CompuCash in Dubai – a reseller success story

United Arab Emirates is not the first country you would imagine in relation with CompuCash next to Estonia. Therefore we have asked the CompuCash reseller in Dubai how did it all begin and how has the local market there accepted the Estonian product.  

Samer, you have been born and grown up in the United Arab Emirates. How did you find the tiny Estonia and CompuCash, the popular point of sale system in this market?

My relationship with Estonia started thanks to my Estonian wife. After 10 years living in the United States I decided to relocate back to the Middle East where I am originally from. I decided to base myself in Dubai, a vibrant and multicultural city where entrepreneurs follow their dreams. After less than a year, I met my then girlfriend and now wife who happens to be from Tartu in Estonia.

In every visit to Estonia, I continued to be impressed how progressive Estonia is and how advanced their products are.  

Couple of years ago while visiting V Spa in Tartu, I had a first introduction to CompuCash where I was very impressed with the functionality and ease of use of the system.

The following day we visited one of the cool restaurants in Tallinn and they also were using CompuCash. After a short chat with the cashier it became apparent that everybody I spoke with was happy using this software.

Talking to some more CompuCash clients I felt that this product would have great future in the Dubai and Gulf Region in general.

First thing I did that night was contacting CompuCash sales team, Rain and Martin and offering to meet. I got an immediate response and while we couldn’t meet on that trip, we managed to schedule a meeting couple of months later. There was a good chemistry from the beginning and it was love at first sight! 

Your decision about reselling CompuCash came very quickly. It makes me ask if the market entry in United Arab Emirates has also been easy?

The local POS market is very fragmented and flooded with POS providers from all over the world. However, I had full confidence, rightly or wrongly, that CompuCash will find its niche in Dubai and so it did.

This means that we took the risk but this reliable product and hard-working colleagues in Estonia gave us the security.

We managed to break into complex catering business and the owners of cafes and restaurants are veru satisfied with the 24/7 unique support we provide.  The latter is our real competitive advantage compared to other POS providers in the region.

Thanks to the good client support we are growing our client based in the catering sector step by step. CompuCash is already used by a leading catering chain Right Bite.

How are the business cultures in Estonia and Middle East similar?

The Middle Eastern and Estonian cultures are very different.

Estonians are very proud about their identity and culture. Doing business they are very direct and concrete.

Middle easterners like to spend time chatting about family, food and personal matters before going into business.

While some of our clients in UAE may have thought that our Estonian staff are dry, it didn’t take them long to realize how professional and thoughtful they are.

I always appreciated the hard-working nature of Estonians and so did our clients who most couldn’t find Estonia on the map but since we engaged them they have come to know more about Estonia and about the advanced IT industry the country has to offer. 

How would you summarize the 1^st year with CompuCash and its team in Estonia?

My colleagues and I are very keen to continue to represent Ektaco in the UAE and GCC region and we are confident that CompuCash will become of the leaders in POS market in the UAE. We are already seeing amazing results and are very optimistic about the future. 

Looking back at the first year of selling CompuCash, I am very proud of the strong partnership we built with Ektaco’s outstanding team.

While we hit few bumps at the beginning in finding the right talent to represent CompuCash in Dubai, we immediately turned to Ektaco for support and they didn’t let us down.

They flew their lead sales Rain and IT support to help us kickstart the process and it was an immediate success and in one week we managed to sign our first popular chain: Baker and Spice. 

Would be interested to resell CompuCash in your market? Please contact us and let’s agree how.