil (accepted on his behalf) indian innovator awards 2016 Manufacturing Innovation Asif Sayeed Khan Talent Solutions Innovation Mahesh Shahdadpuri Healthcare Innovation Dr. Azad Moopen (accepted on his behalf) Stephen Marney, Master of Ceremonies at Indian Innovator Awards 2016 Entrepreneur january 2017 30 Brand Penetration Nicole Rodrigues
Homegrown Brand of the Year Harmeek Singh Responsible Leadership L.K. Pagarani Real Estate Innovation Kabir Mulchandani (accepted on his behalf) Education Innovation Kamal Puri Diversified Portfolio Raj Sahni january 2017 Entrepreneur 31
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Entrepreneur january 2017 34 charts and screenshot © bayt.com ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO TREPONOMICS The future is here Five recruitment trends we expect to see in 2017 By Suhail Al Masri One in two professionals (47%) have not formally set any development plans with their manager in the Middle East and North Africa. The great majority (95%) of those not having set any development plan would like to have one. Career development plans / goals set with manager Total 47 46 52 45 43 53 53 54 27 45 35 54 52 43 11 23 14 9 13 18 8 8 13 14 13 6 20 25 11 10 20 18 13 4 9 41 9 14 12 18 12 4 7 20 11 8 12 20 8 7 15 20 12 9 11 28 12 5 14 13 13 8 12 21 10 10 14 20 11 9 Saudi UAE Kuwait Qatar Bahrain Oman Lebanon Syria Jordan Egypt Morocco Algeria Tunisia Arabia Yes, for the next 5 years Yes, for the next 2 years Yes, for the next year Yes, for the next 6 months No, I have not W ith the prevailing economic instability in the Middle East and North Africa, the evolving labor market needs and hiring preferences, and the new technologies that are constantly introduced to this region, the business world is definitely changing, and it is expected that recruitment will change as well. Without doubt, as the year 2017 quickly unfolds, it is highly recom- mended that business owners, managers, recruiters, and all professionals remain abreast of such trends as it will impact what strategies and tools they will need to utilize in order to remain at the top of their game. Here are five trends that we at Bayt.com expect the recruitment industry will experience in the year 2017. 1. More millennials in the workforce Millennials will soon account for the majority of the global workforce and will, therefore, be part of nearly every company and organization across the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, millennials already constitute the majority of employees in some companies. Millennials are the workforce of tomorrow; they bring in fresh perspectives and bold ideas, unprecedented technology savvy-ness and mastery, and most importantly loads of dedication and hard work. This group is interested in making their workplaces more innovative and they are willing to learn and make mistakes in order to grow and develop their skills. They are the digital media generation and are capable of managing social media and other technology-heavy roles better than any other generation. According to the Bayt.com Millennials in the Middle East and North Africa survey, millennials are willing to sacrifice more hours from their personal life in order to further their career. Organizations that wish to attract and retain young talent will need to recruit this cohort of hard-working, digital natives and ensure that their journey throughout hiring and onboarding is supported by active engagement, learning and development opportunities, a friendly environment, and a distinguished employer brand for them to associate with and truly belong to. 2. Low-cost training Today, employees everywhere are eager to build solid career trajectories and advance their professional development. According to the 2016 Bayticom Career Development in the Middle East and North Africa survey, a lack of career development prospects can radically make or break employee engagement and retention. Many employees feel that their company is failing when it comes to equipping them with the learning and training opportunities needed to ensure their career growth, and this consequently leaves them feeling stifled in their jobs. In fact, the majority (78%) of respondents say that they would leave their company for better training opportunities. Training and development opportunities in the past have not reflected what employees actually need, according to the Bayt.com Career Development in the Middle East and North Africa survey. For instance, while considered relatively more important, a smaller proportion of MENA employees received training in management development, leadership, time management and foreign languages. Designing solutions for employee engagement starts with listening to their goals and needs. One in two professionals (47%) have not formally set any development plans with their manager in the Middle East and North Africa. The great majority (95%) of those not having set any development plan would like to have one. Almost one in two current employees state that training by external
january 2017 Entrepreneur 35 >>> Satisfaction with quality of orientation and training received Many employees feel that their company is failing when it comes to equipping them with the learning and training opportunities needed to ensure their career growth, and this consequently leaves them feeling stifled in their jobs. In fact, the majority (78%) of respondents say that they would leave their company for better training opportunities. Total Saudi UAE Kuwait Qatar Bahrain Oman Lebanon Syria Jordan Egypt Morocco Algeria Tunisia Arabia Very dissatisfied 0-2 3-5 6-7 8-10 Very satisfied 31 28 35 33 30 26 27 30 27 30 35 33 31 27 24 21 27 15 30 24 12 29 26 16 23 26 15 26 28 18 32 23 20 23 27 8 24 41 14 27 34 17 23 30 21 25 21 15 23 27 15 23 34 15 24 29 professional trainers (47%), followed by seminars at professional institutes (43%), certified study programs (40%) and company trainings by internal teams (40%) are the most preferred training methods. With the proliferation of online learning and assessment tools, businesses in 2017 no longer have to pay exorbitant amounts for training their employees and expanding their skills and knowledge database. Companies and professionals who are looking for better career development opportunities and chances to learn and grow can now do so cost-effectively using learning platforms such as Bayt.com’s online courses and tests, many of which are free of charge. There are also numerous research reports and career support articles that are available on Bayt.com for all professionals in the MENA to make use of. 3. Big data Companies that want to gain a competitive edge and have a more methodological approach to talent management are more commonly using analytics to collect data-driven insights and then taking action to refine their recruitment, compensation and retention strategies. Companies are now collecting all sorts of data that come from a variety of sources; ranging from performance numbers and attendance, to job satisfaction surveys and tracking employee life events. Today, more and more companies are making use of Bayt.com’s flagship product, Talentera, and similar breakthroughs in online recruitment, to help them make better sense of their data. Such companies are aware of the importance of using analytics to outline trends in the job market and improve their recruitment and talent retention strategies. Not only is there a lot of employee data that is becoming readily available this year, but HR teams have started to understand what to do with it. Indeed, collecting and analyzing HR data requires a deep understanding of analytics and data science. Not only do resources such as Talentera provide a comprehensive recruitment solution, through which employers can create branded career channels to source, track, assess, and hire professionals, right through their own websites, but using such platforms also enables employers to track their applicants’ information including skills, background as well as previous engagements with the recruitment team. Such information is very essential for taking the right and efficient decisions throughout the recruitment process. Applicant tracking is also important for centralizing the information and making it more accessible for all stakeholders within the organization, such as hiring managers and talent on-boarding professionals. Applicant tracking systems can help all constituents share their feedback about the applicant in real-time, greatly expedite requisition approvals, and generate real-time reports and updates. Making use of such data in 2017 will lead to a more seamless recruitment experience that is faster and more reliable at the same time.
Entrepreneur january 2017 36 Suhail Al-Masri is the VP of Employer Solutions at Bayt.com. Al-Masri has more than 20 years of experience in sales leadership, consultative sales, account management, marketing management, and operations management. His mission at Bayt.com goes in line with the company’s mission to empower people with the tools and knowledge to build their lifestyles of choice. ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO TREPONOMICS infographics © bayt.com The great majority of professionals (82%) would leave their current company for better training opportunities. The Lack of motivation (38%), followed by no clear objectives (31%) are the most mentioned internal barriers for career development. 4. Employee engagement Organizations are focusing more and more on achieving high levels of employee engagement. The reason for this is simple: engaged employees drive the innovation, growth and revenue that companies need in order to thrive. In fact, engaged employees tend to be more satisfied at their jobs and are likely to remain in their companies for longer periods of time. Managers should not only encourage transparency, but also promote open communication channels and foster a feeling of corporate citizenship across their organizations. According to Bayt.com Career Development in the Middle East and North Africa, career development is seen as one of the most important factors for employee retention. The great majority of professionals (82%) would leave their current company for better training opportunities. The lack of motivation (38%), followed by no clear objectives (31%) are the most mentioned internal barriers for career development. This is where employee engagement comes into effect, as employers interested in increasing engagement, and subsequently satisfaction and retention, in 2017, there would be a need to adopt open communication practices and feedback tools. Encourage employees to draw their own career map; by inputting their objectives and painting a picture of where they would like to take their career in 2017 and the years ahead. While almost half (48%) of those surveyed in the 2016 Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Salary survey, said loyalty to their company is linked to the salary they receive at least to some extent, a considerable proportion (35%) claimed their loyalty is not linked to the salary they receive. Indeed, employers are recommended to continue navigating market averages and salary reports for 2017 to ensure equitable salaries. However, employers should also explore other factors that influence employee loyalty. Retention may be impacted by employee’s lack of job security. As seen in the 2016 Bayt.com Stress in the MENA Workplace poll, 62.9% of professionals are concerned they may lose their jobs very soon. Such insecurities are valid factors for stress and low retention, and employers should aim to address them in 2017. 5. Employee health and wellness With the increasing importance of healthy lifestyles, many companies have started offering and investing in wellness programs to ensure their employees are satisfied, healthy and productive. According to the 2016 Bayt.com Health and Lifestyle in the Middle East and North Africa poll, over 87% of professionals in the region say they would be more likely to exercise if their companies offered gym subscription. Professionals who are happy and healthy will exert more effort to give back to the company, so make sure your employees are always well cared for. It is not simply a wish for employees to have company- sponsored wellness programs. In fact, 96% of polled respondents believe that it is the employer’s responsibility to promote employees’ health and wellness. In the upcoming years, wellness programs will be increasingly instrumental in influencing employees’ happiness and performance. Therefore, we recommend employers to take early advantage of this rising trend.
Entrepreneur january 2017 38 business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS CULTURE Starting early Making the case for kids to have an entrepreneurship education By Helen Al Uzaizi Helen Al Uzaizi is the CEO of BizWorld UAE and founder of the entrepreneurship education platform for the MENA region, Future Entrepreneurs. With a 15+ year career in the corporate and startup worlds, Helen directed her passion to the entrepreneurship education field, working to instill the entrepreneurial mindset in the next generation of leaders. A scene from a BizWorld program I s there such a thing as a natural entrepreneur? Someone who is destined for success, with all the right entrepreneurial instincts, and an eye for spotting business opportuni- ties years in advance, strik- ing gold with every venture? Ask any well-established entrepreneur this, and they’ll tell you what we are describing is a unicorn. They’ll also tell you that entrepreneurship is part science and part art, with basic knowledge you need to learn, and skills that must be honed over time. From our perspective, and within the context of educating children about entrepreneurship, we at BizWorld UAE approach this subject with the belief that everyone is born an en- trepreneur- they just need to develop certain practical and emotional skills to bring out that entrepreneurial spirit. We also believe that the earlier this education takes place, the more effective it will be in not only shap- ing future entrepreneurs and leaders, but its overall impact on our economy and greater society. Entrepreneurship educa- tion is important for so many reasons, and when it is done right at an early age, its impact can be tremendous: 1. Learning basic business knowledge This may sound obvious, but it is often overlooked. Not everyone graduates from schools and universities with basic business knowl- edge. Developing a busi- ness plan, keeping track of finances and marketing are all vital for any would-be en- trepreneur, but they are not always mandatory in school and university curriculums. The earlier students pick up this basic knowledge, the less they will have to strug- gle with managing budgets or creating viability studies when they start their own business. 2. Sparking innovation and creativity One hallmark of success- ful entrepreneurs is their ability to adapt, innovate and come up with creative solutions to age-old prob- lems. These aren’t nascent traits in people, so true entrepreneurship educa- tion builds critical-thinking skills and the ability to think creativity, the foundations of innovation. Curiosity is also an important trait that entrepreneurship education develops, because without a sense of curiosity, there won’t be a drive to experi- ment and learn new things. These are all aspects that need to be developed at an early age and continuously nurtured to make a meaning- ful impact. 3. Getting emotionally prepared Let’s say that in theory you know the technical aspects of starting a business, but are you ready for the emo- tional and psychological toll that it takes to manage it? What if things aren’t going your way, are you ready to deal with failure? The psy- chology of an entrepreneur- ial lifestyle is another vital part that may be overlooked in the current ecosystem. True entrepreneurship education works on building up resilience and in parallel, developing a sense of opti- mism. These traits will help future entrepreneurs and leaders deal with adversity, and if they ever get knocked down, get back up and try again.
january 2017 Entrepreneur 39 Bizworld UAE offers entrepreneurship workshops for kids Enabling enterprise Qatar Chamber’s 2nd SMEs conference to kick off in Doha Teach ‘em young In the spirit of encourag- ing the next generation of entrepreneurs, BizWorld UAE is conducting entrepreneurship workshops for children aged 8 to 12 in the UAE. The program is an extension of the original BizWorld program launched 19 years ago in Silicon Valley to teach children business skills, which has impacted more than 600,000 children globally, with its website stating that classes increased their score by 63% after attending the program. The eight-week workshop trains young students the ba- sics of launching and managing a business, including creating a business plan, to marketing and sales. Besides being designed to instill entrepreneurship and leadership skills, the program also aims to cultivate students’ capability in teamwork, leader- ship and creative and critical thinking, ensuring not just critical business skills, but es- sential life skills that would be beneficial in any career path. From 10 am to 12 pm every Sat- urday starting from January 21, 2017, the workshops would be conducted at Impact Hub Dubai, the workshop’s venue sponsor. Register by emailing info@bizworlduae.org or visiting www.bizworlduae.org. www.bizworlduae.org 4. Tapping into the economy Governments in the Mid- dle East are looking toward entrepreneurs to create future jobs for their growing populations. Entrepreneurs are also being tapped as gen- erators of sustainable eco- nomic growth. Building the capabilities of future entre- preneurs is the foundation of these plans since investors consider the abilities of an entrepreneur as closely as they consider their business model. More capable and empowered entrepreneurs create a more productive and efficient ecosystem. 5. Building a stronger education system Education reform and devel- opment tops the agenda for countries across the region as a means to address the root cause of social, econom- ic and political challenges. In addition to the public sector, in the highly competitive private sector, critical think- ing and practical applica- tions are becoming more and more important for parents when it comes to choosing a school. Entrepreneurship education not only creates richer curriculums, but it provides real world and practical applications that will make students more competitive when they graduate. 6. Giving back to the community Being successful in business alone does not necessarily mean you are a well-rounded individual. Being involved in the community, support- ing those around you, and a deeper sense of responsibil- ity, are all examples of how entrepreneurs can create a true and meaningful impact. Entrepreneurship education emphasizes the importance of citizenship and lifting up your community as an integral part of being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship education also imparts this important idea to students: life is not about just getting a job, their future has options, and entrepreneurship is one of them. Equally important, this kind of education also shows students that they are never too young to be an entrepreneur, and that the qualities of entrepreneurship and leadership are already within them. Q atar Chamber, in partner- ship with The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and Inter- national Chamber of Commerce Qatar are organizing the 2nd SMEs Conference at Ritz Carl- ton in Doha on January 17-18, 2017. The second edition of the conference –an event aiming to promote SME growth, entrepre- neurship and diversification of Qatar’s economy- will be held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Qatar, and aims at “empowering small and medium enterprises.” While the first edition of the conference, held in 2015, focused on Germany’s business ecosystem, the 2nd SMEs Conference will take a look at Turkey’s best business practices and the partnership opportuni- ties for local SMEs and entre- preneurs in that market. The agenda of the two-day event includes keynote addresses by Qatar and Turkish officials, sessions on Turkey’s SME sector, doing business in Turkey, access to business resources in Qatar, SME financing, e- commerce growth, and technology innovation among other topics, B2B meetings, and others. The confer- ence is sponsored by Qatar Na- tional Bank, Qatar Development Bank, Doha Bank and Nasser Bin Khaled group.
