Can you introduce yourself briefly, and tell us about your project?

I am Mohammad Oqeili, and I founded Ghoorcom in 2017, after several meetings with farmers who complained about the marketing process, because they provide raw materials and efforts, finance, time for growing the crops, yet they don’t receive enough return. Their main challenge: increasing their income.

From that point, I started doing my research globally, studying the Australian, European, Far East (Asia, India, China…), African, Middle-Eastern markets, in terms of marketing challenges. Combining the research with my own field experience, I came to the conclusion that we had to create an online platform that enables farmers to market their product easily, with comfort and security.

As a background, I have a bachelor in accounting and finance, and masters of economics. I worked in several financial institutions dealing with stock exchange and supply and demand topics, yet I have some experience in the agricultural sector, in taking care of farms and dealing with crops in general, so I combined these experiences. Moreover, there is a common area between economics and agriculture, which is supply and demand: the mechanism of the agricultural sector in terms of pricing, selling, marketing, heavily relies on supply and demand, and I believe this is the core of economics.

When I first started in 2018 on the ground, we had a team of 2 ladies specialised in research and marketing; first step of the research was a questionnaire for farmers, retailers and the market itself, and adaption of new technology in the Jordanian market. We worked for 6 months, then we increased the team by recruiting 2 people, with logistics background. Team size is a reflection of market demand: if there’s a demand and enough finance in our start-up, we will recruit and increase our capacity. However if we experience shortages in cash and the market is not lucrative, we will reduce it to part time or freelance teamwork. In 2020 the team shrunk from 6 to 2 and in 2021 we went back up to 3, in 2022 we were still facing financial difficulties so we could not expand our operations.

Product development was one of the hardest things we dealt with, because we need to design a very customised product to meet the needs of the local market. So we developed 3 platforms: the first one was very basic, a general one that can be fitted in any market, but we realised it wouldn’t fit the Jordanian market because it was too generic, no unique selling point, no value propositions. So we created a second one, and again it did not work because it was too basic. So we decided not to start with an online platform on PC after all, mobile applications are more important, which is what we developed instead.

We did not include all the features in the mobile app because developing the app in terms of process is not easy and costly. It’s a matchmaking platform: supply meets demand as users create a profile for their agricultural business.

When and how did you get this idea?

It’s about connecting the dots: from a young age I had the dream of launching my venture and working in a start-up. I’ll quote wisdom from one of my lecturers who said: “You will be taught how to land a professional career in a well-established organisation, but no one will teach you how to establish your own”. This sentence inspired me towards how we can do that: how hard is it? What are the tools needed to do this and what resources and skills do we need? From a young age I’ve been working my skills to gain the experience to do this.

I didn’t have this idea at first, I thought I’d go towards fintech as it’s my major interest, however when I realised there is a high need in creating an online marketing platform, I had the efficient experience and a passion towards it, so all the dots connected towards this start-up. And it came off organically without pre-planning.

How did the orientation session and support by TTi help you prepare the pitching event?

I’ve known TTi (the incubator selected by MED-InA in Jordan to support 4 circular economy project holders) for about 2-3 years and we’ve worked together on several projects: I was monitored by their network and exposed to their ideas. They’re doing a wonderful job and they have a huge impact on the Jordanian market, not just on the capital Amman but all throughout the country, holding awareness sessions about entrepreneurship and broadening the scope of enterprises and encouraging youth to open their own start-ups. Unfortunately, I was on travel when the orientation session happened so I could not attend.

How is the prize you won going to help your project, and what are the next steps?

After focusing on developing the product and marketing, and talking to our users (farmers and retailers), now our plan is to go to the market. I would not consider Amman as a growth stage; I told TTi that I want to start in Irbid where we presented our idea, because it’s a relatively smaller market and we can test more and develop our operations, then exceed it from there. Grow bigger and faster in this area, in the efficient and right way, because action is the key in a start-up at the growth stage so we need to be very accurate, very careful, to build our infrastructure in Irbid and operate it in that market.

So the prize helps with: going to the market, doing a marketing campaign, and if needed we will enhance our platform in terms of IT. Finally, in consultation with TTi, if we need to recruit an additional person, we will.

In the past, we were acting in a random way in connecting farmers and retailers, which was not very efficient to attract customers into the platform. Now we need to be more focused on our most wanted or most important clients. Because platform technology is just a tool, but the more important thing is the commercial part: prices, dealing, doing business. Yet technology is a facilitating tool to acquire customers and provide a cutting-edge service. We have to do it more strategically and cautiously.

What are you expecting from the TTi incubation that you are going to benefit from?

The past 2 years were tough on start-ups and even large corporations, so I am expecting to restructure our entire positioning and work on risk management scenarios, as well as developing a robust working strategy in the market.

How do you see your contribution to the efforts towards less waste and/or a more circular economy?

This platform is very interesting in terms of supporting local production and consumption, by making them match. Going local is one way to be more sustainable.

Furthermore, we ensure to work aligned with the SDGs, so we chose around 4 or 5 themes, although our company does not show a total correlation with sustainability, and we work with the farmers to reduce waste in their crops. For example, if you take 100% production of a crop, premium quality does not exceed 60% of the crop. In the other 40%, over half of it is sold as 2^nd class quality and the remaining 10 to 20% goes to waste. We give the opportunity to farmers to sell their waste.

Second thing: in terms of packaging, we try to recycle the plastic packaging after we sell the products to the retailers, by returning it to the farmers, thus reducing the use of plastic. We also reduce the waste of retailers, by giving them indications and analytics in terms of ordering their crops. For example in winter, the consumption decreases in terms of fruits but increases in vegetables, so we advise each retailer in a customised way, based on the size of previous orders, we recommend quantities to be ordered to reduce the huge waste currently going on in retail.

Third and most importantly, we organise the logistics to replace the current operation of the truck going from the farm to the central market, and retailers going from their shop to the central market, a long trip for everyone. We cut this trip by going direct from the farmer to the retailer, and this reduces fuel emissions and their impact on the environment in terms of pollution.

We always thrive to enhance our sustainability plan and environmental aspects within the company!