Mashrur Nabi arrived at Startup Weekend Abu Dhabi, a business competition held last month, hopeful that its judges would spot the potential in his plan.
But on the first day of the contest he was told that his idea was too much of a niche concept to be commercially viable.
"The original idea was to do with learning and development," explains Mr Nabi, who works in the training industry and enjoys his job but has always hoped to start his own business.
"It was basically like a training platform," he adds.
However, Mr Nabi struggled to explain this idea to his mentor at Startup Weekend within 15 minutes, and he realised that he stood no chance of summing it up in front of a panel of judges in a shorter period.
Moreover, the whole point of the competition was to come up with a business idea that could be scaled up.
"I think [Mr Nabi] left that day realising that [the business concept] wasn't going to happen and it was going to be something very interesting but it was going to be much smaller," says Karim Helal, Mr Nabi's mentor, a co-founder and the chief executive of monaqasat.com, a website that helps companies with tendering.
Mr Helal urged Mr Nabi to think bigger. And he did.
Lying awake that night, Mr Nabi, 30, was struck with a different idea - one that went on to win.
Four weeks earlier, Mr Nabi's mother had suffered a stroke, so the topic of health was on his mind. "[My idea] came to me on Friday morning at 4am," says Mr Nabi. "I couldn't sleep and I was thinking and thinking."
That was when he conceived of a mobile phone application to reward healthful living.
He announced it at Startup Weekend in Abu Dhabi later that morning and subsequently worked with a team to fine-tune the idea, which functions like a customer-loyalty system.
But Mr Nabi's system, which awards points for healthy behaviour, is not just about buying food that is good for you. It also includes rewards for enjoyable but healthy activities.
"Every time you exercise and go to the gym, bowling, horse riding, you get points and then you build up enough points to redeem them at participating outlets or for… concerts [for instance]."
It is often difficult to track activities, including how frequently a person performs a certain exercise, and Mr Nabi says his system helps to keep such records.
The next step is to seek the participation of companies, which could be from almost any sector - barring those marketing products that are not wholly healthy, such as fast food.
Participating outlets could include a zoo, for instance, as people are likely to be physically active as they walk among the exhibits.
The system Mr Nabi has devised works by using black-and-white quick-response, or QR, codes that can be scanned via mobile and are released to participating outlets.
The concept is different from Foursquare or Facebook Places, which "check" people into various locations, because you do not have to be on-site to do so, Mr Nabi says.
With his system, he adds, "the participating outlets actually verify that you have done the activity or bought something and you can scan the code".
The idea has the potential to be big, says Mr Helal. "It's genius," he says. "I honestly think what he has has the potential to have as much impact as Facebook has, or Twitter has, but on the living-healthy kind of app."
[ gduncan@thenational.ae ]
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
Results
Male 51kg Round 1
Dias Karmanov (KAZ) beat Mabrook Rasea (YEM) by points 2-1.
Male 54kg Round 1
Yelaman Sayassatov (KAZ) beat Chen Huang (TPE) TKO Round 1; Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) beat Fahad Anakkayi (IND) RSC Round 2; Qais Al Jamal (JOR) beat Man Long Ng (MAC) by points 3-0; Ayad Albadr (IRQ) beat Yashar Yazdani (IRI) by points 2-1.
Male 57kg Round 1
Natthawat Suzikong (THA) beat Abdallah Ondash (LBN) by points 3-0; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Ahmed Al Jubainawi (IRQ) by points 2-1; Hamed Almatari (YEM) beat Nasser Al Rugheeb (KUW) by points 3-0; Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) beat Yu Xi Chen (TPE) by points 3-0.
Men 86kg Round 1
Ahmad Bahman (UAE) beat Mohammad Al Khatib (PAL) by points 2-1
Men 63.5kg Round 1
Noureddin Samir (UAE) beat Polash Chakma (BAN) RSC Round 1.
Female 45kg quarter finals
Narges Mohammadpour (IRI) beat Yuen Wai Chan (HKG) by points.
Female 48kg quarter finals
Szi Ki Wong (HKG) beat Dimple Vaishnav (IND) RSC round 2; Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Nastaran Soori (IRI) by points; Shabnam Hussain Zada (AFG) beat Tzu Ching Lin (TPE) by points.
Female 57kg quarter finals
Nguyen Thi Nguyet (VIE) beat Anisha Shetty (IND) by points 2-1; Areeya Sahot (THA) beat Dana Al Mayyal (KUW) RSC Round 1; Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Ching Yee Tsang (HKG) by points 3-0.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
The US Congress, explained
- US Congress is divided into two chambers: the House of Representatives and Senate
- 435 members make up the House, and 100 in the Senate
- A party needs control of 218 seats to have a majority in the House
- In the Senate, a party needs to hold 51 seats for control
- In the event of a 50-50 split, the vice president's party retains power in the Senate
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Alaan
Started: 2021
Based: Dubai
Founders: Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $7 million raised in total — $2.5 million in a seed round and $4.5 million in a pre-series A round
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
Specs: 2024 McLaren Artura Spider
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 and electric motor
Max power: 700hp at 7,500rpm
Max torque: 720Nm at 2,250rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100km/h: 3.0sec
Top speed: 330kph
Price: From Dh1.14 million ($311,000)
On sale: Now