Being passionate about something will open doors for you to be innovative, even if it is not your field of expertise. Once your passion becomes a focus, you will subconsciously look for the utmost quality within it. It is, after all, your work of art. In this article, we’re delighted to introduce the artists of this particular innovative solution and platform: Pet With It. So, for all pet lovers out there — especially pet owners in the UAE — the story of these two friends will inspire you.
Meet the pet lovers team: Mahmoud and Sami
Pet With It is a space for all pet lovers to become part of a community; a network of pet lovers. The platform involves pet enthusiasts, such as vets, pet-friendly locations, pet-related businesses, etc.
The platform was founded by two brilliant entrepreneurs: Mahmoud Elzehery and Sami Eltamawy.
Sami is the “Tech Expert” of Pet With It, and Mahmoud is the “Content Mastermind”.
Mahmoud is an Egyptian citizen who’s been living in the UAE for the past 5 years. Majoring in Telecommunication Engineering, he’s been working in the LNE industry for nearly a decade. However, he’s also been involved in many different work fields such as the Air Transportation industry, as well as the business development and marketing fields. Besides being one of the co-founders of Pet With It, he’s a dog owner with two rescue dogs, Hector and Sophia.
Sami, is also an Egyptian living in the UAE. He then worked as a software developer, particularly in Android Development. His experience led him to become a tech-leader and hold a management position in his company, but he also has a similar dog fondness like that of Mahmoud’s. He’s the owner of two German Shepherds, Mufasa and Kiara. Mufasa is adopted while Kiara is not. Besides his love for his dogs, Sami is also fond of entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem, he has experience in founding businesses in the MENA region.
Sami and Mahmoud explain:
Our love for pets is merely one of the things we have in common. We both have a great deal of passion for entrepreneurial spirit.
Dog effects on their lives
The inspiration both founders have from their pets turned out to be the grounds for their entire enterprise.
For Sami, his morning routine with his dogs at the start of his day was his first cue. He discovered that he’s able to do quite a lot of his favorite activities while spending time with his pets at this time. At some point, it was the most relaxing moment of his day and he wanted to do something that was pet related. In Mahmoud’s case, the idea was born through an awakening situation that put him in a tricky position before his travels, although he had already thought about becoming an entrepreneur for some time.
On this particular note, Mahmoud describes the best part of his day when he encounters his dogs at the end of his lengthy workday. As he has access to a pet-friendly beach, he takes his dogs out for a walk where he can give them the space they need to run freely.
Pet solutions from Pet With It
It all started when Mahmoud faced a problem where he was close to losing a hotel booking. He needed a boarding facility for his dogs which was more like a daycare because the hotel itself was not pet-friendly. Looking for a boarding place was a hassle on the internet, where he found he was completely lost in the process. Despite his inability to find a place, he found himself a tangible problem: animal solution platforms do not exist in the UAE. Sharing his story with Sami, it turned out that Sami had the exact same problem a while earlier. They explain:
This is when we decided that we need to do something about it, and this is how we started the idea.
Pet With was launched in October 2020, and their measurement of success has been evolving since. At this point, it is displayed as the increased organic traffic of users on the website, the reviews they receive and the realization of presenting a solution to a problem that existed.
A new approach of Peer-to-Peer networking for pet lovers
The main service Pet With It provides to users is pet-related solutions. The features the website provides are based on a one-stop-shop model for pet lovers and pet owners. They can find everything they need for their pets. Any new or existing pet owner would be able to easily access the services they need for their pets. This can be trainers, toys, food, pet stores, shelters, groomers, or even boarding facilities - they'll be able to find everything under one roof. Pet With It even helps connect pet lovers with services that help in the relocation of pets from one country to another. All these services or these kinds of businesses are what Mahmoud and Sami thrive to provide and aggregate across UAE. Covering all the seven Emirates and putting them in one place in a very seamless user experience that allows people to navigate through them easily and find what they're looking for within a few clicks.
As Sami and Mahmoud explain, the idea is simple: The go-to place for anything a pet owner might need.
Instead of going through Google or Instagram or Facebook groups or trying to ask people, you have one place where they can go and find all that they need.
Along the way, the website kept enhancing and looking for new user experience solutions for pet lovers. This search for information helped develop a community for Pet With It where a platform was built and businesses, private pet owners or service providers were able to enlist their just open any listing or any business.
The latest features of the website were the events slot and the lost and found slot. Many UAE inhabitants tend to use all social media platforms at their disposal to search for their lost pets. Some even use them to search for owners of found pets. In the future, they hope to introduce many other sections for improved services including messaging the listings on the website through the website itself.
Related article: Providing high level IT solutions in the Middle East: Tecomsa
Connecting with the users using GoDaddy
Sami, who is experienced and tech savvy, has been a GoDaddy user for over 5 years. He explains:
GoDaddy is my first option when it comes to domains, hosting and SSLs, and all the technicalities that a website needs to be up and running.
On top of using GoDaddy’s domain name, SSL certificate and professional email, they also use GoDaddy’s WordPress Hosting to build their website.
Related article: How to start a website from A to Z: A 4-step guide
A message for entrepreneurs
Looking for perfection is not the optimal way to launch your business, but perfecting it along the way helps the flow of the work to come alive. Mahmoud tells us how he’s always had ideas, but they never saw the light. He was always waiting for the right time, for the right moment or to meet the right person, or to start the right product - this has always been an obstacle for making Mahmoud’s ideas to become a reality. He elaborates:
What I learned through this journey is basically whenever you have an idea and you think it's good, just go for it. Start simple. Then you can enhance, improve and learn along the way. If you would just keep waiting for the right moment, it will never come.
One of the great merits of Sami and Mahmoud working together as a team is having someone to hold you accountable for your doings. A lot of the startups start with a single founder, and it becomes very challenging for them because the workflow is dependent on one person’s motivation. The team elaborates how partnerships may be difficult, exhaustive and sometimes demotivating, but it does better than it does bad. It creates a commitment bubble to your partner that will help push the workflow and benefit your business’s future.
The final words of Sami and Mahmoud for all entrepreneurs out there is:
Focus on helping others; solving a real-life problem; making somebody’s life easier; disciplining yourself to achieve the milestone you set out to accomplish
When you work hard for it, the 1% positive result will give you an incredible boost and it will keep your motivation to a level where you say, “It was worth working day and night”. They say:
The beauty of the entrepreneurial journey is having your hard work pay off. It is not easy; it is very challenging and at many times demotivating because of your expectations, but you need to continue working. It will come eventually.
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