The co-founder of Rocket Internet’s ‘Lazada for the Middle East’ shares her journey

Born in Pakistan, Kanwal Sarfraz now works in the Middle East.

Ecommerce battles in the Middle East, like in other parts of the world, are heating up significantly. Rocket Internet-backed Wadi raised US$67 million in February with its chief rival Souq announcing a mammoth US$200 million round just a few weeks after. The majority of the region, in particular the wealthier Gulf states, has a fairly stable political climate, lots of consumers with significant disposable cash, and none of the logistical challenges that burden places like India and Southeast Asia.

All in all it’s a market ready to be seized.

Leading the charge for Rocket Internet is Kanwal Sarfraz, co-founder of Wadi. In true Rocket Internet style she’s a former management consultant. She worked with McKinsey in Dubai before taking up the new role.

Pakistan-born Kanwal, who got her postgraduate education from Cambridge, says she didn’t need much convincing to join Rocket.

“There’s a real opportunity, but it relies on execution,” she says of the Middle East.

Rocket seems to be avoiding its usual spray-and-pray approach.

“It’s up to us to ensure that we deliver, which makes it more of a personal challenge. Plus, you don’t get a lot of opportunities to build a company at scale and I really like the fact that we can potentially touch millions of lives.”

Wadi, which is similar to Rocket’s Lazada store for Southeast Asia, launched in March 2015 and already offers an assortment of over 150,000 products. It’s open to shoppers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and expects to unlock more markets in the near future.

Finding new customers

Kanwa takes pains to elaborate how the ecommerce startup has tried to remain extremely lean in an effort to draw out a roadmap to profitability from day one.

“The truth is in some ways we have had a lot of learning from other [Rocket Internet] ventures. We have taken measures to ensure costs do not get out of hand and are happy to base resources in other parts of the world if quality is not affected,” she explains.

The Burj Khalifa is the new star of Dubai’s skyline. Photo credit: TausP.

Kanwal says Wadi employs a small team out of Egypt to assist with things like content and translation. Her focus on restricting costs means Rocket is likely avoiding its characteristic spray-and-pray approach, where it enters a market and bombards it with advertisements to bring in more and more customers, regardless of price.

Oil thins out

Long road ahead