—Photos by Joseph Shagra

KUWAIT: The Kuwait market is 97 percent smartphone saturated, and social media is taking the nation by storm, Bilal Al-Mourad, Connect Director - Kuwait, Ipsos told Kuwait Times yesterday, the final day of the Arabnet conference. Ipsos is a global market research and consulting firm. Mourad presented the prospect of social media in Kuwait and how it is actually changing the attitude of many. According to Bilal, Kuwait is now known as a social media hub and that Kuwait has the highest penetration of social media activities among GCC countries compared to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Social media in Kuwait has evolved tremendously and everyone is using the technology. According to our survey, it's close to 97 percent saturation. Kuwaitis love to use Instagram and Twitter, while non-Arab expats are more on Facebook. Almost everyone is using social media nowadays," he said. "Nearly everyone in Kuwait has smartphones too. We only saw one percent growth in 2016, the reason being that we have reached the saturation point. Social media is really taking everyone by storm, but technology is evolving quickly. Maybe in the next couple of years, it will also die out and another technology will emerge. Technology is really taking us to the next level rapidly," Mourad said.

IPSOS was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded on the Paris Stock Exchange since July 1, 1999. A self-taught goal getter, Mourad's experience comes from the number one research agency in the region, excelling in all projects and products, powered by a professional team with great work ethics. "Do it with passion or not at all!" is his motto.

Careem: Carpooling tech

Another technology taking everyone by storm is carpooling apps, even as they continue to face regulatory challenges all over the Middle East. Abdulla Elyas, Careem Co-Founder, explained how the company is now being utilized as a means of transportation with lesser hassles and safety issues. Elyas has over 10 years of professional experience in managing and consulting of software projects, and advising customers like PepsiCo in the US, Vodafone in Malaysia and SABIC in Saudi Arabia.

He founded Enwani in 2012, internationally awarded by France's Sophia Business Angels as the Most Investable Company, which was acquired by Careem, where Elyas joined as cofounder in 2014. Elyas has also cofounded social tech startups islam.de and waymo.net. In 2016, Abdulla joined the Saudi Arabian SME Authority as a board member.

"I founded the company four years ago. It's a carpooling app. This is the fastest growing technology company now in the Middle East. In Kuwait we launched less than a year ago, but we are getting customers. We are already in 10 countries in the Middle East and have a presence in over 30 cities. We provide people transportation through the app. Wherever you are in Kuwait or the Middle East, you will be located by our GPS. We will take you to the place where you want to go, with a safe and reliable transportation service. You do not need to think about any parking issues, and can use your mobile phone in the comfort of our cars," he said.

Careem accepts credit cards, cash and other payment methods. "We are growing monthly by 30 percent. Everyone is busy and wants to save time, and everyone needs transportation," Elyas said. The challenge, according to Elyas, is government regulators who are not yet ready to come up with better regulations for such apps. "This service is new to everyone. The main challenge mainly is to convince the government how they can better help us offer these services. The beauty of our service is that we are extremely efficient. The way we operate is not known to many yet, but we hope to be able overcome some hindrances," he added.

"When we look back all these years, we have served millions of people. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive, so the service is very popular - 80 to 85 percent of users are women. In Kuwait, it will help address the '3-5 cars' per family issue, because if you provide better services as we do, these car owners will maybe use Careem services instead," Elyas said. With Careem, all you need to do is choose the car type that best suits your needs, then select 'First, Business and Economy' class cars. Careem automatically locates customers' addresses using GPS.

Social media trend

Social media is changing the landscape of almost all sectors of mass media. Hassan Al-Mousawi, Head of Communications - Vice Chairman's Office, Zain, said people are bombarded left and right with adverts popping up on smartphones. "From 20 earlier to 300 ads now is something. This is how we are moving now in this world, bombarded with information. Kuwait's social media use is very specific to some subjects and specific to people's need and wants," he said. "Before, we had the top five people endorsing products or brands, but now every segment has its own people to look into social media depending on the products and industry. But we have to be cautious when endorsing products because it comes with responsibility. We have a responsibility to people who believe in our brands," he said.

From an accountant in the oil sector to founding and building one of the largest social media companies - 'Richter' - Mousawi has made quite an impact in the business world by understanding the essence of what makes products and services sell, as well as the psychology of trends, creating a bridge between the core values of a business and all its stakeholders.

Kaswara Al-Khatib, Chairman and CEO, UTURN, also capitalized on the social media trend using online technology. Khatib established 'Made in Saudi Films', a full-fledged production and postproduction house. In 2011, he founded UTURN, an online entertainment network that has grown to become the largest Arabic MPN with 50 channels under the network, 30 million followers and subscribers and 2.5 billion views.

"We capitalized on the growing trend online and we started with small productions. We were slowly being recognized, so we continued to create and innovate with new categories. We included various categories for kids, sports, adults and entertainment for families," he said. UTURN creates content through its own productions, but also accepts material from independent producers. "The company relies heavily on advertising and subscribers who are believers in our products," he said, adding that people in the Middle East in general are mature enough in selecting the best programs and entertainment they desire.

By Ben Garcia