A new start-up is aiming to solve the most painful administrative concern that companies in the region face: the management of employee expenses.
Founded in 2021 by entrepreneurs Armin Moradi and Jonathan Lau, Qashio issues charge cards to companies, which are linked to the FinTech's software that automates the management of a company's expenses.
The start-up can issue virtual or physical Qashio cards to employees with limits on spending, frequency of usage and vendors. This allows companies to better control their finances, while reducing costs and saving man-hours.
Transactions made using Qashio’s cards are automatically captured by its software and synced to the company’s accounting system, cutting down the time companies spend on reconciling expenses and receipts, while giving their management a real-time picture on spending.
“The idea to start Qashio came to me a while back,” says Mr Moradi, who is also the chief executive of the FinTech. “I was selling and implementing ERP [enterprise resource planning] solutions and felt there was a gap in the ability of being proactive in controlling expenses and leakages.”
The Middle East's FinTech sector has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent. By the end of this year, more than 800 FinTech companies operating in segments, including payments, InsureTech and cyber security, are expected to raise more than $2 billion in venture capital funding, estimates by the Middle East Institute suggest.
The global FinTech market is expected to reach $334bn by 2026, growing at a compound annual rate of more than 25 per cent between 2022 and 2027, according to research consultancy Market Data Forecast.
But it faces challenges. For one, as FinTechs broaden consumers’ access to financial services, reduce costs and increase efficiency, their rapid growth in “systemic importance” is also creating regulatory challenges, the International Monetary Fund said last month.
The biggest challenge Qashio faces is to navigate the regulatory landscape since it is a new product, Mr Moradi says. “But we see the development from the regulators, the partnerships with the banks are accelerating very fast. The willingness to support our business model is growing by the day because it’s clear that what we are doing adds value.”
“In Saudi Arabia, that becomes even more prominent with the vision that they have to go cashless before 2030. And what we are doing is for businesses to be cashless and utilise the cards that are issued on the Qashio platform to execute what you today need petty cash for — just as an example,” Mr Moradi says.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also shown businesses the need to improve their financial operations and modernise old status quo practices, says Mr Moradi, who has been working with FinTechs for almost 15 years.
“The companies we are approaching have been very receptive to Qashio’s solutions as an extremely effective and quick way to start or improve their transformational journeys,” he says.
Qashio already has nearly 100 customers in the UAE. These include Grubtech, Diamond Developers, Carasti, Udrive, and more traditional companies like Modern Vet and Gourmet Gulf. The company also has a few customers in Saudi Arabia but expects to gain more after it goes live there in the fourth quarter, he says.
“Qashio currently operates only in the UAE. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are next on our radar by the end of this year. Further down the line, the company is looking at the rest of GCC, Pakistan and, potentially Jordan, in 2023,” says the 38-year-old Swedish national.
Qashio does not face much competition in the Middle East — a region that Mr Moradi says is fairly untapped — but several global companies, such as the US-based Brex and Ramp, operate similar models.
Many of these FinTechs focused on small and medium enterprises and start-ups because the sector was struggling with several issues in that part of the world, the founder says, noting they are also working with bigger companies now as they face the same problems but on a different scale.
“In the Middle East, you’d find enterprises that struggle with the same challenges — of fragmented operations — probably because of a high turnover of staff or they struggle to start and complete a process as it’s quite complex to set up,” Mr Moradi says.
“We focus more on the mid-size companies — 100 to 1,000 employees. We believe that to be our sweet spot.
“But the way we have designed our solution is such that we have different versions so we can cater to smaller companies as well, with four to five employees up to a 100 employees,” he says, noting the pricing is adjusted for the size of the company.
Qashio’s target market includes a lot of smaller global companies that operate their financials locally, according to Mr Moradi. They are also looking to tap into real estate companies, he adds.
In February, Qashio raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding that was led by global VC firm MSA Novo and supported by Rally Cap Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Plug and Play Ventures, as well as regional strategic angels, entrepreneurs and family offices. Executives from Grubtech, Danske Bank, Two Sigma, Xiaomi and top global FinTech companies participated in the round as well, the company said.
The funding will be used to expand the operations team and customer support, evolve the current features and integrations with additional FinTech partners and rewards programmes.
“We currently are not in a need to raise [more] funds but that will quickly change for sure. As we will need to go into other markets, we will need to raise more money to be able to fund our growth,” Mr Moradi says.
Q&A with Armin Moradi, chief executive and co-founder of Qashio
Where do you see the company five years from now?
We believe we will see massive growth and we aim to expand to all of Mena, with a wide portfolio of solutions and features that help with the digital transformation of financial operations for businesses of all sizes.
What’s your biggest learning from launching Qashio?
There is a lot of work to get done. Bring the right people on at the start to help with execution and utilise your network. People are generally very helpful if they believe in what you’re building.
If you had to start over, what would you change?
Focus more on executing rather than planning for perfection.
What advice would you give upcoming entrepreneurs?
Be disciplined and execute systematically and pragmatically. Be prepared to overcome obstacles, and always be humble. Learn from other’s mistakes as this, often, is a shortcut that helps you save a lot of time. Don’t get distracted about everything else that’s going on around, you can’t do everything and be everywhere at once. Set goals and objectives and make sure they get done by hook or by crook.
What skills have you learnt from setting up your business?
Discipline, and perseverance to start with, but also ensure your team you hire early on not only believe in your vision but will also contribute to make it better.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Qashio
Based: Dubai, UAE
Launch year: 2021
Number of employees: 15
Sector: FinTech
Amount raised: $2.5 million
Stats at a glance:
Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)
Number in service: 6
Complement 191 (space for up to 285)
Top speed: over 32 knots
Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles
Length 152.4 m
Displacement: 8,700 tonnes
Beam: 21.2 m
Draught: 7.4 m
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Engine: 80 kWh four-wheel-drive
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: From Dh280,000
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20team
%3Cp%3E%0DFashion%20director%3A%20Sarah%20Maisey%0D%3Cbr%3EPhotographer%3A%20Greg%20Adamski%0D%3Cbr%3EHair%20and%20make-up%3A%20Ania%20Poniatowska%0D%3Cbr%3EModels%3A%20Nyajouk%20and%20Kristine%20at%20MMG%2C%20and%20Mitchell%0D%3Cbr%3EStylist%E2%80%99s%20assistants%3A%20Nihala%20Naval%20and%20Sneha%20Maria%20Siby%0D%3Cbr%3EVideographer%3A%20Nilanjana%20Gupta%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V8%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E640hp%20at%206%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E850Nm%20from%202%2C300-4%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E11.9L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDh749%2C800%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Company%20profile%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EElggo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20August%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Luma%20Makari%20and%20Mirna%20Mneimneh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Education%20technology%20%2F%20health%20technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Four%20employees%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
