Business Idea: A UAE$-$based food app, subscription ser$-$vice, and business supply$-$chain solutions.

The Pitch: A few years ago, Nida Sumar had a bad expe$-$

rience at one of Dubai's top restaurants because the order

and service was poorly handled. Sumar is a trained chef but

studied to be a financial analyst, and the experience gave her

an idea that would save time and avoid confusion through an

app. Sumar thus created Keza, a dining app that allows diners

to interact with restaurants. After downloading and registering,

users are able to view and review dishes, book a table, con$-$

tact the restaurant's staff, split the restaurant bill, and pay for it$.$

Dubai was the first choice for the launch of Keza because

of its broad and diverse food culture, from street food to

Michelin$-$star restaurants. The next city to be included in the

Keza app system will be Karachi, Pakistan. As of November

$2017,$ Keza has a team of nine employees operating out of

Dubai and India.

However, the Keza app is just one of four services offered

by the business. Snackerx is a monthly subscription service

for healthy snacks, which are all created with sustainable

and local produce. Alongside these two customer$-$facing

services is the Keza Cloud, which is a point$-$of$-$sale and

inventory management system designed to be used by

hotels and restaurants to help improve customer service

and boost customer loyalty. The final service, the Keza

Marketplace, is a discrete B$2$B supply$-$chain management

system designed to link business customers with a range

of food$-$and$-$beverage suppliers.

Sumar has been featured in Entrepreneur Middle East as

one of the region's Achieving Women's Who's Who. She

is something of a rarity in the UAE as one of the few$-$

but growing$-$number of female CEOS. Sumar and her

company support women's welfare and empowerment,

sponsoring the education of girls and supporting women

who have escaped abusive relationships.

sta

Keza is unusual in more than one way; not only does it

have a female CEO, but it has not chosen to focus on one

particular niche to grow in over time. Instead, it has taken

a different route, offering a series of solutions to different

parts of the food$-$and$-$beverage market. By late $2017,$

Keza had secured $107$ paying businesses for its support

services, including some of the major brands in the MENA

region such as Al Rawabi and Emirates Poultry.

Development of the services is a slow and involved pro$-$

cess as the systems are complex and demanding. Digi$-$

tizing and streamlining these services will mean huge

savings and improved systems for their customers.

$10-28.$ Based on the material covered in this chapter, what

air no questions would you ask the firm's founder before

end making your funding decision? What answers would

satisfy you?

vews born

$10-29.$ If you had to make your decision based on just the

information provided in the pitch and on the com$-$

pany's website, would you fund this company? Why

or why not?