Growth Strategy Lessons from the Middle East’s First Unicorn Start-Up

Careem launched as the “Uber of the Middle East” in Dubai in 2012, with a mission to make life and work better for drivers in the region.

Despite technical, cultural, and financial challenges, Careem eventually became the Middle East’s first unicorn start-up, valued at more than a billion dollars. It was acquired by Uber in 2019 for $3.1 billion.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Shikhar Ghosh discusses his case, “Careem: Raising a Unicorn.” He explains how the company scaled its operations and expanded from Dubai into Africa and South Asia. That growth required many small and large innovations—from creating their own localized version of Google maps to forging relationships with local and national governments.

Key episode topics include: strategy, growth strategy, innovation, technology, ride share, startup, Middle East, scaling, recruiting.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: Careem: Riding the First Unicorn in the Middle East (2018)

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