We’ve had a swim in the local talent pool with Maha Al Zeir, our Talent Acquisition Manager, a seasoned HR consultant and the founder of WizHRD, a HR consultancy firm for tech startups in the Middle East.

Plenty of insights and advice below.

On talent pool in the region and building a strong tech team

Some CTOs in local startups are non-Arabs and thus standing out from the rest of the (Arab) team – does it mean there is a lack of skilled local resources in our startup ecosystem?

Let me start by saying that there is great energy over here in the Middle East. The new generation is constantly evolving, and they desire a job that suits their need to develop and grow. They focus on learning & development, and they were able to use globalization to their own benefit. As a HR consultant, I come across high-potential local candidates every day.

Arab founders are disrupting big existing businesses and industries. UAE and KSA have developed regulatory reforms to encourage Arab founders and enable them to grow their companies. This reflects on the caliber quality and prompts fresh grads to concentrate on growing and enhancing their skills and knowledge to meet the market needs.

On the other hand, we cannot ignore the financial factor. Many companies are opting to hire qualified employees with lower costs. I see some tech companies hiring from Eastern Europe for specific technology roles.

In general, there is no lack of skilled local hires, but I have to admit that my team faces trouble when hiring AI experts, machine learning and metaverse experts.

For the VC field, things are blooming, and candidates with a financial background are interested in the investment sector, so we witness an immigration from the strict corporate environment to VC firms. There’s no wonder why though – VCs as employers offer flexible work hours and a more interactive structure.

What is the talent pool like in startups around the region?

We certainly have a high caliber across the region. Majority of the local talent pool are graduates of foreign universities (mostly USA and UK). You can also notice a shift in the way our local undergrads understand the importance of internships and coop programs. So, when screening candidates, I usually expect them to have work experience.

What I usually emphasize is that the geographical location is no longer valid for tech startups; globalization has influenced the recruitment field, which allows any company to hire any employee regardless of their geographical location. This latest trend urges us to ask a new question: Are talent pools within tech startups robust or not? What I mean by a robust talent pool is a group of individuals who are eager to learn and keep up with new technologies and programming languages. Nowadays, companies are more aware of the value of learning & development, and they started including this among the list of objectives for each employee.

Also, our new generation relies on self-learning to grow their skills. Startups are all about growth and, without investing in your employees, you will never be able to advance and build a disruptive business.

What more can be done to strengthen the tech element in startup teams?

1. Having a solid CTO (coaching day-to-day training) – and I personally advice startups to have a CTO among the members of the founding team.
2. Solving problems once at a time.
3. Having a solid technical project manager within each team.
4. Investing in the tech team and tech tools.
5. Learning & development structures should be linked to a performance-based culture, including a growth objective for each quarter.
6. The essential tip is not to build a team for a startup but build for the big dream! Meaning – having an organizational chart that reflects the long-term structure in mind, including all other teams.
7. Making sure to hire based on your values and bring in people who understand and respect your culture.

How does WizHRD help the region’s tech startups build their dream teams?

WizHRD is the region’s first HR consultancy specialized in tech startups; our team concentrates on values and building a culture right from the beginning.

We are specialized in working as a strategic partner with the senior management and helping them grow their teams.

I personally believe that companies are not built by policies and procedures. It all comes down to people and people building companies; understanding the new generations and blending four generations to come up with the new great idea that would change people’s lives and solve problems. This is where WizHRD steps in; we act as specialized partners who add value by sharing our rich experiences with you.

+1 acquisition for the bell ringer Swvl

Swvl acquired door2door, the largest private Germany-based mass transit SaaS provider.

1st acquisition for Retailo

Retailo acquired Dubai-based B2B eCommerce platform DXBUY.

Say Hello to early wages in Egypt

FlexxPay expanded to Egypt. The estimates say that around 20 million people across Egypt could benefit from early wage access.

It’s raining gifts

Merit Incentives prepared a special Ramadan Gift Card – the only gift card that can be redeemed across 5,000+ brands in 100+ countries.

3,200+ Ramadan Food Boxes

Gameball embarked on Ramadan-themed CSR activities where they packed over 3,200 Ramadan Boxes for those in need at The Egyptian Food Bank.

• Post-merger Integration Associate at Swvl (Dubai)
• Country Manager UAE at Cartlow (Dubai)
• Product Manager at Fatura (Cairo – hybrid)
• Back End Developer at SubsBase (Cairo)
• Software Engineer (Ruby on Rails) at Qoyod (Cairo)

Happy Eid in advance and safe trips during the travel carnival!