Entrepreneur january 2017 40 TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO The times they are a-changin’ How e-commerce is turning stores into just another marketing channel By Andreas Skorski R emember when a brand’s website was little more than a 2.0 version of a brochure? In 2003, Prada’s website featured two photos taken from its ad campaign– noth- ing else. Versace’s homepage boasted more sophisticated web design and a Flash ani- mation, but took an annoy- ing 97 seconds to load. With a few exceptions –like LVMH group’s online shop eluxury. com– high-end brands back then saw the internet as just another promotion tool. The business of selling– that was what their exclusive, marble- clad stores were for. “Web selling seems more appro- priate for basic apparel, not high fashion,” said a Prada spokesperson to The Wall Street Journal in 2003. And this way of thinking has been hard to knock down. But the tables are turning. E-commerce has become the fastest growing sales channel in the luxury goods sector. With the point of purchase increasingly shifting away from the high street and into our living rooms, what will the purpose of brick and mortar stores be if not selling things? In a David- and-Goliath-like reversal of roles, physical stores are becoming a marketing chan- nel– just another step in the customers’ journeys towards a purchase, not their natural endpoint. Forward-looking retailers, those who refuse to see their physical stores become skeletons of a long- gone era, have realized this. And this is what they’re do- ing with their floor-space. Customers as guests, not buyers Spoiled by the freedom and convenience of buying online, today’s time-poor discerning consumers will only visit a physical store that promises an experience they can truly enjoy- a place where they are approached more as a guest than as a potential buyer. That’s what digitally born French fashion brand Sézane understood when it opened L’Appartement in Paris. Its first physical showroom slash hangout space mimics a well decorated home – albeit one with a cosy movie theater in its basement. “I want people to feel welcome here, whether they buy or not,” said Morgane Sézalory to The New York Times. Sell- ing is so not the focus that it’s not even possible to walk out with a shopping bag. Orders must be placed on the website. This experiential con- cept store model has taken off thanks to online-first brands such as Bonobo and Warby Parker –where trendy eyeglasses share shelf space with good reads– and to high street brands like URBN group’s Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. Anthropol- ogie’s new superstore format takes the retailer’s already immersive customer experi- ence one step further, mixing up their boho-chic fashion and lifestyle products with perfectly-staged living rooms, home styling con- sultations and atmospheric dining options that invite visitors to hang around, so- cialize and get inspired. The cultured side of luxury Scared of sacrificing their exclusivity, higher-end lux- ury retailers have been wea- rier of turning their shops into hangout places. But Tesla’s showrooms, which display the brand’s cutting- edge technology and sustain- ability ethos in a gallery-like setting, are a lesson on how luxury brands can become more relatable while remain- ing aspirational. Through a combination of upscale location, sleek ambiance, museum-like installations, interactive technology and well-trained staff, Tesla’s message is: we are not here to sell to you; we are here to share our vision with you. Luxury fashion and jewelry brands are also venturing into the museum format to hit that sweet spot between nurturing their mass appeal while guarding their exclu- sivity. Leveraging their herit- age, and their ties with the
january 2017 Entrepreneur 41 Online-only Everlane -who promises premium quality without the premium price tag- claims that its bestselling cashmere sweater, which costs $42 to make, would sell for $210 in a traditional store. By cutting out middlemen and the overhead costs of a physical venue, Everlane can sell that sweater for $100. Andreas Skorski is the founder and CEO of THE LIST, the Middle East’s leading marketplace for luxury goods. Currently based in Dubai, UAE, Andreas started his first tech company in Germany at the age of 17, and has since successfully founded and invested in several lifestyle and tech startups. www.sezane.com | www.everlane.com equally aesthetic and allur- ing world of art and design, some luxury houses –Chanel, Hermès and Alexander Mc- Queen, among others– have held captivating exhibitions at major galleries, while others, like Audemars Piguet and Gucci, are doing the same by investing in their own museums. Next-level treatment While exhibitions and mu- seums are usually restricted to cosmopolitan cities or symbolic locations, con- cierge-style services tar- geted towards high net worth individuals have become a widespread experience- enhancing strategy among luxury maisons and premium department stores striving to remain relevant. “Customers have told us they love going into hotels, getting rid of everything as they walk in and having it all taken care of,” said Shadi Halliwell, group market- ing and creative director at Harvey Nichols. The depart- ment store is trying to rep- licate that experience in its revamped venues with the addition of personal shop- pers, valet parking, plush private shopping lounges and a concierge taking visitors’ coats and bags at the door. Louis Vuitton’s ‘VICs’ (Very Important Clients) in Beverly Hills, Paris, Singa- pore and Shanghai can even book lavishly-furnished penthouse-style suites for personal shopping parties, where they can get styling advice or try on shoes while getting pampered. In an era where the perks of going shopping must beat the perks of clicking away from the comfort of your hotel’s poolside lounge, Bain & Company has identified en- hanced personalized services as a vital strategy to weather the blow of the sector’s ‘new normal’ of sluggish growth. Fewer, higher-impact locations It’s not only customers who are getting bored of tradi- tional rack-and-manikin- filled shops. For businesses, the expensive inefficiencies of building and running brick-and-mortar venues are getting harder to justify. Sézane claims that it can sell its shoes at one-fourth of the price they would have to charge if they had traditional offline shops. Online-only Everlane -who promises premium quality without the premium price tag- claims that its bestselling cashmere sweater, which costs US$42 to make, would sell for $210 in a traditional store. By cut- ting out middlemen and the overhead costs of a physical venue, Everlane can sell that sweater for $100. The streamlined supply chains of online-pure retail- ers sound like a win-win solution. Yet people will always want to touch things, try them on, travel to a far away country and visit a quirky boutique they saw on someone’s Instagram feed. The question, then, is how lean should distribution get? And the answer is: as lean as possible. This means replacing traditional stores with no-stock showrooms, to at least get rid of the cost and complexity of in-store inventory management. It means cutting down loca- tions and investing instead in a few, strategically located flagship venues with a real ‘wow’ factor. And it means only opening stores that are worth the pricey hassle. On- line stores, with their 24/7 opening hours and measur- able performance, can take care of the rest. Last year, Gucci shut down five of its stores in China. But it also opened, in Shanghai, its first ever branded upscale restaurant, 1921 Gucci. Like its Gucci museum and café in Flor- ence, it is the type of place that luxury buyers from around the world would want to visit, check-in at and upload a Snapchat story of. (Yes, adult luxury buyers use Snapchat too.) With tourists accounting for an increas- ingly large chunk of luxury sales –up to 60% in France and 50% in Italy, according to a Havas LuxHub report– it seems fitting to invest in iconic stores that can be- come renowned destinations in themselves. The technology race Brands trying to prove their tech savvy-ness through clever social media and e-commerce strategies need to beware of yet another ele- ment in the innovation race: technology-enabled in-store experiences. From smart mirrors to virtual reality and aug- mented reality features, new technologies are already being tried and tested by forward-thinking retailers. Dior’s very own VR headset transports store visitors “behind-the-scenes” of the Paris Fashion Week runway, while Audi uses the same technology to take custom- ers on virtual test-drives. In Ralph Lauren’s interactive fitting rooms, a customer who tries on two garments and indecisively ends up buying only one of them, will receive a text message with a link in case he or she wants to order it online later on. Remember the saying: “Nothing haunts you like the things you didn’t buy?” Well, those things can track you down now. As technology zips forward at a dizzying pace, and the behaviors of discerning con- sumers change at a similar speed, the possible scenarios of what ‘the stores of the fu- ture’ will look like are limit- less. But one thing is certain: they will not have cashiers. Although e-commerce still accounts for less than one- tenth of global luxury sales, by forcing old-school retail to reinvent itself, it is over- coming Goliath.
Entrepreneur january 2017 42 Image courtesy lenovo, samsung, epson Sennheiser GSP 350 TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX This month’s tech lineup is catered towards the executive professional always on the go- we’ve got a smartphone, a smartwatch, and, well, a smart scanner- if we do say so ourselves. Time for Tango Lenovo changes the game with The Phab 2 pro Sony MDR- 1000X noice- canceling headphones Phab 2 Pro Google Tango Phantogeist Phab 2 Pro camera close-up Phab 2 Pro powered by Tango technology Phab 2 Pro Fingerprint Move over virtual real- ity- Lenovo has introduced augmented reality to smart- phones. The Phab 2 Pro , powered by Tango technology that senses and maps its sur- roundings, supports motion tracking, and thus, depth perception is here. For the first time ever, a smartphone can visualize and understand its surroundings. How is this possible? The device has sen- sors that capture more than 250,000 measurements per second to map indoor spaces. Phab 2 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, which is op- timally balanced for a Tango workload and enables 3D AR graphic overlays to render physical surroundings more accurately. The smartphone is also equipped with a 6.4- inch HD display, Dolby Audio Capture, 64 GB onboard storage and a fast-focusing 13 MP camera. But wait- there’s more. Phab 2’s AR mode allows you to superimpose effects such as virtual back- grounds or cartoons into your pictures. Did you get all of that? In addition to the basics like taking calls and sending messages, Phab 2 Pro gives you two ways to tango.
january 2017 Entrepreneur 43 #TAMTALKSTECH Tamara Clarke, a former software development professional, is the tech and lifestyle enthusiast behind The Global Gazette, one of the most active blogs in the Middle East. The Global Gazette has been welcomed and lauded by some of the most influential tech brands in the region. Clarke’s goal is to inform about technology and how it supports our lifestyles. See her work both in print regional publications and online on her blog where she discusses everything from how a new gadget improves day-to-day life to how to coordinate your smartphone accessories. Visit www.theglobalgazette.com and talk to her on Twitter @TamaraClarke. TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX On the go Epson launched portable scanners Geared up Samsung improves Gear smartwatch Samsung Gear S3 Classic Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Epson DS-360W Samsung’s revised Gear S3 smartwatch extends the features of its predecessors with a twist of something new. Available in two styles, Frontier and Classic versions, Gear S3 has mass appeal. It combines IP68 water resistance, wireless fast-charging, SOS and location-tracking capabilities, and a dedicated speaker. The smartwatch is compatible with a range of Samsung smartphones, and applications from the Galaxy store can be downloaded directly onto the Gear S3. The Classic edition allows you to use any 22mm watchstrap, so that you can match it to your favorite outfits. Lasting four days on a single charge, the Gear S3 also features a 16 million color Super AMOLED screen with Corning Gorilla Glass SR+, an Always On Display and a customizable user interface. The Gear S3’s signature rotating bezel allows a range of functions, including exercise programs, with its alti/barometer and speedometer tracking everything from altitude and atmospheric pressure to sudden changes in weather, distance traveled and speed. Newly added to the Gear S3 is a built-in speaker that allows you to activate voice messaging and listen to music. Whether using it to be connected or stay fit, this accessory is the perfect companion to get you in gear. Scanning just got easier for busy professionals on the go. Epson has launched two new portable business scanners and they boast the fastest speeds on the market. The WorkForce DS- 310 and DS-360W make it easy to manage documents quickly and effectively while on the move. With one of the lightest and smallest designs in their class, they are ideal for carrying in a bag or plac- ing in a drawer, allowing mobile workers to digitize paperwork with ease. The additional embedded battery and wireless connectivity on the DS-360W eliminate the need for cables, making the device truly portable. Both models are capable of scan- ning a wide range of media, including envelopes, and can scan cards and paper between 52-230gsm. They are ideal wherever there is a need to scan and capture pa- per documents, such as busi- ness cards or signed forms. The devices can be paired with Epson’s Document Capture Pro software, which has a variety of “scan-to” options like scan-to-cloud, scan-to-email and scan-to- SharePoint, alongside other document imaging features such as barcode recognition and zonal Optical Character Recognition support. The WorkForce DS-310 and DS-360W are perfect accom- paniments for any mobile professional.
