Gulf Bank’s new podcast highlights the little-known origin stories behind some of our favorite local brands

 

Kuwait, 23 October 2021: Gulf Bank launched the first episode of its "Let's Talk Business" podcast, with local entrepreneur, Athbi Alenezi, CEO of JustClean, as its first guest. The program, 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 new podcast is part of its overarching strategy of fostering economic and community sustainability in Kuwait.

 

The Idea

 

During the first episode, Alenezi touched on several compelling aspects of his business, including the idea behind the JustClean application, the company’s financing, marketing, and more. Regarding the idea behind JustClean, Alenezi said: "When I returned from studying in the U.K., I noticed how widespread laundry delivery services were in residential and commercial areas in Kuwait. In contrast, laundry delivery services were not as available in the U.K., and that was very interesting to me. During that time, the huge acquisition of the Kuwaiti Talabat application took place, which made me, like many young people back then, want to start working on a digital application.”

 

Financing

 

With the ins-and-outs of JustClean’s vision becoming clearer, Alenezi and his brother, Nouri Alenezi, moved to the implementation phase, which started with obtaining funding. Alenezi continues: “According to our simple study of the market at that time, we discovered that we needed at least KD 30,000 to start working. I went to the bank to request a loan, while my brother left his job in the oil sector to devote himself to managing the new company. We initially directed this funding towards paying rent and the legal costs associated with preparing contracts, in addition to building the internal work structure in terms of our company’s sources of income and the cost of building the digital application itself.”

 

He added: "At that time, my experience in the business sector was simple, and I did not want to blame anyone for my loss. That is why we did not want to actively seek out investors just yet. However, one of my friends convinced me to give a presentation about our company to investors, and I did. Among the investors was Mohammed Jaffar from Faith Capital, who expressed his interest in the idea and his desire to finance it on the condition of expansion in the GCC, which was incredibly fortunate. We are so incredibly grateful to Faith Capital for believing in us and for their ongoing support.”

 

Challenges

 

Alenezi added: “One of the challenges we faced due to our lack of experience in business management was that we did not take into account the costs required for the post-launch stage of the business. We did not have the money required for advertising campaigns, and at that time, the profits were not enough to cover these costs. At that time, I had to contact all the newspapers, magazines and bloggers in Kuwait to help us with advertising -- and it was still not enough. We ended up coming up with a new idea for digital advertising that required the help of the laundry companies we dealt with, and the idea, which was relatively cost-efficient, won the satisfaction of the laundry companies."

 

There were other challenges related to the laundry sector that JustClean wanted to address. Laundry service deliveries tended to take place at unspecified timings, causing an inconvenience to customers. Many laundry services also lacked a sophisticated sales management system, with invoices recorded using pen and paper, and prices not being clear or fixed. Regarding this, Alenezi says: “We realized at that time that the laundry sector in Kuwait was in dire need of development, because it is a service sector that brings together many service providers, and changes were bound to come either way. We launched the JustClean application, and we were keen to include several features, including giving customers the option to specify their preferred delivery times, clear and transparent pricing, and the option for customers to evaluate the laundries they dealt with. We made these features available to all customers.”

 

Expansion

 

JustClean has expanded both operationally and geographically, as the company has set its sights on providing multiple types of cleaning services, having started with offering a car cleaning service. After the company launched in Kuwait, it also began to expand to Bahrain, as the Bahraini market is small compared to the rest of the region. After Bahrain, the company launched in several regions in the United Arab Emirates, followed by Qatar, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

 

Working during the Pandemic

 

JustClean reaped the benefits of geographic expansion during the pandemic. While the lockdowns in Kuwait were undoubtedly a challenge, Alenezi notes that other countries were preventing everyone from entering laundry services, and allowing delivery and pick-up services only. Fortunately, some of the restrictions were in the interest of JustClean, which was oftentimes the only provider of laundry services in some areas. While the company's sales did decline at the time, the team also managed to reduce costs, and used the time and resources available to develop an expansion strategy that it began implementing this year.

 

"Let's Talk Business" is Gulf Bank’s newest podcast, created in collaboration with Belmokhba, a local creative content creation and production house. New episodes air every Thursday at 7:00 pm on Gulf Bank's digital and social media channels.

 

Gulf Bank's vision is to be the leading Kuwaiti Bank of the Future. The Bank is constantly engaging and empowering its employees as part of an inclusive and diversified workplace in recognition of every employee’s role in delivering customer excellence and serving the community at large. With its extensive network of branches and innovative digital services, Gulf Bank is able to give its customers the choice of how and where to conduct their banking transactions, all while ensuring a simple and seamless banking experience. Gulf Bank is committed to maintaining a robust sustainability program at the community, economic, and environmental levels through sustainability initiatives that are strategically selected to benefit both the country and the Bank. Gulf Bank supports Kuwait Vision 2035 “New Kuwait” and works with various parties and stakeholders in service of the vision.