Hasan

I recently spoke with a founder of a startup based in the UAE.

It’s an e-commerce business established in 2017 and its presence covers 24 countries…

Here’s what we talked about:

#FounderSpotlight 🛋️

Hasan: You are a direct-to-consumer startup providing meal accessories and your footprint in the regional ecosystem is strong and growing. Where do you want to take the company over the next 9 months?

Founder: Our brand has three main strategic objectives. First, we aim to continue our growth journey in the key markets we have expanded to in the last 2 years. Second, we want to continue to create and release new products every year and thus maintain our policy of applying and acquiring patents. The third objective is to enter and succeed as a direct-to-consumer brand in the above-mentioned key markets, especially in the US.

As part of our annual product release culture, this year we’re introducing a whole new range targeting teens and young adults. And although pre-school kids remain our main target, our new line of 50 products catered exclusively to our older audience is this year’s pledge to gain more momentum as we expand to bigger markets. Also, we’re already working on next year’s products and we’ll be again introducing a new audience – pets – and essentials made and designed specifically for them.

Hasan: Which market has surprised you most so far?

Founder: Australia. Maybe because we didn’t have expectations for the market, and so we’ve been surprised to see our products becoming extremely popular there. But, to be honest, I’m very curious to see what happens in new markets we just signed in, such as Japan, Malaysia or Canada.

Hasan: Why did you open a brick-and-mortar store and what kind of experience does it offer to its visitors?

Founder: We wanted to give our products a home. Deep down, I think it’s a common dream for business owners like me to want to see their products in a brick-and-mortar store. For one, I feel like having a physical store after a digital one means that something went right; that somehow and in some way we’re making it. But also, the shopping journey is so much different from the online one that, if we play our cards right, we can deliver a richer and more personalized customer experience. As a matter of fact, it’s a space we like to be in because we get to benefit from the strength of both online and physical presence.

In the store, our customers can touch and feel our entire line of products. And unlike retailers, who make their own decisions about what range and colors get displayed, in a branded store customers can fully experience the brand journey like it was intended.

Another factor that contributed to the opening of our store was its newly-found capacity to show our distributors how they can build window displays for their retailers. It also provides the right environment to answer questions or doubts and to exchange or repair a product.

Hasan: Let’s talk funding. What are you up to in terms of fundraising?

Founder: We are currently fundraising for our Series A. This will allow us to invest in R&D, develop more products and launch and implement our direct-to-consumer plans in the US.

Hasan: There are many similar products in the market, so what makes your company special?

Founder: We got three key competitive advantages. First, we always bring something new to the market before everyone else. Second, we take our time to launch our products, meaning we discuss, try and test our products until every product is perfect and ready to be launched. Third, we are a consistent brand when it comes to our designs, as we don’t suddenly change everything overnight. Every year, with each new collection we launch, our style progresses a little bit but still remains immediately recognizable by our customers.

Hasan: What was your biggest lesson learned so far during the 4-year journey?

Founder: Whatever you do in life, resilience is key. Having something go wrong at first doesn’t mean it’s wrong per se. It’s also important to fail. Failing has taught me that if you need to fail, fail quickly, stand up fast and carry on promptly.

I live by the motto that nobody gives you opportunities; you need your own.

And I would also like to stress on the lessons learned from my customers. You need to become your customers in order to attend to their needs. Customer knowledge coupled with solid data can open a lot of doors and boost up your results.

Hasan: Your best advice to entrepreneurs out there?

Founder: If you have an idea, make it a reality.

Don’t listen to anyone who has tried and failed because that will only push you down. Instead, listen to people who have succeeded. They will probably be more inclined to encourage risks.

Also, don’t replicate or copy other people’s or businesses’ ideas. It’s usually a short-term gain because investors rarely invest in copycats.

—–
We’re very proud to have this company in our portfolio. We invested in it because we believed in the founder, brand potential and market size.

I interviewed Sara Chemmaa, the founder of Citron, on the occasion of the Women’s Day (and the upcoming Mother’s Day).

Dear reader, has your perception of the founder changed now that you know it’s a female founder?

New acquisition on the block

Taker acquired Brisk Delivery to strengthen TakerGo capabilities. TakerGo is an innovative delivery solution that connects restaurants to leading delivery services providers.

New agreement

Zid signed a cooperation agreement with Saudi Exports Development Authority.