Entrepreneur january 2017 44 business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS CULTURE ALL THAT YOU NEED business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS CULTURE ‘Trep trimmings The executive selection TROPHY BY RODERER F rom better goods to boardroom wardrobe bests, each issue we choose a few items that make the approved executive selection list. In this issue, we present our picks from The Kooples SS17 range, leather goods for a staple upgrade, and a venue that helps to take your grooming regime to the next level. Entrepreneur january 2017 44 Trophy by Roderer Trophy by Roderer If you’re looking to get a fresh start this year, perhaps it’s time to replace your bulky, worn-out wallet with a fresh leather piece from the Saffiano Leather Trophy collection. Created by Oliver Birault, an entrepreneur much like yourself, he was inspired to found this homegrown brand by his business travels and the city’s entrepreneurial drive. The collection features three wallets, designed super slim for comfortable in-pocket fit giving you quick access and extensive storage for your most-used cards. Minimalists out there will appreciate the streamlined (and useful) designs. www.roderer.info
january 2017 Entrepreneur 45 Editor’s pick 1847’s VIP Room for the discerning gent Images courtesy roderer, the kooples, 1847 Bremont ALT1-C/PB business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS CULTURE SUIT UP THE KOOPLES SS17 On The Clock The Kooples SS17 OFF The Clock The Kooples SS17 OFF The Clock The Kooples SS17 1847 VIP Room Living the executive life takes its toll… and when it’s finally time to take a break, the hassle of finding the right venue can be a deterrent. We’ve taken care of the details for you, as we’ve already done the road test! We suggest you consider booking a visit to the recently launched VIP Room at the 1847 men’s salon in Dubai. 1847 has dubbed its VIP Room a “grooming oasis,” and the discerning gentleman who books it can treat himself to everything from haircuts to massages to pedicures- all of which will happen in the confines of a neatly designed space that will be exclusive to him. All one needs to do is to choose from the wide variety of services and treatments that 1847 offers, and then sit back and allow the expert in-house staff to offer you a personalized pampering experience. Relax, unwind and chill out, and up your grooming game in the process! www.1847uae.com Good leaders know when it’s time to change things up… and the three brothers behind this French brand certainly demonstrate that quality with The Kooples latest collection. Known for its ad campaigns of real-life couples (and even creative duos), in the Summer/ Spring 2017 range, the creative direction moves towards travel- particularly Asia, ranging from India to Japan. With designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia as its muse, and a collaborator for the collection, The Kooples incorporates subtle prints and textures, and a respectable color palette of dark blues and blacks. When you’re heading to the boardroom, we recommend the grey suit jacket topped off by a navy-blue tie (slinked back with a subtle tie pin) paired with a statement pocket square. As for your off-the- clock ensemble, you can’t go wrong with a relaxed fit jacket embellished with a fine silk scarf. www.thekooples.com
Entrepreneur january 2017 46 TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO Civility matters The Esquire Guy’s guide to figuring out if you’re a bully at work By Ross McCammon “Bullying can include angry, aggressive or hostile behavior from a colleague or a supervisor. But it can also be more subtle, such as secretly sabotaging someone’s work, or setting them up for failure by purposely making unreasonable demands.” L ast year, I was a guest on an NPR call-in talk show to discuss workplace etiquette. Most calls were about shaking hands, conducting meetings, asking for a raise, recovering from calling your boss by your wife’s name. (Maybe that’s just me.) It was light and funny, until one caller asked for advice about being shunned by her coworkers. They would gather near her desk, talking about work she was involved in without asking her to weigh in. They never invited her to lunch or after-work drinks. When she brought up her feelings, her colleagues dismissed and mocked her. She felt unimportant and ostracized. And she sounded deeply distressed. I felt ill equipped to answer the question. I stammered out a reply. I made a joke. (She didn’t laugh.) The show’s host suggested that she record these instances and, if they continued, alert a supervisor. The host labeled the behavior as “bul- lying.” Which at first struck me as infantilizing. I hadn’t felt bullied since middle school. And I certainly had never felt bullied at work. And I certainly had never bullied anyone at work. (Note: Never believe anyone who uses italics to deny something.) Or had I? The major problem with the word bullying is that it seems more tied to the playground and, these days, social media (which is a metaphorical playground). Walk- ing up to a coworker and flicking an earlobe? I think we’d all say that’s bullying. (It is also assault- amusing assault, but still.) But what about rolling your eyes every time a col- league speaks in a meeting? Gossip- ing? Raising your voice? The things we’ve all been guilty of doing? The question for most of us isn’t: are we being bullied? It is: are we the bullies? Are we engaging in behavior, even occasionally, that… well, what? That hurts a colleague’s feelings? That threatens them? That gives them an ulcer? The effects can be serious. Stud- ies have linked rude behavior to decreased performance. In one joint study by the University of Southern California and the University of Florida, after a researcher belit- tled participants, they scored 33% worse on puzzles and came up with 39% fewer brainstorm ideas. Even people who simply witnessed uncivil behavior performed 22% worse on puzzles and had 28% fewer ideas. Despite that evidence, there’s no direct line of legal liability for workplace bullying, which means very few employers cover bullying behaviors in their internal em- ployee policies, says David Yamada, professor and director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk Uni- versity Law School. “When the U.S. Supreme Court told employers, ‘You could be held liable for sexual har- assment,’ they all jumped onboard to have educational programs, training and workplace policies and procedures,” he says. “With work- place bullying, we’re where we were maybe 30 years ago with sexual harassment.” So what constitutes bullying? “Bullying can include angry, aggres- sive or hostile behavior from a col- league or a supervisor,” says David Ballard, assistant executive director for organizational excellence at the American Psychological As- sociation. “But it can also be more subtle, such as secretly sabotaging
january 2017 Entrepreneur 47 KEY TECHNICAL MATTERS Here are five toxic personality types you should stay away from at work: 1. Control Freaks They hate certainty and are obsessed with control. They love to find others with low self-esteem to boss around. Steer clear by not recognizing their authority. Let them know they can’t control you. 2. Show Offs They’re always interrupting at meetings and will step on anyone in their way. They are egomaniacs and status seekers. Steer clear by saying no to things that aren’t in your job description. 3. Complainers If you let them complain to you everyday, you’ll be lumped in with them as being negative. Steer clear by keeping the conversation light and cordial. 4. Gossips The constant chatter about others’ misfortunes is poison in the workplace. Steer clear by not giving them an audience to vent to. 5. Victims They see others’ successes as result of opportunities that wasn’t available to them. Steer clear by not chiming in when they rant. The effects can be serious. Studies have linked rude behav- ior to decreased performance. In one joint study by the Uni- versity of Southern California and the University of Florida, after a researcher belittled participants, they scored 33% worse on puzzles and came up with 39% fewer brainstorm ideas. Even people who simply witnessed uncivil behavior per- formed 22% worse on puzzles and had 28% fewer ideas. someone’s work, or setting them up for failure by purposely making unreasonable demands.” In short: repeated, deliberate harm. A company’s success depends upon people trying to beat each other as much as trying to cooper- ate with each other. Competition in the workplace is a given. And so are competitive behaviors. But we can do our work without making other people miserable, if we understand how our behaviors are being per- ceived. Do you think that anyone you work with might go home and weep be- cause of your behavior? Yes No Do you think that anyone you work with might see a doctor about a condition caused by your behavior? Yes No Did you skip over this column be- cause you’re obviously not a bully? Yes No If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may have a tendency to occasionally engage in bullying behaviors. (I sense you are rolling your eyes at how unscientific that quiz was. Stop bullying me.) It’s OK to regress a little. It’s OK to think about, say, middle school - about how you felt when you were bullied and how other children seemed to feel when they were. In bullying, as in so many other work- place behavior issues, self-aware- ness is the first step: getting out of your own head enough that you can see what you look like to others. When we watch ourselves, we can catch those behaviors, even the seemingly harmless ones, that make us jerks. The sighs? Never sigh at work- you’ll seem either tired, bored or in respiratory distress. The eye-rolling? When you feel one coming on, tilt your head down; the eye roll becomes a brief yet sweeping examination of your sur- roundings. The thing where you keep typing while someone is trying to talk to you in your office? I happen to be doing that at this very moment, and it’s going to stop right now! See this article in its entirety at Entrepreneur.com
Entrepreneur january 2017 48 The proven path to doing unique work By James Clear Stay on the bus James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he uses behavior science to share ideas for mastering your habits, improving your health, and increasing your creativity. To get useful ideas on improving your mental and physical performance, join his free newsletter JamesClear.com/newsletter. To have James speak at your entrepreneurial event contact him jamesClear.com/contact CULTURE business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS “So once again, you get off the bus, grab the cab, race back and find a new platform. This goes on all your creative life, always showing new work, always being compared to others.” I n June of 2004, Arno Rafael Minkkinen stepped up to the microphone at the New England School of Photography to deliver the commencement speech. As he looked out at the graduating students, Mink- kinen shared a simple theory that, in his estimation, made all the difference between success and failure. He called it The Helsinki Bus Station Theory. The Helsinki Bus Station Theory Minkkinen was born in Hel- sinki, Finland. In the center of the city there was a large bus station and he began his speech by describing it to the students. “Some two dozen platforms are laid out in a square at the heart of the city,” Minkkinen said. “At the head of each platform is a sign posting the numbers of the buses that leave from that particular platform. The bus numbers might read as follows: 21, 71, 58, 33, and 19. Each bus takes the same route out of the city for at least a kilo- meter, stopping at bus stop intervals along the way.” He continued, “Now let’s say, again metaphorically speaking, that each bus stop represents one year in the life of a photographer. Mean- ing the third bus stop would represent three years of photographic activity. Ok, so you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes. Call it bus #21.” “You take those three years of work to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn. His bus, 71, was on the same line. Or you take them to a gallery in Paris and are reminded to check out Bill Brandt, bus 58, and so on. Shocked, you realize that what you have been doing for three years others have already done.” “So you hop off the bus, grab a cab -because life is short- and head straight back to the bus station look- ing for another platform.” “This time,” he said, “you are going to make 8×10 view camera color snapshots of people lying on the beach from a cherry picker crane. You spend three years at it and three grand and pro- duce a series of works that elicit the same comment. Haven’t you seen the work of Richard Misrach? Or, if they are steamy black and white 8x10s of palm trees sway- ing off a beachfront, haven’t you seen the work of Sally Mann?” “So once again, you get off the bus, grab the cab, race back and find a new plat- form. This goes on all your creative life, always show- ing new work, always being compared to others.” Minkkinen paused. He looked out at the students and asked, “What to do?” “It’s simple,” he said. “Stay on the bus. Stay on the [ex- pletive] bus. Because if you do, in time, you will begin to see a difference.” “The buses that move out of Helsinki stay on the same line, but only for a while- maybe a kilometer or two. Then they begin to separate, each number heading off to its own unique destination. Bus 33 suddenly goes north. Bus 19 southwest. For a time maybe 21 and 71 dovetail one another, but soon they split off as well. Irving Penn is headed elsewhere.” “It’s the separation that makes all the difference,” Minkkinen said. “And once you start to see that differ- ence in your work from the work you so admire -that’s why you chose that platform after all- it’s time to look for your breakthrough. Suddenly your work starts to get no- ticed. Now you are working more on your own, mak- ing more of the difference between your work and what influenced it. Your vision takes off. And as the years mount up and your work begins to pile up, it won’t be long before the critics be- come very intrigued, not just by what separates your work from a Sally Mann or a Ralph Gibson, but by what you did when you first got started!” “You regain the whole bus route in fact. The vintage prints made twenty years ago are suddenly re-evaluated and, for what it is worth, start selling at a premium. At the end of the line -where the bus comes to rest and the driver can get out for a smoke or, better yet, a cup of coffee- that’s when the work
january 2017 Entrepreneur 49 outliers book cover © penguin books CULTURE business unusual | LIFE | TRAVEL | DESIGN | TRAPPINGS Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers popularized The 10,000 Hour Rule, which states that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert in a particular field. I think what we often miss is that deliberate practice is revision. If you’re not paying close enough attention to revise, then you’re not being deliberate. JamesClear.com is done. It could be the end of your career as an artist or the end of your life for that matter, but your total output is now all there before you, the early (so-called) imita- tions, the breakthroughs, the peaks and valleys, the closing masterpieces, all with the stamp of your unique vi- sion.” “Why? Because you stayed on the bus.” Does consistency lead to success? I write frequently about how mastery requires consist- ency. That includes ideas like putting in your reps, improv- ing your average speed, and falling in love with boredom. These ideas are critical, but The Helsinki Bus Station Theory helps to clarify and distinguish some important details that often get over- looked. Does consistency lead to success? Consider a college student. They have likely spent more than 10,000 hours in a classroom by this point in their life. Are they an expert at learning every piece of information thrown at them? Not at all. Most of what we hear in class is for- gotten shortly thereafter. Consider someone who works on a computer each day at work. If you’ve been in your job for years, it is very likely that you have spent more than 10,000 hours writing and responding to emails. Given all of this writ- ing, do you have the skills to write the next great novel? Probably not. Consider the average person who goes to the gym each week. Many folks have been doing this for years or even decades. Are they built like elite athletes? Do they possess elite level strength? Unlikely. The key feature of The Helsinki Bus Station Theory is that it urges you to not simply do more work, but to do more re-work. It’s not the work, it’s the re-work Average college students learn ideas once. The best college students re-learn ideas over and over. Aver- age employees write emails once. Elite novelists re-write chapters again and again. Average fitness enthusiasts mindlessly follow the same workout routine each week. The best athletes actively critique each repetition and constantly improve their technique. It is the revision that matters most. To continue the bus metaphor, the photographers who get off the bus after a few stops and then hop on a new bus line are still doing work the whole time. They are putting in their 10,000 hours. What they are not doing, however, is re-work. They are so busy jumping from line to line in the hopes of finding a route nobody has ridden before that they don’t invest the time to re-work their old ideas. And this, as The Helsinki Bus Station Theory makes clear, is the key to producing something unique and wonderful. By staying on the bus, you give yourself time to re-work and revise until you produce something unique, inspiring, and great. It’s only by staying on board that mastery re- veals itself. Show up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way and every now and then genius will reveal itself. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers popularized The 10,000 Hour Rule, which states that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert in a par- ticular field. I think what we often miss is that deliberate practice is revision. If you’re not paying close enough at- tention to revise, then you’re not being deliberate. A lot of people put in 10,000 hours. Very few peo- ple put in 10,000 hours of revision. The only way to do that is to stay on the bus. Which bus will you ride? We are all creators in some capacity. The manager who fights for a new initiative. The accountant who creates a faster process for managing tax returns. The nurse who thinks up a better way of managing her patients. And, of course, the writer, the designer, the painter, and the musician laboring to share their work out to the world. They are all creators. Any creator who tries to move society forward will experience failure. Too often, we respond to these failures by calling a cab and getting on another bus line. Maybe the ride will be smoother over there. Instead, we should stay on the bus and commit to the hard work of revisiting, rethinking, and revising our ideas. In order to do that, how- ever, you must answer the toughest decision of all. Which bus will you ride? What story do you want to tell with your life? What craft do you want to spend your years revising and im- proving? How do you know the right answer? You don’t. Nobody knows the best bus, but if you want to fulfill your potential you must choose one. This is one of the cen- tral tensions of life. It’s your choice, but you must choose. And once you do, stay on the bus.
