Have you heard of EKar Car Sharing? If you haven’t, the CEO of EKar, Vilhelm Hedberg, was recently named the Number One Startup to Watch by Forbes Magazine. Having launched in 2016, Ekar is the Middle East’s first pay-as-you-go hourly car rental. EKar provides mobility solutions for people living and working in the United Arab Emirates, and the Greater Gulf Countries. Read our interview with Vilhelm Hedberg here.
Launching the Middle East’s First Station Based Car Share Provider
Cabin crew working for Etihad or Emirates airline are provided with additional benefits such as free accommodation and transportation in the UAE during their days off, and in 2015 they decided to enter into a partnership with EKar to launch the Middle East’s first station based car share provider. movmi worked with EKar to setup and launch their entire operations, including the commercial launch for the cabin crew members working for Ethiad or Emirates airlines.
The goal was to launch a car sharing service that would provide cabin crew the freedom to explore the UAE. One of the challenges for this project was to stay within a startup budget yet still deliver a high quality product. Vehicle choices were two different four-door models; a convenient and reliable user experience; the easiest registration process cutting through traditional bureaucratic hurdles in the Middle East and a competitive yet simple pricing structure.
Our Work with EKar Car SHaring
Focusing on the user experience, movmi’s work on EKar ensured a simple, clean, and stable experience for the first EKar members and for those to join in the far future.
In addition, movmi helped EKar:
- shorten the traditional launch timeline to just 4 months
- build the marketing website through a variety of different vendors
- customize the rental app
- create the billing process
- customize blueprints of operational procedures and standard marketing content to meet the needs of the UAE market
- create a Key Performance Metric tracking system
- prepare the General Manager and customer service team for the commercial launch
In the words of Vilhelm, Hedberg, CEO of EKar:
“Movmi has been everything it promised and more. Lead by consultant Sandra Phillips, movmi undertook the difficult task of training a group of inexperienced Car Share Operators, building block-by-block a business that could stand up to the top global CSO’s.
Sandra’s goal-oriented approach on a high-level, coupled with her technical expertise on the ground, made her a technical expert without equal. Looking back, I doubt we would have made it very far without her.
All of this was conducted over a timely project timeline without deviation to the initial agreed schedule. movmi’s technical expertise in the development of CSO’s also lead us to build the business well below budget, and helped to mitigate the painful and costly process of learning from our mistakes.
I am very pleased with the service provided by Sandra and her team at movmi, and I highly recommend them to any aspiring CSO or existing CSO looking to enhance its systems.”
Recent Developments
EKar has since partnered with The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to launch hourly on-demand car rentals, with 100 vehicles across Dubai. Read more about this launch here.
Are you interested in learning more about working with us? Contact us here to find out more. Read more about EKar Car Sharing here.
