Being a tourist, but living the experience of a local. This is the objective of the Jedo application, launched by Christian Almurr and his team. Meaning “grandfather” in Lebanese, the founder decided to use this name for his application, in reference to one of his friends whose pseudonym it was, he who used to play the role of tourist guide and hiking in a large number of Lebanese regions, each time they went out together. Because, in the end, this is the role that Jedo wants to play: to act as a virtual tourist guide to allow users to visit a place or a region by themselves, while having the impression of take these tours with local guides.
“We want to encourage people to visit all corners of the country and live the local experience there, even if they don’t know anyone there”, summarizes Christian Almurr, one of the three co-founders of Jedo and the one who had it. the idea. On its site, Jedo indicates that it lists more than 2,000 attractions spread throughout Lebanon and allows its users to prepare their outings and draw inspiration from preconceived plans and recommendations from local experts, while offering them discounts and exclusive offers.
Available free of charge in Android and iOS versions, Jedo generates its income through the commissions it deducts each time a reservation is made on its application, which aims to bring together all the players in the tourism sector on the same platform, including hotels, guest houses, restaurants and tourist guides.
An investment of $60,000
Although the idea had been germinating for some time, it was not until mid-October 2019 that it began to materialize, just before the outbreak of the demonstrations on October 17 and the start of the economic and financial crisis which is still raging. in the country, recalls Christian Almurr. The initial development is done with a friend, who took care of the technical aspect. This platform was then only a secondary project in which he got involved, while he was working in Dubai in a global agency and while he was at the same time a teacher in user experience and research at the University Saint- Spirit of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon.
It was only two years later, at the end of 2021, that he really realized the great potential of this platform. “We had a waiting list of more than a thousand people from all over the world who wanted to download our application even though we hadn’t even finalized it yet”, specifies Christian Almurr. “That’s when we felt the need to take it seriously and put more effort and research into it,” he continues. Given the commitment required, the team is transformed and now has 4 people.
In February 2022, Jedo joined USEK’s ACIE (Asher Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) accelerator and its founder then managed to raise the sum of $60,000 to help him develop and launch his platform.
This was done in May 2022 when a first version, “very simple – mvp”, according to Christian Almurr, will be made available to users, this one only allowing experts who are registered there to share their experiences. “His goal was to test our concept and the market, and to check that certain features were working properly,” he says. It was only with an update introduced in September of that year that locals now benefit from the ability to share their villages’ tourist attractions and the hidden gems therein.
Today, and while Jedo has just officially launched its second version, the start-up has some 10,000 users who are registered there and who have already booked their activities one or more times via the platform. By the end of the year, it wants to reach the milestone of 100,000 users, “which should be easily achievable” according to its CEO, hire 6 or 7 new people (for a team of 10 employees today) and open up to new markets.
“We plan to set up in the United Arab Emirates towards the end of 2023 and then perhaps leave for Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands, underlines Christian Almurr. But for that we will need new fundraising, for which we have already started soliciting investors. »
Being a tourist, but living the experience of a local. This is the objective of the Jedo application, launched by Christian Almurr and his team. Meaning “grandfather” in Lebanese, the founder decided to use this name for his application, in reference to one of his friends whose pseudonym it was, he who used to play the role of tourist guide. ..