Growing

Armada Delivery is now active in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Branching out

Carseer opened a new Carseer Customer Service Branch in Tabarbour (North Amman) to cater to the increasing demand while delivering easy and speedy service to customers.

12 items that will sell out!

New York’s The Strategist has rounded up 12 items that will almost definitely sell out and a Mejuri necklace is on the list.

• Sr UX Designer at Repzo (Amman)
• Sr Frontend Developer at SubsBase (Cairo)
• Ruby on Rails Developer at Qoyod (Riyadh)
• Digital Marketing Director at Cartlow (Cairo)
• Digital Marketing Specialist at Armada (Kuwait)

So, after reading the #FounderSpotlight, has your perception of the founder changed once you knew it was a female founder? (I don’t take Yes as an answer!)

Hasan

Our LinkedIn and Twitter have been exploding since NYE.

This issue is all about 40 ‘cause we reached 40. Not years. Startups in our portfolio. 😎

And to celebrate that in our ArzanVC way, Laith & I cooked for you…

Takeaway lessons on 40 investments… and “thinking” of a new fund

Last month we discussed dragon exits and, well, we can’t say that we have never stumbled upon a write-off. C’est la VC vie.

Let’s press ⏪ and dig into all we’ve seen, heard and learned so far.

Based on the performance of our 40 investments, these are the strongest sectors: transport, D2C and supply chain (incl. FMCG).

The traits of our successful startups
– Founder-market fit… that makes you really stand out.
– Healthy founder mix: Builder + Seller. We believe founders must be both builders and sellers. If one character is missing, it may be a very bumpy ride with a possibly bad end.
– Honest and humble.
– Talent for fundraising. We know that fundraising can be a hard nut to crack for many founders, so get skilled in the cracking! 🐿️

Lessons on pivots
Making a business pivot means changing your strategy (product, model…) during the journey. It’s something a startup is usually unprepared for. Sometimes the pivot comes out of necessity (as your only survival card), sometimes out of opportunity.

Some of our portfolio startups faced a pivot and managed it really well…

Do you recall when MUNCH:ON used to be called LUNCH:ON? It started as a platform that served offices Dhs25 lunches with free delivery. Then Covid happened, WFH took over the office life and the startup’s corporate lunches got a blow. But, within a matter of 10 days, the team was able to launch a residential lunch & dinner service on the same platform. The new vertical was well-received and the startup pivot became a success. Let’s just add that MUNCH:ON is currently operating in UAE and KSA, offers both corporate and residential meals and Q4’21 was its highest performing quarter to date.

Taker, the online ordering management platform for restaurants, wasn’t created from scratch. Its predecessor was Dook, a delivery management platform for more efficient and less costly restaurant delivery fleets. The founder soon realized the problem wasn’t in the delivery but rather in the demand generation and order quality. Therefore, in 2019, Dook founder created Taker to fix this problem and the company later introduced TakerGo (on-demand delivery aggregator) with a vision to make the on-demand delivery available as a service (DaaS) to all businesses that want to tap into the Quick Commerce. The pivot allowed Taker to adopt an asset-light model.

Armada Delivery is an on-demand delivery marketplace with a presence in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Its pivot was in the revenue model. Initially Armada paid fixed daily rates to its drivers, but the team soon realized that the drivers were not working full hours and the model was too costly. They changed the model to revenue sharing as in 80% for the driver and 20% for Armada. This means they only pay if the driver actually delivers. The pivot fixed all cash issues faced by Armada and they have been doing superbly well ever since and expanding.

PointCheckout announced earlier this week that it’s changing its name to Paymennt.com in response to the accelerated growth in the payments industry during Covid (thanks to its PayLink app launched in Q2’20 that allows merchants to accept payments via links). Originally launched as an online payment gateway for loyalty points, the company has grown to become a comprehensive platform for online payments helping over 2,000 small and medium businesses move to digital payment in a faster, cheaper and more customer friendly way… Well, the last quarter of 2021 was their best to date in terms of the payment volume and they have nearly 1.5K enrolled online stores. Pivot gone well.

Oh, the disappointments
1. Founders with bad attitudes. You do realize that your attitude will catch up with you sooner or later, right?
2. Team disputes & disagreements which led to a startup failure. Choosing your co-founders is like choosing your spouse. Give it a big, long thought.
3. Bad accounting in place. Fix that ASAP.

