If you are a relatively newcomer to UAE or if you are shifting home to a not very familiar part of the Emirates, a service like Mr Usta will immediately begin looking like a necessity. Needless to say that was also the genesis of the very idea itself, when Ibrahim Colak and his wife Dunia Othman were faced with the trouble of finding a repairman to fix air conditioner in the summer heat of May. Mr Usta is an online service that helps track service providers in a convenient way.
Given their own experience, Mr Colak and Ms Othman came up with Mr Usta – which means master in several languages. “We wanted to associate our brand with mastery and professionalism and hence we came up with this name,” Mr Colak explained.
The website is developed primarily keeping expats in mind, who form a significant population in the UAE. “Everyone who comes in UAE, comes with a blank slate. They don’t know where to go or what to do when it comes to finding the basic solution of fixing an AC or finding a carpenter. We felt there was a need for such a service that makes life easier for the consumer,” added Ms Othman.
Today, Mr Usta has nearly 3500 service providers with 200 categories. The journey for the duo to reach here was not so easy, considering that most of these service providers are not tech-savvy. “One of our biggest challenges was to educate service providers. Many were using feature phones, and mainly depended on calls and SMSes. It was tough to educate them on how they could do the same the thing over the internet, and increase their business,” Mr Colak reflected.
Educating services providers was just one part of the problem. Another concern was capital access. “Most investors we approached wanted to see returns almost immediately but that is not feasible in start ups as you first need time for development, then you are picked up by consumers, and you need to understand the database — the entire process takes time. With conversations with angel investors moving more towards venture capitalists, we struggled to explain it to investors,” explained Mr Colak.
Since both professionals came from a marketing background, they paid specific attention to that aspect of the company, which also included branding their car.
“We did not want to initiate marketing until we saw how both the sides – service providers and consumers – were doing. We have over 200 categories and we wanted to know what people are looking for. We saw that dance classes and cake makers were a favorite among consumers while maid services and pest control services also had quite a demand. We wanted to understand the popular categories first and then get into marketing”, shared Ms Othman.
The website also features several blog posts, which first informs the consumers of how they can solve their problems themselves and if the problems persists, then it directs them to relevant service providers.
Reiterating that businesses needs to be online to thrive, Ms Othman pointed out, “Internet is where you can find your consumers with almost all businesses and their competitions online. With the culture of ‘right here right now’, consumers do not want to wait but find solutions immediately through their mobile.”
“Micro and medium businesses that contribute nearly 40 per cent of the GDP, want to be online but do not know how. Many small enterprises still do not know how to do any marketing. They want to but they do not know how to expand or grow their online presence. Mr Usta gives them this opportunity,” continued Mr Colak.
Mr Usta’s business model generates revenue through lead generation. A small amount is charged when a lead is generated from the service provider, which is a fixed amount but differs from category to category.
For the duo, a key achievement is the kind of data that they are collecting in the process. “The data comprising consumers as well as SMEs helps us to understand what people are looking for. The potential is so much that it will overtake the core of connecting services and users.”
With nearly 9000 users and a vast data bank of service providers, Mr Usta is also set to go in its second phase which is expected to be launched by September. “With having 70 per cent organic growth, without any marketing, shows the kind of potential that such a site holds and we are geared up for our second phase launch in September 2015,” concluded Ms Othman.
