Vehicle Data And Preventive Maintenance Transformation With Jino – Bechara Haddad: We got a chance to interview Bechara Haddad, the General Manager of JINO, on a preventive car services solution and on demand app. We got the idea of how JINO operates and also how Bechara came to this point through our interview. Let’s learn more.
The Major Idea
What’s the idea behind Your Company? We asked.
Bechara replied, “Owning a car is a double-edged acquisition. It gives you independence, freedom, saves time, and offers pleasure trips. This fast-paced life comes with as many challenges and burdens; from hearing strange noises and being stressed if you are going to make it to your destination, washing it and keeping it in good condition with on-time services, driving it in and out of the service center and waiting for long hours there and staying without a car for some time, and the biggest one is the huge bills you receive that most of you don’t understand and wonder if it was really needed or it can be postponed. In a nutshell, it can be a real nightmare.
This is where Jino comes in. We connect you to your car through our state-of-the-art solution. Once your app is connected, a complete health check is running frequently where you will be notified on any type of issue. You can also book your service with your authorized service center and have full visibility on pricing and what are the things that need to be repaired and when and why, and you can also request your door step basic service such as oil and filter replacement, battery replacement, tires and other basic maintenance services.
Sharing The Career Story
“How did you begin your career journey?” We further asked.
With that, Bechara continues, “My career journey began much differently from where I am today. Starting out, I worked a lot of summer jobs where I learned, gained experience, and made pocket money. This became a habit for me every summer. I began by helping my father with his on-field telecom installations and worked as a helper. After high school, my parents had financial difficulties and I had to financially contribute to my university studies. I began giving computer lessons to the elderly, fixing and selling computers, and taking some maintenance contracts for small offices. I was passionate about what I was doing and succeeded in it and shared my knowledge with others who helped me with smaller projects.
In 1999 I launched a website with a few friends for discovering restaurants in Beirut. This was extremely challenging as the internet was very slow and people were not very connected; this was a bit ahead of time. We unfortunately failed and spent a significant amount of money on this.
I had to turn the page and start from scratch. I decided to join the sales team of a computer distribution company to have a fixed income and to be able to continue contributing financially to my studies. I then moved up jumping from one company to another between sales and marketing and ended up as Regional Brand Manager for the distributor of Procter & Gamble. Since then, I have been pursuing my executive MBA at ESCP Europe, the 5th top-ranked business school in the world. It was the most challenging time in my life, where I had to juggle between extremely demanding responsibilities at Procter & Gamble and my long-term academic responsibilities with very short deadlines. I have learned a lot, I became much more resilient, and learned how to delegate better and build trust with my team. I can say that from 2010 till 2012 I barely slept a few hours a day, but the outcome and the learnings were awesome.
I joined a new startup in Saudi Arabia and Iraq and then moved back to Lebanon to launch and build Zomato. It was an unforgettable experience where I experienced how a true team can do miracles and make things happen. We started very small and with the unwavering dedication, passion, and enthusiasm of all the zomans in Lebanon we became the number 1 food app, the most desired place to work for, and the fastest-growing company in Lebanon.
Jino is a new venture, a very early-stage startup that we are building from scratch, and I am extremely confident that it will become the most prominent car service app in MENA. We are reshaping the aftersales market by eliminating the burden of owning and driving a car and making it hassle-free to drive.”
Advice & Company Goal
We also wanted him to share his words of advice, so we asked, “What’s your advice for beginners?”
“At the beginning of your career, make sure you take on the most challenging and difficult tasks. Even if you mess up, you can’t imagine how much you will learn from it. Failing is part of learning. The more you fail the better you become. Keep on hustling, you can’t imagine the strength and resilience you will get out of it. Do what you love, celebrate your accomplishments, trust your team, and never give up!” says Bechara.
We further continued, “What’s the goal of your company?”
He says, “Our goal is simple: to create more trust between the car owner and his authorized service center and to let you drive a car worry-free.
According to research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States, 60% of accidents are caused by mechanical failure. Through our preventive maintenance tools and well-maintained cars, we aim to reduce the number of road accidents and prevent them from occurring.
Our vision for the coming 2 to 3 years is to connect at least 50% of the cars in the GCC. We want to become the leading doorstep car service provider in the area. After that we are aiming to target other markets in Africa and Europe.”
Focusing On Teamwork
We also wanted to know his views on teamwork, so we asked, “What makes a team successful in your opinion?”
“A capable team is what makes the company stand on its own, grow and face any upcoming challenges successfully. This is not very easy to get, and it comes with a price. First and foremost you should show your team that you trust them whatever happens. You should trust and verify when you think something might not make sense. This is really difficult as there is a thin line between trust and mistrust. Once trust is lost, it will be very difficult if not impossible to get it back. Therefore, there’s no place for untrusted people on the team. This will mess up the company culture, its energy and its drive.” said Bechara.
How important are employees’ energy levels to the success of Your Company?
“The leadership team should have a very stable and high energy level. When company leaders are continuously driven to achieve results, take advantage of opportunities, and never back down, everyone on the team catches on.
People, clients, suppliers, the media, magazines and everyone around you will start talking about the company and team’s energy levels. This will bring more trust from your clients, leads, suppliers, and investors. People would love to be connected and close to your company and team.
