Press & News

Real-estate madness

Bazaar Magazine January 01, 2011

Driving around Kuwait trying to find an apartment is exhausting especially if you’re new to the country and don’t know where to start. The traditional forms of apartment-hunting in Kuwait won’t work at all if you, for instance, aren’t in Kuwait and are in desperate need to find a pad before you arrive. With the increasing numbers of apartments and houses going up for rent or even sale, it gets a little hectic trying to keep up. The solution was Masahati.com, the brainchild of Ahmed AlGharabally and Hamad Al-Sabah, which epitomizes the perfect example of an efficient real-estate directory. Using state-of-the-art technology, you can sift through properties by specifics such as price, size, location and more.

http://www.bazaar-magazine.com/baz/bazaar/index.php?show=eIndex&show_filter=view&action=article&art_id=ART00000000850

Masahati.com sponsors K’S PATH’s 1st annual golf tournament

Al-Watan Daily November 11, 2010

KUWAIT: Masahati.com is sponsoring the first annual golf tournament of Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH), a revolutionary organization bridging the gap between animals and humans in Kuwait. This was announced in a press release on Wednesday. The rate of endangered, protected, and illegal species being smuggled into the country for sale as pets has increased in the last several years. Since Kuwait lacks the effective environmental and animal welfare laws and enforcement needed to protect them, K’S PATH has gone through great lengths to raise awareness and spread compassion throughout the country by holding multiple charitable events over the past few years. Among raising awareness, they are also using education, advocacy, rescue, sheltering, sanctuary, cleanup, and the promotion of animal and environmentally friendly legislation to effect positive change by acting as the sanctuary facility of choice for smuggled animals and to help facilitate their rescue, rehabilitation, and relocation. K’S PATH will be holding a Golf Tournament and a luncheon which will take place in Sahara Kuwait Resort on Nov. 12, 2010. Ahmed Al-Gharabally, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kuwait’s premier real estate Web site, Masahati.com, said, “Like their other events, it is a gathering that will not only be enjoyable for the participants, but an educational and inspiring experience.” He went on to say, “We are proud to be sponsoring this charitable event where the money will go to a necessary and just cause for our beloved country.” For more information, please email golf@kspath.org.

http://alwatandaily.kuwait.tt/resources/pdf/909/11.pdf

Kuwaiti real-estate portal attracts the iconic Al-Hamra Tower to its virtual world

Al-Watan Daily September 27, 2010

KUWAIT: Masahati.com, the first interactive online real estate portal in Kuwait, has reached an agreement to add Al-Hamra Tower, a subsidiary of Ajial Real Estate, to its collection of online properties, further opening the door for property searchers and industry leaders worldwide to access Al-Hamra’s property details, photos, floor plans, marketing videos and other e-services provided by Masahati.com. The announcement was made in a press release on Sunday. Masahati.com stated that the 412-meter high Al-Hamra Tower will benefit from Masahati’s e-services and from the latest in online real estate marketing technology.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Masahati.com, Ahmed Al-Gharabally, stated, "We have great confidence in this mutually beneficial agreement with Al-Hamra, the quality of service Masahati provides and the great value this grand project holds in the real estate market in Kuwait.” As part of the agreement between Al-Hamra and Masahati, Al-Hamra will attain its own unique Internet address URL at http://masahati.com/alhamra/.

Al-Gharabally continued, "Masahati.com utilizes the latest in modern technology, providing the first interactive map-based search in Kuwait as well as the Middle East. It also provides innovative tools in the area of real estate marketing through simple and easy measures, offering a new concept to the Kuwaiti market. The burgeoning Al-Hamra Tower is considered as a source of pride in real estate and in Kuwait; as such Masahati is proud to offer its unique services that will highlight the magnitude of this global project."

"We are now in the era of a digital revolution and the explosion of information technology. Masahati features innovation in the field of property as visitors to the site will enjoy a seamless and quick review of information on property, conduct real estate searches effectively and easily with no subscriptions or fees whatsoever," he added. "Masahati possesses a set of standards that ensure a very advanced search mechanism on the interactive site. The delivered information would include property specifications, photos, videos, floor plans, amongst other details. Our intention was to create a new, different and innovative product in response to the overwhelming interest in the property industry, and to make property advertising simpler and searching easier in order to create a more transparent real-estate market." The company Masahati.com does not present itself as an agent or broker to the real-estate market in Kuwait. It does not charge any commission from real estate transactions and it provides most of its services for free

http://alwatandaily.kuwait.tt/resources/pdf/909/11.pdf

Small, medium businesses, surviving the summer heat

Al-Watan Daily July 19, 2010

KUWAIT: Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need to survive and thrive all year long but summer can sometimes offer certain challenges as a result of increased, outbound travel. Businesses, however, are keener than ever to prevent the heat from coming in the way of business and seek to ensure their businesses will remain robustly booming during the summer period.

