WITH a keen business sense, nine students at the Service Management class at the Dar Al-Hekma College for girls came up with a simple yet creative business idea as part of a class project. Their advertisement slogan — “You pick it, we stick it” — appeared everywhere on campus generating a lot of curiosity, and when their business opened students lined up to take advantage.
“We wanted something different that is not found in Saudi Arabia. We did some market research and came up with designs that appeal to the youth and priced the product attractively,” said the company’s CEO, Dalal Abuljadayel.
The company is called 9-inc., referring to the number of the company’s founders. Besides Abuljadayel, there is Dalal Safwan, communication coordinator; Amina Al-Sayed and Layla Al-Nahdi, marketing managers; Fatma Mohammad Ali and Abeer Albreem, finance managers; Fatma Enani, Dania Badayan and Nouf Dhabaan, product managers. Their supervisor was class instructor Naeema Farooqi.
The product the young women are marketing is a customized laptop skin that is not harmful to the laptop and can be easily removed without damaging the laptop in anyway.
At the beginning of the semester, during the first three months of class, the nine students formed a company with each presenting an idea with an aim of convincing the others of its feasibility and the chances there are of the idea succeeding. Lapstick met those requirements in a unique way. The students did some market research, created 120 different designs, produced 500 units and had two weeks to sell them.
Their marketing campaign generated curiosity and on opening the business they managed to sell over 200 units in one week to college students and faculty staff as well as customers from outside the college. The designs were particularly appealing to youngsters who are always on the lookout for ways to stand out. The price of a laptop design is SR45 for any design and any laptop size.
Customers bring in their laptops, choose the design they want and after a few hours can pick up their laptop with its new look. A customer can also bring in their own personal design on a CD and have it printed on the unit and attached to their laptop in two days for a little extra money.
“We made most of the designs, the others were made using Photoshop,” said Abuljadayel. The designs included natural scenes, abstracts designs and Arabic and Islamic calligraphy. Customers can also add a quote or a saying. There are a limited number of units for each design — three to five — to ensure designs remain as unique as possible.
When Islamic singers Sami Yusuf and Massoud Kourts had a press conference at Dar Al-Hekma, the day they were to perform there later in the evening with other Islamic singers on Dec. 8, the girls gifted the two celebrities with two units of Islamic calligraphy.
The group now intends to take the idea outside the college and sell units in schools, malls and even companies, and also extend their activities to desktops.
“The class and the experience gave us an insight on business and teamwork,” said Al-Sayed. The group can be reached at [email protected].
