"Ebshir" the 15th Team to Qualify for this year's MIT Semi-Finalist Round
Jordanian “Ebshir.com” has been selected as one of the semi-finalist teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region Start-Up Competition for the Start-up Track, a press release said Monday.
Ebshir.com is the first online cars search engine listing more than 100,000 vehicles and targeting the Zarqa Free Zone area in Jordan. It provides a comprehensive car directory in addition to location based services to help customers find the car of their dreams with a click of a button.
Idea Inspiration
Alaa Manasra was searching for his dream car thinking it would be a rather easy task. After two weeks of continuous efforts he realized that finding the car of his dreams was not as easy as it sounded. “I was so frustrated with the time, effort and money I had spent just to find a car with the specification’s I wanted that I decided to create a platform that would save me all this time and money. I was certain that I was not the only one who was complaining and thought to myself that if others had experienced what I went through then it was about time I did something about it.” Says Alaa Manasra the founder of Ebshir, the release added.
A Virtual/Physical Auto Dealer
Ebshir’s services target the Zarqa Free Zone area in Jordan. A free Zone area is an area within which goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured, and re-exported without the intervention of the customs authorities and are considered as the prime location to search for and purchase vehicles. Ebshir established it online search directory which contains more than 100,000 vehicles in addition to its offices which are located in the free zone area. “We wanted to offer customers more than just a search engine service, instead Ebshir allows users to search for cars based on the criteria they are looking after which they can come to our offices where a personal assistant will help them in inspecting the car and finalizing the sales process to guarantee our customers the best prices possible.” Says Manasra.
The company also offers additional services including:
Re-Sale Services of vehicles, where clients wishing to sell their cars can do so through Ebshir.
Administrative Services for wholesale dealers.
Ebshir’s services will be of use for both customers who will be spending less time searching for cars and for auto dealers who suffer from not having enough access to customers.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
“Entrepreneurs should be open minded and should accept any new ideas that may improve their business. You need to constantly work on your business model and on building the right team because once you have a solid business model and the right team then you are on the right track. Entrepreneurship is an emotional roller coaster and you are going to have good days and bad days which is why you need to surround yourself with a good support system and a good team.” Advises Manasra.
Ebshir will attend a two day workshop in Qatar in April 25 along with 49 other teams, where they will receive coaching, training and network with other entrepreneurs from the Arab region and meet the region’s major players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Semi-finalist ideas or startups in ICT, digital media, and mobile will automatically qualify for the Oasis 500 training and acceleration program http://www.oasis500.com/ , which is a six-day training program that covers all business aspects, including business modeling, financials, pitching, facilitation and marketing.
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