In this age of technology boom, there is perhaps not a single field left where an app has not been invented to make life easier for people. Perhaps of all the more frequented arenas, beauty has been a field slightly less explored. But finally BTW found the inventor of the Fleek app that will help you fix an appointment at a suitable beauty parlour/salon at your nearest vicinity from an exhaustive list of options which provide you all information that you require. Mr. Husam Ramadhan, Founder of Fleek, tells BTW more about this.
Tell us briefly about yourself.
I’m Husam Ramadhan the Founder of Fleek, an app that allows women to discover the best salon & spas in Bahrain and allows them to book their next beauty appointment straight from their smartphones.
Give us a brief summary about your educational and professional background.
I Have a Bachelor’s degree in Computing and an MBA from the University of Sunderland, UK. I cofounded my first startup in 2009 straight out of university.
When and how did you get around to developing Fleek?
It all started when one of my friends were complaining who annoying it was to get information about salons and going through the process of asking friends for recommendations and then calling salons to make an appointment. So we’ve build a quite prototype and naturally we went to the salons to pitch them the idea and we found out that they needed this more than the users themselves.
What have been the initial challenges and how did you overcome them?
The technical aspect of the booking functionality was quite challenging and took us a couple of months to develop, I’m fortunate enough to have Mohamed Hisham my CTO who takes cares of these challenges. Also, being a guy it will a a bit difficult initially setting up meeting with salon owners and since having Shaima Saber on the team We were able to speed things up with adding more salons on board Fleek.
How does Fleek help Salons & Spas grow their business
I believe Fleek is in a unique position in the market as we sit right between the end users and the salons which gives us a unique vantage point on what features we can develop to benefit both parties. We want salons to focus on their services and our users to have a joyful experience from the moment they discover the salon until they complete their appointment.
Where do you see Fleekapp in the next 5 years?
We see ourselves expanding into the rest of the GCC, empowering more women to enter into this rapidly growing market and offering their services to the masses
If you were to list 5 essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur, what would they be?
- “Learn to eat the elephant” – Don’t be afraid to tackle big goals, learn to break things down into smaller pieces and delegate.
- “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” – this path will be both physically and mentally challenging, make sure you have the mindset
- “Reframe everything” – Setbacks are in the norm, you’ll need to always find the positive in each and every negative situation you face.
- “Find your wolfpack” – If you think you can build something great by yourself your delusional. Learn to sell your dream to others and have them join you.
- “ Break a sweat “ – discipline yourself to workout on a regular basis. Running is a great mental and physical workout which will help you stay focused.
What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs of Bahrain?
Find what you love, do it and quickly figure a way to monetize that passion to your benefit. Life is too short to waste it on doing something you loathe.