Entrepreneur january 2017 50 TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO The case for team building efforts is stronger when the times are tougher By Adrian Hayes Come together Adrian Hayes is a British record-breaking adventurer, keynote speaker, leadership, team and executive coach, campaigner and author. www.adrianhayes.com A team building activity conducted by Adrian Hayes I t is one of the strange anomalies and, frankly, naiveté of businesses today: in the sporting world, where the stakes, competition and money have increased beyond all recognition in the past 20 years, teamwork and team building is treated with the utmost criticality in producing a high-performing unit. In the expedition world, too, true teamwork is the key factor in achieving a major goal –and, indeed, often staying alive– and I give my teams weekly “team building” training and awareness in the months lead- ing up to an expedition and whilst on it. Yet, in our corpo- rate world, where the stakes, competition and money have risen equally as dramatically, team development languishes in the dark ages. In the first instance, 90% of our companies will do either no formal team building train- ing or resort to a once a year fun based “team building day” in the naïve belief that this will create a high performing corporate team. And secondly, when times are hard, any team development training will usually be scaled down or even cut. All of this is naïve, danger- ous and, frankly, bunk. A “team building day” such as a treasure hunt, building a raft to cross a swimming pool or embarking on a high ropes course will bring fun, enjoyment and camaraderie. All good things to have in a corporate calendar- and if you can’t have some fun alongside the relentless pressure of sales targets, profit targets and growth, then a company isn’t putting its employees first. But that day won’t discover or resolve communication block- ages in a team, silo mentality, misunderstandings, the sup- port each team member needs, individual and team values, its strengths and weaknesses, feedback and acknowledge- ment and many, many more factors that go into creating a high performing team. And it is easy to have a rela- tively well gelled team when times are good, sales are flow- ing in and prof- its are trebling every year– the periods when companies will feel they can spend money on personal, leadership and team develop- ment. Yet in recessions, challenging times and periods of uncertainty, this is the time when this development is needed more than ever. For the simple fact is that, no matter what bonuses an individual employee is on, the quality and effectiveness of a team working seamlessly to- gether is one of the key factors that will result in a company overcoming major challenges– or achieving success. For there are very few employees in any organization in the world who work in a vacuum. So much of what we do is utterly depend- ent on a shared vision, objec- tives and goals; true listening, understanding and support; and commitment, camaraderie and cohesion of a team we are part of. Real team coaching and team development, as opposed to “team building days” provides this. A structured program of awareness, training and development over the course of a few months or a year, whose benefits will far outweigh lost time emptying our inboxes. In some cases, a leader has the skills to provide this aware- ness, training and change. However, there are so many models, mantras, lessons, ex- amples, exercises, experiential work, tools and techniques in the world of the real personal, leadership and team develop- ment that it often requires the support of experts. That is why top sporting teams enlist the skills of an entire group of coaches, psychologists and
january 2017 Entrepreneur 51 Four ideation techniques to get your team thinking Eureka! | SKILLSET | Dipika Mallya is the founder of Ideation Labs, and she facilitates interactive sessions to help incubators, accelerators and startups solve marketing and design challenges. She has worked for leading brands in the region, including Cleartrip, YouGov and the Al-Futtaim Group. She holds a Master’s degree in Advertising from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.ideationlabs.io development gurus to enable every sportsperson and their team to reach their fullest potential. Companies need to have the same mindset, if not the same scale of resources. In a program that should run over the course of a year, it is impossible to give all you need to know in a 1000-word single article. But here are five tips: > See formal team coaching/ team development as essential, a part of a company’s monthly or quarterly program, as its sales targets. > Have clear agreements on the need for honest, transparency and openness in any team. Without this in place, any de- velopment program will simply not work. > As a starter session, ask the non-judgmental question, “How are we doing as a team?” If the agreements of the earlier point are in place, it will open a rich channel of communication that will likely have been sub- merged for months or years. > Have a discovery session of what team members’ individual values, goals and objectives are. Everyone has a different DNA and are motivated by different objectives. Contrary to common belief, money is not the key fac- tor in most people’s leaving of a company. > Enlist a professional team coach. They have skills, tools and techniques that most man- agers and leaders simply do not have either the awareness or time to deliver. Real teamwork, team develop- ment and team coaching is too critical to be left to the “nice to haves” or a once-a-year “team building days.” It will largely determine your company’s success or failure and nowhere more vital than in challenging times. Give it the importance it –and your teams– deserve. P icture this: you’re sitting in a conference room that’s slightly colder than you prefer, taking a few notes, staring at a whiteboard and listening to some ideas being passed around. Time goes by, a few concepts are shortlisted, and the session is dismissed. But what if there was a better way to brain- storm, or generate creative, actionable ideas? When the original brainstorming technique was introduced in 1953, it was based on four key principles: generating a large quantity of ideas, avoiding criticism, encouraging wild and crazy ideas, and building on each other’s ideas. However, advances over the past few decades have led innovation and creativity experts to call for a more structured approach to idea generation, development and implementation, all while keeping these basic principles in mind. Hence the rise of structured ideation, or using specific exercises, frameworks and models to generate ideas and drive business growth. Structured ideation can be used to solve a variety of business challenges; from developing a marketing strategy to redesigning a product or service. Here are a few team-based ideation activities that can make your brainstorms more inclusive, engaging and effective: 1. Mission Impossible Purpose Generate ideas using seemingly impossible questions “How do we build a house in a day?” Apply this technique by framing your creative or business challenge in a way that seems impos- sible, and seek out a variety of ideas from your team members. As the exercise progresses, encourage participants to think about new features or benefits that might emerge from this constraint. Evaluate the core elements in conflict, and the potential solutions that can come out of using time, space, technology or the environment as key factors. 2. Brainwriting Purpose Build on each other’s ideas in an inclusive manner Also known as the silent brainstorm, this technique has been lauded by practitioners and critics alike. At the start of this exercise, pro- vide all participants with index cards or Post-it notes, and ask them to individually generate three ideas related to the topic at hand. After this phase, participants can pass their card to the person on their right; the next person finds a way to expand on these ideas, or add incremental improvements. The objective is to end up with 3x more ideas than if the session had begun with collaborative thinking. 3. Speedboat Purpose Identify challenges in your product or service through visualization Visualization has been proven to enhance learning ability, and stimulate process-oriented creative thought. This technique starts with a large speedboat drawn on a whiteboard or large sheet of paper, which is named based on the challenge at hand. Team members work on identifying roadblocks or variables that would “slow down” this boat, and specify the kilo- meters or miles by which this specific problem would hinder progress. After all the obstacles or “anchors” have been identified, participants can work on resolving these issues and finding innovative solutions. 4. Dot Voting Purpose Choose and rank ideas based on business impact This technique exemplifies democracy in action! By providing team members with five round stickers as votes, they can actively select ideas and concepts that resonate with them. As a precedent to this exercise, participants can also be given a framework to evaluate and rank ideas based on feasibility or impact. The session ends with a clear display of ideas that are ranked as most effective or valuable.
Entrepreneur january 2017 52 Design is no longer just an aesthetic component, but rather an exigent driver of human behavior By J. J. De La Torre TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX Design the driver of digital reinvention I n a recent meeting, I was asked by a client why there is so much focus on design, and if this was not just another fashion trend aiming to become a paradigm of the decade. So I decided to openly reflect on it. Design has been an integral part of human evolution. From the development of the first tools by pre-historic man, to the industrial revolution and the invention of personal computing, design has been at the forefront of everything we do. However, the understanding of design has changed and evolved as our expectations and ways to interact with artifacts, machines and tools have also evolved from a pure functional and practical drive to a more experiential and engaged approach. Design today is not just about the features of a product and how those features function, but more on how we are able to create certain experiences that deliver delight or joy to the user. Entrepreneur january 2017 52
january 2017 Entrepreneur 53 www.uber.com >>> Design today is not just about the features of a product and how those features function, but more on how we are able to create certain experiences that deliver delight or joy to the user. uber successfully crafted an experience that simplifies the process of getting around a city. The complexity of the solution is completely hidden and irrelevant, where the customer experience is the priority and simplicity is the key to success. J.J. De La Torre, Digital Transformation Leader, IBM MEA PART ONE Design matters Enabling experiences for your customers As the intention behind design has changed, the capabilities and talent in- volved in the design process have also evolved, moving from a purely mechanical and functional approach to an experiential and human centric one created by a pool of experts that center their capabilities on human under- standing, situation analysis and from there, to design and experience. In that, our approach on how we create and design has also evolved from a problem to a solution-based model where we have to focus on experience engagement. The user has become the center of the experience and understanding that becomes paramount to the design pro- cess, which shifts the focus on outcome. So how did we end up here? Designing for experiences was always there, however it was not a priority as the focus was on delivering value through functionality. It was all about creating robust, strong products that deliv- ered feature-rich capability. This was also due to the fact that product development was in the hands of core IT engineers, who approached the process from a cost perspective with a focus on efficiency and building functional solutions that didn’t break. With marketing departments gaining access to development budgets and digital presence becoming core to the brand and sales channel, the overall customer experience through design becomes integral to product development. A good example of this shift can be found at Starbucks, which changed the action of drinking coffee (functional and undifferentiated) to an experience where coffee became part of overall brand proposition. In fact, we don’t go to Starbucks for great coffee, but rather for the overall experience that we enjoy. From entry to exit, we experience this proposition at every touch point; from reaching the counter, choos- ing and customizing our coffee, selecting a sandwich or cake, enjoying the atmos- phere or catching up with emails in one of the work areas. The person-centric approach to the Starbucks brand experience is what converts its customers to brand advocates. Another great example is Uber, which successfully crafted an experience that simplifies the process of getting around a city. The complexity of the solution is completely hidden and ir- relevant, where the customer experience is the priority and simplicity is the key to success. So design in both examples goes beyond just the aesthet- ics, it becomes about encap- sulating an experience and being able to recreate that experience at every interac- tion with the customer. In 1966, in a memo to all IBM employees, Tomas J. Watson Jr. carved out a sim- ple definition about design: “Good design is good busi- ness.” Today, good design is about business survival. As companies digitally trans- form, their first step is about defining the customer’s need and then build this into the product design. The experi- ence is a direct outcome of the design and not only impacts how things operate, but also the underlying pro- cesses that enable a certain experience. Mainly influenced by digital disruptors, today’s expectations have changed forever, having raised the bar on delivering compelling experiences that are de- signed to delight and create moments of serendipity. Design doesn’t need to be static or perfect, but rather
Entrepreneur january 2017 54 TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX starbucks coffee shop © real life design / shutterstock Design became an embodiment of empathy with users’ under- lying emotions and motivations, and a trigger of predicted behaviors that ultimately drive business outcomes. a clear example can be drawn from Starbucks, where design is the driving force of its success. The furniture, wall art, background music, smell of coffee, even the personal touch of writing the custom- er’s name on the cup and call- ing them out on a first-name and friendly basis, are part of the experience design. A Starbucks Coffee shop a live systemic approach to an experience. The goal is not the design, but rather the experience we are trying to craft for our clients or users through that design process. That experience is dynamic however, and evolves as the user engages with the product, leading to further interaction, adoption and an actual experience. Today, we are finally designing dynamic systemic experiences. PART TWO Democratic design doctrine Business outcomes through experience co-creation So far, I have highlighted how important design has become in creating trans- formative experiences. As I mentioned before, design has always been present, but with different accents. Today, the way on how design is in- troduced and considered into a creation process has also changed. For many years, design was the first iteration of product development and the beginning of the con- ceptualization process, with abrupt cut offs that passed “design” to the implementa- tion or manufacture of the object or experience. Over time, siloed design approach- es evolved into co-creation, which combined inputs from multidisciplinary teams with target customer personal needs to synthesize the sum of all parts that manifest into a customer-centric value proposition. This “Democra- tization of Design” approach will determine the next generation digital disruptors. As design-ena- bling technologies evolve, it became easier (and less costly) to proto- type, try, tease and experiment, giving design the possibil- ity to not only be at the very beginning of any creation process, but be- come a continuous input generator as the execution of the design takes place. This is what we call continuous co-creation, where design never really stops, and the same principles of agile iteration development get implemented to design. De- sign then is no longer a lin- ear sequential process, but rather a circular continuous enablement of an experience that is in the process of being built. Today, we are experiencing an important paradigm shift where design is no longer an aesthetic component, but rather, an exigent driver of human behavior. Design has transcended users’ mere functional utility through interaction with the designed artifacts. Rather, it became an embodiment of empathy with users’ underlying emo- tions and motivations, and a trigger of predicted behav- iors that ultimately drive business outcomes. The way we design is not only a representation of what we aim as a business, our values and beliefs, but also what are our business objectives. The approach in which we design and then execute changes the behavior of our custom- ers and employees. From a physical layout to the latest digital application, design is driving behaviors and busi- ness results across industries and domains. Thus, design is a hidden gem, which most of the times is undervalued, and one of the key success factors of any business in to- day’s changing environment. Illustrations of this ap- proach can be extracted from several business exam- ples across industries and domains. In the physical domain, a clear example can be drawn from Starbucks, where design is the driving force of its success. From the moment a patron enters the coffee shop space, each sensory touch point has been carefully conceived to create the cozy experience where coffee (the core product) is merely one of the elements of the entire enjoyment journey. The furniture, wall art, background music, smell of coffee, even the personal touch of writing the cus- tomer’s name on the cup and calling them out on a first- name and friendly basis, are part of the experience design. Whether you are a young entrepreneur launching a new venture, or an enter- prise executive looking for a new revenue source, design needs to be at the forefront of your aim. In this context, the pre-requisite of design is a desired business outcome that is both achievable and measurable. By adhering to this simple concept as a first principle, we are enabled with a powerful founda- tion to deliver a continuous approach of “behavioral in- sights driven design,” which creates experiences that drive behavior and business results. Creating these new experi- ences requires a combina- tion of diverse and scattered skills. Strategy, analytics, design and technology capabilities are combined to craft a customer journey that effectively drives behaviors. This true multidisciplinary team operates on an itera- tive basis, learning from the responses that their designs stimulate, to then adapt and evolve the same designs accordingly. Thus, design becomes an organic system, which by its nature evolves dynamically and constantly.
