Importos - Mohammed Qaisi
As Palestine becomes more integrated into the global economy, suppliers work to import goods essential to meet the growing needs of the Palestinian market economy. Within the current Palestinian as well as larger Middle Eastern markets there remains a lack of managerial services that can efficiently coordinate between contacts on both sides of the border, importation procedures, paperwork and financial fees which causes frustration amongst suppliers and vendors alike.
As a result, Mohammed Qaisi, a Hebron based entrepreneur established Importos an innovative new startup which operates as an integrated service to meet the needs of Palestinian as well as Middle Eastern merchants and suppliers to keep track and keep up with their imported cargos. Importos operates as a supply chain management system which efficiently manages the tracking info of imported containers, import and export invoices including all relevant contact info. In addition, all financial, technical and logistical information needed will be managed to allow suppliers to easily keep track of both their imports and exports. Mohammed explains, “Importos will support importers to manage their import process before and after making the contract, shipping, clearing, and receive the goods; help to plan, implement and control the process, improve communication, with suppliers, forwarders, customs brokers, shipment trucks and all the relevant authorities.” He continues, “In general, we seek to improve communication within import management to keep up in real time the status of imports and exports, reduce confusion between parties. We also strive give enough care to all details and discover any areas of opportunities to save money.”
Importos currently operates with a core team of three working to provide the management services as well as a web designer, developer, and management service. With at least 100K USD Mohammed states that he will be able to acquire the technical resources needed to further develop his fully integrated service, expand his team of professionals as well as the scope of operations to include markets throughout the Middle East. Within the next two to three years Mohammed aims to capture the local Palestinian market and acquire at least 200 accounts registered to the service, each with a minimal fee between 50 and 200 USD depending on the service package selected. Overall, Importos offers interested clients within both the Palestinian and broader Middle Eastern markets, “An automated system, which provides importers, exporters and suppliers alike with a comprehensive managerial service, that tracks, follows and resolves all aspects of importing freights or containers.”
In terms of impact, Mohammed stresses the importance of tapping into the growing import industry, “there is great potential in Importos, as Palestine continues to reach out to external markets to import and export goods, there are many opportunities to generate employment opportunities and secure the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians. He continues, “Importos is one example that taps into this market and with the growth of our company we can create many jobs, while at the same time further develop our service to become the dominant supply chain management service operating within the Palestinian territories and throughout the Middle East.”
Importos has since participated in MENACatalyst’s Santiago Pitch Challenge and has earned the opportunity to meet with high impact investors and business leaders from the Palestinian diaspora in Chile.