DON’T do this again
– Don’t Whatsapp your significant other while sharing your screen on a Zoom call.
– When you want to make an espresso or use the bathroom, PLEASE press mute first.
– @Laith, switch off your camera while driving or fixing your keyboard next time.

🔮 looking ahead
Arzan VC is proud to have hired individuals who had zero experience with the VC world at the time of hiring. We provided them with our knowledge and training and, for example, 2 of our former team members are now managers of regional funds. We say this humbly but proudly: ArzanVC Team has grown so much and we’re happy we could have shaped each and every team member and assist them in their growth and success. Because that’s success for us, too, and we can’t wait for what’s next for our Team because…

– we’re definitely going to see MORE EXITS.
– following the footsteps of Swvl, we could have another IPO.
– we may soon announce Arzan VC Fund III? 🤔

Impressive rounds 💰

Retailo raised a USD 36M Series A funding (in which we participated), while TruKKer secured USD 96M in their very recent Series B round. Shall we add that Retailo bagged the 14th place in Forbes 50 Most Funded Startups of the Middle East? Well done, teams, well done!

PIPEd up

Swvl secured an additional USD 21.5M PIPE investment from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in preparation for its SPAC (expected in Q1’22).

New name

PointCheckout rebrands to Paymennt.com to focus on micro and small business payment struggles.

New partners on the block

FlexxPay and Merit Incentives forge a partnership to offer employee benefits platforms for their corporate clients in the GCC and MENA region.

Women in leadership positions

Did you know Gameball‘s team is 40% female and that females represent 30% of its leadership team? The company also acquired 3x more paying clients in 2021 and 95% of users gave them 4-5 star reviews.

• Senior React Developer at Klaim (Lebanon)
• (Different positions) at Fatura (Egypt / hybrid remote)
• Business Development Executive at Cartlow (Riyadh)
• Backend Developer – Node.js at Repzo (Amman)
• Front-end Engineer at Qoyod (Cairo)
• Performance Marketing Executive (International) at Mejuri (London)

Oh and we’ll be seeing you soon at Step Conference (Feb 23-24) and Taqadam Investor Showcase (March 9-10). Reach out if you’ll be around 👋

Hasan

How is 2022 treating you so far? Resolutions going well?

We’re all neck-deep in last year’s financials and reports, defining the value we generated.

For us @ArzanVC, that value is not in the amounts we invested or how many times we led a round. We look for it in returns. In the money we exited. And we made 4 exits in 2021, which we internally call a stellar year. 😎

It’s not a race to invest in unicorns but to make a dragon exit

We’ve been out there for 7 years, taking it slowly but steadily, making well-informed bets (40 investments to-date!) that so far turned into 2 IPOs, numerous exits… Let me pause here. I’m not sure if this is what you want to read about.

Any VC can say how they took the investors’ money and invested it – and how many times they did that – but let’s talk about how much money we VCs get to take out when the time comes. An honest cash talk.

Dragon > unicorn
Fund investors often look at how many unicorns a VC has in their portfolio. But unicorns are illiquid; they represent returns yet-to-be-realized. So, no cash in hand – unlike in the case of a dragon. (Also, having a unicorn in your portfolio doesn’t mean high returns as it all depends on the actual valuation at the time of the exit.)

A VC becomes a dragon whenever it returns the fund with just one exit. (No sci-fi / magic involved.) Dragons are the elite of VC managers. For the sake of example, let’s say you’re managing a $20M fund and you make an exit of $20+M. Your VC just turned into a dragon.

So, let’s get the basics rights. It’s not about the number of investments we make or how many dollars we inject in, but how high our returns are.

It’s not a race of who gives out more or how many rounds we get to lead or how many unicorns we nurture in our portfolios…

It’s a race to make an exit. A better-than-good exit. A dragon exit. That’s where the real value for the fund investors is.

Arzan VC made 4 exits in 2021: Swvl, iKcon, POSRocket and Tamatem. Let’s check out the metrics = the returns they gave us.

1. Swvl (IPO; Arzan VC Fund II)
Back in July’21, the ride-sharing ace Swvl announced its IPO on NASDAQ by merging with a SPAC Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital. Swvl will thus become the 2nd company from the region to take this path (the 1st was Anghami). The startup‘s goal is to bring its annual gross revenue to USD 1B by 2025.
gross multiple: >10x Can become higher or lower depending on the stock price performance once the company de-SPACs. If it goes higher, it can turn us into a dragon 🐉.