january 2017 Entrepreneur 55 www.airbnb.com Digital services have changed our relation and how we relate to people, places, companies and brands. Today, our digital experience ex- pectations are never ending and they continually rise as our favorite apps or digital services get updated on a by- weekly basis. Design is no longer a driver of utilization. Not only does it drive our utilization and interaction with products and services, but also the entire relation we have with them outside their functional intent. We “perceive” a brand based on how it gets activated across its multiple channels. >>> PART THREE Design The hidden driver of digital reinvention In the earlier two sections, we first discussed the impor- tance of design to create win- ning value propositions, and then how design can be used to transform your customer experience. In the last part of this trilogy, we will focus on how design can help you transform your company and ultimately reinvent the way it relates with customers, stakeholders and employees. Yes, design is the driver of digital reinvention. As technology continues to evolve, entry barriers for most industries will continue to fall. Traditional highly asset intensive companies face unprecedented compe- tition from new ecosystem disruptors, which appear with simple, yet compelling value propositions espe- cially targeted to specific segments. These new chal- lengers also focus on creating a unique relationship with their clients, which starts with a compelling value proposition, gets enabled by technology, and finally, consumed through design. Design, therefore, becomes the key driver for product and technology adoption and the stickiness factor to any proposition. Just ask yourself a few simple questions: would you be using Uber if the interface was bulky and complicated? Would you be using Airbnb if the site -and later the app- was dated and feature focused? Would you be shopping online under a complicated product list base website design? A brand cannot live without honoring its aesthetics and properties through a relevant design. Design is critical for brand adoption and brand stickiness. Design is no longer a driver of utilization. Not only does it drive our utilization and interaction with products and services, but also the entire relation we have with them outside their functional intent. We “perceive” a brand based on how it gets activated across its multiple channels. This perception becomes internalized as a feeling and manifests into a memorable experience only once it is consumed through an inte- grated digital and physical continuum, with the former serving to perpetuate the experience ubiquitously. When it comes to digital services, the design-relation with a brand is even more dominant than on physical interactions. Nowadays, we extensively use digital ser- vices in our daily life: from messaging our friends, to consuming the latest series, and shopping for our grocer- ies while on the go. Digital services have changed our relation and how we relate to people, places, compa- nies and brands. Today, our digital experience expecta- tions are never ending and they continually rise as our favorite apps or digital services get updated on a by-weekly basis. Governing this relation is of course, the design of the experience, which gets manifested as the design of a customer journey and of the product or service we consume. So, it’s evident that companies need to pay a critical focus on design. We demand more, and we expect more from our digital providers. However, if we examine our relations with our traditional service providers, we will see that this relation has stayed almost the same. Think about your last interaction with your local taxi service or your travel agency just around the corner where you live. Besides the advances in technology and the changes in our behaviors as users, which have been acceler- ated over the last five years, we continue to use almost the same channels to deal with our traditional service providers. Furthermore, the expectations we set on our digital interaction with these traditional service
Entrepreneur january 2017 56 Juan Jose de la Torre is a digital, telco and media senior executive with almost two decades of experience across America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His drive and expertise has led to him to hold senior positions with global multinationals including IBM, Orange, TeliaSonera, Etisalat and Booz&Company. In line with this and by creating and successfully trading three startups, J.J. combines a unique blend of corporate, consulting and entrepreneurial experience. The founder of afkar.me (MENA’s 360 degrees incubator and accelerator), an angel investor for 14 startups and startup mentor for more than 80 companies, he has also advised the UN and OECD in mobility and innovation subjects. J.J. holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Masters from La Salle and an Industrial Engineer degree from Adolfo Ibanez. Currently, J.J. is IBM’s Digital Transformation Leader for Middle East and Africa, from where he helps IBM clients to embrace digital technologies. TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX Companies aiming to regain “relevance” with their customers, require reinventing their relation with them. A relation that needs to embrace their company roots and core services, but can be augmented and boosted using digital technologies. Today, good design is about business survival. As companies digitally transform, their first step is about defining the customer’s need and then build this into the product design. The experience is a direct outcome of the design and not only impacts how things operate, but also the underlying processes that enable a certain experience. providers are far below the expectations we set for our new service providers. Is this good news for the traditional players? Of course not! We set a lower expectation because we label them as “legacy.” Their brands no longer appear as innovative or edgy and most important- ly, they become less relevant in our daily life. We place them in the commodity box and our relation moves from an experience one to a pure transactional one. But why? Why can’t the digital interactions with our utilities company, telecom provider, financial institu- tion, airline or government entity have the same experi- ence as when we interact with disruptors like Uber, Facebook, and Expedia? Why can’t those digital interac- tions be simple, clean and pristine as the newcomers? The technology, the funda- mentals and the building tools are the same for both newcomers and traditional service providers. So why do we have these radically different outcomes? The dif- ference lies in the approach. While digital disruptors start from scratch with a single relentless focus on a continual state of digital re- invention of their customers’ experience, traditional ser- vice providers have focus on digitalizing their physical ex- perience through mere pro- cess automation. Under this approach (digitalization), companies do not transform or evolve due to the failure of re-engineering the required customer experience journey to new technology realities. Instead, islands of scattered new digital initiatives arise. These initiatives build new channels of interactions with customers, but mostly based on traditional pro- cesses. Then, the scattered initiatives are measured with the same focus and KPIs as their traditional counter- parts. Failing to demonstrate relevant traction, most of them are either abandoned or remain as a separate component of the organiza- tion, thus creating a multi- gear organizations, where the physical or traditional components straining the ability of the new initiative to provide a better customer experience. The path towards a rein- vented customer experience, which can lead to increasing relevance and appeal with your customer, requires the company to reinvent itself. This is where digital reinven- tion comes into play with design as the key component to drive evolution. By putting design at the center of the reinvention of a company, a company starts by envi- sioning and designing a new customer experience, to then move into articulating and executing this vision. This is not about moving physical interactions on to a digital channel. This is about reimagining the relation your company can have with a customer powered and boosted by digital technolo- gies, which then are articu- lated through people and process reinvention. Companies aiming to regain “relevance” with their customers, require reinvent- ing their relation with them. A relation that needs to embrace their company roots and core services, but can be augmented and boosted using digital technologies. At the center of this reinven- tion sits design as the driving force than can enable a com- pany to envision this new re- lation, and then turned into a consumable and actionable artifact.
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Entrepreneur january 2017 58 TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO Bana Shomali co-founded ServiceMarket.com (formerly known as MoveSouq.com), with Wim Torfs in 2013 to innovate the home services industry in the UAE. Realizing that many UAE residents struggled with finding and hiring professional home services companies, Bana set up ServiceMarket to help customers get free quotes for any home service they needed, and book their service online. Before founding ServiceMarket, Bana worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company’s Dubai office for six years. Bana is also a Fulbright scholar, and has an MBA from Vanderbilt University, USA. What’s in a name? Five things to consider when rebranding a digital company By Bana Shomali www.servicemarket.com I n 2013, Wim and I founded MoveSouq, an online marketplace help- ing Dubai residents book and get quotes for home services. We had noticed that there was no transparency in the market when it came to finding trusted home services companies- there wasn’t a sin- gle place then where you could find these companies easily or read reviews on the quality of the services they provide. We initially focused on moving services, but after a very posi- tive response from residents, we started adding more and more services to the site. The website now offers 25 services, including cleaning, painting, maintenance, and home and car insurance and is available in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Doha, in addition to Dubai. We recently took the bold move to rebrand ourselves to Service- Market. Rebranding a digital company is not a simple task, but one that takes months of research and careful planning; we started the process over a year ago. If you’re planning to rebrand your online business, then you will need to develop a comprehensive rebranding plan, which should include the following five key elements: 1. Define your ambition and brand identity It is important to take the time to develop the concept behind your new brand identity- this is not an element that you should rush. Write down all the reasons for doing the rebrand and the main things you aim to achieve, and share these with your team. Set aside a considerable amount of time in your rebranding plan to spend on developing your new brand identity and choos- ing a name that will reflect it. Although brainstorming your own ideas is a great place to start, remember that you need to choose a brand that your target market will love. Come up with a few ideas and then test these on your target audience through some market research. Once you have de- veloped your new brand, you need to make sure all employ- ees are familiar with it. It is a good idea to put together a branding guideline book for everyone to read through. 2. Designing and planning the change We started the rebranding process a year before the actual switch. You will need to put aside time to research each element of the rebrand and read through case studies. It’s important to create a detailed plan for absolutely everything; from how you will transfer the site to the new domain to how you will manage your social media accounts. For an online business, some elements you will need to consider include: Operations You will need to plan for a smooth transition of all operational elements such as: email addresses, call center scripts, customer ser- vice portals and any help desk chat systems. Since you are probably going to change staff email addresses, all external accounts linked to these will also need to be updated. On-site For the actual website, you will need to research and plan for the best way to transition all site functionality seamlessly to a new domain, while minimizing impact to the site traffic. SEO and website perfor- mance While some loss in traffic immediately following the rebrand is inevitable, it is important to do your research and take steps to ensure that the PageRank you built up over the years is correctly transferred, and not lost. Part of this is adding the correct redirection to all pages so that search engines recognize that this is a migration and not duplicated content. Social media As part of your rebrand strategy, you will need to plan for the transition of all social media accounts. This includes changing ac- count handles and usernames, changing all advert assets, and moving and reconfigur- ing ad accounts. If you have a social media following, then you will not want to lose your account history. We worked closely with reps from Google and Facebook so that we could keep our account history and suffer minimal loss in terms of the quality scores. 3. Managing the change It is important to realize that rebranding is not a simple pro- cedure. Pulling off a successful rebrand will take months of work and will undoubtedly involve all employees in one way or another. It is therefore essential to have very close project management and set
january 2017 Entrepreneur 59 A nalyze the composition of any organization’s marketing strategy to- day, and you will see two tools leading the efforts: email mar- keting and social marketing. A recent PayFort infographic highlights ways in which enter- prises can derive benefits by combining these two market- ing strategies (as different as apples and oranges), instead of utilizing them as two distinct tools. Stressing on the significance of email marketing in today’s digital world with some stats, the infographic estimates that email market- ing offers a massive 3800% of average return on investment with 82% of enterprises using email marketing technique. The study also reveals that email, as a medium, has been found to be 40 times more effective at acquiring new custom- ers when compared to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Offering compa- nies a few ways to integrate both marketing strategies, the infographic says that incentiv- izing newsletter readers to share your email content on their social networks, promot- ing the organization’s email marketing campaigns on their own social media channels, and putting out catchy content snapshots from the newsletter on social media, are a few ways to derive best efforts out of the combination of email and social marketing. www.payfort.com/blog How to combine the power of email and social marketing Dynamic duo infographic © payfort well-defined roles and respon- sibilities for each department and each employee. A project management plan should be one of the first things you consider when developing your rebranding strategy because staying on top of all projects and tasks is crucial to ensure that the rebrand goes smoothly. At ServiceMarket, we created a detailed rebrand tracker sheet, which everyone in the company had access to, to keep on top of all tasks and monitor progress efficiently. All tasks had set deadlines and individual responsibilities outlined. We also had regular progress meetings, at least once a week, in which we went through the rebrand tracker sheet to speak about how eve- rything was progressing and highlight and problem solve any issues as they arose. 4. Communicating the change Communicating the change ef- fectively to all stakeholders is essential to ensure a smooth transition. You will need to develop a communication plan that takes into consideration all key stakeholders. In our case, this included our inves- tors, our customers and our service partners. Investors You will need to make sure that your investors are all aware of the rebrand and understand the reasons for doing it. This is a discus- sion that you should have very early on to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Customers A good commu- nication plan for customers will prevent loss of brand recognition and retain users. The plan will need to have a strategy for the weeks leading up to the rebrand and a plan for the weeks following the rebrand. Pre-launch you will need to make customers aware that there is a change coming and, ideally, create a bit of curiosity and excitement. Im- mediately after the rebrand, it is essential to make custom- ers aware of the change as well as the reasons behind it. You will also need a customer support plan in place for after the rebrand in case of any questions. Service partners It is essential that all suppliers fully understand why you have rebranded and the impact this will have on them. We recommend discussing the rebrand with all partners before the launch day to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the change. We developed a FAQ sheet which covered all the main points related to the rebrand. We also called up our suppliers to explain when, how and why we were rebranding and to answer any questions they may have. Where possible, we met with our top partners in person to talk them through the rebrand in detail. 5. Owning the brand After the rebrand you will need to focus on marketing and building brand aware- ness, and therefore, creating a detailed plan for marketing initiatives is essential. This plan should include both onsite and offsite marketing campaigns. You will also need to update logos and brand de- tails on all existing marketing materials, including business cards, email signatures and any live ads. It is a good idea to create a detailed brand guideline document to share with everyone involved to make sure that they are famil- iar with how to use the new logo and branding elements. Although rebranding in- volves a lot of work, creating detailed plans for all these elements, along with thorough research, should ensure that you have a smooth transition to your new brand.
Entrepreneur january 2017 60 Edouard Monin founded Stat S.A.L in Beirut Lebanon in 1988, which provided market research services including media and consumers research. In 1992, the company later evolved along the way to become part of the global player in the world of research, Ipsos. Monin then became the Chairman and CEO of Ipsos in Middle East and North Africa. With this role, Monin overlooks the company in 15 different countries across the MENA region, ensuring that all targets are met and setting new standards for research companies in the region. ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO Beating the odds Five lessons to take with you on your entrepreneurial journey By Edouard Monin TREPONOMICS I was 25 years old when I set up a small statistics and research firm in Beirut, Lebanon. It was 1988. War was unfolding on the streets around my family home, and I had only a few years of experience under my belt. But I had a vision and a goal. A year after founding my firm, I reached out to the founder and CEO of Ipsos, one of the biggest research firms in France at the time and soon to become one of the top three institutions of its kind in the world. I shared with him my vision, my dream, my plan- he saw the potential, and believed in what I said and what I promised. So he decided to support me and embark with me on the journey to expand into the Middle East region. Today, the small firm I founded alone from my bedroom, in front of a bulky desktop computer, is now the leading research firm in the Middle East. The entrepreneurial journey leading into a corpora- tion was not an easy feat, and that brought with it continu- ous daily challenges. But along the way, there have been many lessons that I have learned and experienced, which have kept me going through all of the challenges and growth spurs. Here are a few of them: LESSON ONE You are tested the most in times of crisis Being a leader and heading an organization brings with it many challenges. At the same time, internally, there is a team you need to motivate to reach their potential, targets, business goals, KPIs, and the like. A good manager is always active and on the go. A good manager should never give up, in both crisis situations as well as growth spurs. Persevere in all what you do. Externally, we have been met with many challenges, be it from economic fluctuation, political and social unrest, rising competition or a speed bump here and there. However, it is during a crisis situation that you need to adapt your management skills to navigate through it. This is what differentiates a good manager from a great one. Navigating through growth is the easiest task, as all the fac- tors are in your favor then. It is through the storm that you really need to come together as a team and take the lead. LESSON TWO You need to learn to delegate However successful a manager is, he or she always needs a good and dedicated team. The first layer is a solid manage- ment team, with core skills and a shared vision. The team, of course, needs to be trained, and their skills and knowledge have to be refreshed and up to date. All team members need to be working with a set framework and a defined strategy, and coached by the CEO. If you try to do everything yourself, your growth will be limited and you will burn out. Put in place a strategy and set the objectives, inspire them, coach them, listen to them- but let them do the work and give them the credit as well. LESSON THREE Passion and patience are your lifelong friends To succeed, you need both passion and patience- one cannot exist without the other. You must be passionate about what you are doing. But that is not enough. You must also be patient to see results. LESSON FOUR You are not (and never will be) alone In business, you are never alone, and there are several dimensions to this point. If a business leader operates as though his company exists in solitude, he won’t be going far. For every action and decision, he needs to consider: Internal Your employees and your team: are they welcoming to the strategy? Can they im- plement the decision or action to reach the objectives? Can they improve it? Can they sell it to clients? External This is related to your audience, target markets and clients. Are they ready for such a step? This group must be able to accept, believe, buy, use, etc. the product or service that you are putting forth. Competition They can either follow you or copy you, or they have already accomplished it. Differentiating yourself from others is integral. Be unique and different in what you do and propose to clients. Be needed. Come first. Innovate, and find solutions. And be ahead of the game. There is this saying that I will paraphrase to relate to business: you should always have a seat at the head table; if not, you’ll be on the menu, a secondary option. Make sure you are not marginal. LESSON FIVE Never underestimate You should never underesti- mate yourself, what you are doing, and your team. You must always strive to find meaning in what you are doing both inter- nally and externally. It’s imper- ative that you strongly believe in what you do. In addition, you must find opportunity in every situation. I am aware that being opportunistic has a negative connotation, however, a good leader uses every situation to their advantage. If you do not take the leap, others will, and you will miss the train. There is no mercy in business.
