My Startup World speaks to Nadine Tayara, the Co-Founder of Plotos about her entrepreneurial journey so far.
When was Plotos established?
We have been working on Plotos since December 2016, and have officially soft launched in March 2017.
Who runs the company? What is the strength of the workforce?
Our company is made up of a dynamic duo of nutrition and technology experts. The management team is composed of professional, licensed dietitians as well as a serial entrepreneur; all of which have had extensive experience within the region and their areas of expertise.
Our biggest strength is we are composed of a management team with lots of synergy; each have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas of expertise that complement one another as well as the overall mission and vision of Plotos.
How was the company started? The initial days?
Quite simply, it was over a cup of coffee in coffee shop. Those are our initial days of back and forth planning, strategies, and late night meetings.
We, as founders, realized the need for a healthy food market disruptive idea, an idea that will change the way we live and eat healthy, so we decided to establish a platform that makes it so easy and intuitive to order healthy food, then we started thinking of the name, first the name we selected was wealthy, but then we thought to take the “Nike” approach and name it a Latin name so we searched for the meaning of wealth in Latin and we discovered it was “Plotos” so we immediately decided the name will be “Plotos” because there is no greater wealth than the health of people.
What sort of funding went into creating Plotos? Was it through external funding or was it bootstrapped?
We managed to raise $100,000 as pre-launch seed funding at idea stage, from Eniverse Technologies and now we are talking with investors to raise an additional $1 million as post seed stage funding.
What products and services does the company offer?
Plotos is a platform ideal for busy residents in Dubai, that aims to help users live a healthy lifestyle, by connecting them to healthy and wholesome food straight to their doorstep.
We curate premium and diverse selections of restaurants within Dubai and its surroundings; allowing users to choose their dietary program and swift through a wide range of healthy choices from breakfast all the way to dinner
Who takes care of logistics and customer/tech support?
We have our dedicated fleet of delivery riders, that are currently outsourced by another party; in addition, some restaurants are using their own drivers and logistics team. Plotos has its own team of developers and programs, that run and support the tech side of the platform.
Did you face any challenges when starting up? If yes, how did you overcome it?
Absolutely, we managed to overcome them as a team. We work efficiently and effectively to trouble-shoot any issues or challenges we faced.
What are your plans for Plotos for the next 2 years?
Our future plans are quite simple…we are on a mission to engage and empower our users to order or dine-in in a healthy and nutritious way. We are here to disrupt the food delivery industry and connect our users to healthy eats in an easy, innovative, and user-friendly way, with the aim to fight overweight and obesity, and other nutrition-related diseases.
Our goal is to expand and reach as many people as possible with the objective of spreading healthy eating and living in a positive, and impactful way. Our platform is scalable to reach various different markets within the region
Which markets do you currently cater to?
We cater across Dubai at the moment, with the plans of expanding within the UAE, we shall move to Abu Dhabi then the rest of the United Arab Emirates.
What advice do you have for budding entrepreneurs in the region?
Do something you are passionate about; and stick to your beliefs and principles. Being an entrepreneur has a lot of ups and downs, however what’s most important is to believe in yourself and your product, stay focused and keep pushing hard.
If you learnt one thing from starting up your company, what would that be?
Patience… is a virtue. With time, things have a way of working out, when you work hard and put your mind and heart into it.
Execution is key. To get an idea is an easy task, everyone has an idea but to turn this idea into a business model it requires so much, and most importantly is the execution of the idea, the design, the development and the customer experience and service.
The health industry is very fragmented and it needs disruptive companies like Plotos, we aim to be an example of how a small team can come up with a simple idea and turn it into a monetized business model within just weeks of launching it.
