Meet the Founder: Ranoo Hiwa
This week’s featured entrepreneur is Ranoo, founder of Bina, an application connecting skilled workers and companies to increase employment opportunities across Iraq.
Can you give a brief introduction about yourself?
My Name is Ranoo Hiwa. I was born in Sulaimani and attended Shahid Jabar Exemplary and Secondary School then graduated from engineering college at the University of Sulaimani in 2012. When I finished engineering college and started working, I didn't know the market price for hiring workers and at the same time I didn't know any staff to do work for me. I also always had a doubt about hiring staff because I didn't know anything about their previous work experience. That’s why I came up with the idea to connect engineers, skilled workers, hiring companies and clients all together.
What is your business idea?
At Bina App, our mission is to connect skilled workers and companies through a digital platform that is easy to use in order to create employment opportunities in Iraq.
We provide a faster and easier means for people to find work in the construction industry in Iraq. The application provides greater insight into the opportunities for work that are available and improves the link between the workers and businesses alike.
Bina App provides the opportunity for skilled workers as well as companies to find the required skills and links them together through the digital platform. Benefits include:
Helping skilled workers find work
Helping engineers find work opportunities and skilled workers
Increasing the quality of construction work through customer feedback and ratings
Improving safety in the construction field
Showing customers the market price
Our core value is the accountability of the skilled workers that are available on the platform. With the feedback and rating system in place, companies as well as skilled workers will be able to choose the right people that fit the job.
Iraq has a high unemployment level compared to the annual GDP of other countries. Bina App promotes a lower unemployment level in Iraq by offering people from different backgrounds the opportunity to find and choose a job that best fits them. Internally displaced people, foreign or local workers will be one click away from getting hired.
What challenges is your business addressing?
Skilled workers have a difficulty in finding a job in Iraq. In the city of Sulaimani, skilled workers wake up at 7 am and wait on the road across the busy streets in the city in search of people to hire them for a day. Most of these skilled workers carry their tools with them to reflect that they work in this profession.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry have engineers who have their own network of skilled workers that are hired daily. According to engineers who have been interviewed, these networks are usually small, with only 500 to 1000 contacts on their mobile phones. Most of these engineers call other people to find the right skilled worker at the right time.
Additionally, most construction is planned a week before and due to the many changes on every project, it's difficult for engineers to find the right people. Corporate construction companies hire mostly foreign construction companies who have their own specialized employees. Corporate companies have well-constructed plans and HR departments that deal with finding the right people for the job. It's easier for them to find people from abroad, but the housing and travel expenses are high, which causes these companies to hire local workers to compete in the market.
Bina App provides a faster and easier way for people to get work in the construction industry in Iraq. It provides greater insight into the opportunities for work that are available and improves the link between the workers and businesses alike. Simply, we are making it easier for workers and hiring companies to find each other easier on a digital platform. Workers as well as companies can share their recent work and receive feedback from their customers to improve the quality and expectations on both sides.
What advice do you have for someone trying to start their own project/business?
Focus on what you love, try to improve your skills and do everything gradually. Don't be harsh on anything because that leads you to failure, and do everything with passion because it is the key to your success. Only the love for what you do will make you strong and help you endure the ups and downs in your business.
Why did you join the Five One Labs startup incubator?
I had this idea for about one year, but I didn't know how to start and where to start until one day my friend, who is one of the participants in Five One Labs’ Female Founders Fellowship Program talked about Five One and advised me to join a program named Incubator Women Initiative. And luckily I applied for it and I was accepted into the program !
Because I didn't have any experience in the business field, I needed someone to advise me and support me to start developing my Idea. I would say that Five One Labs made my dream of having my own business come true!
What progress have you made on your business since joining the incubator?
I did market research and surveys to focus on solving the pain points of people working in the construction field. I then made a contract with a company to develop the static version of my application in order to test the UI and UX and went through several iterations. Currently I have made a development contract with a company to start coding my application and I have letter of intent from engineers, skilled workers and hiring companies that are willing to use my application.
