Q&A WITH SONDOS MLEITAT, CO-FOUNDER OF HAKINI

Q Which other successful start-up do you wish you had started?

A Clubhouse is one of the start-ups that inspires me and has affected my way of thinking about how we can convert our start-up from an idea into a real business with exponential growth. I liked their model that focused on the growth of the platform in terms of increasing their user base by providing a user-friendly platform with a “freemium” model and an innovative approach of communication between people from all over the world.

The way in which Clubhouse founders thought about their business is impressive, where they focused on building trust with their target customer base, allowing them to potentially make money from their services and generate revenue in the future. I think that this approach is important for start-up founders with a business-to-customer business model.

What is your next big dream that you plan to work on?

My dream is to make therapy and mental health services accessible and affordable for every single person in the Mena region. I hope that therapy becomes a way of life and is not affected by stigma. There are positive indicators that the region is on the right track to make this happen.

What skills have you learnt in the process of setting up your venture?

Running a start-up is not an easy process and you need to really invest in yourself in a way that contributes to your management, communication and leadership skills, and understand how to collaborate with potential partners who could play an important role in the success of your business. I learnt that building trust is a key of success. At first, this trust should be created with your team, your mentors, advisers, customers and, eventually, with potential investors.

I also learnt about business modelling, storytelling, pitching, how to apply design thinking processes and use the lean start-up method to understand our customers’ needs.

How has Covid-19 affected your business?

It was the time to set up Hakini and start providing support to help people from Palestine and other countries around the world as the need for mental health services increased worldwide. Many people were looking for help to overcome the depressing and stressful situation. We started to see significant interest in mental health and well-being from people, businesses and government institutions. These institutions started to understand the importance of investing in the sector and how it can positively contribute to the educational system, economy and society.

What has been the importance of mental health services amid the pandemic?

The pandemic negatively affected many people’s mental health and created barriers for people already facing mental health and substance use issues. There was a huge increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression. For example, about four in 10 adults in the US have reported these symptoms, up about 400 per cent from 2019. This indicates the importance of taking mental health more seriously by governments, schools, universities, businesses and other stakeholders.

Where do you see your business in five years?

I see Hakini as the leading therapy platform in the Mena region. Today, we provide our services to people from Palestine, Jordan, the Netherlands, Germany, the UAE and the US. In five years, we want to see Hakini operate in other countries in the Mena region, starting with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.