Team E’Jamia won 3rd Place at the recently concluded Benefit Fintech Awards. This is BEntrepreneur’s exclusive interview with the founder and visionary behind a “collaborative savings” app. 

1) So E-Jami’a and collaborative savings? Please tell us more about your concept and the inspiration behind it. 

Yes, our solution is a Mobile App that would digitize the traditional concept of Jamia into a platform for pooling funds where the users would be enabled to collaborate in saving with a defined amount, defined due date for each user given the initial agreement with the whole Jamia group.

The concept was inspired by our GCC culture and traditions, given our Islamic concepts and belief where the people collaborate in good deeds as Allah said in the Holy Quran ‘Surah Al-Maeda Ayah #2’ ‘Cooperate in righteousness and piety ‘meaning individuals support each other; as a result, the community will get stronger creating more abundance, more liquidity, better purchasing power, better market, the better economy as SME’s would get increased opportunities. In my country, start-ups, ecosystem & entrepreneurship is led by our rational government headed by HRH Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa’s bright vision, which would blossom as it has been provided with a solid foundation to do so.

2) Congratulations on winning the BENEFIT Fintech Award! How do you feel about the competition and what were your take-away lessons?

We were really glad to win the Benefit Fintech Award, our takeaways are: 

• Creativity is a valuable factor
• Dedication and determination pays off
• Having a vision makes it easier to run ideas for implementation and lead more efficiently
• It’s a learning opportunity for all parties engaging in the competition.
• Every leader/entrepreneur needs a mentor
• An eye-opener and a reality check of how fintech start-ups work
• The biggest win isn’t the prize but the experience, appreciation, and the determination to carry on to accomplish the vision.

3) There are some individuals in Bahrain—and in fact, the world who don’t even have a bank account, the marginalized people—is E-Jamia making provisions for them?

Are the banks making provisions for them?

Our market study reflected on the workforce in the GCC & Bahrain who would be able to collaborate to save the money they make. The fintechs are advanced in technology and target those who own bank accounts. On the other hand, the concept of Jamia is community-support oriented aiming to standardize and quantify the environmental, social, and governance costs and benefits derived from our app activities.

4) What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs and startups, especially in the Fintech sector?

• Believe in your self.
• Don’t aim for money, aim to give bigger value to everyone.
• Keep going, don’t stop working on your idea.
• Learn from everything and everyone you’ll meet.
• Set your good intentions, lead your team wisely