A loyalty program for Salik customers with a real cash wallet
• Salik is the only Qatari company in the field of leasing that has cooperation with Qatar Airways to redeem miles
Qatari entrepreneur Ahmed Al Hammadi revealed Salik’s ambitious plans to go global through the FIFA World Cup 2022 portal, which Qatar will host this year, and pointed out the importance of Salik’s application to support visitors to Qatar in the World Cup with distinguished car rental services.
Salik is the first fully Qatari brand launched by Qatari entrepreneur Ahmed Al Hammadi, which started its business in 2013 with a simple capital that did not exceed 500,000 riyals, but with ambitious plans and steady steps, the company launched its business to carve its name among the most important rental companies in Qatar, especially in the field of luxury cars.
We met Qatari entrepreneur Ahmed Al Hammadi, who praised the investment climate in the State of Qatar thanks to the rational policies of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the State, and said, “We enjoy a healthy investment climate in Qatar, and startups have always received support from various state institutions to develop their businesses.
Al Hammadi spoke about the launch of the Salik brand in Qatar, saying, “We started Salik in 2013, and our activity was limousines at the beginning. The name “Salik” was chosen to denote the road that will ensure a delivery service from the office to the customer in the fastest time and deliver customers to their destinations quickly and safely.”
Careful study of the car rental market
Al Hammadi referred to the launch of leasing services, saying, “In 2014, we started the leasing service with a very simple capital, which at that time reached only 500,000 riyals. The following year, we raised the capital in the following year due to the unparalleled success of the company’s business. At first, we noticed the focus of the companies operating on the economic sector only. Our idea was to cover the rest of the categories, such as the Ford and family cars, in addition to the luxury car segment, to be unique with this special service.”
He added, “After our study of the market, we found many rental companies for the economic sector, and we also found one or two companies working in this field, but they do not take over the entire market, and we had a great opportunity to enter this field. That is why we took the lead in offering our services for renting cars with four-wheel drive and family cars, in addition to luxury cars.” And our desire for excellence is what pushed us to this direction, as the State of Qatar is characterized by a broad middle and upper segment, as we have many events and receive guests from abroad at the highest levels.”
Al Hammadi added, “Qatar is characterized by many luxurious places that Qatar’s guests visit, and we are pleased to offer a distinguished experience to Qatar’s guests by renting a luxury car worthy of their trip there.”
Ahmed Al Hammadi continues his talk about Salik’s achievements, saying, “In 2017, we started reaping what we sowed, and large numbers of luxury car rentals were recorded. We also went through great events during our journey and achieved remarkable achievements in cooperation with more than one ministry and government agency, and during major events that were organized in the country. We were used to providing cars for the regiments and guests who were with us, and what distinguished us was our willingness to cover all major events with a fleet of the finest cars.”
Salik app..a step towards the future
Al Hammadi spoke about the development of the company’s business, and said, “In 2018, we noticed that we had to change the company’s work systems by digitizing operations and replacing it with an easy-to-use application for customers, as call centers began to become less important in customers’ dependence on them, as we faced many problems such as the discrepancy in service prices between all One employee and another for the desire of each employee to gain the trust of the customer, in addition to the timing of the employees’ work, which may make the customers unable to obtain the service on time.
He added, “We thought that our strength was that the information be in the company’s possession by receiving and registering applications electronically, and that the application provided solutions to most problems, including language and the difference in dialects between customers and employees, which caused some problems in communication between the work and the employee, but the application has nothing but Specific languages chosen by the customer
Al Hammadi added, “The application also made it easier for the customer to submit service requests during non-working hours for the ease of employee access to this data and the implementation of the request on time so that the requests would be received 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the application also included fixing prices for the services provided.”
Corona pandemic
Al Hammadi spoke about the Corona pandemic and its effects on the company, saying, “When the pandemic began, we assessed the situation, as there was a near-total closure (schools, universities and some jobs were closed), and the limousine service stopped completely due to the cessation of schools and universities, and for this we took decisions to protect the company, the first of which was the sale of a fleet of cars. The limousine was at a high cost and the company’s cash cover was placed in the bank to face the difficulties of the future.”
He added, “After the first closure, life returned to almost normal, and here the company’s decision to sell limousines had a great impact on the availability of financial liquidity, as they rebuilt our fleet with new cars and newer models and a greater variety of brands.”
Al Hammadi praised the state’s great role in protecting national companies, saying, “We managed the Corona pandemic crisis with great wisdom, thanks to the rational policies of His Highness, the Emir of the country, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.”
And most of the companies faced major problems due to the Corona pandemic, which negatively affected most of them, but, thankfully, we succeeded in overcoming its effects with an entire new fleet of cars.
The application also witnessed a significant increase in use after the pandemic, for ease of use and for overcoming many difficulties and problems.
Salik application challenges
Ahmed Al Hammadi talked about the most prominent challenges facing the application, saying, “We faced some challenges when we launched the Salik application, the first of which was the customers’ accustomed to communication
