Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Scaling with Purpose, the show where we explore what it takes to build companies that aim for commercial success and meaningful impact.
Speaker: I'm joined today by ahbra Abraham Hematnia, founder of Movo. It's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for having me, Mohamed. Thank you.
Speaker: Welcome. Yeah, so Abraham, you're doing a lot of things and I've been looking at your profile and what The first thought that came up in my mind is what drove you here? I mean, what made you think, I will become an entrepreneur, I will start things up in this way?
Speaker: Very good question. and I personally believe in added value. So I believe that time and opportunities are limited. So I try to make from time that i have to add value.
Speaker: and and yeah that's that's that's my indeic motivation it's yeah yeah beautiful beautiful so so yeah you see entrepreneurship as a tool to add value yes yes it's not tool itself but it's you use it to add value and especially i'm using technology to add value in daily life of uh uh people uh every everyday people and and these days the technology offers a lot of
Speaker: opportunities to to do that and i know that's that's my ah yeah intensive motivation yes yeah beautiful beautiful yeah and then then i saw you're working on movu yes and yeah i'm i'm curious can you tell us a little bit about what that is about yes the idea about movu is to um help people to reach financial freedom ah with the assets they already they own and the cars vehicles
Speaker: As you know, 90% of the time the cars are parked in the parking and people are not used. Go to office and put in the parking or go at home. And these days we have also challenges, new challenges with having no parking in some areas as well as Amsterdam, London and New York.
Speaker: And the idea of MUBO is that when you don't have your, you don't need your car, you can rent it out to people you know, trust. And also, this is one branch of Movo. Another branch is that you can drive the car and he can book the car with driver and also sell and buy car in this platform. So all these three services come in one platform called Movo Autos. Yes.
Speaker: Yeah, is that? a Yeah, very, very interesting. it's ah It is a complete ecosystem. for for things you can do with the car. Yes, yes. And also we have in our roadmap to also put maintenance later on in the system. So from what we going to do with factory, manufacturing stores. So you can, yes, you can rent, buy, ride, and later you can also provide services where you can maintenance your car. And what helps is that people know when they buy a car, they know the background, the history, the track, the course of
Speaker: Every car has a history. When you go to the airport, you book a car, book a ride to the airport. And when you go on vacation, you can rent out your car and you can rent a car in your destination. So that's the idea about... And it's really based on trust.
Speaker: Because we believe that when you trust, you will rent, you will buy, you will ride. and that's the the idea we have behind mobile yes yeah very very interesting i i understand this principle of trust i mean uh when you when you leave your car somewhere and somebody else needs to ride it yeah you need to trust that person yeah how how how do you maintain the trust Yeah. And the users can review each of them. That's the first part of trust. And second part of trust is that we are working on insurance.
Speaker: So when you rent out your car and something happens, then insurance will take care of that. So but customers or users, so those who rent out the car, they have a subscription of the the payment to the insurance company. And then that covers the costs.
Speaker: If something happens, then they will insure. So that's the idea about the how to implement this trust. On one hand, is the user's review issue there, and on the other is the insurance company Yeah, i can I can imagine that that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker: I mean, if ah if an insurance company is ready to provide this type of insurance, then that also says something ah to me about their how how sure ah how how much do they trust the platform themselves.
Speaker: Yes, and also that the the drivers and those who rent the goods also through the verification process. So we need to ensure that they have not a background that will damage this, help to damage these cars.
Speaker: And I believe that when we start, the people start to use this application in larger scale, and then they will see also reviews. You can look at other websites, always look at the reviews of the users, of course, and then you can say, okay, I can
Speaker: This is the idea behind that. Beautiful. Beautiful. And just thinking out loud, because and you said something about the history of cars. Yes. that That is also very important in the buying buying decision.
Speaker: But what what do you do there? what is your as ah What makes you special on that part? When we talk about existing cars to ride or to rent, not buy, ride rent, So you have a kind of history in your system.
