Emirati-owned Gathrd gives home businesses a leg up
Gathrd, an app that brands itself as a “community for home businesses”, was launched to host businesses from the fashion, food and beverage, and lifestyle categories and acts as a directory through which home businesses can be found.
As part of its services, the platform also markets its participating brands and businesses by featuring their products on their social media platforms like Instagram and Tiktok as well as schedules periodic ads with popular influencers to raise the profile of its businesses to a larger audience. The Emirati founders recognized how costly it is for businesses, especially smaller ones, to use influencer marketing as a promotional tool; therefore, Gathrd, strives to do that on their behalf.
Noor Alyousuf, CEO of Gathrd, said, “We saw a rapid rise in the number of active home businesses operating online after the pandemic. We realised that this was driven by the extra free time most individuals had after the work-from-home mandates and social distancing rules came into effect. UAE's support for entrepreneurship was also a contributing factor making it easy for individuals to start legitimate online businesses through its affordable and easily obtainable DED E-Trader License. We noticed that many of these new businesses set up profiles on Instagram and take orders through WhatsApp. However, they tend to get lost in the clutter due to low brand awareness and the high costs of extensive marketing. So, our goal was to create a platform that grants those hidden gems the exposure they deserve by grouping them under one roof, where they are easily accessible.”
In order to ensure that the businesses on-board our platform are of high quality; each business goes through a rigorous vetting process. Gathrd ask for and verifies the necessary papers to ensure that the business is in fact home-based, and legitimate before they're able to access their own personalized vendor dashboard.
AlYousuf pointed out that no business on the platform is allowed to resell the products of other registered trademarks, sell items whose authenticity can be doubted, sell personal/used items, or products that are prohibited as per the UAE law. “Our team also reserves the right to disable any products or block any business from the platform if the aforementioned conditions are violated.”
When asked what their main goal was from launching this startup, the founders of Gathrd unwaveringly said that seeing individuals, who got their start on Gathrd, and transitioned from home-business owners to store owners with national, or even international presence, one day would be their ultimate aspiration.
