Every week, ILQ features a different Qatari startup in our ‘Startup of the Week’ segment. Qatar has some of the most creative, unique, and impactful startups in the region, and we cover them all across a variety of industries in Doha, from fashion and beauty to food and dining, health, education, and more!

This week, we will be featuring a new startup company in the industrial and construction sector – Qutsheet. It is a developing company that opened in May 2019, offering brilliant solutions for all procurement requirements of construction businesses. Their main objective is to help construction projects and companies save time and money by digitising the process of procurement. By speeding up the process and digitising everything, more competitive offers from various suppliers can be achieved. The more options clients get, the better.

A professional system to get the job done

Nowadays, contractors and owners transact business manually with their suppliers. They order from the same suppliers, with so many paper works, missing out the opportunity to get more competitive offers from newer suppliers. Their limited scope often backfires on them dealing with the same old suppliers all over again.

Most of the time, companies don’t get the best suppliers available. They either purchase supplies that are overly priced or simply spend money on substandard supplies. This is where Qutsheet comes into the picture. With their modern procurement methods and systematic online approaches, dealing with these problems will be a thing of the past.

The digital world of construction and procurement

The Qutsheet website boasts of the latest technology in procurement processes and acquisitions available in the market today. Construction service providers and material suppliers can be found easily on their digital platform database. Each product’s technical information is listed accordingly as the customer reviews them before purchasing.

All RFQs or request for quotations is easily accessible for faster distribution. And, with just one click, RFQs can be sent to all relevant suppliers in an instant, saving valuable time and costs. Moreover, Qutsheet has this special dashboard feature that allows the owner to see the project procurement progress in real-time, as it happens.

Aside from this, Qutsheet provides a marketplace for customers to sell their surplus and used materials for recycling purposes. They also support ‘the built environment sustainability’ programme of the government where they help construction professionals make sustainable decisions for their projects while caring for the environment. All these features become possible because of Qutsheet’s cutting edge system in purchasing construction supply.

Qutsheet’s distinctive edge

The ILQ team was lucky to have a word with co-founder and CEO Sherif M. Sherif and he shared with us the company’s distinctive edge over other companies with the same line of business.

“Qutsheet is the first procurement platform specialised in construction in the region. It’s a big challenge for any company to implement such a solution due to the complexity and the specific requirements of the field. We, at Qutsheet, believe that we have sufficient construction and technology knowledge plus experience that is required to penetrate and lead into this huge market.”

Moreover, Sherif stressed the relevance of his business in the development of Qatar’s economy and infrastructure growth.

“Qatar is one of the fastest-growing countries right now, and the world is amazed by the construction development ongoing in Qatar to prepare for the FIFA World Cup and Qatar’s National Vision 2030. We, at Qutsheet, strive to provide the best support for this great industry that helps Qatar achieve its great goals and vision. In other words, we couldn’t think of a better place than Qatar to launch Qutsheet.”

Construction projects always face cost overrun and delays and Qatar’s construction projects are not an exception, according to Sherif. These include late procurement of materials, shortage of construction materials, changes in material types and specifications, etc. Qutsheet was established to eliminate these problems.

“We had this passion to make a positive impact on the construction industry. I applied in Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC). Then, I started forming our great team of co-founders who have the same passion.”

“QBIC provided us with a lean startup programme training which helped us refine and enhance our ideas and strategies. Then, we won a pre-seed fund of up to QR 100,000, rent-free office space for two years, in addition to continuous coaching and mentoring to help support and grow our business.”

It seems Sherif’s growing business shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. When asked about what advice he can give to aspiring business entrepreneurs, Sharif concluded with the following statement:

“Always go for your dreams, start your business at the earliest. Don’t be afraid to fail. Fail till you succeed.”