Speaker: ah You know who's the owner, how is the background of insurance. yeah So you have the basic background and then you can use it when somebody wants to sell and buy.
Speaker: So did those cars who are people using to rent or ride will be also sold later on by by the owners. So that's the ecosystem we are through trying to work on that. And we are turning all cars in your neighborhood to to your car, actually. We don't own them.
Speaker: And if you tomorrow you go from point A to B, then you have your car is not working or your partner taking the car. So you can look at the app and say, okay, then my neighbor, it twists it further, has a car, I can take it. So I schedule that and go take a car and go.
Speaker: That is the kind of dream that I have and try to bring it a tool to reality. Yeah, and that's beautiful. Yeah, because as you say that, I'm thinking about my ah family.
Speaker: Yes. You know, we're we're from Iraqi origins, ah so the families are bigger more often, right? Yes. ah And and we we do own a lot of cars together as a family.
Speaker: and And if you look at these cars, like if they're 90% unused, that is a lot of lost potential. let's say, and we trust each other. so i wouldt I wouldn't mind to share my car with like my brothers or my nephews or whatever. The trust is there, and that is the the the basic ah requirement. But if the trust is there, it's like... And and it is...
Speaker: comfortable or convenient to schedule things, yes then then i wouldn't have any problem sharing my car. Yes. And that's actually the same idea in at large scale, the bigger family.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. It is community and and society. And if many people trust each other, they borrow the car to each other. And that's it the the philosophy about behind this application. So you can first trust, and then you can start to, ah again, ride, rent, and buy.
Speaker: And the ride is you know is also the driver. It means that now Now there's some platforms, they ask like 25% amount of what you earn. And we ask only 10%. So it's also good for drivers.
Speaker: When you want to go vacation, you take it the ride from move home and then go to the airport. So the driver is also more happy. and ah And then you want to rent a car, it's also the people have the...
Speaker: most of the profit goes to the owner of the car and of the platforms. So that's also the shift we are making in this application. Actually, we are doing, turning this reliability of these vehicles at home that are past reach to assets.
Speaker: This car is not asset, it's reliability. And it's right to move it to do the that direction. And yes, that's the side. Yes, i can i can I can translate that to my own life. like ah when When I'm going to travel so somewhere, then I need to do something with the car. So I ah i go with it to the airport and there we we we take the valid service and they they they store the car for a period for us and we pay money for them to store it.
Speaker: So you're saying instead of paying money, you can get money um but when you're out of town. Yes, using a notification can rent out.
Speaker: And yeah, that's it. Yeah, correct. Yeah, beautiful. Yeah, I think i think that's true that turns ah the complete narrative from a car for a car from being a liability, like you are saying, to really becoming an asset that is could even bring you money in.
Speaker: Yes, and you can imagine how many cars are in parking now. thousand? Millions? A lot. We have a lot of cars in the parking and they are not using it in terms of when it comes to sustainability. It's important to to realize that.
Speaker: And when you do you have that, then yeah you have a better wars, sustainable wars, happy people, and besides that, more efficient. Because when you have Korean car, you have your neighbor with 20 cars ready to to drive.
Speaker: And you can choose 20 cars. Yeah, also the space problem, right? as Especially if we're looking at big cities like Amsterdam. I i was a politician here in Amsterdam.
Speaker: And one of the biggest challenges was how many parking places should we build when we are building a new new neighborhood? And we had quite some political tension discussing how many ah parking places we should build.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. that's correct That's a very good point you are mentioning because that's also challenge, it's a community challenge. When you rent out your car and you don't park it, so you also save parking costs. yeah And the idea is that also we partner with the parking company so you can park somewhere that people can take and bring back in your neighborhood.
Speaker: So it's also a little help by your parking challenges. And of course, when you don't park, you don't pay and get you any money. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. um We're looking at 7, 7 euro 50 in Amsterdam per hour.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, that those are some costs. Yes. Imagine you park 10 hours and isn't there in 24 hours, it's like 150 bucks. It's a lot. Yeah, it goes really quick. It goes, ah yeah, it ah it, yeah, let's say it stacks.
