‘Careem’ a company which dominates the mobility market in the Middle East

 

Careem, a vehicle for hire company:

'Careem' is the main character of Dubai's ride-hailing service . Currently, we are doing business in over 120 cities in 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Uber is a global representative ride-hailing service, but it has not always been successful in all regions.

We were pushed by local companies in China, Russia, and Southeast Asia, and we handed over the business rights and quickly withdrew.

There are other areas where Uber is struggling to compete with local local businesses.

It's the Middle East.

It has over 30 million users and about 1 million drivers.

These days, we are diversifying our business beyond the ride-hailing service to payment, delivery, and bus services.

Recently, Uber acquired Careem.

Today, I would like to take a look at Careem's charm and past growth, which attracted even its competitors.

Co-Founders of Careem:

Careem was founded in July 2012 by former McKinsey & Company consultants Mudassir Sheikha and Karl Magnus Olsen.

Then, Abdullah Elyas from Enwani, a home delivery service that it acquired in 2014, joins.

Sheikha is responsible for growth and expansion as CEO, and Olsen is responsible for products and technology as CXO.

Sheikha is from Pakistan and Olsen is from Sweden. Both have experience in starting a startup before Karim.

Sheikha studied economics and computer science at the University of Southern California.

[caption id="attachment_5117" align="alignleft" width="321"] Mudassir Sheikha[/caption]

He is pursuing a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University. He's been in Silicon Valley for close to 10 years since he

After returning to his home country, he founded a company called Device Anywhere and sold it to Keynote, a software company in 2008.

Then he works in Dubai as a McKinsey & Company consultant.

Olsen studied science, computer science and engineering at Lund University.

 

At the age of 15 he starts a company called 'Olsen Solutions'. He provided IT consulting services to small and midsize companies that could not afford IBM products.

After that, he created a social media service in Sweden. After working as a consultant at McKinsey's Dubai office, he married a Palestinian he met in Africa and settled in Abu Dhabi.

Careem, 'freely giving or sharing':

However, he came to a turning point in his life when he nearly died of a cerebral artery while working as a consultant.

At this time, while looking for a meaningful job after leaving the company, he accidentally met Sheikha, a former co-worker, and decided to start a business together.

The name of the company is 'Careem', which means 'abundant' in Arabic, 'freely giving or sharing'.

The two found a business item that would physically improve people's lives.

Education and health care were in mind. I later recalled that former colleagues at McKinsey had pointed out local transportation problems. It is inconvenient for corporate customers to book and find a car locally.

A conversation with a taxi driver also had an impact. In the course of the conversation, we learned that many families in the Middle East depend on transportation for their livelihood.

This leads to the dream of providing fast, reliable and practical transportation solutions to the Middle East.

The vision was to improve and simplify the quality of life by revolutionizing the transportation and logistics industry in the region.

"Because there was a problem with the corporate vehicle, I used a car from a different supplier for each McKinsey line market, and the reliability was low."
“Receipts are all made of paper, and there is no way to classify expenses.
It was completely tech-zero."
“I had to withdraw money from an ATM to pay the driver.”
"It's so passive, 'Is this the 21st century?'
I was like, 'Is this how shipping works?'"

 

We started the service with a holy mission, but nothing was easy. The service was launched in September 2012, but it was only available on the web.

The mobile app came out the following year.

Early days of Careem:

In the early days, when customers entered the origin and destination on the website, the contents were sent to the company via e-mail.

After checking the email from the company, I called the drivers and asked, "Can you drive?" and matched.

Because of this, in the early days of using Careem, we had to make a reservation 4 hours early.

 

Since the drivers didn't have an app, the company told them how to get to their destination through a phone call.

I also did a lot of selling. They also interviewed for 45 minutes per driver while circling the International City parking lot to secure drivers.

I blew the whole weekend away. However, I learned a lot by modifying the business model through trial and error.

Careem's first model was a business-to-business B2B service. Our first customer was a former McKinsey company.

In the course of operating the service, at the end of the day, people

Using a car stood out. If corporate customers liked the service, they could use Careem for family vacations or to the airport.

