BEntrepreneur Magazine sat down with Suhaib Murtaza, City Manager of Careem to know more about the business that is changing the way we travel.

Please tell us more about Careem and how has this idea changed the way we view travel?

It all started in 2012, when two nice guys decided to leave their jobs working as management consultants at McKinsey to start something that mattered. Magnus Olsson, who had just recovered from a very serious brain surgery, wanted to create something that simplifies and improves people’s lives. Mudassir Sheikha who had already created several start-ups in Silicon Valley, had a burning desire to bring some of that start-up culture to the region and create an awesome institution that inspires. So, Careem was born. It reached new heights in 2014 when Abdulla Elyas, a German-Saudi serial entrepreneur, joined the founding team after leaving Germany to play an impactful role in the positive transformation of the region. This is their brainchild. A brand that strives to inspire everyone it interacts with. A brand that supports every single person who dares to believe. A brand that exists to drive our region towards something better.

As a General Manager of Careem, what does your work entail?

My main focus is on ensuring the growth of the GCC countries, and I do this while simplifying the lives of our customers and building an awesome, engaged and empowered GCC team. Another major part of my role is leading and directing tigers (The name Careem calls all employees) in my team. So basically one day I could be at the office working with the marketing team to ensure key campaigns are out, looking at trends and numbers and ensuring our markets are healthy, working on solving problems with the supply team, and ensuring the team is getting support. Another day I could be traveling to one of the GCC markets, spending time with the team, meeting with government entities to get regulatory approvals.

What are the challenges that you and the company in Bahrain face?

One of the main challenges was to find sufficient supply for the demand. Our captains are not always available as the majority is only available part-time due to their commitments. Since Careem started in 2012, we managed to create over one million jobs across the region at an average of 60,000 and 70,000 jobs every month.We are also helping governments fill in the gaps in the public transport infrastructure. This, in turn, can help get people moving and stimulate the local economy.

How does Careem market or adapt itself to each city’s difference/nuance and/or environment?
Being in a region like the Middle East was challenging in terms of built infrastructure that is available in other advanced economies such as reliable GPS, reliable payment methods, etc. We were blessed to have a talented engineering team that helped us customize each market’s requirements and build some additional features to fill the gaps.

What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in the travel sector?

You have to think big from day one and start with targeting a big problem and a big opportunity. At the same time, you have to keep in mind that by launching a product, it won’t take off automatically. There’s a lot of hard word, feedback, curation and measurement that goes into it. You need to be able to measure something to improve it. Another significant point is to get the right people to be a part of your start-up. Even an amazing idea wouldn’t be viable without the right talent to execute it. A big part of achieving that is instilling the right values in your start-up. Everyone in your team needs to be aware of the ideals they should aspire towards and strive to share the same mission.