january 2017 Entrepreneur 61 Mike Hoff is the founder and CEO of Mike Hoff Consultancy (MHC), a privately owned executive consulting business in the UAE. A certified Gazelles International Coach and certified Innermetrix Consultant by trade, Hoff helps fast-growing companies scale up their business by developing high performing teams. Hoff has more than 30 years of senior leadership experience across a wide spectrum of trades and professions. ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO lead the way By Mike Hoff Five ways to inspire your team for a successful 2017 TREPONOMICS T he importance of bringing a team together to work hand-in-hand with each other is something that is often talked about but rarely implemented. Strong leadership is one of the elements that will ensure a team stays together and continues to be efficient. By developing good leadership skills, you will avoid issues such as high staff turnover, micromanage- ment, conflict in the workplace, and low productivity. As a result, your actions and behavior determine your team’s success. Here are five ways to inspire your team in 2017: 1. Empower Nobody likes to be micromanaged or left feeling like they are not good enough to do a certain task. Empowering your team is a solid strategy to keep them motivated and can also help identify key strengths that can be used for the greater good. In the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 66% of millen- nial employees said they would not be in their current job by 2020, with 71% putting this down to their dissatisfaction at how their leadership skills are being developed. Take time to see how you can develop each member’s skillset and show that his or her professional development really matters to you and to the company. 2. Recognize and reward In the same survey, 50% of male and 48% of female respondents said they felt they were being overlooked for potential leader- ship positions. This can really affect how productive employees are in their teams, as they may start to feel disheartened and demotivated if they know a promotion isn’t in the pipeline. Take time to recognize your team members’ efforts, and acknowledge and reward their achievements. A 2015 study by HR firm, O.C. Tanner Co., in Har- vard Business Review showed that a new leader can instantly boost employee job sat- isfaction by 31% just by recognizing those who have never received any appreciation from their leaders. 3. Prioritize and listen As a leader, your number one priority is to look after the needs of your employees. If you see that certain members are strug- gling or unhappy, it is your responsibility to help change this, looking at what their issues are and how they can be addressed. The team always needs to come first, and when employees feel this care and support network, they are more likely to feel at ease within the organization. 4. Invest and engage According to a 2016 study by Shift Disrup- tive Learning, one in three employees leave their organization because they are not engaged. By inspiring your team, investing in training, and creating engaging opportu- nities to learn, they are more likely to per- form better and strive for excellence. More importantly, make sure it’s the right training by linking it to an objective, whether that’s a one-on-one business coach or a group training session on customer service. 5. Communicate and connect Teams start to fall apart when members stop communicating effectively. Commu- nication is at the heart of good teamwork, and there are various ways to facilitate this. Organize weekly meetings or regular team building exercises that stimulate communi- cation and encourage people to speak up for what they believe in. Every team member should have a voice, and as a leader you can provide an environment that encourages confidence, growth, and happiness in the workplace.
Entrepreneur january 2017 62 money ask the money guy | vc viewpoint | your money | ECON Why MENA investors should look closer to home By Sean McKeon Private equity in emerging markets History has shown that private markets move faster in creating economic growth than public markets. To put this into practice, GPs should promote deals where invested capital trickles down to local economies and promotes development. F or private eq- uity and venture capital inves- tors, emerging markets (EM) have long felt like the Wild West. Many question the model’s success in countries where regulation is low and leverage is hard to come by. Sovereign wealth funds, fam- ily offices and other institu- tions traditionally seek a geographically diversified portfolio- often in devel- oped markets. For many, the perceived risk in emerging markets is just too high. For limited partners (LPs) based in the Middle East and Af- rica, the story is similar: LPs would rather seek security in the tried and tested private equity markets of Europe and North America. But in doing so, they are neglect- ing opportunities available much closer to home. By consistently looking towards developed markets, inves- tors are missing the chance to capitalize on several emerging market advantages: demographic change, middle class consumption, and sec- tor diversification are just a few. To better understand the opportunities, we need to look closer at what drives private equity and venture capital in so-called “emerg- ing” markets. 1. Local knowledge is the name of the game As is the case in developed markets, successful fund managers need extensive networks and a deep under- standing of deal making in a local context. Many investors in New York or London are disconnected from these markets and are hence reluc- tant to put capital in unfamiliar and sometimes un- tested geographies. However, sector diversification and financial market development are becoming familiar themes. Develop- ment Finance In- stitutions like the IFC in the US and CDC Group in the UK are paving the way for this systematic growth- private investors should follow. In- vestors who become familiar with local markets will have an early mover advantage and should explore opportuni- ties for local networking and knowledge sharing in emerg- ing markets. 2. Growing returns with less risk The risk in many emerging markets has decreased over time, as economic liberaliza- tion grows and regulation becomes standardized. Nevertheless, progress has been slow and the lack of full open markets has put pressure on growth capital as the key to successful private equity deals. For many EM managers, revenue growth is essential and leverage re- mains a luxury. Investors ac- customed to highly leveraged deals should find comfort in the fact that growth relies more on fundamental perfor- mance rather than financial engineering. As financial systems develop and leverage comes into play, the sources of growth will change and private equity is sure to grow. Today’s investors should re- main conscious and creative about the ways to facilitate returns in emerging markets.
january 2017 Entrepreneur 63 M ENA-based ride- hailing app Careem has closed 2016 with a bang, with it becom- ing the latest unicorn in the Middle East tech ecosystem. Careem announced that it has closed US$350 million in funding in a round co-led by Japanese tech enterprise Rakuten and Saudi Ara- bian telco Saudi Telecom Company (STC). According to a statement by Careem, this investment is the first part released from a larger $500 million round raised from various investors, and advised by Credit Suisse. Careem’s announcement follows Bloomberg reports attributing Saudi stock exchange filings that STC’s board has approved a 10% stake buy in Careem, rais- ing the startup’s valuation to over $1 billion. Rakuten executive Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, and an unnamed STC Group executive are set to join Careem’s Board with this investment. Commenting on the us- age of the funds, Careem says that the funds will be utilized to scale its transport services in existing and new markets, accelerate innova- tion across its platform, and help the company “achieve its goal of creating one million jobs in the region by 2018.” Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO, Ca- reem, expects the support of investors such as Rakuten and STC to bring “institu- tional backing” for Careem’s operations with “the global technology leadership and deep local experience” enabling Careem to further improve the ease of trans- portation services in the region. Careem’s investors in previous rounds include The Abraaj Group, STC Ventures, Al Tayyar Group, BECO Capital, El Sewedy Invest- ments, and Wamda Capital among others. Launched in 2012, Careem operates in 47 cities across 11 countries and claims to serve over six mil- lion users with their network of 150,000 captains (drivers) in the MENA and South Asia region. | IN THE LOOP | Sean McKeon is an investment advisor based in London and a passionate supporter of entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Talk to him on Twitter @fseanmckeon. Zooming ahead Careem raises US$350 million in funding to expand services and create jobs in MENA Left to right: Careem co-founders Magnus Olsson, Abdullah Elyas and Mudassir Sheikha As financial systems develop and leverage comes into play, the sources of growth will change and private equity is sure to grow. image credit careem 3. A self-fulfilling growth cycle Institutions considering emerging market private equity have the opportunity to invest early, beating the rush of competition in many countries. Unlike Europe and the US, emerging markets still possess major inefficien- cies, making the selection of local partners a crucial part of any process. Local General Partners (GPs) in turn, invest in projects that contribute to economic di- versification, growth and job creation. The ultimate out- come is a more developed, and less risky ecosystem for international investors. For fund managers with environ- mental, social and govern- ance (ESG) considerations, economic development is as much a goal as risk-adjusted returns. Private equity in these markets provides an opportunity for investors of all types to meet these in- terdependent goals of return and economic development. So, with that said, how can MENA business owners and fund managers convince investors to look their way? There is strong evidence to support investment: 1. Consider the returns Firstly, while many con- sider emerging markets to be undeveloped, returns in such regions are anything but. David Wilton, the former head of private equity at the IFC, proved this by generat- ing returns that would be attractive to any developed market investor (17% IRR on funds from 2000-09). The IFC team boasted a consist- ent and successful track record investing in emerging market fund managers that many would have ignored as too risky. 2. Short-term goals A second way to attract investment is by highlighting the short-term benefits to MENA investors. History has shown that private mar- kets move faster in creating economic growth than public markets. To put this into practice, GPs should pro- mote deals where invested capital trickles down to local economies and promotes development. 3. Focus on the big picture Finally, managers need to make local investing tan- gible for investors across the globe. Fund managers should involve investors in co-investment opportuni- ties, which provide visible examples of how improving company operations can lead to larger deal exits. The ability to identify emerging trends and capital- ize on high growth opportu- nities is attractive in today’s environment where yield is scarce and good ideas are hard to find. For MENA investors, local markets provide an opportunity for faster economic diversifica- tion at home. Many regional investors can manage an added degree of risk in the short-term in favor of long-term performance. For large institutions, invest- ment mandates increasingly require a balance between long-term financial perfor- mance and short-term eco- nomic opportunity. Emerging markets provide an opportu- nity to achieve both.
Entrepreneur january 2017 64 ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up No time to chill in the sun Why a sense of urgency is essential for a startup By Sirine Fadoul Sirine Fadoul is Incubation Manager at DTEC Tech Startup Incubator, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority. She is a founding member of Girls in Tech Middle East and a Mentor and Coach for The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s Mentoring Women Program. Fadoul is also the founder of Generation Disrupt, a nonprofit product design educational program for children. “the role of a startup CEO is to define the pace of the startup. It starts with enforcing that sense of urgency at the top level, knowing that it will trig- ger down to tight dead- lines at the lower level.” Idriss Al Rifai, founder and CEO, Fetchr E arly-stage entrepre- neurs run around putting off fires day in and day out. Some deem every single challenge as worthy of their precious limited time that they end up losing sight of growth strate- gies- as well as planning for the long run. They celebrate the small wins –the everyday emergencies– and confuse avoiding crises with the con- stant urge to get things done. To many, the sense of urgency and the sense of emergency are indistinguishable. Urgency, in the words of John Kotter, the author of A Sense of Urgency is “not to just have a meeting today, it’s to have a meeting that accom- plishes something today.” It’s the courage to prioritize and focus on what yields results to achieve a certain objective, and to fight the temptation we all have to do everything at the same time and treat all challenges equally. Embrac- ing and instilling a true sense of urgency will allow entre- preneurs to do things faster, smarter, with less resources and much less frustration. I asked Idriss Al Rifai, founder and CEO of Fetchr, if, during the early days of the startup, he was able to run his company with a sense of urgency. He replied, “The way we run Fetchr, from day one, is definitely proactive. I really believe that the role of a startup CEO is to define the pace of the startup. It starts with enforcing that sense of urgency at the top level, knowing that it will trigger down to tight deadlines at the lower level. The reactionary part exists, but represents a much smaller part.” When you are an early-stage entrepreneur, you have to run around. But the key challenge is to run around in a smart way. I have seen a few early- stage founders chilling in the sun, and I wondered whether they are the modern masters of urgency, or if they suffer from the early-stage complacency syn- drome, enjoying their small wins, while the scaling war around them is raging. Run- ning around franti- cally can give a false sense of achievement, and the last minute reactionary small fixes are often ineffec- tual in their impact on the long term. While reacting to emergencies is inevi- table, founders need to train themselves to keep their actions aimed at winning, not surviving. “When we first started, we were more proactive than reactive,” remembers Sharene Lee, co-founder of Melltoo. “In the early days of Melltoo, we had few users, and nothing much to react to. We had to push and provoke things to make them happen. As Mell- too grew, we were constantly switching between being proactive and reactive. When users and transactions started growing rapidly, we had to be reactive, and put a customer service and logistics team in place to handle incoming queries. We built systems, procedures, and workflows to help customers, handling up to 100+ new queries per day. Once we overcame the initial hurdles, we switched to being proactive, anticipating prob- lems that may crop up with continued growth, and again returning to pushing and provoking things to ensure continued growth.”
