Mujeeb Moosakunju Howlath (FCA) is the Co-founder & CFO of Nearoo App. Nearoo is a metaverse retail startup (the first of its kind globally). It is a B2C social e-commerce startup aiming to redefine the way shopping works. The platform also has social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and LinkedIn.
With more than 20 years of experience in managing Business, Finance, Ventures, Accounts, and Audit, Mujeeb Moosakunju Howlath (FCA) is a passionate businessman. He is a multiskilled entrepreneur with expertise in various markets, industries, and disciplines.
In addition, he is recognized for his high-energy and strategic decision-making skills. He is a result-oriented person focused on expanding his business in the MENA region. Learn more about Mujeeb and his business through our interview below.
Explain the background of you and the company in detail.
I am a chartered accountant from India with several years of experience in e-commerce. I am passionate about building a responsible organization to serve the society and spread smiles while creating revolutionary and inspirational business model. In 2019 we (Myself and the Co-Founder Mr. Shibil Nasir) studied the market and saw ever-growing opportunities in the e-commerce space. But we didn’t want to try traditional e-commerce. Rather we tried to identify the next change and build it. That’s how Nearoo was born. Our App Nearoo is available in both Appstore and Play store. Link to download the App https://consumer.nearoo.com/app_share
What are your goals?
Building a NEW TECH born from MENA, expanding globally, hit unicorn valuation and successfully listing in the stock market within 5 years. By new tech, we mean, we develop a technology that the MENA region doesn’t experience so far and scale it rather than scaling an existing one. We should be known as the first in Metaverse Shopping Globally and the first Video Commerce platform from the MENA region.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your company/yourself right now?
Our strength is our team and the idea. We believe in flexibility and quickly adapting to changes rather than trying to fit our product in any way. It helps us continuously improve and increases our market share by solving more problems and use cases. I’m always innovative and one step ahead. I believe that if we can solve a person’s problem, we can scale it to the masses and spread the smiles to many.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
As mentioned earlier, we started our journey in 2019 through idea validation, and in 2020 we partnered to build our product with a tech company headquartered in the US having corporate offices across India. We converted their cost and opportunity cost to equity in Nearoo, and in the same year we raised a pre-seed investment of US$ 400k from a potential Saudi family. Also raised Seed US$ 200k in 2022.
We developed our product in 2021, and in January 2022, we launched it in Dubai market. We started getting orders from one of our verticals as we continuously improve it considering all the pain points currently faced by the supply chain, some of which even our core competitors can’t solve. Now we are ready with supermarket delivery vertical all the way enabling tech, and now it’s just a point of scaling up. We have already started partnering with big chains of supermarkets.
This month, we introduced Nearoo talkies, the region’s first video shopping social e-commerce platform, where we are looking to create immediate traction through our innovative marketing strategies. We are taping the huge potential of micro influencers and giving them a second income while bringing downloads and business to our app. Now we are a fast-growing platform with hundreds of daily downloads. We are targeting to multifold it in coming months.
Why did you start this company?
To serve back the society by building a responsible business and bringing a new era of online shopping which is entertaining and engaging. Over the time people started relaying more one online shopping. But it evolved as a monotonous transactional shopping, where all are missing those social fabrics and the smiles around. We are here to give them back the social shopping and the connections that all were building in a real shopping environment.
The biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We are out here with a new idea and looking for a customer’s behavior change from traditional shopping online to an interactive social shopping. We hope for a smooth conversion, but still, we see a challenge. Metaverse is a new normal. We are already one step ahead while all the required gadgets are being developed and will be available within a span of one year.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
Passionate in everything we do. It is a burning desire that me and my co-founder have deep inside to build a responsible business to spread smiles by giving back to the society.
What makes you excited about Mondays?
For us, every day is a Monday, and we never rest till we achieve our goals.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
The name Nearoo itself originated from the word Near, which is all about our values. We are near… We are inculcating a culture of nearness to all those who associate with us.
Tell us about projects that forced you to be innovative and creative.
Careem was inspired by this region and we have seen TikTok & SimSim for their faster traction and Apple for their innovation, Google & Amazon for scaling up and profitability.
What are the strategies of your company, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
We believe in mouth publicity as against the hefty marketing spending by our competitors, which will definitely make a difference. Micro influencers will play a great role in our platform to bring the customers while they making revenue out of it. We will support our suppliers with zero percent commission and offer our customers the guaranteed lowest price, all through optimization of the marketing budget and through innovative strategies.
What are the key values which helped you to overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership?
Taking decisions at the right time and grabbing opportunities when it knocks are the core of being a successful businessman. We understand people and no unrealistic expectations and will make it happen when we realistically expect. Determined and sticking to the plan even when there are roadblocks by working hard and believing in the mission. Clarity, Honesty, and Confidence are more than anything.
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Expecting to expand in Dubai immediately and entire UAE in a year. Also expanding regionally to Neighboring countries like Saudi and other GCC countries and acquire more than a million customers in 2-3 years. Closing strategic partnership and Investment for each stage of our growth is top of our priority. There are sellers, influencers, and customers who are presently on independent platforms now. But we connect all these three players of the ecosystem in our “Nearoo” platform for fruitful results, which will bring the expected change.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
We are building a small dream team who stands even in hurdles by maintaining the same confidence in the aligned vision to build this inspiring organization. As mentioned, this dream team will ensure to hold fast to the organization’s vision. Nearoo envisioned giving sellers a platform for selling their brands at zero service charge while ensuring the lowest price to the consumers. We have our expansion plans in Dubai and entire UAE in 2022 and looking to enter other GCC countries in 2023 and gradually to MENA with Global expansion plans, so that many will benefit from our effort to give quality products at the guaranteed lowest price.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by your company on par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
We are into metaverse shopping and social e-commerce, and video shopping. All of these ideas will impact how the world looks at the future of Ecommerce.
Connect with Mujeeb on https://www.linkedin.com/in/mujeebmh-fca/
Download Nearoo App from https://consumer.nearoo.com/app_share