Gulf Bank’s podcast, part of its strategy of fostering economic and community sustainability in Kuwait

 

 

• Talabat started off as an idea by four students with KD 4,000 — and sold for KD 50 million
• Al-Otaibi: “We chose Gulf Bank to open our first bank account. Gulf Bank has continued to support local entrepreneurs since the start.”
• Early success encouraged Al-Otaibi to take on new initiatives in "Floward," "Alhisba," and "Oogoo."
• Al-Otaibi: “Kuwait is hungry for more projects and initiatives, and the possibilities for every aspiring youth are endless.”

 

Life is full of challenges, but there are a select few who prefer to meet these challenges head on. For those business-minded seekers among us, we should not be surprised to see them convert a single dinar into a million, turning a simple idea into an established company with both a local and regional presence.

 

For Khaled Al-Otaibi, the road to entrepreneurship is one he has journeyed down multiple times before. Today, Al-Otaibi is one of the founders of Talabat, the first food delivery site in Kuwait, a major investor in the Floward application for flower and gift distribution, Alhisba for real estate, and Oogoo, the first smartphone application that calculates the value of your car in seconds, in addition to owning the computer integrated solutions company, Trend.

 

To find out the details and origin of the story, Al-Otaibi was a guest on Gulf Bank’s “Let’s Talk Business” podcast. The podcast, hosted by Tareq Al-Saleh, Deputy General Manager of the Economic Research Unit at Gulf Bank, presents entrepreneurial stories within a simplified economic framework, targeting budding entrepreneurs who are considering starting businesses of their own. The Bank’s podcast is part of its overarching strategy of fostering economic and community sustainability in Kuwait, and highlights the little-known origin stories behind some of our favorite local brands.

 

Talabat

 

Al-Otaibi reviewed the journey of establishing Talabat in 2004, in partnership with his fellow students at the time, Zaid Al-Laheeb, Muhammad Al-Roumi and Abdul-Wahab Al-Qatami, saying, “We used to meet annually in the summer when we returned to Kuwait. Because our families were often away, we would also face difficulties in ordering meals from restaurants, and we had no choice but to call the restaurants directly. At the time, the Internet was a new gift, and it sparked a thought: why not take advantage of the Internet and use it to solve this problem?”

 

Al-Otaibi began by researching previous experiences and applications, and reviewed the applied experiences of fellow entrepreneurs in America, Britain, Italy and Egypt. Finally, Al-Otaibi and his colleagues proceeded with their own venture, transforming their idea into a project. To save expenses, they even tried to do everything themselves, working with their own hands. Despite some failures and setbacks, nothing stopped them from moving forward.

 

Al-Otaibi stated, “Marketing was my mandate. Against the desire of the partners, I made an offer to a large chain of franchise restaurants to try our services for free for a period of six months. This contract ended up attracting other restaurants, especially after they renewed with a paid contract at the end of that first period.”

 

He added: “At that time, we would transfer the requests we received on the website to a fax that we would send to the restaurant, and we would even call the restaurant to make sure they received the request. With time, the number of requests began to increase, and the number of restaurants on our website started booming.”

 

Al-Otaibi pointed out that the company's first bank account was with Gulf Bank. Since its inception, Gulf Bank has remained steadfast in its commitment to supporting local entrepreneurs, recently launching the “Let’s Talk Business” podcast to support aspiring business owners.

 

Startup Challenges

 

On the difficulties of establishing a business, Al-Otaibi said, “At the time, we faced three main obstacles: persuading restaurants of the feasibility of the project, convincing consumers to use the service — especially since consumer culture was so different at the time, and not used to paying delivery fees — in addition to the lack of licenses for digital companies and the difficulty of recruiting employees.”

 

He added: “Three years after our launch, a company knocked on our doors with an offer to buy Talabat for close to KD 90,000. To us, this was the mark of great success, and an unimaginable amount for what we had paid. The partners were convinced we should sell, but I offered to buy it from them for KD 100,000. At the time, I truly considered the company as my project, and I wanted it to grow and achieve more success. That’s why my first order of business was to expand to the Saudi market in 2007.”

 

One year later, Al-Otaibi received an offer from the two friends, Bishr Al-Bishr and Abdulaziz Al-Loghani, to buy the company for KD 360,000. This time, Al-Otaibi accepted the sale, while retaining 10%. The economic situation was unstable at the time, and the Kuwaiti stock market was dipping 500 points a day.

 

After about two or three years, Muhammad Jaafar entered into the deal with KD 850,000, and he brought something new to the table. He moved the company from the amateur stage to the professional one, as he had a greater view of expansion and development, with expenses amounting to approximately KD 2 million.

 

Al-Otaibi said, "Talabat is not a story about the success of a few founders, but rather a Kuwaiti success story. It is the story of students, who could have only focused on their studies, but instead ended up building what would become one of the largest companies in the region: a company that would be acquired by an international company for KD 50 million.”

 

Floward

 

Al-Otaibi also touched on his experience of investing in Floward, one of the largest flower and gift delivery companies in the region, noting that the company was originally established under the name “Q8Flowers.” It was a great idea, and its owner, Khaled Al-Bader, achieved great success in it. In partnership with Abdulaziz Al-Loughani, Al-Otaibi made an offer to acquire 90% of the company, restructuring of the trade name, modernizing the application, and introducing other products into the app.

 

Alhisba

 

Founded in 2019, Alhisba is an innovative real estate application that aims to provide distinguished real estate services in a transparent manner, making it easy to access information, data and analysis related to the market. In doing so, the app satisfies a crucial gap in the real estate market, while giving customers a fair assessment of their homes in seconds.

 

In partnership with Ahmed Al-Laheeb, Al-Otaibi launched the Alhisba application. Alhisba currently has a large presence in the local market, and has a huge database on all properties that have been sold since 2010, in addition to a comprehensive coverage of all auctions in Kuwait.

 

Oogoo

 

Regarding the Oogoo app, Al-Otaibi noted that they found the car market in dire need of a revamp. Namely, Al-Otaibi wondered if it was fair for a car’s value to be dictated by the buyer and not the seller. He stated, “We believed in the idea of a neutral party that rates the car, hence the idea of the project."

 

He added: “The intermediary is important, but you have to negotiate a fair price, and the application provides customers with many services — from advertising to directly selling.”

 

Parting Words

 

Al-Otaibi imparted some final words of wisdom to aspiring entrepreneurs, noting that Kuwait is still hungry for many projects, and the possibilities for every aspiring youth are endless. However, ideas must be fresh and must either solve a problem that people suffer from, or create a new service. Finally, if you do not have an idea, invest in a successful company and add your spin to it. And if you fail, consider the experience gained for your future.