Speaker: Yes, yes. And when you have this platform, when it's running and people trust this order, because that's a very important element. And then, and also insured by the, you know, that insured by the insurance company, then you are ready to rent your car. But but it requires a lot of technical things that we are doing in the background to manage.
Speaker: Yeah, interesting. So just looking looking at your profile, I was looking at your profile yesterday and I saw you are very experienced ah leader. ah you you you You have had quite some leadership roles and you're you're a very experienced man. And I think what made you choose to put your experience, to use your experience for this purpose and not something else? Yeah.
Speaker: This is one of the ideas that I am realizing. and what makes me to do that is that I think that's the idea that we are here to add value, to leave the world behind us better than being funded. So ah that is my motivation.
Speaker: And I see technology helping a lot to achieve that, to bring the services to the the everyday man, everyday people try to do that combination and the link to leadership experience is always how we how we can do more in a larger scale.
Speaker: As you know, his movo is, available in 21 countries in 12 languages. And I believe that you you must think globally, act locally.
Speaker: And, and I think that if you do that, we drive people working with right people and and motivated people, then you can achieve a lot. so this is the Yeah, very interesting. So you're you're in 21 And ah in in in a discussion we had before, in a conversation we had before, you said that's how you started.
Speaker: You started out in 21 countries. yeah and Let's say if I'm looking at a a default platform, a standard ah founder ah guide or playbook, then you see the other way around. You see that people start in in in one country and then they expand to other countries. You're you're doing exactly the everything the other way around. What what what made it ah you make this choice?
Speaker: i think it's ands how I am thinking. I'm thinking more globally. And i know the the many founders, they always start small and expand. And I had idea from beginning that you should have the Europe, aboriginal of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and North America. So we come to 20 to 21 countries. Of course, we checked if the regulation allows us to do that. and And I would say if we had more chance in terms of regulation, maybe we had more countries.
Speaker: But then the regulation doesn't let us expand. And then we went back to the... content and to to work on the application itself.
Speaker: So we choose the geographical area and then we went to the application. And it has advantages and disadvantages. Advantages that you have already imagined of this roadmap of where you're going.
Speaker: And disadvantages you must customize in every language. which We have to have language supporting and it is quite time to also to a customer user interface and user experience also ah because every country has different way of saying things and that makes extra challenging but when you when you uh reach that challenge then then you you are happy so i would say that it was very very challenging yes correct yeah very very very interesting i i'm listening to uh alex hormozy quite often uh lately
Speaker: and And he says something very funny. and And actually, it's not my style of doing things. But he says, always choose the hard path. never Never choose the easy path.
Speaker: Because the easy path will bring you it small returns. And the hard path will always bring you better returns. Because nobody is taking that path. Yeah. I believe that they were whole bigger how we get the the obstacle or challenge...
Speaker: oh the same amount you have as the glory manu when you solve it. So, and inspiring because it's big and when you am big, it's inspiring.
Speaker: It's much more than when am small. i Again, you are very, you must be 100% focused. It requires a lot of time and and long nights and days and weekends and weekendas and it is You know, entrepreneurship is not yeah it's not like nine to five. it's I know all about it. you must be You must believe it before you see it yeah and not see it and then believe it. So that's the difference.
Speaker: But when you believe it, things happen twice, once in mind and then reality. So we are working on that to be the best service as we can to... to to or plans. Beautiful. Yeah, and and if you're looking at what makes this most challenging or or what is what is the most challenging part of scaling you are experiencing right now?
Speaker: would say regulation and customizing the application for each country. There are two more the most important challenges are regulation of the country.
Speaker: Are we allowed to operate there? And secondly is how we can customize our application in way that they understand what we are trying to sell. and the And these are two challenges and the major challenges, yes.
