Meet the team that secured third Place at the Mashroo3i Programmer. The team talks to BTW on their experiences, their project and further aspirations.
Tell us briefly about yourself, your team members?
- Kawthar Aljufairi: Co-Founder and CEO.
- Fatema Al Saad: Co-Founder and CFO
We met while studying at university in the United Kingdom
Give us a brief summary about all of your educational and professional background.
Kawthar Aljufairi: I am a Crown Prince Scholarship Programme graduate. I have an MEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, where I did my Master’s on big data analysis for public transit. I started playing the drums over a year ago which inspired the idea of the app.
Fatema AlSaad: Finance Graduate from BIBF with Master’s in Risk Management from University of Southampton.
What are your guys doing for a day job? where do you work?
Kawthar Aljufairi: Traffic Engineer/ Transport Planner at Mott MacDonald in Bahrain
Fatema Al Saad: Officer at BBK
When and how did you get around to developing the idea of Fannan App?
I started playing the drums over a year ago, and to practice, I need to play along backing tracks prepared for learning purpose. I usually get the file from my music teacher on a CD, save it on my laptop, then upload it to my iPhone library which is a hassle so I thought I need the same methodology to practice but with something that is easily accessible on my phone and offer a wide range of songs to play along.
‘Fannan App is an interesting solution. Tell us more about it and how did this idea strike you?
Fannan is a mobile application for people who want to practice their music. They can choose the song the want to practice, mute the instrument they want to master, and play along the music while being recorded.
The idea stroke me by being a music student and finding that I need to practice along a track but this track is not easily accessible and also the libray of music available doesn’t choose my taste. So I’m developing a product that I will be using heavily.
What have been the initial challenges and how did you overcome them?
Getting to know what musicians at various levels would need and how it varies, this was solved by speaking to as many musicals as we can Also, we couldn’t get access to Arabic music to feature on our website prototype. Therefore, we switched to English music to showcase some songs that would convey the idea of the app regardless of the language or the genre.
How is Fannan App unique?
Fannan gives people the opportunity to practice their music whether they have a band to practice with or that they’re on their own. It also offers streaming of a large library of songs and avoids the need to purchase individual songs in the format required. It also allows recording which helps musicians to keep track of their progress.
Where do you see Fannan App in the next 3 years?
Fannan turning into the largest online jamming garage, supporting musicians around the world and connecting them.
If you were to list 5 essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur, what would they be?
- Persistence
- Patience
- Creativity
- Self-discipline
- Good listener
How has Fannan App developed so far?
Fannan has a prototype that is running on a website ( www.fannanapp.co) which features sample song for people to test the features offered by Fannan.
How did you find Mashroo3i programme?
Mashroo3i Programme was a great opportunity to find a mentor to support our work. It also given us a timeline to work towards and to deal under pressure. We also had the pleasure of meeting many entrepreneurs, which many of them were musicians who gave us useful feedback on our prototype.
Being the third winner of Mashroo3i, how do you feel..
Feeling grateful for the opportunity to share something that we’ve been working on with a wide range of people. We are excited about the next stage of our startup and what we can do to develop it further.
Mashroo3i along with Tamkeen?
List us three things you have learned..
- Collaboration is essential for success
- Persistence and commitment contribute largely to success.
- Technical matter of how to produce a pitch and a business plan
What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs in and around GCC?
To take the first step and not be embarrassed by the first product or prototype they provide. And to participate in Mashroo3i as it provided a great help for us.