The number of people using more than one service on Careem’s Super App has grown about nine-fold since its launch in April, the Dubai-based technology company said.
The Super App, which has about 48 million registered users, combines different offers – such as ride hailing, food and grocery delivery, digital payments, bike sharing and intercity travel – on a single platform.
Careem, which released its report on this year’s trends yesterday, did not disclose the exact number of users but said UAE users made three transactions a week on average.
Since April, the height of coronavirus restrictions, the company said the movement of people through its car, hala taxi, intercity transport and bike-hire services was up 10-fold. The movement of goods such as food and grocery deliveries quadrupled while the movement of money through its recharging and credit-sending service doubled. More than 60 million transactions were made through its Careem Pay service, the company said.
“This year has challenged all of us ... however, it also provided us with the opportunity to expand our services to better meet the needs of our customers,” said Mudassir Sheikha, chief executive and co-founder of Careem.
“Whether it was through deliveries of daily essentials and food or helping people move around safely in the most restrictive of times, we are grateful to have simplified the lives of our customers, thanks to our dedicated captains at the front line.”
The Super App began to offer an inter-city service in August to transport customers between different emirates in the UAE. Since then, 6,448 customers have used the service, with the Abu Dhabi-Dubai route being the most popular.
In September, Careem told its office staff that they could work from home indefinitely as it looks to reduce rent and office expenses. Most of its staff across its 36 offices in 14 countries reported that their productivity had increased as they worked from home.
Reports collected on a monthly basis from March, when lockdown measures took hold around the world, showed that Careem's staff had developed stronger relationships with peers in other countries while working remotely.
“For 2021 ... Careem will continue to recruit talent across the region to further expand and provide amazing Careem offers and services for its customers,” the company said.
It said the Super App has 2 million registered captains delivering services and more than 1,200 agents answering about 30,000 customer service queries per day.
Careem was bought by US ride-hailing company Uber in a $3.1 billion deal that was concluded in January this year.
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Read more about the coronavirus
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