Speaker: Yeah, interesting. And is it is it so because... ah the 21 countries you're in, are they very different? Or ah let's say, are they in different continents? Or are they? yeah maybe We cover now Australia, and New Zealand, and North Europe, and large parts of Europe, and North America.
Speaker: So they are in South Africa. So yeah, they are the almostus yes in our every continent, yes. Yeah, well, that's beautiful. Yeah, I can imagine, I totally imagine that, yeah, the the the legalization frameworks are very different in each of these countries. But also opportunity is huge because there are many cars in all these countries.
Speaker: And if you, when you mobilize through this application, And yeah I think its a very huge market for this. it and Yeah, totally can imagine.
Speaker: Yeah, very, very, very interesting. and i've I've never ah heard this before, to start in ah all all these countries at the same time and then and then localize them also. it ah It seems like a huge challenge. And yeah I actually love that you chose to do it this way.
Speaker: Yes. yeah It makes it also very unique, right? I think mostly it's all the way around. You start small and you grow, expand it later on. And we start from the other side. and But it gives us also the picture, total picture where we are.
Speaker: And if, when we want to expand to more countries, then we have already experienced about that. So how do we do that to expand to two, two three, four, five, of ten more countries? is's not our and we don't know how to do that. So is our database is actually is built in such a way that we can expand and need and we can expand it to all countries. that that is the biggest the yeah Yeah, it's also a way to make sure that you are building a framework or an architecture or an infrastructure that is able to scale.
Speaker: so But just by really scaling it up in the beginning, you are sure that it's able to scale. Yes, yes. that That is advantage because if you should try later on do that, then you should rebuild something or redesign something. as we From the beginning, we said we will a it's ideal.
Speaker: And 21 countries are now already small, so we believe that we can cover globally. But again, we are working on that and we in the sense that we believe that time will help us through to achieve that.
Speaker: Because I personally don't believe in overnight success. I believe that it takes time to to come there. and we have all time to Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think this is a very unique story and and that's that's also that makes it also more beautiful. i think the idea is, the starting point is how we can add high value for the world we are living in and it's not only to take what we can take, you as but how we can add value and in which way that we also inspire to do that. It's not, called I forced to do this, I love to do this.
Speaker: Maybe you do something with love, then yeah is it result is half the where you don't move with love and you forced to do something that results also tryinging with you so it was kind of an high that and that's idea so starting point was how can add value the way i love to do this idea and and the red again start to do to yeah you work very hard its little to you know yourself as an entrepreneur that a starting point is i think is also important if you don't start you never go yeah definitely stuff is also important to keep yourself motivated
Speaker: and despite all these challenges that are unseen and to go through this way. Yeah, definitely. Yes, I'm just thinking out loud because because you you yourself are not only doing this startup, you you also have a couple of others that you are are are are building right now.
Speaker: That's correct. Correct. I've been seeing it from one other another application is about home services. Then we have time we can also discuss about that and also real estate application.
Speaker: So so of both transportation and real estate. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah, probably that takes all your time. Yes. we yes but is is involved that this thought should be so to prioritiize and try to time by time So but it's not like doing all of iPhones, but doing time efficiently.
Speaker: So looking at what you are doing, it is very worth to follow what you are doing and your story. For the viewers and the listeners, where can they follow your story?
Speaker: Now we have a community page on LinkedIn so people can follow us on a LinkedIn by typing Muvu Autos. So you can join us and follow us and you have also Muvuautos.com where people can also follow the website and development on the And we are also building way of communicating, communication with community so we can expand later on with more channels that people can follow us.
Speaker: Beautiful. I want to thank you a lot for your time and for your beautiful insights. And of course, your very unique story of building a startup that will probably, hopefully make a lot of impact in the world.
Speaker: Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. And I appreciate this interview is inspiring. And I will say keep doing as well. And now it's a small world entrepreneurship.
Speaker: And we will see each other with no doubt. Definitely. Hope to see you again. Have a lovely meeting day. Thank you. Bye-bye.
