Dubai, 14 June 2021: The Wealth Today in an exclusive conversation with MyTab founders Omar Paul and James Martin, explores their journey as tech entrepreneurs in the UAE, their key partnerships and strategy for growth in an aggressively competitive online space and some handy tips for young entrepreneurs looking to venture out on their own.
With a revolutionary payment solution in the pipeline and 1000+ consumers redeeming offers in the first few weeks, MyTab’s plans are ambitious and leverages UAE’s tech trending consumers and financial eco-system.
Tell us about the inception of MyTab and your journey as an entrepreneur?
Having successfully delivered numerous loyalty programmes for top tier organisations and curating portfolios of recognition and rewards programmes for them, we quickly recognised the confusion this causes the end consumers. There are thousands of offers in the marketplace and no simple way of finding the best deal. Wouldn’t it be great to have a one-stop app which tells you which one of your bank cards will gives you the best deal? Something which is truly customer centric and always free? That’s where MyTab comes in. A really simple, geolocation-based consumer app, which serves you the best deal based on where you are and the bank cards you may have. Together with this we wanted to build a seamless way to transact – this is the next big thing!
How supportive is the financial eco-system in the UAE for SME’s in the tech space?
The UAE is a great place to start MyTab. Although we are building a solution which is scalable and will go global, the UAE is probably the best market in the world to start. The financial eco-system really supports our ambitions. We have banks who want to deliver value to consumers, consumers who love trending tech and an eco-system which is not afraid to adopt the best use of new technology.
What features make MyTab the ultimate lifestyle app for users?
The myriad of offers from across different banks and payment providers, together with exclusive MyTab deals, constantly being uploaded on one single app for everyone to enjoy completely free of charge. It’s free to download with no fees and no subscriptions– pure value in the simplest way, from food and beverage, to retail, leisure, hospitality and more. We are now working on the next phase which will revolutionise the way people transact – Watch this space!
How many merchant brands and banks do you currently partner with?
We took a strategic decision to launch MyTab in the UAE with HSBC as the first partner bank, which means if you are an HSBC UAE customer, you can tag your cards on the app and MyTab will tell you which HSBC card will give you the best deal at the location you are at. With other banks being announced in the very near future, we will have thousands of fantastic offers in the hands of consumers! Of course, it’s not just bank card deals! – We have already negotiated some great online deals from brands such as Bloomingdales, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, NowNow, Namshi and will be announcing more offers in the Food and Beverage, Retail and entertainment space very soon!
What has been the initial response from users?
We have just launched and are now stepping up our marketing campaigns – you’ll find a strong presence on Facebook and Instagram. The response so far has been great! Consumers really appreciate the simplicity of the app and have redeemed 1000s of offers in the first few weeks.
What’s next in the pipeline for you?
Now that we have launched with HSBC, we’ll be onboarding other banks and perhaps even catering for those who love international travel. We’re also building a revolutionary payment solution which will allow consumers to seamlessly transact while applying the best deal.
What advice would you like to give young entrepreneurs starting out?
Always do your homework and then do it all over again because it can be easy to think you know what customers want but it changes very fast. The eco-system now moves at an precedented pace, so be prepared, be dynamic and be agile!
What does it take to build a successful digital platform in this current scenario, where everyone is moving aggressively to build an online presence?
To build any successful digital platform you have to start with the audience – their needs, their wants, their experience and most of all, what value we can deliver to them all as an eco-system. Many companies are moving aggressively to open digital channels, but take a non-holistic view of isolated processes. This results in the creation of a shorter term digital fixes, rather than a much desired platform which serves this eco-system. Of course, together with the vision and genuine desire to deliver benefits to your audience, you need access to technical experts who can realise your vision through technical creativity and expertise.
What is MyTab’s current valuation?
MyTab has just been launched and quickly building up its worth. Once our revolutionary payments technology has been launched, we will very quickly grow into the forecasted size we anticipate. Given the growth prospects in this particular fintech space, the sky is the limit. Even a small fraction of the market will create a prominent large business.
What are your plans to secure funding for expansion?
We raised fund for our first release which allowed us to launch the app with our first partner bank, HSBC. We are now in the process of securing funding for the next stage of our technical and business development. With this, our aim is to launch the revolutionary payment solution and start processing seamless transactions by the end of the year.
