RIYADH: In Saudi Arabia, where digital transformation is reshaping industries from banking to transportation, one entrepreneur believes the next frontier is not what people buy, but what they already own.
From wedding dresses and power tools to parking spaces and professional services, Saudi startup Rush Rooms is betting that almost anything can become a source of income if it can be rented safely. The company’s founder and CEO, Abdulelah Fadhel, said that the platform aimed to tackle one of the biggest barriers to the sharing economy — trust.
By linking users to Saudi Arabia’s National Unified Access (Nafath) system, Rush Rooms verifies identities before transactions take place, an approach Fadhel believes could encourage more people to participate in peer-to-peer commerce.
The startup’s ambitions extend beyond creating another online marketplace. Fadhel envisions Rush Rooms becoming part of the infrastructure supporting Saudi Arabia’s growing digital economy, aligning with Vision 2030’s goals of encouraging entrepreneurship, sustainability and more efficient use of resources.
“Our mission has always been to solve one of the biggest challenges in online marketplaces; fraud, scams and the difficulty of verifying the identity of the parties involved,” Fadhel told Arab News.
