Super App brings together various Careem services – including ride-hailing, food delivery, bicycle hire and Careem Pay – on one-platform
The ecommerce industry in the Middle East currently only represents two percent of overall sales, compared to 15 percent in the more developed markets.
Dubai-based Careem has revealed recruitment plans to help with its $50 million ‘super app’, which was launched in June.
The company’s ride-hailing sector was severely impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, which saw business drop over 80 percent, while some 31 percent of its workforce was made redundant.
However, Khaled Nuseibeh, general manager emerging markets and GCC at Careem, told Arabian Business, there have already been positive signs of a recovery.
He said: “Obviously we’ve seen that our ride-hailing business has been impacted, but we’ve also seen some good recovery in all of our markets. At the beginning we were affected by 80 percent or more, now we’re really recovering quite well.”
Nuseibeh explained that some Captains (drivers) were redeployed in other areas of the company. “We pivoted really fast to deliveries to meet also the growing demands. We had Captains do that as well, and we also changed the size and shape of the organisation to be a bit more sustainable going forward,” he said.
That includes a particular focus on the new Super App, which is available in all 13 countries the company operates in, bringing together various Careem services – including ride-hailing, food delivery, bicycle hire and Careem Pay – on one-platform, with a single sign-on and consolidated payment methods.
Nuseibeh said: “Today we’re already looking at some of the roles. We changed the size and shape of the organisation but there are some roles that we’re hiring for that are super crucial for us to be pivoting towards for this Super App, so some tech roles and some roles that allow us to specialise in those different verticals.
“We are investing $50m into the super app and we have seen obviously as part of this investment we need to hire some talent and some great people that are adding value and building the Super App for us across the regions.”
The ecommerce industry in the Middle East currently only represents two percent of overall sales, compared to 15 percent in the more developed markets. It is, however, predicted by global management consultancy firm Bain & Company to grow three-and-a-half times to reach $28.billion by 2022.
Nuseibeh said the early indications since the launch of the super app are positive.
“Having everything in one place is definitely allowing them to have an easier way to access all these different services.
“A super app user does 50 percent more transaction than non-super app users, which shows customers are getting more and more engaged with our services.”
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