"When there was no app, we used the code system for text messages"
"Sending 'C' meant 'he's coming', 'A' for 'arrived', 'S' for 'started riding', 'E' for 'getting off'"

"The driver texted me the odometer reading on the odometer."

“We automated this one by one.”

“It would seem like a pretty professional service to customers.
They got a text message saying 'The car has arrived'

Localization Strategies Leading Growth/Articles/Culture of Respect for Women It is evaluated that the differentiating factor between Careem and Uber is the localization strategy.

A typical example is payment in cash.

Many locals still use cash, so we applied for cash payment earlier than Uber.

However, Careem's localization strategy goes beyond cash payments.

Knight = Captain:

Careem calls its drivers 'Captain'. It contains respect for the knights.

Some people think that they can just drive the driver because they paid for it when using the ride-hailing service.

The title of Captain gives the knight a sense of respect because authority is contained.

When you walk into a real street Careem driver's center, the staff will call you "Sir".

According to an interview with Fast Company and Sheikha, Careem wants to show respect because he believes that the company has grown thanks to the hard work of the captains.

We also create a fund for emergencies so that the Captain's family does not fall into poverty.

 

“Initially we saw the potential of this platform to simplify and improve the lives of people in the Middle East.”
"But more meaningful was supporting the lives of the captains."
"It's not just about giving you a job or an income, it's about giving you respect, care, and self-worth."

Respect for women:

Female customers and drivers are also very welcome. On the occasion of 'Women's Day,' Sheikha CEO expressed respect and gratitude for women.

I believe that female customers are important to business success. 70% of Careem's customers in Saudi Arabia are women.
(Uber says 80% are women) The ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia seems to have had an impact.

Careem cares quite a bit about 'women's safety'.
① The 'call masking' function prevents drivers from seeing the passenger's phone number. If you know the number, you can call me later.
②Check the driver's background extensively. This is because of safety concerns raised by ignorance of the driver's history in vehicle calling and surrogate driving services.
③ Instruct the driver not to have even trivial conversations with women. It seems to have taken into account the local custom not to mix language with unrelated men.
④ Only use the side mirrors so that the driver does not have to worry about spying on them with the rearview mirror.

We are also active in hiring female drivers. The goal is to hire 20,000 female drivers by 2020.

Even today, 30% of all articles are women. The safety center prioritizes calls from female drivers.

Saudi women don't have a car yet, so we're working with a local company to help women rent a car for $13 a day.

Careem going beyond ride-hailing:

Beyond ride-hailing as a lifestyle platform such as payment and delivery, Careem is dreaming of evolving into an Internet company that meets all the needs of life on its platform, going beyond ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab. To this end, we are acquiring 5 startups.

Yeda home delivery service Enwani (2015),
Moroccan taxi reservation service taxi (TAXIII‧2015),
Pakistan taxi service Savaree (2016),
UAE restaurant information platform Round Menu (2018),
I bought Commut (2018), a public transport service in India.
From the end of last year, new services such as delivery, bus, and P2P payment will be introduced one after another.

Careem introduced 'Careem Bus' in Egypt last December as an intermediate step between the existing public transport and ride-hailing service.

You can board the 13-seater bus by making a reservation through the app. It started operations as Cay, Egypt, and then expanded to Giza and Alexandria.

According to the World Bank, traffic congestion in Cairo costs $8 billion a year. A Careem study found that 40% of Egypt's population does not have access to transportation that meets their needs.

Cairo, in particular, says there is a shortage of reliable, high-quality buses on major sections.

In fact, for similar reasons, Uber has been in Cairo first since September of last year.
They run an 'Uber Bus'. Careem is also considering introducing Careem bus as a local specialized service and expanding it to other countries.

constant growing pains

Careem treats drivers as captains, but drivers demand a lower percentage of fees.

In Egypt, Careem and Uber take 35% of the total fare from the company. The knights demand that it be lowered to 15%.

They are also demanding that dispatch requests be canceled up to 5 times a day without penalty or impact on rating evaluation.

There is a gap between Careem and the drivers about how the captain should be treated.

Coordinating this will also be a requirement for Careem's sustainable growth.