2. iKcon (partial exit upon acquisition; Arzan VC Fund II)
Backed by SoftBank and Mubadala, REEF Technology (US) decided to make its first transaction in the region by acquiring iKcon. The cloud kitchen startup was only founded in 2019 and a year later Forbes Middle East ranked it among the region’s 50 most-funded startups in 2020. As of November’21, iKcon has been operating 30 cloud kitchens across the UAE and KSA. 🍟
gross multiple: <10x Since this is a partial exit, we’re holding onto our stock. And the stock part of the deal (which is the majority) can pay back the full fund, hence another potential dragon for us 🐉.

3. POSRocket (exit upon acquisition; Arzan VC Fund I)
The news about POSRocket’s acquisition came out earlier this month. The 2nd largest restaurant cloud tech player got acquired by its Saudi competitor Foodics. And so, the team will now work on turning Foodics into the leading restaurant tech provider in the MENA. Safe onward flight, astronauts!
gross multiple of <10x

4. Tamatem (exit; Arzan VC Fund I)
Tamatem is one of our oldest investments. This publisher of Arabic mobile games has generated over 100 million game downloads since inception. Towards the end of 2021 we got a good opportunity to exit it and so we took it. Thank you for the journey, gamers!
gross multiple of <10x

Pretty diverse exits, aren’t they?

Prior to 2021, we recorded other memorable exits like Onfleet (gross multiple of >4x) and, of course, Careem (gross multiple of >8x). The exit from Careem turned us into a dragon 🐉 – our returns were actually bigger than our Fund I size!

Our mission at Arzan VC is simple: we look for dragons.

The size of our investments in 2021 increased by 208% YoY; we made new investments, we made follow-ons, we co-invested with big names… – because that’s our job.

But our job is not only about taking your money and investing it but also returning it. Not so many VCs can say they’re mastering that process. So, if you’re an investor considering investing in a fund, look out for the real value behind all the numbers and infographs out there.

Astronauts boarded a new spaceship

POSRocket got acquired by its Saudi rival Foodics (KSA). Congrats again, guys!

Labor Award

Zid won the Labor Award from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia, an award for companies that are following the nationalization path.

Come on in

Citron has opened its first Flagship Store at Times Square Center in Dubai.
 

200+ clients

Repzo‘s salesforce automation solution has been deployed by 200+ clients.

🎤

Dana Baki of MUNCH:ON spoke at Dubai’s Enterprise Agility Forum 2022, Abdullah AlDayel of Qoyod was interviewed by AlRiyadh Newspaper and Kunal Kapoor of The Luxury Closet had a talk with Blomberg Middle East.

• Tech Lead – Python and React at Merit (Dubai)
• DevOps Engineer at Qoyod (Riyadh)
• Sales Specialist at CARSEER (Amman)
• Marketing Director at Zid (Riyadh)
• Head of Business Development – KSA at FlexxPay (Riyadh)
• Engagement Lead at Retailo (Dammam)

 
… almost like our winter here in Kuwait!
Btw. We’re cooking something and there are many 0s in it 😉
 
Hasan

I will wrap 2021 up with an exciting discussion with Retailo’s Co-founder Talha Ansari.

Earlier this month, Tamatem secured $11M Series B investment led by Krafton, a South Korean game developer behind the game series PUBG.

What shall I add… that this year has been eventful and exciting? Very. Our ArzanVC family is keeping us proud and we’re bracing for what 2022 will bring―we got quite a few announcements in the pipeline…

Set big, scary targets that will inspire you

Hasan: Retailo was launched during the early stages of Covid-19 pandemic and you managed to create a truly resilient business ever since. Looking back at 2021, what’s your biggest lesson learned?

Talha: I think it’s the importance of being a regional player from Day 1. Retailo is the first regional B2B startup in MENAP and we flipped the traditional model of starting in one market and then expanding organically. It was challenging and some people questioned our model, but our growth has proven that ultimately it was the right choice. We were able to tap into a $160B market with more than 3M potential SME customers, picked business learnings from both KSA and Pakistan, hired a regionally diverse team, worked with top regional and local manufacturers, and achieved both high sales volumes and revenue. Saudi is fast becoming a regional tech powerhouse and Pakistan has massive potential. We benefited greatly from our multi-market model and are now preparing to expand to other markets which will further improve our reach and business growth.

Hasan: You have a long-term vision of reaching and impacting 10 million retailers across the MENAP region. What’s your top priority for 2022?

Talha: In the past 18 months we expanded to 11 cities where more than 700 colleagues serve 50K+ SME retailers.

