Keno’s Kenan Al Mobayed
How the fi rm went from operating in select areas of Dubai with an average
of 15 car washes a day, to catering to as many as 100 orders across the UAE
You have come a long way
in a short period of time,
attracting over 13,000
customers. What has been
your secret to success?
We have succeeded because
we focus on quality. Keno
staff are not ordinary car
washers. I like to call them
“ninjas”, because we train
them ruthlessly before they
head to the streets. Our
on-demand app is also fast,
reliable and affordable,
enabling our customers to
pin-point their car location
before quickly being met
by a Keno ninja. It saves car
owners both time and effort
to personally accompany
their vehicles to carwashes,
which are often packed with
vehicles. Moreover, our
process does not require
direct communication
between the customers and
our ninjas, except in the case
of interior cleaning. As for
material, we depend on our
own eco-friendly detergents
and save around 99 percent
of used water compared withordinary cleaning processes,
making us eco-friendly.What have been some
of your most difficult
challenges?
It is sometimes difficult for
us to meet all our orders,
especially as our customersare usually in a hurry to
have their cars cleaned
when they are at home or
in the office. But it reflects
positively on our company
as it means we are now in
high demand.What are your expansion
plans for the future? Where
do you wish to take Keno?
We currently employ 30
ninjas, but have plans to add
30 more in order to meet
increasing demand. Right
now we are focusing mainly
on quality, but also continue
to offer new services such as
our recently added vehicle
maintenance option
Expansion-wise, we are
looking to open in Abu Dhabi
in the coming months, as
well as the rest of the GCC
at a later stage. Many Gulf
tourists use our app when
visiting Dubai, so expansion
in the region should not be
too difficult. They prefer our
quick services rather than
busy traditional auto washes.Despite high demand for
fast car wash services, there
remains serious competition
in Dubai. How do you deal
with competitors?
We’re well aware that Keno is
not the first of its kind. There
are other similar applications
for car care around, but
elements such as using
motorcycles to get to our
customers’ vehicles have
helped us cut both time
and cost. Price has played a
significant role in the success
of our company, as our
services are not much higher
in price than other auto
washes. Quality is also a key
factor in our success. Dubai
has a large number of mid
and high end cars, so the
average service in Dubai is
mainly high end. We have
kept up with these standards,ENTREPRENEUR OF THE WEEK46 Vol. 19/18, May 2018
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