An energized team is much more productive, achieves better results, and can see a brighter future full of opportunities, growth and results.” he shares.
Team Motivation
How do you plan to motivate your team to go an extra mile?
“Positivity is contagious. Once your team becomes positive, they are not limited to what they do; they build a sense of ownership; they are committed to getting what they want; they are trusted to deliver. Once you inspire this, they feel they add value to every little thing they do. They need to feel that their presence adds value.
I always make sure that they are happy with what they do, and that they feel rewarded. You always have to listen to their feedback and act upon it, and don’t forget to remind them of how significant their presence is.
Make bonus time fun for them. At the end of the day, we spend more time together than with our families. Therefore, we ought to be close and supportive of one another. This is how you can create a healthy company culture. Focus on the team’s strengths, not its weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses, and it’s part of how humans are built; work on their weaknesses with other team members’ strengths, for example you know who is extremely organized and help him mentor someone who is not.” he shared.
He further continued, “Have everyone aligned to the vision and set the goals together. At the end of the day it’s not the leader or manager’s goal, it’s the company’s vision and goal. All of us contribute to it. Therefore, we should all work together to build a better future, and each of us should be held accountable.
Encourage happiness, it should not all be about work. You don’t want the team to have a 9 to 5 job. This is not how you intend to let them take the extra mile.”
Tackling Challenges
What keeps your company moving forward even during challenges?
He replied, “First and as mentioned earlier a strong team is key to the success of any company, especially startups. Things move at a much faster pace and so are the challenges we face daily, and this builds resilience and proactiveness. Team members should believe in themselves and be positive.
Being innovative and not settling for the ‘status quo’ is what gets everyone up and ready.
As a company, we always remind ourselves of what we are solving for and what our mission is, and focus on this purpose so we don’t get distracted by other opportunities. Every team member knows exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are and think on how we can become better in what we do and deliver.
A key element is to build a strong network, build a strong relationship with your partners. Go out with them, listen to them, help them whenever you can. They are family at the end of the day and this is what makes both parties stronger.
We all believe that challenges help us become better at what we do. Most importantly, ensure you have fun while doing all this!”
Technology & Innovation
How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping Your Company grow?’
“Technology is creating more business opportunities. Without technology, we will never have existed nor the biggest online service companies. Access to information is everywhere, people are learning with a click of a button and are becoming better, so are businesses.”
Do you use innovative ideas to be unique?
“Our business needs to be innovative every day to survive, grow, and remain competitive. We always think about out of the box ideas that sometimes are extremely innovative and very challenging to implement, but we keep on trying until we make it happen. Along the way, we learn and improve things or remove unnecessary steps. Putting our customers first, we try to remove barriers to car ownership and enable them to drive worry-free by brainstorming innovative ideas.
Our latest innovation is connecting you to your car through IOT.”
Staying Ahead of The Competition
What are the services/solutions or products offered by Your Company in line with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
“There’s huge competition in our industry, with extremely wealthy and well-funded competitors. Millions are being spent on marketing and communications. This is one of our key challenges to grow in the GCC region where we are still bootstrapping. We have innovated by connecting users to their cars, so that they can check their car’s health status and drive worry-free, avoiding any breakdowns, and I believe this is fantastic for the industry.
As mentioned earlier 60% of car accidents are the result of an improperly maintained car.
We are looking to save lives on the roads. We can do that by making sure your car is served by the right professional and at the right time with the right materials. This will ensure full visibility of prices and replacements.
We have just finalized our latest innovation in IOT where we connect your car to your authorized service center and to your Jino app.
We connect your car to the internet with a one-time prepaid device and a monthly subscription of less than 10$, and that’s it you are now connected to your car having full visibility of its health.
Although it’s not so easy to save lives once connected, your authorized service center will have full visibility of your car’s health with a list of error codes. This will enable them to know exactly what is wrong. Through our Jino consumer app, we will send a simple notification telling you about the issue and its severity. To learn more, you can speak with your service advisor. You can also request a doorstep service when it’s something simple. You can book your service directly at the authorized workshop.
Your service advisor will send you the quote through chat, so you know exactly what the issue is, so there’s full transparency between both parties. You can pay and have your car picked up or delivered by yourself. As a result of booking the time of a technician who knows what the problem is with your car, your service will take a lot less time than usual. No time will be wasted in the workshop.
Our solution will also help authorized service centers service more cars in less time, increasing efficiency and revenue.
Once your car is served on time with the right repair, this will reduce the potential of having a road accident.” says Bechara.
Lastly, we asked, “Would you like to say anything else to our viewers?”
“Don’t stop dreaming! Whatever comes to your mind is achievable. You really don’t know how powerful and solution-driven you can be. If you believe in something, strive for it and don’t look back. Don’t be afraid, be positive. Success is as likely as failure. Take the risk and jump on the opportunity. If you believe in it you will achieve it, but don’t risk it if you doubt it.
If anyone is looking for any help putting their ideas or dreams into a plan and needs advice or guidance feel free to reach out. bechara@jino.ae” he concluded.
Connect with Bechara Haddad on LinkedIn.
Find JINO on LinkedIn.
