Furnishing her apartment and realising she didn't have a drill to put up a wall mount for her television proved to be the inspiration for a Dubai resident to create her own app.
The frustration of having to buy a drill, an item she was unlikely to use more than once, led Jordanian entrepreneur Natalie Malhas to start an app which enables people to rent everyday household items from their neighbours.
Neighbr works by allowing users to list the items they are able to rent out – from drills and cameras to baby gear and party supplies – and browse what neighbours have available. It is the first peer-to-peer service of its kind in the UAE.
The platform attracted more than 1,100 visits within two months of its launch, with its popularity generated entirely through word of mouth and community groups.
It comes as the UAE establishes sustainability initiatives, such as the UAE Circular Economy Policy, which aims to improve the use natural resources, minimise waste and support the private sector in adopting clean production methods. Much of the focus in the country is on developing sustainable urban plans, expanding the use of low-carbon vehicles and reducing food waste.
Neighbr’s arrival also comes at a time when the UAE is experiencing a boom in resale and second-hand shopping concepts, particularly clothing apps such as Taggy and Again & Again & Again.
"The traction is very, very real and it came from people that genuinely want to use the platform, or they want something like this to exist," Ms Malhas told The National.
Practical problem
The idea for the platform came from a challenge Ms Malhas faced shortly after moving to Dubai with her husband. She was furnishing an apartment and needed more chairs, as well as a drill to mount a television on a wall, but she was reluctant to buy items she would use only once and then store indefinitely.
"I knew my neighbour had those same things," she said. "I thought, ‘Why is there no rental platform for me to rent it from my neighbour?’ I didn't want to buy them outright, because it's a waste in every sense of the word. Neighbr was born from that specific frustration."
The platform operates as a hyper-local marketplace. Users take pictures of an item and artificial intelligence then generates the listing title and description. All users are verified and commission is taken on each completed rental.
"When the owner earns from an item they already own and the renter benefits by saving money and saving space clutter ... when both sides benefit, that's when Neighbr makes its commission," Ms Malhas said. "It's more on volume rather than how much the commission split is."
Neighbr currently supports 12 categories, including electronics, tools, sports equipment, party supplies, baby gear, cleaning equipment and scooters. Users and businesses can list items on the platform, which Ms Malhas said also offered a "try before you buy" function for higher-value purchases.
Ms Malhas, who holds a master’s degree in accounting and finance, built the platform herself without external funding. "I did not wait for the perfect conditions or the perfect round of funding," she added. "I built it by myself and I leaned on people that I trusted for us to test it out and to make sure that everything was covered from A to Z."
Good environment
Ms Malhas built Neighbr to enable items to be rented rather than resold, saying the model keeps products active longer and generates continuing income for owners. "From a sustainability standpoint, from a convenience standpoint and from an earning standpoint, it works all together," she said.
Ms Malhas move to Dubai came after her mother died in 2023 and her husband lost his job, when the US-based company he worked for closed operations in Jordan. She said the UAE's business environment and government support structures convinced her the country was the right place to start over.
"I'm not the type of person who is just going to sit and wait for something to happen," she added. "I want to experience, I want to take risks – because if not now, when?"
Looking ahead, she said she wanted Neighbr to be used as commonly as food delivery apps. "I want Neighbr to become the infrastructure for renting items – as common and as normal as ordering food online," she said. "If Neighbr can change that mindset across the UAE, then we have done something that actually matters, both for the people using it and for the environment that they live in."
