Some professionals, photographers in this case, find it hard to market their services despite the talents they have, hence the idea of Sawerly which is the first of its kind to fill this gap through an integrated innovative platform that links photographers with clients.

The online platform connects freelance photographers with individuals or companies who are seeking their services. Service seekers can receive different offers and quotations from a wide range of photographers and filter them by price, quality and reviews.

Services cover events, parties, real estate, special occasions, commercials, YouTube and others. To book a photographer, customers must visit the website on the web or through the Android and iOS app, and then enter their request, specifying the time, place, budget and event type. The order is then sent to all photographers specialized in the mentioned field. This allows customers to choose among 500 photographers in many fields. Every photographer has a profile that features their work, experience and reviews from others. Payment is done online.

Sawerly was founded by Hussein Attar, Mohammed Al Zahrani and Bassam Seif. When I met Hussein in ArabNet Riyadh (watch the interview with him here), we talked about the project a little bit and he told me how it turned from just an idea to a startup.

“Sawerly started at an entrepreneurship competition event, Startup Weekend Jeddah, a competition where participants pitch their ideas on stage and the audience votes for their favorite idea. Then only 10 teams are selected to pitch their idea in front of a jury for a chance to win a 75,000 riyals prize.” During the event, he voted for Mohammed Al Zahrani and Bassam Seif who pitched the idea of Sawerly. “They had an idea related to photography but it wasn’t very clear yet. I didn’t know them before the event. I just liked their idea and was the only one who voted for it”. The project was chosen along the nine other teams and the three partners worked on developing it and pitching it in front of the jury.

“We pitched the idea on the third day in front of the audience and we were met with much encouragement from both the jury and the audience on social media. After that, we applied to join the accelerator Flat6Labs under the management of Qotuf, and even though we found out that we applied after the deadline had passed, we got an interview.” After their project was incubated by Flat6Labs, they took part in a one-week workshop then graduated along with five other companies. “That was the beginning.”

The beginning

More than 500 photographers from across Saudi Arabia are registered on Sawerly according to Hussein, and the website has so far received more than 180 orders and generated more than 150,000 Riyals for photographers. “We participated in many competitions and pitched Sawerly to a number of investors. We raised 800,000 Riyals from an individual investor from Oqal Group to develop our product and expand.” With the new investment, the cofounders are now looking to hire two Saudi ladies and attract more talented photographers from the region.

The majority of investments go to real estate and construction

When talking about challenges the team faced at launch, Hussein admits that it was hard to market his idea in the market, making it work and attracting talents. “Most of them only work with us part-time to keep their jobs at big companies.” Another challenge they faced was finding an investor who would be interested in funding a technical project. Most investments, according to him, go to fields such as real estate and contracting. “They don’t see the benefit of investing in online projects: more return on investment, less operating expenses and high ability to expand.”

Sawerly won lately several awards in Saudi Arabia,  including second place at ArabNet Riyadh 2013’s  Hackathon and the first place at ArabNet Riyadh 2014 Startup Demo competition. It also won the Get in the Ring competition and Hussein Attar was listed in Forbes Middle East’s Leaders Inspiring a Kingdom: Saudi Arabia’s Entrepreneurial Elite list in the technology field.

Vision for the future

The team wants to scale to other Arab countries and allow the selling of photos directly from the platform. It also intends to print the photos on different surfaces and shapes and create an online store for photography equipment, providing thus photographers with all the tools they need.

Hussein concluded by addressing today’s youth: “Today’s generation has many talents, but unfortunately, they’re being exploited in the wrong places”. That’s why entrepreneurs should work part-time during their college years from at different companies to gain the required experience that would lead them to making better decisions later on. “I recommend them to take risks and always try to think out of the box and to make change happen. Writing down ideas also helps develop capacities and figure out individual orientations, helping them set down goals and focus on achieving them.”