Al Watan Daily spoke to various businesses to hear how they plan to keep their businesses up and running during the summer, all businesses expressed sheer confidence that business like any time of the year has to remain active.

Ahmed Al-Gharabally, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Masahati, a real estate establishment explained that businesses should always be approached with motivation and determination during all seasons. Al-Gharabally’s unique and fruitful business is perceptibly a business that is flourishing all year long and the summer is no exception. Al-Gharabally explained his point of view concerning how one should maintain a robust business. At Masahati, they approach the summer with the same drive as the rest of the year since online businesses have a competitive advantage to others.

"Property listings on our site expire after thirty days and the owner or agent will receive an email alert immediately. The great thing about Web sites is even if the users are on holidays, they can re-list their properties with just a few clicks from anywhere in the world with internet access, so luckily our business can thrive regardless of the season,” he remarked. Al-Gharabally went on to emphasize that the summer period is as flourishing as ever and noted, “So far the summer season has not affected our business since we are still continuing to get new clients that add their properties to the site. So, we have no reason to change our strategy since it is working despite the summer season."

Al-Gharabally went on to enthusiastically and succinctly explain the following in regards to his growing business, "We just launched three months ago so it would not be accurate to call out any trends at this point. So far, the summer has not affected our business and we continue to create new accounts for clients and maintain a steady flow of traffic on Masahati.com. And even if business were to slow down, there would always be work to do, such as improving different aspects of the site to better the experience of our users," he added.

Al-Gharabally further praised the youth of Kuwait for bringing many new concepts and services to the economy and stated, "Creativity and hard work will take you a long way and we wish them success in all of their aspirations. I believe with great ideas and ambitious entrepreneurs, our economy will change for the better, which, in turn, will have a broader and positive impact on Kuwait as a whole," Al-Gharabally concluded.

http://alwatandaily.kuwait.tt/resources/pdf/789/12.pdf

Masahati.com takes Kuwait's real-estate market online

AlWatan Daily May 19, 2010

Al Watan Daily recently held an exclusive interview Ahmed Al-Gharabally, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Masahati.com, which according to the company’s Web site is a state-of-the-art online-based real estate marketplace that connects property searchers directly with property owners and agents. Al-Gharabally, whose new company has been the talk of numerous blogs and newspapers in Kuwait for the past few months, explained to Al Watan Daily that "Masahati.com has reached a number of important milestones. Over the past few weeks, our traffic has increased significantly and we have received very good feedback from a vast number of people including searchers, bloggers, real estate experts, and prestigious companies. We have also received great feedback from our clients who have informed us of a high number of leads they got via Masahati, this included people from outside of Kuwait who are planning on moving here."

Al-Gharabally told Al Watan newspaper, "I think we have created a new concept in the real-estate market by launching this Web site. And we can call this initiative a revolution in the real-estate market. The age where we have to get in the car and go around Kuwait looking for the real-estate is over. We now live in the digital age - the highly advanced masahat.com quickly lists the available real-estate and provides another feature for those with real-estate which is property management." The CEO further added, "And it is all for free."

While searching for property on the Web site, searchers can specify whether they are looking to purchase real-estate or rent it out. In addition, they could also further narrow down the search by specifying which amenities they are looking for in the piece of property (i.e. close to public transport, whether pets are allowed, having an elevator etc), the space in meters squared and even the price for renting/purchasing the property. Those listing the property can even upload videos of a walk-through inside their properties, enabling the searcher to consume a much higher frequency of information in such a short amount of time.

While explaining the history behind the founding of Masahati.com, Al-Gharabally said that the concept was founded on Feb. 26, 2008, a day after the National Day of Kuwait, while the actual Web site came to life and was launched for the public approximately one month ago.

http://alwatandaily.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?Id=78313