january 2017 Entrepreneur 65 “Take a look at most of the successful startups in our region or globally, you would find that most of them pivoted several times before landing on a winning formula. We can have the best ideas, but if the market is not receptive, or we suddenly have a fierce competitor, or we lose a key member from the team, we then have to act reactively and adjust our strategy.” “As Melltoo grew, we were constantly switching between being proactive and reactive. When users and transactions started growing rapidly, we had to be reactive, and put a customer service and logistics team in place to handle incoming queries. We built systems, procedures, and workflows to help customers, handling up to 100+ new queries per day.” Melltoo co-founders Morrad Irsane and Sharene Lee Loulou Khazen Baz, founder and CEO, Nabbesh >>> There are many hurdles and hazards that stall the growth of seed-stage startups, of which some are unpredictable and out of the founders’ con- trol. Instilling this “go-getter” mindset and attitude in each and every team mem- ber empowers them to find opportunity in crises. If they shy away from challenges or systematically delegate them, then they are probably not the best fit for your startup, or perhaps need to be trained and inspired. When I asked Loulou Khazen Baz, founder and CEO of Nab- besh, her thoughts on dealing with uncertainties, she replied, “It’s all about trial and error. Take a look at most of the successful startups in our region or globally, you would find that most of them pivoted several times before landing on a winning formula. We can have the best ideas, but if the market is not recep- tive, or we suddenly have a fierce competitor, or we lose a key member from the team, we then have to act reactively and adjust our strategy. At Nabbesh, I would say we certainly ran things with a sense of urgency, because this is just how startups are, you need to grow fast and keep moving, but by no means were we proactive all the time. Fundraising, for instance, is the best example: you have a specific runway and burn, and you plan to raise funds within a specific timeframe, and it either gets delayed or doesn’t happen. In this case, we have no choice but to be reactive and move to plan B. There is a caveat though- the more experience you have as an entrepreneur, the more proac- tive you can be. First-time entrepreneurs suffer most.” Urgency is not only about being focused, fast and smart. It’s about “bringing the outside in” and breaking the “we know best” bad habits. I have seen founders struggling with customer acquisition and low retention rates, and they often underestimate the importance of talking to their users or seeking expert advice, and solely rely on basic data or their own observations. On this note, Karl Naim, co-founder and CEO of ChefXChange, shared with me one of his insights on this topic. “Since inception, we have always worked with a sense of urgency, simply due to the fact that we always believed in customer feedback and iteration,” he said. “Our first product beta was very basic compared to our current website: the UX and UI were completely off and based on our perceptions. But the beauty was that we gathered feedback from our customers early on. Up to this day, and with the introduction of new verticals to our core offering, we always aim at launching in an optimized time frame and improve based on early user feedback (push or pull, i.e. either they provide us that feedback, or we ask it from them). We leave the emer- gency and reactionary factor to everything that is outside our circle of influence, and for which we do not have real control on.” Urgency is, in most cases and regardless of the size of the company, a top-down behavioral change. While every team member should be empowered to initiate and drive change, it is the founders’ responsibility to lead by example. This is why Fetchr’s Al Rifai and his core team ensure that urgency is a key component of how the startup operates and grows. “We made ‘sense of urgency’ and ‘ownership’ as two of our three main values at the com- pany level,” he explains. “It means that we systematically look for these traits across our recruiting process. It is actually the very key thing to find in someone. As far as aligning the team on this, the key here is to have clear objectives at the company level, and assign clear respon- sibilities for each director. Each director owns his/her department, and will need to match the pace at which the organization is growing. Bottlenecks change from one department to the other, and it’s interesting to see how people differently cope with that.” “Instilling that sense of urgency in your team is the toughest challenge faced by every founder,” ChefX- Change’s Naim added. “It is therefore important to lead by example and mentor each and every one of them, shar- ing with them successes and failures so they are more pre- pared to what’s coming. Sales is the task that most team members dread the most: cold calling, fear of being pushy, fear of being compared to a used car salesman. Yet startups only survive if they provide an excellent customer service. I always believed it is more important for your first
Entrepreneur january 2017 66 ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up D isruption was the buzzword for 2016 in business schools, the me- dia, and most social circles. Large, bureaucratic organizations yearned to be more agile, whilst smaller flat organizations relished in the hope that they might be the next Uber or Airbnb of their industry. To disrupt was to dominate. Amidst the hype of being anti-establish- ment and non-conformist, it’s worthwhile to remind ourselves that being disruptive in and of itself offers little to no value. Uber may have disrupted the transport industry but they did so by creating value to customers in the form of on-demand transport. Airbnb likewise strived to connect empty spaces in people’s homes with those seeking short-term accommodation– thereby creating value. Likewise, if your aspiring unicorn idea wants to disrupt for example the fast food sector, you need to identify the value proposition to your customer base that will lead to mass adoption. Delivering fast food dressed as super heroes may be disruptive but does not really add value– albeit entertaining no doubt. Here is a basic checklist to help guide your disruptive spirit: 1. Who are the red herrings in my industry It’s safe to say that the major- ity of broad industry categories have either seen the rise of a disruptor or experienced the introduction of one. Determine whether your disruption will have enough impact to make yourself stand out as the disruptor in your industry. Disruption is about dominating an industry, not merely occupying a market sector. 2. Disruption can be mainstream That’s right. I’m sure you can think of a dozen indus- tries in which offering exceptional customer service will be a massive disruption to the industry norms. Or what about offering 100% money back guarantee– but actually offering it? As consumers we’ve grown increasingly skeptical of companies claiming to be the best thing next to sliced bread. Perhaps it’s an opportunity to disrupt by simply doing what you promise your customers. Be fresh, not stale. 3. If it ain’t broke, break it, and then fix it If you’re a purist, then look at what paradigms exits in your industry that are ready to be challenged. Throw yourself in the deep end with an ambitious notion, kick the hornets’ nest and see what anomaly occurs as a result. Don’t throw a pebble, throw a boulder and see what ripples you create. Perhaps it would be advisable to strip back disruption and call it what it really is– vi- sionary leadership guided by a spirit of true innovation. To this end, individuals like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos are the quintessential disruptors. They were disrupt- ing before it even had a catchy name. That is the essence of the entrepreneur– the often solitary voice who notices an enormous pivot point to change the way business is done and how we conduct our daily lives. Johan Hanekom is the Managing Director of Hanbro, a boutique consultancy helping international companies setup and develop their UK market presence. Johan is a lifelong entrepreneur having started his first business at age 16. A believer in social entrepreneurship, Johan helped launch several NGO’s in South Africa, including AISEC and Enactus. His paper while at Oxford focused on the importance of developing a nation of social entrepreneurs in South Africa. Johan can be reached via email: johan@hanbro.co Dominate, or be deleted A guide on how to be disruptive By Johan Hanekom “Sales is the task that most team members dread the most: cold calling, fear of being pushy, fear of being compared to a used car salesman. Yet startups only survive if they provide an excellent customer service.” ChefXChange co-founder Karl Naïm 100 customers to love you than just have thousands who like you. Our biggest source of new business comes from referrals from existing cus- tomers. When we lose busi- ness, it is always important to understand why, to whom, what we could have done to retain them. And this requires picking up the phone and daring asking for feedback from a lost customer. And as a founder, I do this on a weekly basis in front of my team and try to instill that feedback fe- ver in them. Additionally, the new generation prefers relying on emails and WhatsApp, which removes the whole per- sonal and emotional aspect, and more often than not, a customer will never give you feedback on these channels. It is easier for them to ignore you, than over the phone.” Starting a business involves having a vision first, an aspiration to be the best at what you do, and a mission to win. While working towards achieving your vision, you need to align every helping hand and brain, and make every action focused on success. Think big, feel the urge every day and spread a go-getter behavior across your organization. Purge the low impact frantic bustle, and always reward the strategic proactive wins. “With a grow- ing business, you can develop better foresight and do longer term planning,” advised Nab- besh’s Baz. “We were recently testing a new service in the Saudi market, and we man- aged to run a pilot so smooth- ly and efficiently, while keep- ing the team morale very high, despite working long hours on sometimes agonizing tasks. Everyone was aligned behind a vision to reach a specific milestone and it was executed perfectly. The more stable the team is, the more efficient we become, and the higher our chances to succeed and use the sense of urgency to deliver results.” So here’s the lesson I leave you with: instill urgency ur- gently in your organizations. Good luck!
‘TREP TALK Joss Leufrancois, co-founder & CEO, Visage What are a few attributes that you look for before finalizing a deal with an investor? “I look for investors who understand the problem we are trying to solve. For us, that would be someone knows how hard it is to recruit talent. I would then ascertain if they are smart money and can move quickly. Smart money won’t have an issue in understand- ing the principle of a convertible note, and why you’re using one. If they ask a more traditional equity deal or try to negotiate the agreement, tell them you’re happy to do that if they take 75% of the round. I also make sure they understand [that] the money needs to [be] wired the week after, otherwise they won’t be onboard. I found that investors who can comply with the above are extremely resource- ful and will help you going forward.” What are your views on MENA’s funding ecosystem? What are your pointers for aspiring entrepreneurs to successfully close funding rounds in the region? “Raising money is tricky in MENA. There is just not enough VC money around and they make much less bets than in Europe or the US. The good thing is that MENA is full of wealthy individuals with cash to invest. They are used to the traditional form of investments like real estate. When I understood it wasn’t going to happen with MENA VCs, I reached out to my friends, clients, and angel investors in the ecosystem. The story was simple: ‘We are raising $140,000 to implement artificial intelligence on the platform. We have already $70,000 committed. We will close next week and the minimum ticket is $25,000.’ You need to create scarcity and urgency. You do that by hav- ing your round always 50% full and closing the following week. The worse enemies are the “maybes”. Once you have more than 50%, you raise your funding target. You need to have your due diligence pack ready and send your SAFE [a convertible instrument ] asking [investors] to sign and wire the money by next week otherwise you can’t guarantee their spot. This shows leadership and it works.” “We got funded!” Dubai-based HR tech startup Visage raises angel investment ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up www.visage.jobs Left to right: Visage CTO Emmanuel Marboeuf and co-founder Joss Leufrancois A re you, as an entrepreneur, looking for a superstar hire to join your growing team? Regardless of your posts on various job boards and social media channels, there is a possibility that the perfect candidate for the opportunity may already be happily employed elsewhere. This is where a need to connect with passive talent as- sumes importance for companies, and a Dubai-based startup Visage has managed to raise US$420,000 (AED1.5 million) from Dubai Angel Investors and other UAE-based investors for its business idea combining crowdsourcing and artificial intelligence in a recruitment tool. Vis- age’s fundraising comes at a time when the startup is set to join the Alchemist Accelerator in San Francisco for a six- month program. Launched in 2015 by co-founders Joss Leufrancois and Barry Potier, along with CTO Emmanuel Marboeuf, Visage’s cli- ent base includes startups such as The Luxury Closet, Careem and Fetchr, and UAE corporations such as Etisalat and Etihad, with the startup providing them a curated shortlist of “warm candidates ready to be interviewed. They [clients] work with us when they don’t get the results they want [by] advertising on job boards, and yet are not ready to pay a recruitment agency,” explains Leu- francois. “We execute our recruitment campaigns pretty much the same way as a marketing campaign.” The company uses a network of 1,000+ freelance recruiters and an AI platform to hunt for passive talent, which they claim make up almost 70% of the market. Clocking a monthly growth rate of 20%, Visage says that as a business model, the startup operates at almost “1/10th of the cost” of a recruit- ment agency. The process by which Visage sealed the investment is reflective of the MENA funding scene, and also indicates the level of research undertaken by the startup. “We started by talking to VCs as they are the easiest to identify and get meetings with, [but] we realized late it wasn’t the way to go,” notes Leufrancois. “Middle East venture capitalists invest in later- stage startups, even if they claim doing early-stage. The startups they invest in are usually 3+ years old with significant traction.” Having bootstrapped for almost 18 months before this angel round, Leufrancois draws attention to using a convertible instrument (SAFE) for this round, and says that the team syndicated the deal themselves. “This instrument is supposed to avoid negotiating back and forth on the valuation,” he explains. Com- menting on the deployment of the funds raised, Leufrancois says that the capital will be “used to progress on the artificial intelligence [component] of the platform” and for marketing efforts. “We are also launching in the US market,” he adds.
