Mobigo

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Sofrajee, a three-sided marketplace for food delivery in the north African region, predominantly in Libya. Technically-speaking, we use a frontend app for customers to order food from local restaurants. and a backend app for drivers and restaurants to manage those orders on.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mobigo?

As we lacked any sort of technical background, We hired Mobigo to build the technical infrastructure for the project.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build an all-product delivery network in our country. We decided to use food as our first category to help us build the network up before expanding into other areas.

How did you select this vendor?

At the beginning of development, I was living in Istanbul, which is where the CEO of Mobigo lives. I met with various developers, but Mobigo offered the best value for our budget by far. On our first meeting with Ilyas [CEO, Mobigo] it was clear to me it was a company that I could put my trust in. As it was my first business venture ever, I had to learn how this kind of project would work step by step. Ilyas explained the development model and taught me how the process works, as well as how to make payments to them.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we signed the agreement, I waited a week while they created a sketch up of the app. After that, the project accelerated quickly into a beta version. We provided our feedback on that version, and within few days, everything was finalised. The entire project was 2 months and 2 weeks; they delivered 2 weeks before the deadline.

What was the team composition?

Ilyas made it simple for us. If we had an adjustment for the UI or backend, we could just contact Ilyas and he worked with his team to fix it.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within a month, the app was rated number 8 in North Africa on the App Store. The rating was among various huge companies like H&M and Alibaba. Because it was a new concept for our country, the Mobigo team made the app extremely simple to navigate for our costumers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

For the first month of the project, I was in Istanbul, which made it easy to meet with Ilyas regularly to discuss the app process and work. Our work during that time was friendly and didn't feel like official business meetings, which helped ideas to flow genuinely. It was exactly what I needed. Even after I flew back to Libya to start setting up the project's business side, Ilyas and I were in regular contact via phone to discuss anything that came up. The whole workflow was fluid.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As a business student, I was astonished by the business-side knowledge that the Mobigo team had. In fact, our business plan was modified for the better after Ilyas shared his knowledge with other last-mile delivery companies that operate in a market with less tech-savvy consumers, like our country.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our team and Mobigo's team believe that there is a lot we can improve on. In our year and a half in business, we've received great feedback to make our app better. Obviously, we've chosen Mobogi as our partners again; they'll continue to help us update our app and build new features.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO for Hatom in Saudi Arabia. We are a sketching application and management company that helps customers in Saudi Arabia with app and website development and solutions. I have 8 employees.

What challenge were you trying to address with Mobigo?

We’re a new company, so we didn’t have good developers in-house to meet our project needs. We needed experienced people to improve our work. We asked Mobigo to work with us as a side company to help us finish our application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had them create a coupon application, similar to Groupon. We gave them the scenario and the idea for the app, and they built it. Mobigo did the UI design, the backend, and the iOS and Android development and coding.

The application is for Saudi stores and their customers. They add initial offers and coupons for users. Users can go into the app and buy coupons, which they can then use directly to get the discount or special offer.

What is the team dynamic?

I interacted with Elias, who managed the team.

How did you come to work with Mobigo?

I saw some of their work online, including an app for a nearby store. It was a good quality app. I contacted them directly and met with Elias.

How much have you invested with them?

$20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2016 until May 2016.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The downloads of the application were around 5,000–10,000 at the beginning of 2017. The application is no longer in the store, because the customer wanted to develop more functionality. They withdrew it and are talking with Elias to improve it.

The customer feedback was awesome. They liked the design, and everything about the app. I like it as well.

How did Mobigo perform from a project management standpoint?

Elias gave us a tutorial to help us manage the project, since it’s our responsibility to manage the app. We passed those instructions on to our customer in Saudi Arabia, for them to help users navigate the application. Our customer now manages it completely.

We communicated via our website or email. Elias answered very quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are kind people and did what I asked them to do. They had good ideas and tried to use their experience to give us an advantage. Their communication was very good and the quality was high. I’m proud of their work.

They were a good company to work on this particular app, because they have a long history of working on similar apps.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any recommendations for them, except maybe for them to expand into other areas in the Middle East outside of Turkey. They’re a great company to deal with again and again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise them to work with Mobigo, because they’re the best company I’ve found. Their price, quality, and communication are awesome.