After setting up one of Dubai's first biofuel companies more than a decade ago, Yousif bin Saeed Al Lootah is on another mission – to tackle people's penchant for overpurchasing things.
On Friday, the Emirati launched an app called Yjoz, which serves as a marketplace for people to lend and borrow all manner of things. It works similarly to Dubizzle, but instead of a buy-and-sell model, Al Lootah's version is all about renting.
It's a straightforward platform – people can list their appliances, electronics, toys and even furniture and jewellery for rent, and others book them for a certain period, from just a day to months on end.
“Rather than buying stuff, storing it in a cabinet and forgetting about it, why not share with others and make money from it,” Al Lootah tells The National.
Caring about the environment is a must, and has never been more important than now
Yousif bin Saeed Al Lootah,
founder, Yjoz
Eco-friendliness aside, this can prove helpful to those looking for items for short-term use; think camping gear and birthday party essentials. However, big-ticket items such as appliances and second-hand furniture are also available to rent, from sofa sets to dining tables.
The end game is to encourage an “alternative lifestyle”, where instead of acquiring stuff that is most likely to end up in landfill, people cut down on waste by sharing items.
Given his background in sustainability, Al Lootah is inspired by other successful models in the sharing economy space, such as carpooling and subletting – which have been associated with a positive environmental impact.
At a government level, caring about the environment comes in the form of policies and regulations, but Al Lootah believes consumers can do their part by simply deciding to rent an item they know they won't use for long.
“Caring about the environment is a must and has never been more important than now,” he says.
Al Lootah is a member of one of the most prominent business families in the UAE, which owns Lootah Group, a mega-conglomerate with stakes in industries such as construction, real estate, agriculture and healthcare.
In 2010, he led the launch of Lootah Biofuels, which employs used cooking oil to produce alternative fuel sources for vehicles. Although this has a more intuitive business model, he admits the rental platform Yjoz will have to overcome some challenges before people start buying into it.
“When I launched Lootah Biofuels, people weren't really aware about biofuel or even sustainability,” he says. But now, he adds, there has been a huge shift in mindset and “sustainability is trending”.
It's why he hopes Yjoz will find an audience. The app, which has been in soft-launch phase until now, requires users to create an account before they can start browsing the collection of items for rent, but is free to download. A quick scan reveals a Sony PlayStation 5 is listed at Dh80 per day, but the longer you rent it, the lower the cost is. It becomes Dh33 per day if booked more than 30 days. Buying a new console costs about Dh2,000.
Other items for rent include giant inflatable bouncy slides for Dh1,950 a day; luggage for Dh45 a day; and a popcorn machine for Dh165 a day.
Building blocks
Aside from items with one-off uses, Yjoz has a massive collection of furniture and other household essentials, such as dining chairs, coffee tables and sofa sets. Price-wise, an L-shaped six-seater sofa costs Dh349 a day or about Dh100 per day if booked for more than a month.
Renting furniture for residential houses is not a new concept, and is gaining traction in the West as younger people opt for a more nomadic lifestyle. The UAE is one of the most expatriate-heavy countries in the world, with foreign residents and workers accounting for the majority of the population.
This demographic make-up, and the continuing push to attract more foreign workers, lends itself to a hyper-active residential rental market. By the end of September last year, a total of 140,685 leases were signed in Dubai – 58.71 per cent of which were new contacts, while the rest were renewals, according to data from the emirate's land department.
However, it's not easy to pinpoint where new renters are getting their home furniture, especially with a bustling second-hand market, as well as the rise of fast furniture shops that sell items on a bargain.
Aside from cost, there are other concerns about renting used furniture. For Fritzelaine Dizon, who has been living in Dubai for nine years, it's both an issue of wear and tear, as well as hygiene and safety.
“I would be more at peace buying new furniture, knowing that the ones up for rent have been used by someone else already,” she says. Pest infestation is a common issue in UAE homes and new furniture is guaranteed to be clean and safe, she adds.
While it might take some convincing before furniture leasing takes off in the UAE, Al Lootah believes people are becoming more conscious about their role in saving the environment, even if they start by renting rather than buying a set of Jenga blocks for game night.
“I believe the sharing economy is going to be the future,” he says, as people start to realise how even the littlest decisions have impact the environment in one way or another.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
'Project Power'
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SE%20(second%20generation)
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
MATCH INFO
RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 24', Schick 68')
Hertha Berlin 2 (Grujic 9', Piatek 82' pen)
Man of the match Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
RESULTS
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Race results:
1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min
2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec
3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
MATCH INFO
Manchester United v Manchester City, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match is on BeIN Sports
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