Entrepreneur january 2017 68 Quality over quantity Egypt-based startup PushBots wants to make app notifications smarter By Sindhu Hariharan ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up “investors there think dif- ferently. In Silicon Valley, investors don’t care about bloated business plans; they care about what you can control- your burn rate, how much cash are you going to burn, where will that get you, and when again will you need a cash influx.” “The need for more advanced tools for personalizing and tailoring messages is extremely high to avoid spam- ming users with irrelevant, dull and non-engaging content. It’s now all about pushing smart, not hard.” I magine you turn off the notifications on your phone. How much time do you think you are going to spend in each app?” This is the key reason Egyptian entrepreneur Amr Sobhy decided to launch his startup PushBots, a customer engage- ment tool for apps, in today’s mobile-first digital world. With a keen interest in com- munications technology, the co-founders of PushBots, Sobhy and CTO Abdullah Diaa noted a need for a tech tool that could push content to app users, and also create engagement in the process. “In the app business, you can assemble a great team, build a wonderful app, put it out there on the market, and think this is it,” Sobhy says. “[But] this is merely the be- ginning. People have limited attention and all the apps are fighting for it.” Thus, Sobhy’s vision for PushBots is to solve a key dilemma that app businesses face today. “On one hand, everybody wants to have [build] an app. On the other hand, the attention of users is limited, and you can’t rely on users to pull content,” he explains. He admits that while app engagement levels are “a proxy to monetization,” if the notifications tool is abused, users are going to opt out, or worse, uninstall the app completely. “Therefore, the need for personalizing notifications is of utmost im- portance to strike the needed balance,” he says. PushBots can be integrated into apps with just “a few lines of code,” enabling app developers to send notifica- tions in under a few minutes, and also helps them make their “pushes” smart in nature with capabilities to segment and target users. Other useful features include the ability to schedule and automate notifications, and provide analytics about each message sent. Having officially launched in 2013, PushBots claims to have delivered over six billion notifications, on behalf of 20,000 customers, to 50 million end users, since then. “We have been growing quite fast. 20 million of those 50 million end users were added in the past six months, during which our monthly volume of messages sent has increased 60%.” Without disclosing the number of pay- ing customers, Sobhy adds that PushBots is currently a profitable business with its customer base including the likes of Vodafone, Al-Masry El-Youm, Otlob, and govern- ment entities, among others. “Most of our customers come from outside of MENA, which is reflective of the market of apps in general,” he notes. What also stands out as an admirable feature of Push- Bots’ growth is its self-made success. While operating in the midst of startups vying with each other to capture investor interest and chas- ing attractive valuations, PushBots has bootstrapped its way to success since it gradu- ated from Flat6Labs Egypt in 2012. “We are extremely proud of what we managed to do with zero VC funding; by building value and raising money from the best possible investors- our customers.” Based on the team’s experi- ence with Flat6Labs, Sobhy stresses on significance of accelerator support for start- ups in the early stages. “In our experience, the perks we got through affiliation with Flat6Labs helped us greatly in scaling our business. On the other hand, the network was of a great value.” Like most SaaS businesses, PushBots’ service is subscrip- tion-based, and while Sobhy says that their customer base grew organically, content marketing largely helped them get the word across- a fact that can help most startups out there working on highly technical products. “Videos, tutorials, articles, and various content forms that serve to educate developers and prod- uct owners, while promoting a service or a tool indirectly, was found to be very effec- tive,” notes Sobhy. On the other hand, the understanding that every app needs users to spend time on it (be it through advertising or in-app purchases) to be able to monetize also helped fuel PushBots’ growth rate. As is often the case with success- ful entrepreneurs, it is also a fierce passion for problem- solving that motivates the PushBots team. Hailing from a background in medical educa- tion, both Sobhy and Diaa are self-taught entrepreneurs who believe that starting PushBots was never a con- scious decision to “abandon [their] degrees” but rather a “subtle process of immersion” in what they loved doing. “I was leaving for grad school in 2012, when I had the initial idea and a prototype of the product, [and that’s] when I decided to cancel my plans and turn this into a company,” he says. For those among you strug- gling to find a right partner to take your venture forward with you, you should know that Sobhy found his co- founder in a rather unlikely setting- the two met on social media, with a common love for open source bringing >>>
ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up www.pushbots.com | amr sobhy image credit amir makar Amr Sobhy, co-founder and CEO, PushBots january 2017 Entrepreneur 69
Entrepreneur january 2017 70 “The ecosystem is evolving, no doubt about this. But we can’t deny that the region needs more investors, especially across differ- ent stages. While there are many seed incubators and early-stage accelerators, there are very few investors in the later stages. How- ever, with the increasing complex- ity of this landscape, events that help connecting all stakeholders like RiseUp [Summit] are proving to be of an important value.” Tips for aspiring entrepreneurs in the MENA region 1. Build a SaaS product. “SaaS is a great business and every business on the internet today relies on a number of micro SaaS services to address business needs. From collecting emails to [sending] newsletters, to charging customers, to giving them the support they need.” 2. Build a global product. “While it’s great to start a business that serves a local need, it’s also great to start a business that is relevant in every country. Building a global product has both pros and cons. On the pros side, when your country’s economy is struggling, your income will be in hard currency, which will both protect you, and potentially help your economy. On the cons side, you will be competing with different companies in different parts of the world who may have access to resources unapproachable to you. And at the end of the day, you are expected to provide a similar quality and a user experience.” 3. Charge from day one. “While all of us are looking for validation in terms of users, signups and other KPIs, making money is the only validation for a business. A fact that we sometimes become blind to, when we give into the hype and when we are just blindly attached to our products.” ‘TREP TALK Amr Sobhy, co-founder and CEO, PushBots “Videos, tutorials, articles, and various content forms that serve to educate devel- opers and product owners, while promoting a service or a tool indirectly, was found to be very effective.” PushBots co-founders Amr Sobhy and Abdullah Diaa ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up them together. “I invited Abdullah to join me, whom I have been in touch with through Twitter,” Sobhy remembers. “We lived in the same city, we both studied medicine related disciplines and we both had a totally opposite skill set which made us a true complemen- tary team.” In his endeavor to grow PushBots, Sobhy was also aided by his stint at Silicon Valley’s Draper University, a school that offers a residential program for building entrepreneurs. Speaking about how the program helped him in his entrepreneurial journey, the entrepreneur counts numer- ous takeaways. “First, inves- tors there think differently. In Silicon Valley, investors don’t care about bloated business plans; they care about what you can control- your burn rate, how much cash are you going to burn, where will that get you, and when again will you need a cash influx,” he says. He also learnt the importance of validating one’s assumptions from the Valley’s entrepre- neurs. “Every business is based on assumptions- the faster you can validate these assumptions, the better the turnout.” What’s also commendable is the way the PushBots team has kept a close watch on the way the mobile app industry is moving, and has constantly iterated its features to suit the market. For instance, as early as 2013, PushBots introduced a “tweet-to-notify” push set- ting for its customers, which could enable app managers to tweet a notification and add a specific hashtag to it, so as to deliver it as a push notification to the app’s users. “The need for more advanced tools for personal- izing and tailoring messages is extremely high to avoid spamming users with irrel- evant, dull and non-engaging content. It’s now all about pushing smart, not hard.” As for the principle that keeps him going, Sobhy says he is a firm believer of offering value to users, rather than tracking numbers as a means of success. “Sometimes you focus too much on monetiz- ing, without asking yourself what value am I adding. If you focus on building value first, most likely, money is bound to follow,” says Sobhy. Keeping to the standards they have set thus comes first for this entrepre- neurial duo- a strategy only going to help push PushBots forward.
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Entrepreneur january 2017 72 Let it grow Pure Harvest aims to overcome local climate challenges and make farming high tech By Pamella de Leon ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up Pure Harvest founder and CEO Sky Kurtz SuprimAir airhoses sky kurtz image credit devon tackels | images source pure harvest W hen it comes to commercial farming in the MENA region, the months of hot weather here often pose a challenge to commercial farmers wanting to set up shop here. A remedy to this problem is the concept of hydroponic farming, which grows plants without artifi- cial elements in soil-less or aquatic-based environments, using only mineral nutrient solutions, which means crops are no longer reliant on cli- mate or season. Pure Harvest founder and CEO Sky Kurtz and his team are now aiming to bring this farming model to the Middle East, starting with the UAE. Kurtz is joined by co-founder, local partner and Director Mahmoud Adi, with both having extensive experi- ence as private equity and venture capital investment professionals in New York, Silicon Valley and Abu Dhabi. Seeing as what Kurtz asserts as the “regional vulnerabili- ties” with water scarcity and dependence on food import from other countries is what imbued the team to launch Pure Harvest. They recognized an opportunity to leverage commercially proven con- trolled environment agricul- ture (CEA) tech for the GCC, and were driven to pioneer a resource to “overcome local climate challenges (specifical- ly, heat and hu- midity during the summer months) to deliver Euro- pean-standard fresh produce to customers.” The Pure Harvest team has an ambitious goal: “We are striv- ing to transform the agriculture sector in the region, result- ing in increased availability and affordability of high-quality fresh produce, while deliver- ing a tangible food and water security solution and environ- mental sustainability, [such as] reduced food waste, water consumption, carbon emis- sions via both commercial air- freight and desalination, etc.” Quite a target- and what do people think? Kurtz says feedback is both excitement and disbelief. While it took a bit of convincing to cus- tomers that the concept will work and that it’s been done successfully in similar warm regions including Arizona, Texas, Mexico, Australia and the south of France, they also feel that people are rooting for them. There is an excitement of having a large-scale social impact in the region, possibly resulting to availability and affordability of healthy food, food security, water conser- vation and environmental impact, among others. To its credit, this support and belief on the startup’s capabil- ity can be seen in its recent pre-seed angel investment round of US$1.1 million from Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Investments. It comes at an opportune time- they started to seek funding as they have secured customers and an in- terim grower/COO, and com- pleted their feasibility study. Using their investment back- ground and acumen, Kurtz and Adi delivered everything from studies on the tech, cli- mate, value chain, cost struc- ture, resource consumption, to landed cost of imports, scalability, etc.- anything that they themselves would want to know to invest in a startup. “We wouldn’t spend a dime
january 2017 Entrepreneur 73 With hydroponic farming at the core of your business, what’s your advice on pitch- ing to investors, especially on relatively nascent con- cepts? “Do your homework and sell a thesis that you fully believe. Do everything you can to validate that your idea meets a real need- product-market fit exists, but will also generate an attractive return on in- vested capital for the investor. Focus on 5M’s – market, management, model (business model), money (unit econom- ics, scalability, funding needs, etc.), and milestones (what are you going to do with the investors’ money and how should the investor measure success?). Mind the gaps- you don’t know everything, you couldn’t possibly. Work to understand your blind spots and fill those gaps with teammates, advisors, consultants, etc. to ensure you have the resources needed to meet your objec- tives.” Challenge for entrepreneurs in MENA “There remains a funding gap in the MENA startup scene- particularly for raises above $500,000 and below $10 mil- lion. There’s a lack of access to true seed and Series A capital in favorable terms (example use of SAFE or convertible note), and a lack of support from banks for SMEs.” Advice to entrepreneurs starting a business “Do it. It’s an exciting experi- ence, and there is a lot of opportunity out there, plus re- sources to support you. Don’t do it alone- find partners/ co-founders that share your vision and work together to make it happen.” ‘TREP TALK Sky Kurtz, founder and CEO of Pure Harvest “We are striving to transform the agriculture sector in the region, resulting in increased availability and affordability of high-quality fresh produce, while delivering a tangible food and water security solution and environmental sustainability.” Pure Harvest farm site of our investors’ money if we wouldn’t invest our own. We have ‘put our money where our mouth is,’ having invested over $1 million at a very early stage, which we hope will provide comfort to our investors.” Taking around three months to close their pre-seed funding, the capital has been used to acquire a 3.3 hectare farm site in Nahel, UAE, as well as to fund startup costs, including an engineering and feasibility study, a hydrogeology study, legal and structuring costs, and other general corporate costs. Kurtz indicates that the startup is now “shovel ready” and raising money for a seed round to begin with a “semi-closed, overpressure greenhouse growing system with full climate control and a hybrid evaporative and mechanical cooling system,” kicking off year-round pro- duction that they aim to be of affordable, premium quality fresh produce for the region. Their production timeline begins this summer with a “small-sale pilot facility” on their farm in Nahel, contract- ing with directly delivering to major hypermarkets, hotel groups and catering com- panies- which Kurtz hopes would also include the mili- tary, as “food security (year- round local supply) is critical for the country’s soldiers.” As for its financial model, since their business model is selling directly to retailers and airliners, a partnership with hospitality distributors is a possibility. Running such a business would require high operational costs- especially during the summer, wherein vast energy would be con- sumed to manage the climate in the greenhouse. However, Kurtz reiterates that energy costs in the UAE are “globally competitive and we are not disadvantaged versus com- peting import geographies, including Holland, France, Spain, etc.” That said, Kurtz notes that in the future, they plan to invest in improve- ments to reduce operating costs to include CO2 seques- tration, injection for plant fertilization and utilizing concentrated solar power. As for the hurdles they’ve faced, besides expected fac- tors with costs and acquir- ing a farm suitable to their needs, Kurtz notes that their real challenge was identify- ing a scalable structure to enable international capital to support investment in an onshore tech-enabled farming company. It’s proprietary, and he commends their advisor and legal counsel Anil Mehta (who also advises Careem) for building up the same. Compe- tition-wise, Kurtz is confident on Pure Harvest’s USP. He says that with their climate- controlled environment, cultivating various fruits and vegetables that would not be grown profitably in the region with lower-tech is what will set them apart in the mar- ket- for instance, they will be able to grow sweeter (higher brix content) varieties of tomatoes, which others can’t produce due to sensitivity to heat and humidity. Being able to produce crops without pesticides and pre-packaging their own produce is also a part of their branding. Using advanced growing techniques such as inter-planting, they expect their facility to turn into a “precision agriculture food factory” to guarantee production for the year and serve more customers, com- pared to existing farms which, given the harsh climate, would usually only cover five months a year. Pure Harvest has a lot in store- they want to include other hydroponic technolo- gies such as vertical farming and freight height farm- ing solutions, which will broaden their offerings to also lettuces, leafy greens and herbs, and thus increase their production portfolio. In fact, discussions with tech partners to move this forward have already begun, and Kurtz remarks that we can expect to see these within a year from production of its first facility. Expansion to GCC countries is next: “We believe that produce grown in controlled environments will be a key part of the sustainable food chain of the future, requiring less land, water, energy and time for transportation than traditional agriculture. We hope to lead the way in the Middle East.”
Entrepreneur january 2017 74 Startup mrUsta raises AED2.75 million in funding round By Pamella de Leon “We got funded!” ecosystem | who’s got VC | Q&A | STARTUP FINANCE start it up ‘TREP TALK Ibrahim Colak, founder and CEO, mrUsta, offers his take on pitching to investors “First, find investors in the same field as they can mentor you through your entire business process; better yet, it would be highly beneficial if they come from a technology and/or online technology background. Also, make sure that your potential investor is in for the long run and not in it to make a quick buck. It is really important that the investor is just as excited and passionate about your concept as you are and that there is a clear understanding that you will be working together as one team and one entity, and not the stereotypical ‘investor- investee’ relationship.” www.mrusta.com M ore than ever, quality in the service industry is essential, and the UAE-based mrUsta, an online marketplace for consumers to find and book service providers founded in 2013, has strived to accom- plish this- and now, investors have taken notice. In a pre-Series A funding round, mrUsta successfully raised AED2.75 million from investors including Pre- cinct Partners, Millennial Partners & Co., and angel investors from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This comes after the online service provider raised AED1.3 million from a seed funding round in August 2015, led by Precinct Part- ners Managing Partner Am- jad Ahmad- who commends the team on their achieve- ments within a short span of time. While the original seed money was used for rebrand- ing and, as founder and CEO Ibrahim Colak says, “estab- lishing a foothold in the mar- ket,” the team decided to seek further funding to guarantee their startup’s steady growth, as well as benefit from the expertise of their investors. “We wanted our investors to be active, and not silent partners, those that share our vision, provide insight with their business acumen, and access to their business/ partner networks.” THE PROCESS Colak credits their growth to customer acquisitions, which received a “100% increase,” increasing from the platform’s original 2000 Ustas, to having 300 Ustas per month in the past nine months and currently 6000 Ustas as of November 2016. When they decided to seek funding, Colak says, “Our negotiations started shortly before summer, so it took a bit longer than we had had hoped due to the break. How- ever, it was a relatively quick turnaround as everything was finalized within four months.” WHAT HAPPENS NEXT With the newly acquired capital, the startup plans to use it for their marketing efforts, as their immediate goal is to “reach the mass in the UAE and acquire new customers,” with some of the funds set aside to finance their regional expansion, and hiring to support their mar- keting and sales KPIs. On the platform front, a seamless UX for both customers and service provides is still their goal, with mrUsta in Arabic in the works. Plus, Colak says Microsoft is offering them machine learning software, “which can predict time, cost and other metrics for jobs that customers would be posting.” For the service providers, or rather, “Ustas”, new features would soon be offered, including a “bespoke on-demand CRM platform based on the SaaS model.” How mrUsta works With respect to mrUsta’s business value proposition, for clients, the platform provides a trusted source of local service providers based on reviews and ratings in a convenient way, saving users time and money. For Ustas, it’s providing an online presence for them, allowing for visibility and also to generate new client leads, plus the startup can present them with a targeted audience seeking their services, which in turn, increases the prospect of gaining customers. According to CEO Ibrahim Colak, compared to other local and regional concepts, mrUsta’s forte is that it provides different services based on customer ratings in an easy way and ask quotations from a variety of service providers. From the Ustas side, the startup uses various recruiting methods- one way is physically going to a company’s headquarters and getting them to visit the site, offering a “recommend your Usta” option for clients and online sourcing through the startup’s interns, with “roughly 20%” registering themselves organically. The main criteria that the team ensures Ustas have is that they are a legitimate Usta, ensuring it by meeting them face to face, whether they have a website, a working phone number and if the company has been mentioned elsewhere online.