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Although many Dubai residents might have heard about him, it is not him who is our latest Entrepreneur of the Week.
It is his boss, Tanaz Dizadji, founder and CEO of Insydo, a dedicated search platform offering authentic reviews to help residents find visit-worthy restaurants, services and experiences across the city.
Just a few months after launching Insydo in October 2015, Dizadji set Worobec, the start-up’s marketing manager, on a one-month challenge to get as many people as possible make use of their online platform in a bid to save his job.
With the first 12 days of the campaign, Insydo reached almost 2 million people through Facebook and its user engagement and event interactions skyrocketed by over 1,000 percent, Dizadji stated in a blog post on LinkedIn.
“Insydo was up against some stiff competition and breaking into the market was going to be tough,” Dizadji says. “However, with our enhanced product features, fresh content and our ‘Save Steve’s Job’ campaign, we broke all the rules and built a growing community of over 120,000 unique visitors per month.”
In an average month, people in the UAE make over one million searches for services in Dubai, she says. To cater to their needs, she set up Insydo as a search-centric website that helps people find specific services, products, and activities.
“Think of us as your digital buddy recommending the best of everything that this dynamic city has to offer: from the trendiest bars and backstreet bakeries to expert electricians and in-the-know nutritionists, we’ve got them all,” Dizadji says.
Insydo currently features over 3,000 Dubai-based businesses across 440 different categories – and they all receive unbiased reviews.
“No freebies or special treatment for us, it is all about giving independent and unbiased recommendations. That is why we go undercover for every single visit and pay every single bill ourselves,” Dizadji says, adding that that Insydo is soon to launch its Android and iOS apps.
Insydo was chosen as one of the top start-ups to deliver an on-stage pitch at StartUp Grind 2016 in San Francisco.
Before moving to the UAE in 2010, Dizadji occupied the role of ambassador to the charity Pratham, India's largest educational NGO, and also led the arts and education department at UK-based NGO Elephant Family, which aims to save endangered Asian elephants.
For a few years before taking the leap into Dubai’s start-up world, she was a director at START, a non-profit organisation founded by Art Dubai and the Al Madad Foundation that brings art programmes to disadvantaged children in India and the MENA region.
Do you know an entrepreneur who deserves to be our Entrepreneur of the Week?
Please explain in 200 words why your entrepreneur of choice deserves the Entrepreneur of the Week accolade and send your nominations to tamara.pupic@itp.com
Please note that the final decisions are made at the discretion of our editorial team.