Hasan: Those are some good numbers…

Talha: Yes, and we want to keep the momentum in 2022. Our three main priorities for next year are geographic expansion, venturing into new business verticals and expanding our BNPL service. While we are reaching out to a broader customer base, the BNPL option will further improve the lives and business of the under-served market.

Hasan: What’s your strategy for the Saudi market?

Talha: We are headquartered in Riyadh and already present in six of the largest cities in KSA. Riyadh and Jeddah have given us a great launch pad and we are primed to disrupt retail supply chains in other cities.

Riyadh is fast becoming the tech hub for the MENAP region. In the retail sector this means e-invoicing, which has disrupted the conventional market. The ease of business is increasing every day and we see a lot of local talent coming into the market. Overall, there is growth of population, especially the middle class, which means more disposable income spent on consumer goods. The realization of Vision 2030 partially relies on a robust and tech driven retail supply chain and expansion of the sector. Let’s not forget that new startups can now be listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange and that is attracting impressive volumes and investors… We are taking full advantage of this dynamic environment in Saudi.

Hasan: Earlier this year you signed a partnership with Maersk to make use of their warehouses. Will we see more such strategic deals in 2022?

Talha: Working with a global organization like Maersk has helped smooth out our warehousing operations and focus on many other areas. We are in the process of formalizing more partnerships that will enrich our business processes and better the customer experience.

As a customer-centric company, we are fully aware of the growth vs. performance trap that other startups have suffered from and we are doing everything to avoid it.

Hasan: What would you say is your biggest leverage as a startup?

Talha: We have always believed that our biggest strength is our team. Retailo was founded by three former Careem executives and, besides their startup leadership experience, it was equally important that they were friends who shared the same values. The best product or business idea is only as good as the people working on it and our top management was selected accordingly.

Keeping that in mind, since the pilot phase we have looked for people who have the skills that would help us scale quickly but are also aligned on our values which means they should be humble, respectful, have complete ownership, believe in starting small and growing big, follow the customer-centric philosophy, and enjoy their journey in Retailo.

I am very happy to state that Retailo now has more than 700 colleagues from diverse backgrounds and yet sharing the same vision and values. This is a powerful factor which gives us enormous synergies and strength to overcome any challenges that may arise.

Hasan: Competition among B2B marketplaces is growing very fast and the store owners have more choices. How do you stay ahead?

Talha: We have in-depth understanding of customer needs and wants, and we are familiar with the local markets. Retailo’s leaders and team members have similar backgrounds and experiences and have been connected with tech startups and supply chains. We also have the experience of living and working in KSA and Pakistan, which allows us to form lasting relationships with both customers and suppliers.

Of course, being the only multi-market and cross business B2B startup of MENAP that operates in both KSA and Pakistan is a huge advantage. We’ve been able to capture the customer base from a high purchase price-low volume point all the way to a low purchase price-high volume point giving us the best of both worlds.

Hasan: Now, the secret to success: What’s yours?

Talha: Our success comes from the values we follow. Retailo’s founders, colleagues and investors have a shared vision. This shared vision has given us the energy to do amazing things and grow exponentially. We believe in dreaming big and starting small, having a humble mindset and a learning culture, and setting big, scary targets that inspire us to greater heights.

Women of the Year

Mejuri‘s Noura Sakkijha is featured in Women of the Year 2021 list of Canada’s most incredible women leaders. Well-deserved, Noura!

Finalist of the Year

Klaim was awarded 2 finalist positions in the Gulf Capital SME Awards: “B2B Technology StartUp of the Year” and “Digital Business of the Year” for the GCC region. Congrats!

USD 100M

Fatura crossed the USD 100M annualized GMV threshold in less than 2 years! Also, the startup’s family grew to 350 members. 💪

Jaguar onboard

CARSEER signed a cooperation agreement with Mahmoudia Motors Group = the official & exclusive dealers of Jaguar and Land Lover in Jordan.

Retain those customers

Gameball presents its 6 strategies on how to turn customers from window shoppers to loyal customers.

• Lifecycle Marketing Manager at The Luxury Closet (Dubai)
• Country Manager (Germany & France) at Mejuri (London)
• B2B Sales Support Manager at Cartlow (Dubai)
• Commercial Associate at Retailo (Riyadh)
• Senior Growth Specialist at Fatura (Cairo)
• Scrum Master at Fatura (Cairo – hybrid)

 
 We’ll see how this one goes… See you next year!

Hasan